and devotion do I behold the amazing instances of my Saviours Love whilst with so much affection and sweetness he laid down his life for me whilst his enemy and his persecutor O how I long to do something for such a Saviour as this to execute my lusts to bring his and mine Enemies before his face and slay them and now tho a survey of my sins hath filled me with amazement and shame yet since Christ hath died I look up with comfort and an humble hope Since he hath died did I say yea rather since he is risen again for By Faith I see him breaking forth with Power and great Glory out of his Sepulchre I behold him ascending in Triumph up to Heaven I see with Stephen the Heavens open'd and my Prince and Saviour sitting at the right hand of Power with one hand despencing his Graces with the other holding never fadeing wreaths to crown the patience of his Saints And now how I am exalted above Nature transported above the world and flesh how this prospect hath disarm'd the Beauties and glories of this life of all their Killing charms and Temptations how my soul leaps for joy to see a way open'd into the holy of holies and to consider the mighty interest I have in Heaven As for Earth I am so far from admiring it I value it not I know I must sojourn here a while and therefore I must be fed and cloath'd but my heavenly Father knows I have need of these things and his is the Earth and the fulness thereof and therefore he cannot want means and ability to provide for me and he is a wise and a good God and he hath promis'd by his Son to take care of me and all this will invite him to design and accomplish what is best for me Upon these grounds I think I could hope like Abraham even against hope I could relie upon God without any flattering appearances of promises Friends nay or any visible probabilities I am to seek the righteousness of the Kingdome and permit the Government of the World to the God of it I am his child and he is my Heavenly Father to obey is my Duty and with Reverence be it said to provide for me is his By this time it is easie to be discern'd what kind of Faith it is must save or justifie us one that enlightens our understanding and ravisheth our Heart one that prayes and watches that contends and struggles and fights and conquers one that makes us too great for Earth and fit for Heaven one that fears and loves and worships and seeks and relies and hopes And then 3. When it hath done this when I find my Faith made perfect in Love when through this belief I find my self a conqueror over the World and Flesh and have crucified those lusts I did before serve and gratifie then I am full of Joy and peace Then I feel that pledge of his Love that spirit which he hath given me assuring me of the pardon of my sins thorough the blood of Christ Then I have a foretaste of the powers of the world to come and I do in some measure anticipate my Heaven And not till then For this perswasion of the pardon of my sins call it what you please Faith Peace Hope Assurance is always proportionable to the success I have in my fight of Faith if I have either falsly betrayed or weakly deserted a good cause i.e. my virtue under a temptation which is in Scripture call'd a Tryal if I have turn'd my back in the day of battel then my own conscience condemns me and because I know that God is greater than my Conscience and knoweth all things therefore I cannot expect to stand when I am judged unless I rally and repair my fault But if upon a serious reflection upon my life each evening my conscience acquit me as a Conqueror through Faith and Love then I rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory what a beautiful morning doth this Faith shed upon any soul How I long that thy Kingdome O God may come And how I disdain all that this vain World can flatter me with Then like Peter tho all men should be offended fall through temptation yet will not I. Give me a temptation equal to this Faith till the sense of my frailty as in Peter do lower my confidence and yet heighten my resolutions And yet all this doth not in the least imply any reliance or confidence in my own Righteousness or works phrases of the same sense in Scripture But that I know Repentance and Faith are propos'd as the sole conditions of Justification thorough the bloud of Christ And that these fruits or effects of Righteousness I mean a holy life are the onely evidence of these habits and therefore I can never perswade my self that I believe and repent till I live well nor ever flatter my self with Peace Peace through his bloud till I thus believe and Repent to do otherwise is presumption not Faith 't is the fond and groundless confidence of foolish Virgins which shall be for ever shut out from the Bridegrooms presence There is not in the book of God any one plainer Doctrine than this Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdome of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven which is not every one that professes me to be Lord and so far relies upon me as to knock at the gates of Heaven with presumption of admission shall enter c. If we walk in the light as he God is in the light we have fellowship one with another and truely our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ v. 3. and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin Where walking in the light that is Holiness is suppos'd as a necessary condition to our purification by the blood of Christ and tribulation worketh patience and patience experience and experience hope and hope maketh not asham'd c. These are the steps or stages by which the Christian maketh his progress into assurance Tribulation being conquer'd worketh patience and Patience experience i.e. a conviction or proof of our Love of God and this experience worketh hope which contains in it th' assurance of pardon and the expectance of a better world and by the same method doth he who is attack'd by the temptations of pleasures proceed to a particular assurance The Sum of all is this man may be consider'd in Three states 1. Of unregeneration and then he is to be convinc'd of the truth of the Gospel if that be suppos'd this belief will easily convince him of his unrighteousness and shew him the wrath of God reveal'd from Heaven against all ungodly and impenitent sinners and on the other hand the blood of Christ who became a propiation for the sins of the World will encourage him to hope for reconciliation and pardon if he repent and
relye upon Christ And it will highly oblige him to both or 2. In a state of Regeneration and then according to that experience and proof a man hath of the truth and sincerity of his Conversion such is the proportion and degree of his assurance and hopes which doth not exclude but suppose Faith in Christ for this is no more then to believe that now his sins are pardon'd his prayers heard his services accepted and he shall at last bere warded if he persevere unto the end in and thorough Christ Or 3. In a state of Relapse and even here he hath yet hopes if he repent thorough the blood of Christ For this is frequently asserted in Scripture I 'le urge but one place 1. Jo 2. 1 2. My little Children regenerate certainly These things write I unto you that ye sin not and if any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous and he is the propitiation for our sins c. that by these sins are not understood the unavoidable frailties and imperfections of the best men but plain and manifest transgressions of the Law is plain 1. From hence that this is the general notion of sin in this Epistle 2. from the manner of speaking that ye sin not if any man sin which cannot be sense if applied to the unavoidable errours and imperfections of the best of men 3. They are here said to be of the number of those sins for which Christ shed his blood and are equall'd with the sins of the rest of the World And besides these Three uses of Faith I know none nor what more can be attributed to or desir'd from the blood of Christ I cannot see unless men will wilfully abuse their Faith into an impunity and patronage for sin or what disparagement it can reflect upon this sacrifice of Christ That it obligeth us to Holiness and rescues us from the power as well as guilt of sin I am not able to comprehend as to the silly scandal of trusting in works they that know what these words or terms Justified by works and justified by Repentance and Faith mean know that the one implies a perfect contradiction to the other for the former denyes any sin or iniquity and the latter doth directly suppose it 4. Without some degrees of Faith it is impossible that a wicked man should be awaken'd into any serious sence of his condition or should be induc'd to set himself in good earnest to please and obey God without a good measure of this Faith the very regenerate will never be able to conquer the World and subdue the flesh and enter into their rest I mean with th' Apostle a Rest from sin for their endeavours will be but weak and languishing their prayers cold and faint the Acts and instances of Religion will be undertaken as a Duty of necessity not delight the whole Progress of their Christian warfare will like the driving of Pharoahs Charriots when the Wheels were off beslow and uneasie they will be liable to frequent relapses their Life will not be a firm Peace but an unstedy truce with conscience and their Death will be mixt and checker'd with jealousies Distrusts and faint hopes like a sky spotted with numerous Clouds But if we arrive at a good degree of this precious Faith we shall be more than Conquerors o're the World and ourselves we shall be plac'd above the Reach of Temptations preserv'd thorough the power of Faith unto Salvation we shall be too great to be swoln with vanity in prosperity or to be cast down in affliction we shall find all the wayes of wisedome wayes of pleasantness and all her paths peace in one word we shall rejoyce always with joy unspeakable and full of Glory and when our glass is run and our Lives spent we shall be translated to the blesed Seats of Perfection and Peace 5. For the obtaining and improving and confirming of this holy Faith it is necessary that our Religion be not meer Credulity or Custome but that we seriously weigh those two great witnesses our Saviour appeals to for the proof of his coming from God his Works and Doctrine the Power of the one and Holiness of the other being sufficient evidences of his Commission from above To which we must add the Testimonies God himself gave him from Heaven his resurrection from the Dead and ascention into glory and all those mighty works perform'd by his followers in the virtue of Faith in his name and to be firmly rooted and grounded in Faith through these arguments is that which St. Peter exhorts Christians to 1 Pet. 3.15 To be ready alwayes to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you 2. By frequent retirements and sosolemn and devout Meditation to acquaint our selves as intimately as we can with the glorious Truths of the Gospel of Christ to draw the representations of them as lovely as may be and to dwell and gaze on the things we believe till the light of the understanding hath shed it self thorough the inferiour Soul warm'd all our passions and the Body it self seem to relish and partake of the pleasure of the mind The most useful matter of our Meditations will be 1. The Nature of the the God we worship I mean the glorious Attributes Mankind is most concern'd in His Truth and Wisedom his Power and his Goodness And 2. The Sufferings and the Glory of our blessed Redeemer as the sole ground of inexpressible comfort as the most indearing Obligation to Holiness as the most perfect pattern of Virtue and the most lively instance of its reward 3. We must add to both these means incessant prayers offer'd up with a fervent Spirit at the Throne of Grace for considering the darkness and indisposition of our Natures we have altogether need of the assistances of the Divine Spirit and therefore The Prayer O Eternal God the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the Author of all good gifts enlighten my understanding that I may believe thy Gospel set at liberty my will that I may approve and love the things that are excellent that the belief of the Gospel of the blessed Jesus may engage me to Love Obey and Relie upon him give me such a lively sight and firm belief of the things not seen as may raise me above all the corruptions which are in the world through Lust and make me partake of the Divine Nature that so my Life may be full of Joy my latter end of Peace my Soul in its Separation of Rest and my whole man in the Resurrection full of Delight and Glory Amen Amen Blessed Jesus Section 2. Of Love 1. Of God 2. Of our Neighbour Of the Love of God Love is not a meet Approbation of the understanding but also an affection of the Will or Heart in Scripture phrase And therefore Coldness and Indifferency in Religion and warmth and passion for the world cannot be justified by
bearing our selves in hand that we do nevertheless Love God because we do prefer him in our thoughts above all things and because we will not do what will displease him for the former of these may be an unavoidable consequence of a clear understanding and the latter of an innate Self-love which may be able to restrain us from the Commission of those sins which we believe will do us an unspeakable mischief These do well in their place and are presuppos'd to the love of God for no man can love God unless he know him nor will any man make any distinction of Good and Evil i. e. lovely or hateful by consequence unless he love himself but yet these are apparently distinguishable from and can stand separately and alone without the love of God and therefore let none deceive themselves for To love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our Soul and with all our strength and with all our mind is something more than to entertain an honourable opinion of him or to avoid affronting him because he is able to punish us the Scripture expresses this love by Delight and Joy by Desire and Longing Hungring Thirsting Seeking and the like and more fully if we love God above all things our hearts will be where our Treasure is our affections will be fasten'd on things above and our Conversation will be in Heaven because our God is there Now we cannot converse with Heaven but by Faith and Hope Meditation and Prayer c. And therefore it must follow that they who love God must be industrious to improve these Graces and be frequent in the exercise of these Duties as the Means and Instruments of enjoyment And 2 If we love God we shall hunger and thirst after Righteousness and Holiness which beautifies the Souls and renders us like God and therefore amiable in his eyes and we shall delight in all those good and virtuous actions which are the proofs of an inflam'd affection and indear us to God he that loves him keeps his Commandments and we shall hate nothing so mortally as sin because it stains and sullies the beauty of our Souls distastes the God we love and interrupts our peace and joy and extinguishes our hopes and if this be the frame and habit of our Souls towards God then because we cannot love or serve two such contrary Masters as God and the World therefore 3. These temporal things which are seen will appear very cheap and inconsiderable to us and our concern for them will be so cold and indifferent that no change which betides them no imaginary excellency that is in them will be able to raise our Passions to distract our thoughts to abate our diligence to divide our affections and overthrow our Faith for the love of God the prospect of a more glorious life will have disarm'd the Glory Beauty and Wealth of this World of all their Charm and Temptation and if so how can we then be led captive by what we do not in the least admire How can we be afflicted at the loss of what we do not value or Why can we not be calmly divided from what our affections have renounc'd already Vain World adieu I am above either thy Menaces or Flatteries I fear nothing because I am at peace with the God I love and I despise thy guilded dreams because the love of my God swallows up all my desires and I am content to have no portion but him alone How my Heart pants after thy Courts O God the Holy of Holies the Heaven of Heavens where I shall for ever behold thy face and Reign in the Kingdom of my blessed Saviour for ever and ever Now with St. Paul I long to be set at liberty to be dissolved from this body and to be with Christ nor should I willingly stay longer here on Earth but in Obedience to thy holy Will and a design of spending this life in doing Service to thy glory and in expressions of my love in Longings and Watchings and Sufferings c. And when I consider this merhinks my Life 's too short and I shall go to Heaven too soon and I could wish my Sun would stand still a little that I might do and suffer something for my Lord before I go to enter into his joy and to receive a Crown It is true these are heights of Love which all do not tho it were to be wished all could attain to for we have need of sanctified passions to enable us to do our duty with delight and vigour But none are from the want of such degrees of Ardour to conclude themselves either wholly void of the Love of God or deserted by him for God is a Being infinitely above our conceptions and that of him which we do conceive as Power Wisedom and Goodness tho amiable yet are spiritual and not the objects of sense and therefore do not move us with the same violence that sensible things do whence it is easie to conclude that our love of God is of a different nature from that we pay the creature 't is a more spiritual affection mixt with Adoration 't is an awful desire of pleasing and enjoying him not alwayes terminating in so vehement and sensible a passion as visible objects beget in us and therefore the safest way is to judge of our state not by transports but by the firmness of our Resolutions and by the constancy and cheerfulness of our Obedience But because as there is a more peculiar presence of God as I humbly conceive evident by Scripture so by consequence there may be a withdrawing and retirement of that presence therefore when I find my understanding dim and clouded or distracted and shaken with suggestions to unbelief my desires lukewarm and groveling my Devotion faint and drowsie and my communion without gust and relish I am weary of my self and I have no rest by reason of thy absence O blessed Lord. Then first I lay before me my Life and review my Actions which are late and fresh in memory since this ill temper hath seiz'd me and examine what it is hath displeas'd my God and if I find the accursed thing that drove away a holy God I cast my self down before him and abhor and renounce it But secondly if sin do not appear to me to be the cause of this indisposition and listlessness then perhaps I have not been as watchful and industrious to improve my Graces as I should or if this be not it perhaps 't is but an alteration in my body that clogs and benights this Soul and then I groan at the miseries of my Pilgrimage and bemoan the infelicities of my Nature but if none of these appear the cause Then thirdly I rest humbly patient waiting till God please to return to his resting place it were Pride and Sawciness in me to expect my Heaven here to be impatient unless I live alwayes in extasies caus'd by the divine pretence I will meekly
God and inform'd by man and therefore on all these accounts an humble Man can never be enthusiastical obstinate or seditious for he can never arrive at that height of Spiritual pride as to conceit himself the onely favourite of Heaven and fit for extroardinary illuminations nor at that height of carnal pride as to be a buisie body a stiff asserter of his own humour or judg of his superiours on earth and so think himself more fit to Reign than to suffer In one word Humilities whole deportment is sweet and gentle its very zeal is modest its reprehension soft and timerous its Prayers awful its reflections mournful and its hopes of Heaven softly growing it is neither severe nor peevish obstinate nor hasty bold nor selfish insolent nor querulous it can suffer its wounds to be prov'd and search'd and kisses the hand whilest it loaths the filth it doth not insult o're anothers errours nor excuse its own nay rather its modesty conceals its beauties and blushes at the discovery of its own excellencies it never prostitutes to beg praises nay if it accidentally meet them it is rather burden'd and oppress'd than puff'd up by them I will then account my self to have attain'd to some degree of this grace when I can possess my soul at rest when I delight in the milk of Gods word more than its heights and entricacies in obedience more than disputes and fancies when I can receive evil from the hand of God as well as good when I can sacrifice my own will to the caprice of a Superiour the obstinacy of an inferiour or the humour of an equal when I can suffer wrongfully and yet meekly when I can look upon the glories and the power of this World and contentedly say I am not born for these I am not call'd to the enjoyment of these but of the Cross here and Glory hereafter I am to tread in the steps of my dear Lord and Master and nothing shall make me have any other designs than those he had and when I have done all this and am assur'd that I love and serve my God I relie onely upon the merits and sufferings of my Saviour for Salvation and a Crown This duty of Humility is the most useful and the most difficult in Christianity the most useful for it recommends us to God indears us to men and establishes a Peace and calm in our own bosomes the most difficult for it is to renounce what is most near and dear to us our interest and pleasures our reputation nay our very selves our understanding will and affections There are two mighty motives wich are most insisted on by the holy Spirit the one is that Humility is the way to the increase of Grace here and to greater measures of Glory hereafter God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted the other is the example of our Saviour who tho so great as to be the Son of God and to think it no Robbery to be equal to God so innocent that he had no guilt upo him none could accuse him of sin so dignified as to be Prophet Priest and King did yet debase himself to the meanest services on purpose that he might leave his Disciples a pattern to imitate tho he were adorn'd by all that might give him a just claim to Honour as Birth Virtue and the Dignity of the most illustrious functions yet he was as much the humblest as he was the greatest as much the most meek as the most innocent of the Sons of Men and if he our Lord and Master stoopt so low what can we who are at that vast distance beneath him do or suffer that is capable of disparaging us Besides these considerations it will be very useful towards implanting humility in us to know God and our selves his Dayes are without Beginning or Ending his perfections have no bounds he is Independent and immutable he is his own Heaven and his own happiness but we are dust and the Sons of Corruption born yesterday and we shall dye to morrow our bodies heavy sluggish crafie beings of a few spans long our souls are blind and ambitious passionate froward jealous inconstant foolish things those are the seat or abode of numerous pains and diseases These of as numerous and as painful passions the World we live in is a meer phantasm and cheat that first invites and then deludes our appetites for enjoyment it self is but a dying itch and the mockery of a waking dream the time past reflects our sins and follies the present is troubled with regret and desires and vexations and the future will be what the present now is for when all is nothing what can be the end of our hopes and cares but disappointment And all this consider'd is not God most fit to Govern and we to obey he to be exalted and we to be humbled but why do I compare Man to God! let us compare him but to the Angels of God and how inconceiveably more excellent is their being and their state than ours how wise and knowing how refin'd and pure their substances we see but thorough a Cloud and are clad with an earthy body they dwell in the Circles of Glory in the Sun-shine of the Almighty's presence and in a numerous Choire of the most pleasant and delightful company We in long Nights and cold Winters and barren Soils and lonesome-shades tir'd with sullen toilsome business and dull insipid conversation and only wait for the approaching day and the rendevouz of blessed Spirits in Heaven Lord what is Man The Prayer O Thou God who resistest the Proud and givest grace to the Humble possess me with a meek and humble Spirit teach me to tread in the steps of my blessed Saviour to serve and Minister to obey and suffer teach me to know Thee my God and my self that the sence of thy incomprehensible glory and my meanness may level all my foolish conceits of my self and cloath me with humility through Jesus Christ our Lord. O my God make me resign'd and obedient to thee Subject to my Superiours modest towards my equals and meek to my Inferiours make me to despise the praise and honour of man being content with the conscience of doing good make me see the imperfections of my best actions and relye upon thy mercy for Salvation thorough the blood of Christ that my Soul may here find rest and hereafter Glory Amen Amen Blessed Jesus Sect. 5. Of Perfection It is an opinion generally receiv'd that the least degree of true Faith will save the soul but I hope men mean such a degree of it as overcomes the World and subdues the Flesh for otherwise I should very much question whether it be not that seed which becometh unfruitful thorough the cares of the World and deceitfulness of riches and the lusts of other things Mar. 4.19 If they say that that Faith which doth not overcome the World and the Flesh is
not true Faith it is as broad as long for not to dispute whether in the place mention'd the reasons of unfruitfulness was in the seed or in the ground whether it be true Faith or not I 'me sure it is not saving Faith so that the Rule given us whereby to discern and judge of our state is a very plain and easie one viz. He that overcometh the World is born of God If it should be further inquir'd how a man shall know whether he overcomes the World tho he may with as much sense ask me how he shall know what he loves and hates what he shuns and persues the answer is very plain his Servants ye are to whom you obey So that the whole State of this question may be in few words reduc'd to this no man can be a stranger to his own actions nor to the operations of his own soul what man knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of man which is in him which words if I have any logick contain two things 1. That a man knowes his own mind or if he do not then 2. That no man else can therefore since a man knows his own actions and his own affections what he doth and out of what principles he doth it he cannot chuse but know who it is he obeyes but if his Life be so various so made up of vice and virtue and the flesh and spirit be so evenly pois'd that which hath the preheminence whom he obeyes be a matter very doubtful and disputable to himself then whether he shall be saved or no must remain to himself and much more to all others God alone excepted equally doubtful and I can guess at no other expedient for him if he hath a mind to rid himself of this scruple than entirely to compleat his conquest over sin and to shake off that empire over sin which it seems to me hath been too long and deeply settled and established and to go on from one degree of grace unto another till he arrives at Perfection which is the only method to obtain that full assurance of hope mention'd Heb 6 11. With which I intend now to close this first part of my discourse of the Nature of Christianity because tho it be not a particular grace it is a particular state and therefore deserves a particular consideration and tho we be not oblig'd to it upon pain of Damnation yet we are invited and encourag'd to it by several glorious motives and enforcements as shall presently appear and therefore it is a Gospel duty by Perfection in the sense I now consider it the Gospel implies a State of Grace arriv'd at its full maturity and strength grown into Nature and consummated into a vigorous and delightful habit it being in this as in all other qualities they grow up into habit and nature that is Perfection by degrees According to this the Gospel describes this State by Manhood and a perfect Stature and calls our procedure to it growing encreasing and going on so that perfection is nothing else but Faith Love Temperance and Humility in their greatest lustre and strength The effect of this State is that the Life be not onely constant firm even and like it self but also pleasant and delightful too not only that the man abstain from evil and do good but that also he do both with desire and earnestness of spirit with ease and with delight not onely that he do good but what is in its kind most so This is a State which is attainable in this Life for the Gospel calls and invites men to it and if any deny it it is because they frame to themselves another kind of notion of perfection than the Gospel delivers us which requires of Man no other perfection than such as is suitable to his Nature and the assistances promis'd by God and to this present State never as much as dreaming that perfection is the same thing in man as in an Angel and what ever men may talk it doth not reckon the unavoidable imperfections and frailties of men for sins at leastwise such as can hinder man from being denominated perfect witness the whole First Epistle of St. John The motives to this duty may be compriz'd under Four heads all deriv'd from the nature of the State it self Perfection is a State 1. More pleasing to God 2. Of greater security 3. Of greater pleasure 4. Entitled to greater glory in the Life to come 1. More pleasing to God if God Loves holiness which no body can doubt then every degree of holiness is a new charm and what is most Holy is most lovely and if so every one that professes to Love God must be oblig'd to aim at perfection because he cannot but be oblig'd to please God as much as he can and he that doth not may justly suspect his conformity to the divine precepts to be rather policy than Religion and to proceed from a desire of his own safety rather than the Glory and pleasure of God unless a spiritual prudence shall restrain him from attempts or vowes of more Heroical instances of obedience for Reasons which Religion may approve of in which case it will be alwayes necessary to observe this caution that his choice of a better good do not proceed from any desire of gratifying the body or from want of Love to God and holiness 2. Perfection is a state of greater security the more strong Faith and Love grow the more faint and flat are all temptations that beset us a soul which is devout and rais'd is not easily lur'd down by any of the flatteries of lust the soul being long accustomed to rule and the body to obey the soul being us'd to spiritual delights and the body being now perfectly crucified the man is become a quite different being from what he was and therefore that World which did before take him hath now no grace nor allurement in it I am crucified to the World and the World is crucified to me This State is call'd in Scripture Wisdom and Knowledge and Strength which doth intimate to us that that World which did before gain upon us only by our blindness and our weakness can now no longer prevail besides this the more like God we grow the more dear are we to him and become the more near and peculiar charge of Heaven which St. Paul Heb. 6 9.10 alledges for a reason why he was perswaded better things of them than Apostacy and things that accompany Salvation that is perseverance because God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of Love c. 3. It is a State of greater pleasure a State of Peace and Rest from sin for the Man having establish'd an entire conquest over himself is not frequently alarm'd by the lusts of the body because it is crucified the soul being rais'd and Heavenly is now too much exalted to be reach'd by the blasts of every temptation 2. It is the nature of a habit
dark chamber and mark how thou must lie in thy bed of sickness and of Death consider how all thy hopes and comforts all thy designs and purposes as far as they concern this world must vanish like a dream and think what need thou wilt then stand in of all the strength and comfort which Reason and Religion the Ministry and Prayers of thy Spiritual guide and Friend and the Conscience of a well spent Life can furnish thee with then thou wilt need a strong Faith and a vigorous Love and an entire Humility to enable thee to bear thy agonies patiently and part with the world chearfully and meet thy God compos'dly 4. Do not indulge thy self in the Enjoyment of the utmost liberty which is consistent with Innocence vice borders very closely upon vertue he that will not be burnt must not approach so nigh the fire as to be sing'd besides such freedomes do insensibly instill sensuality into the soul at leastwise if so thick an aire do not sully the soul it is too gross and mixt to whiten and clear it 5. Catch at every opportunity of a holy discourse and learn to raise from every thing a heavenly thought and to mannage every Accident to some spiritual purpose embrace all examples of an Excellent vertue and search after all occasions of doing good declining by all the Arts of prudence and Religion what ever either company or discourse whatever either sight or entertainement may soften thy temper thaw thy Resolutions discompose thy calm or alay thy heavenly mindedness or endear the world to thee sin steals in thorough the eye or ear c. dressed up in Beauty Mirth Luxury c. but it wounds whilst it delights and it stains where it touches and it captives what it once possesses 6. Be sure that thy Religion be plac'd in substantial and weighty things not fancyful and conceited for example 1. As to matters of Faith make it thy business to know God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent the riches of divine Love and the merit of Christs sacrifice and do not mispend thy time nor weary and disturb thy Soul with Curiosities and vain disputes which usually grow out of interest and pride or an impertinent and trifling spirit 2. As to practice let thy Religion be made up of Fundamental Duties not conceits or will worship of Charity and Humility Obedience Mortification and Purity pure Religion and undefiled is this to visit the Fatherless and the Widowes and to keep ones selfe unspotted from the world Religion is not a devout whimsey a sullen Austerity or a blind and giddy passion but all that promotes the Honor of God the good of Mankind and the peace of our own Souls The Prayer O Most glorious and Eternal God guide me I beseech thee in the paths of Holyness I am the purchase of thy Sons blood I have known the truth of thy glorious Gospel and receiv'd the earnest of thy Love thy Holy Spirit O grant that I may not receive thy Grace in vain that I may not suffer wreck in the sight of my Haven But assist me by the might of thy Spirit in the inward Man to perfect Holyness in the fear of God to go on to the full assurance of Hope mortifying each day more and more the outward man and growing in all godliness and vertue and every thing that is praise worthy that so the nearer I approach Eternity the fitter for it I may be that my state here being a state of spiritual delight and pleasure each day may give fresh vigour to my Devotion so that I may not faint till I enter into the Joyes of my Master and receive a Crown Amen Amen Holy Jesus I have consider'd 1. Our Obligation to Religion upon the account of our own Souls which can neither be happy in this Life nor that to come without it 2. The Nature and Substance of that Religion we profess as it regards either Belief or Practice from all which it appears that the Christian Philosophy is nothing else but a Systeme of most exalted Holyness such as may become Men who are design'd for another life it remains now 3. To consider by what powerful motives the Gospel engages us to duties which are so far above our natural state and strengths Practical Christianity Part II. CHAP. I. Of the Motives which the Gospel proposes to Holiness THe Motives by which the Gospel obliges us to Holiness are 1. The Reward of Vertue and Punishment of Vice in another World 2. The Consideration of the Divine Nature 3. The Consideration of the whole History of our Saviour 4. The consideration of the vanity of all those things which are the temptations to sin 5. The nature of virtue and of vice 6. The assistance of the Divine spirit and 7. The consideration of the nature of the Gospel Covenant which leaves a place for Repentance 1. Of the first Motive Upon what account Life and Immortality is said to be brought to light thorough the Gospel I 'le not determine but it is certain that the Gospel shews us how Death is abolish'd and how Life and Immortality may be attain'd 2 that it hath manifested this to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews and that 3. The Discovery of it is in full and clear words laid down in almost every Page of it The Wicked shall go away into everlasting punishment and the Righteous into Life eternal Mat. 25. and Ro. 2.5 there is a day mention'd which is call'd The Day of the Revelation of the righteous judgement of God because he will then render to every man according to his Deeds to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for Glory and honour and immortality eternal Life but unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil of the Jew first and also of the Gentile but glory honour and peace to every man that worketh good to the Jew first and also to the Gentile This being so to sin must needs be so silly and weak a thing no man of common sense would be guilty of for can any man of reason be at a loss in such a choice as this whether he will live eternally or die whether he will be happy for ever or for a moment upon supposal that sin could make me live one happy moment 'T is true if there were no prospect of another Life no account to be taken in another world the case would be much alter'd for the Law of our nature being I humbly conceive nothing else but the Law or Dictates of Reason and the business of Reason being in this respect at least only to distinguish between good and evil our Reason would talk to us at another rate because it would proceed by different principles good and evil would then peradventure be different things for whatever would make for the pleasure and interest of
that thou hast secured our happiness by the Revelation of glorious truths by the encouragement of precious promises and by the sanction of wise Laws Grant most gracious God that I may be daily conversant in thy most glorious Gospel to this End that the pleasures of the world and the flesh may not ensnare and entangle me but that I may be enabled through thy word and Spirit to live above the corruptions of Lust to possess my vessel in purity and honour and to enjoy thy blessings moderately and thankfully that I may at last be received into an Eternity of Rest and Peace and Joy thorough Jesus Christ my Lord. CHAP. II. Of Pain consider'd as a Temptation to Sin BY Pain I mean every thing which is troublesome All troubles may be reduc'd under two Heads Imaginary and Real ones by Real I mean such as do actually injure the mind or bodies of men by Imaginary I mean such as could have no influence at all upon men but through the assistance of prejudice or fancy I 'le begin with the latter and in speaking to both I must premise this that I will not bring home every Argument by a close Application for then this very Head would swell into a vast proportion but content my self with proving That there is no pain which can be a just warrant for sin because the Gospel hath provided such Remedies as may render it supportable and such Rewards as may countervail all our sufferings There is no Temptation which befals us but what is common to men and God is faithful and will not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able the strengths he allows us but will with the Temptation make a way to escape that we may be able to bear it There are many things which are not really harsh and unsufferable in themselves but they become such because it is the custom of the world to think them so For example a shallow Fortune but sufficient for the necessary comforts of life an inglorious solitude or privacy the Opinions of others concerning us these things have no real influence either upon mind or body they cannot make the Soul less rational nor the body less healthy a man may be happy here and go to Heaven afterwards without much fame or wealth that all the misery that is deriv'd from these things depends upon Opinion is plain because some have made that Poverty retirement and contempt their choice which is such a Bug-bear to others and so the same thing which is ones affliction becomes anothers pleasure So that it is plain fancy gives us the wound not the things themselves or else if misery were an inseparable Companion to the things themselves it were impossible that Content should ever sojourn in Cells or Cottages or ever be a stranger to Wealth and Honour Of this sort of troubles are all those other passions which are inkindled in us by the impressions of things from without for even Beauty Grandure Gaity c. though in their own nature innocent things are sharpen'd and arm'd by our fancies with trouble and danger to our repose Now though it be true that as the cold or heat of Climates are things innocent enough to bodies inur'd to them and yet are fatal to others so here though all temptations of the world are in themselves harmless things yet 't is plain that upon Beings so dispos'd and temper'd as ours are they make dangerous impressions Therefore in the Gospel of Christ the remedies prescrib'd by him do all tend to the removal of these ill dispositions and the reforming our false Opinions and the suppressing our inclinations As 1. Our first care must be to frame our Opinions of things by the Rule of Faith and to root out all false Notions of things to this end the holy Gospel doth every where insinuate the emptiness the transitoriness the uncertainty of all things here below the Excellency of Holiness and Righteousness and the little tendency which the things of the world have to promote it And lastly the Weight and Eternity of happiness in another world all which contribute to our happiness as they arm us against the impressions of outward objects by possessing us with a contempt of them and with desires far greater and nobler and contradictory to those other 2. The Gospel of Christ injoyns us to shun and fly temptations all that we can we are to block up all the Avenues by which the world may make its approaches the lustful must not gaze upon Beauty nor the ambitious on greatness c. and because sin usually gains by Parley we are carefully to shun the least appearance of evil not to entertain thoughts c. 3. We are to labour earnestly to mortifie all the lusts of the Body by Fasting and Watching and Prayer and a constant temperance incourag'd to it by the example of our Lord and a whole Cloud of Witnesses gone to Heaven before us and the promise of rewards annexed to the careful performance of and unwearied perseverance in these duties And 4. The assistance of the mighty Spirit of God and a certain Victory is promis'd to him who thus contends and unless men will willingly deprive themselves of such an Auxiliary by not contending or not begging him of Christ or grieving him it is not to be doubted but we shall obtain him and together with him sufficient strength and glory honour and immortality will be the end of our warfare These are the Means these are the Motives this is the Assistance which our blessed Jesus hath prescribed and offer'd us by which we may be inabled to live above those miseries which they are intangled in who obey not his Gospel and defeat those Airy Apparitions which would fright us into sin Therefore in whatever condition I am I will still ask what would my blessed Saviour have done or said or thought in this case what opinion of or value for this or that thing or condition hath God and I shall soon find that no condition can make me truly miserable but that wherein I cannot love God I cannot pray or cannot do good For if I can I am both great and happy If a man love me Joh. 14.23 my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him Happy abode what can my Soul desire more I cannot think my self mean who am his Favorite nor can I be poor who possess that God whose presence makes up Heaven My God how happy should I be could I be content to make thee alone my Portion but because I cannot be content to be poor and contemptible because I seek my comforts from without because I am not at leisure to entertain thee only therefore thou dost not dwell so ravishingly with me But I will seek thee more diligently hereafter vain world adieu I have Nobler hopes than thou canst feed and I shall have comforts thou canst not rob me of How can I be miserable if I be
place i. e. Sacraments Prayer and Fasting each of which may be consider'd in a threefold respect 1. As Parts of Divine Worship or of Holiness in general 2. As Instruments of advancing Holiness 3. As Remedies and Antidotes against Temptation In each of which Relations I will consider each of them a little And 1. Of Baptism COnsider'd in the first sense of the three it contains a Solemn Profession of the Christian Faith an actual Renunciation of those Enemies of Christianity the World the Flesh and the Devil and a listing ones self into the service and obedience of Christ And because I cannot think that there is any Essential part in the System of Christianity meerly Ceremonial I cannot think but that besides the Admission into the Church which is the Body of Christ and consequently a Title to all the glorious priviledges of its Members our blessed Saviour doth endow the Person baptized with power from on high to perform all those great ingagements he takes upon him as will appear to any one who shall consider the Nature of Christianity which doth alway annex a Grace to the external Mean or Instrument or 2. The great things spoken or this Sacrament or 3. The value all understanding Christians have had for it or the effects which follow'd it when practis'd in the Infancy of the Church and I humbly conceive this to be the sense of the Church of England which supposes the thing signified by the outward Ceremony of Baptism to be a Death unto sin and a New-birth unto Righteousness But whatever become of this motion it is certain that it is a strange Obligation to a Holy Life and a Remedy against Sin as being a most solemn ingagement of our selves to the obedience of Christ from which we cannot start back without drawing upon our selves the guilt and punishment of Perjury and forfeiting all those advantages we partake of by it and I wish all would lay this to heart who plead the Obligations of Civility and Friendship Custom and Fashion in defence of their sins as if any trifling Ceremony were sufficient to supersede our Obligation to Christ and acquit us of that guilt which the breach of the most sacred Covenant brings upon us The Prayer BLessed and holy Saviour give me grace to remember my Baptismal Vow to remember that I am a sworn Enemy to the World the Flesh and the Devil and inable me to fight the good fight of Faith under thy Banner the Cross Let me have no truce entertain no friendship with thine and my Enemies Let them flatter me if they will with smiles and promises I am sure they mean nothing to me but death and ruine how shall any fantastick Obligations Cancel my duty to thee resulting from so solemn a Covenant In vain doth the World disguize its temptations under the forms of Civility and Honour I know no Civility which can oblige me to renounce my Vows no Honour that can excuse my Perjury in vain doth the World assault me by Greatness and Wealth and Glory these are the very things I resolv'd against when I took up the Cross of my Crucified Saviour in my Baptism Grant O blessed Lord that I may have mortified affections and a Victorious Faith an humble meek Spirit and glorious Hopes that after this troublesome life is ended I may rest with thee in Everlasting Glory Amen Amen Of the Lords Supper THe Supper of our Lord may fall under the same forms of Consideration which Baptism did that is it may be consider'd 1. As a part of Divine Worship 2. As an Instrument of Holiness 3. As a Remedy against Temptation I will look upon it briefly under each of these notions and herein I will guide my self by that incomparable Office of this Church which hath admirably express'd and reduc'd to a method the whole mind of the Gospel relating to this matter for which I have often bless'd God whilst I beheld and reverenc'd that Primitive plainness and truly Christian Spirit visible in it First then our Lords Supper consider'd as an act or part of Religious Worship or Holiness contains in it these four things 1. An humble acknowledgment of our sins 2. A devout Profession of our Faith in Christ that we are the Disciples of a Crucified Saviour and expect Salvation by no other way than that Sacrifice of his Body and Blood offer'd upon the Cross 3. A solemn Oblation of most humble and hearty thanks to God for this inestimable benefit his bestowing his Son upon us to die for us and to our Master and only Saviour Christ for his exceeding great love in dying for us 4. A most solemn Oblation of our selves souls and bodies to be a holy lively and acceptable Sacrifice unto God so that this Sacrament consists of a whole Constellation of Graces Repentance Faith Hope Charity It is a nearer approach into the presence of God and more solemn exercise of the Graces of the Gospel and this gives a very fair account of the reason of its frequent practice for nothing can be Secondly A more effectual instrument of Holiness upon these and the following accounts 1. That the preparation necessary as a condition of our worthy Reception doth awaken our Souls and refresh all our Graces and mortifie all our sensual Lusts and draws us nearer to Heaven and the necessity of such a preparation as the Church-office prescribes appears from hence that Repentance and Faith and Charity are absolutely necessary to inable a man to exert those acts before-mention'd which constitute this Sacrament consider'd as a part of Divine Worship and therefore to approach that holy Table without a Soul so qualified is to affront and mock the Majesty of Heaven 2. That the exercise of our Graces in receiving doth increase and improve them that act of humble Adoration and profound Prostration of our selves before God under a sense of his Purity and Majesty and our sinfulness and meanness that lively Acts of Faith whereby the Soul doth profess its firm belief of and dependance upon the Death and Passion of its dear Lord and Saviour for Salvation that love whereby the Soul offers its praises and its self a Sacrifice to God do leave such lively and lasting impressions upon mens minds as are not quickly nor easily effac'd and the Soul by the delight it finds in its exerting these Graces is inkindled with a desire of repeating the same Acts. 3. That the Sacrament it self hath a natural tendency to promote Holiness 1. By its sensible Representations of a Crucified Saviour the Symbols themselves being fit to bring into our minds the pain and sufferings of our dear Lord and Master 2. By that inward Grace inseparable from the worthy Reception of it bestow'd upon us to refresh and strengthen our Souls to root and confirm our Faith to inflame our Love and perfect our Hopes 3. By being a Pledge and Assurance to us of the pardon of our sins thorough the Blood of Christ 4. That it is
unhallow them If after all this I chance to Err I do not doubt but that the purity of my intention the diligence of my inquiry the meekness and intireness of my Resignation will through the mercies and goodness of a gracious God secure my Heaven and render my error innocent and harmless All that is behind now is in the 3. Third place to preserve my Charity for my Neighbour least that Faith which should be the strong engagement to union become the unhappy Instrument of Divisions To this end I consider 1. That the Controversies now on foot in Christendome are not about the Truth but sense of Divine Revelation none at all calling into question the veracity but the meaning of God and therefore I cannot conceive the glory of God any more lessen'd or injur'd by variety of Opinions than by variety of Capacities unless in their consequence 2. As the bare assent to a Truth doth not save so I see no reason why the holding of an Error should damn unless it be such as hath a sinful Original or Issue or such as is not consistent with the Honour and Glory of the Most High God and indeed no Opinion which lessens the Majesty of the Most High God can be taken up by any one professing Christianity but that it must begin or end in Sin But yet the aggravation or extenuation of the guilt of a Man thus erring may depend upon so many circumstances as Capacity Education Means and Opportunity of better information the strength of prejudices c. That he must be left to the judgment of God alone and my duty as a private Christian is to love and pray for him and to endeavour his reducement by all the pious Subtleties I can This is the general Rule of the Apostle Let not the Weak judge the Strong nor the Strong despise the Weak I will live in the peaceful temper of these perswasions happy in the enjoyment of a smooth and settled Calm resign'd up to God stanch and consistent in my self and possess'd by charitable hopes of my Neighbour I 'le endeavour to keep a Conscience void of offence towards God and towards Man and then I hope I may at last resign my Spirit into the hands of a faithful Creator in the Joyes and Transports of this Precious Christian Faith The Prayer GLorious and incomprehensible God suppress in me all proud thoughts all wild and wanton Curiosities and keep my Soul in the humble frame of new born Babes Thou dwellest in Light inaccessible my Soul in a cloud of Flesh and Bloud my Faculties are weak and tainted and thy Light dazling and therefore it is not for me Lord it is not for me saucily to discuss or pragmatically to determine of but humbly to receive and heartily to embrace those Mysteries which thou a God of Truth of Goodness and of Power hast vouchsaf'd to reveal to us by the Son of thy Bosome Lord I confess that tho these Mysteries have a dark they have a bright side too for tho I cannot see thorow them yet I see enough to oblige me to worship Thee in Humility and Love and these these I hope will secure me in thy Love through Christ Lord I believe help thou mine unbelief enlighten my blindness quicken and enliven my dulness support my frailties disperse my Passions free me from all the prejudices which clog my sinful nature and finally beget in me an earnest desire after those blissful Mansions where my Faith shall be swallowed up in Vision Amen blessed Jesus Thus I have consider'd the Christian Faith and secur'd my own Peace But there are multitudes of People of a lower Rank and Capacity who may not it may be reach the design of this Section who are distracted by the numerous Controversies every where on foot and frightned by the rash zeal of their Abetters For the satisfaction of such I consider That it is easie to deduce from the Gospel That the Almighty will judge men by their several measures and opportunities 2. That the great Fundamentals of Religion are clear as day light and therefore the Gospel is call'd Light and the Grace of God is said to appear unto all men which tho I suppose primarily meant in opposition to the darkness of Gentilism and in some measure of Judaism too and to that narrower limitation of this Grace under the Mosaical Oeconomy implies with all the clearness of the Gospel of which were there no other proof this one would suffice That the Gospel was design'd for the benefit of all Mankind and more immediately preach'd to the Poor and Silly and Refuse of the World The consequence of this is that it seems at least to me wholly improbable that any Body should be betray'd into a necessity of Erring in Fundamentals unless they be accessory to their own error and therefore this being once granted I may resolve all I can think of necessary for the Multitude in to two directions 1. That holding fast to manifest Fundamentals they for the rest submit themselves to the Government they are under which will be safe for them upon three Accounts 1. That the points controverted are such which they are not of necessity oblig'd to know 2. That they themselves are not capable of making any solid inquiry and therefore to resign themselves to those set over them is the utmost of their duty 3. That in this Case their submission to the publick Authority of the Church they are of is an act of Obedience and Humility and most conformable to the command of God and the peace and unity of the world 2. That they never prefer a doubtful opinion to the prejudice of a plain Precept or Duty a Man may go to Heaven tho he be not of this or that opinion but without Obedience and Charity he cannot but to do this is to stickle for a Sect in violation of Obedience and Charity and to prefer an humor before ones Duty which is a certain Symptom of a mind infatuated by pride or perverted by interest CHAP. III. Of Christianity with respect to Practice and that 1. In general and 2. In particular Sect. 1. OF Practice in general which contains Being and Doing Good We are born into a World full of Snares and Temptations and we our selves are Creatures blind and yet wilful weak and yet wanton too and upon these accounts we are vouchsaf'd the favour of Divine Revelation to conduct us thorow our Pilgrimage to enable us to fight the good fight of Faith and to prevent our miscarrying thorow the Deceitfulness of Sin and the frailty of humane nature and therefore whoever doth not improve this gift of God into all these Advantages and Benefits defeats the design of Heaven and receives the grace of God in vain Besides all this the great Author of all things hath declar'd himself a God jealous of his honour and delighted in the happiness of his Creatures from whence I naturally infer that that only can be a design
as such And as insignificant would this opinion render it to the happiness of Man for of what use will all the excellent rules of Justice Charity Meekness Temperance c. prove if we continue peevish and revengeful intemperate and lustful c. to what purpose are the fuller discoveries of another World Life and Immortality and the Belief of Jesus being the Son of God if they do not enable us to conquer the world and mortifie the flesh and if I walk according to the Laws of the Flesh i. e. Violate the Laws of the Spirit can I choose but dread a God whom I have wrong'd and will not unruly Passions and a troubled Conscience make a Christian as miserable as a Jew or Heathen If Goodness now be the end and drift of the holy belief of Christians then I infer 1. That the best Man is the best Son of the Church and he whose affections are more rais'd and heavenly and hath least of the mixture of sensuality is of the highest form in the School of Christ because he doth best answer the design of his Lord and walks in some measure as he walk'd 2. That the most infallible characters of a true Faith are to be taken from the government of our Passions our conquest o're the world and the increase of our inward joy and peace and hope Good Lord how apt are we to put a a cheat upon the World and our selves to perswade it and our selves that we believe tho there be no change in our Souls and Conversations and therefore consequently we do nothing less I shall hereafter never think that I believe aright till I have a Love for all his Commandments till I can meditate delightfully pray vigorously relie constantly obey readily suffer patiently rejoyce humbly expect reverently and happy is me if I attain that height earnestly too the hour of my death or the appearance of my Lord. I shall never hereafter think that I have studied or known divine truth to any purpose till the Truth hath made me free rescued me from the bondage of Sin and fears of Death The Prayer THou Holy Pure and Eternal Spirit who canst not indure iniquity who dost so love goodness that thou hast sent thy Son into the world to promote it his Life and his death his Pains and his blood were spent in this Cause O enable thy poor Servant who names the name of Christ to hunger and thirst after righteousness and to depart from iniquity Lord let thy truth and thy Spirit be powerful in me to the subduing all of evil inclinations I believe that all things are naked and bare before thee and therefore that thou canst not be mock'd or impos'd upon by specious pretences or formalities That I am not to expect to appear any other in thy Eyes than such as I am in my self inable me therefore to confess thee in my practice as well as words to live like one who believ'd thy holy Truths Let my heart be fixt in Honesty and uprightness to obey all thy Commandments Let the Belief of things not seen have the same influence upon me they had upon all thy holy Saints Martyrs and Confessors i. e. Perswade me to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and holily in this present world through Jesus Christ Sect. 2. Of doing Good There are a sort of People who indeavour all they can to withdraw from the world and rid their hands of business and think it abundantly sufficient if they can discharge their duty towards God in their Retirements This is Lawful nay commendable only upon two accounts 1. If my Temper or Circumstances be such that my Conversation cannot be publick and safe too for then the Salvation of my own Soul is naturally the most near and dear concern or 2. If my qualifications are such that my retirement is likely to prove more advantagious to the publick than my filling any other Post for then I act according to the Rules of Charity There are two other Inducements to a retir'd Private Life The one founded in a vice the other in a mistake 1. The First is when Men withdraw from the Business as from the trouble of the World and their Pleasure not Religion is their first and chief motive They meet with many rubs and oppositions in a busie Active Life and then they grow soft and weak and lasie and they want Courage and Industry and the frequent interruptions of their private peace and enjoyment is uneasie and they would withdraw to enjoy themselves and this is unchristian and unmanly 't is Epicurism not Contempt of the World 2. The mistake is when we look upon a Monastical kind of life as the whole of Christianity and the meer Perfection of the Regenerate state and place Piety so wholly in acts of solitary Devotion as to seclude the doing good and communicating c. It will behove such to consider 1. That true and apparent Motives Pretence and Religion are sometimes so twisted together that it is hard for a man to distinguish 'em and therefore some secret weakness or reserve may be the real whilst zeal is made the pretended cause of this choice 2. That the Busie and Active Life is the more Excellent and the more necessary 1. the more excellent as being fuller of hazards and troubles and temptations there is a larger field for virtues for Patience Courage Meekness Reliance c. in an active than speculative life and such will receive more Crowns And when I consider the Nature of God and necessities of Mankind I cannot but think acts of Charity as prevalent to the wiping off our guilt as the severest penances A vigorous and active life spent in promoting the welfare of others is a more perfect instance of self denial speaks a greater contradiction to our ease and pleasure commits more violence upon our inclinations than any acts of private Austerity can pretend to do for besides the Pains the watching and the fasting incident to both a like the trouble of Contrivance the industry of addresses the uneasiness of refusals c. sufficiently weigh down the one side Besides this Confinement imprisons our light under a bushel it is a Cover a Napkin for our Talents to conceal them and render them useless to others and therefore our reward will be less in another world and our graces the fainter in this For to him what hath i. e. useth shall be given Grace like the Widows Oile increases by being charitably imparted That Flame which warms my Neighbour reflects back with a double heat upon my self and that Goodness which cherishes his heart softens and sanctifies my own And over and above all this I enjoy a strange delight in doing good and in beholding the fruits which my own hands have planted And my assurance and the confidence of my hopes encreases by the conscience of that Love which my works convince me I have for my Brethren 2. That a busie
my self only in proportion to what I share of thee for I know this is the Standard by which God now value me and will hereafter judge me If this be the end of Religion onely to implant goodness and charity amongst us to make us holy and like God and kind and beneficial one to another what is it that the World hates it for I may say concerning those who persecute Christianity as St. Peter did of those who Crucified its Author I wot that through ignorance ye did it Act. 3 17. Surely it is because you do not discern its beauty that you do not Love it If any retir'd life promote the end I have mention'd as well as an Active once I would not be thought to condemne it The Prayer O God the Heaven and Earth are full of thy goodness the faculties of our souls and the senses of our bodies are all imploy'd in the contemplation and enjoyment of it O make us who worship thee to imitate thee too that we may be thy children indeed make our souls delight to do goood and imprint in us such tender and compassionate Bowels towards one another as our dear Lord and Master had towards us Amen Amen blessed Jesus CHAP. IV. Of Chrictian practice in particular HAving consider'd the Nature of Christianity in respect to practice in the general I am now to speak of it more particularly but not pretending to give an account of every single virtue I will dwell upon Three Which contain the substance of the Christian duty i.e. Faith Love and Humility I will not apologize for the unphilosophical placing of Faith amongst practical duties the following discourse will clear the reason of it I place humility in the last place not because there is not an humility which is precedent to and disposes men for the reception of faith but because I look upon that humility which is consequent to and caus'd by it and which must always accompany it to render it acceptable in a more peculiar and proper sense an Evangelical grace 1. Of Faith When I read the glorious Achievements of a true Faith Heb. 11. That it subdued Kingdomes wrought Righteousness obtained promises c. and in one word supported men under the greatest miseries and arm'd them against the most taking pleasures of this World I cannot sufficiently wonder that a fuller and clearer discovery of a Heaven confirm'd to us by the strongest evidences i. e. the demonstration of the Spirit and of Power should have so weak an influence upon us Christians we take no more pains for Heaven than if we did not believe there were such a place and we have the same cares and fears in respect of the things present which Heathens and Infidels have so that tho' we talk much of Faith we make little or no use at all of it Therefore least any man delude and fool himself with a perswasion of being endowed with that Faith which he hath not I 'le give such an account of it as agrees with the Gospel of the Kingdom as suits with and serves the necessities of mankind and the end and Aims of God Faith saith the blessed Apostle is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen the substance or presence the evidence or Proof 't is not a slight transient glance drowsie imperfect assent a staggering wavering opinion but 't is a lively representation an affective vision a full perswasion of the glorious truths of the Gospel when the Objects are so fully and clearly evident that they not onely convince but take us too it is having the mind enlightn'd and so looking upon things with the eys of Angels and judging by the light of the blessed Spirit It is not only to see that the things invisible are but to see them in some measure such as they are Eternity as Eternity and Heaven as Heaven that is a state of truely great and glorious happiness on this account the things present may have a different face and aspect when regarded by the eyes of Faith and when of Sense for sense stops in the things themselves and regards their usefulness to the pleasure or profit of this present life but Faith carries its sight forward and compares the things which are seen with those hoped for the things temporal with those eternal and then all below appears but meer vanity This whole account of Faith we may find in the 13 verse of Heb. 11. These all died in Faith and what it is to dye or live in Faith the following words explain not having reciev'd the promises i.e. the accomplishment of them but having seen them a far off i. e. by divine Revelation were perswaded of them and embraced them and the natural consequence of this was and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth Now Faith is unalterable as to its essence but its objects may vary they may be more or fewer clearer or darker according to the Nature of divine revelation Heb. 1.1 its evidence may be fuller or weaker but still it must be such as may suffice to convince man of the Divine authority of the Revelation As to the Christian Faith 2. Its objects are the whole Gospeâ—â— of Christ God the Father such as he is reveal'd by the Son God the Son incarnate crucified c. The Rewards and punishments contain'd in it and all in order to engage us to an entire obedience to its holy and righteous Precepts By Faith I see that God who is invisible who tho he dwels in Heaven doth yet humble himself to behold all that is done upon Earth nor doth he only behold but govern all things too And whilst I contemplate his Wisedom Power Truth Goodness Holiness Justice c. manifested to me in the Gospel I adore and worship him I love and fear him I call on and relie upon him I endeavour to walk before him and be perfect I know nothing like him and therefore I desire nothing beside him or equal to him in Heaven or in Earth By Faith I see the Son of God abandoning the bosome and the Glory of his Father descending upon Earth and assuming the form of a Servant that by his doctrine and example he might propagate Righteousness and holiness in the world I trace him thorough all the Stages of his sufferings and travel till I behold him fasten'd to the Cross and bleeding out his meek and holy Soul at those painful wounds the nails had made and all this for my sins and the sins of the whole World and then with what a strange mixture of Passions that sight fills me with grief and shame and yet with love and hope too How I am amaz'd to see what indignation a holy God hath discover'd against Sin and how my heart bleeds to think that my sins have treated thus despitefully and cruelly my dear Lord and Master and with what a melting passion and vigorous resolutions of a fervent industrious service and an everlasting zeal
set my self to my duty and submit to his blessed Will whether he think fit to Crown my Cup with over-flowing joy and to reward my labour by inward transports or not And is it not fit I should thus Love my God whatever there be which can take and endear a rational and excellent spirit is to be found in him all the notions I can possibly frame to my self of a spiritual perfection and Beauty I conceive united in him Goodness Wisdome Power Truth Constancy are the Characters by which the Gospel discovers him to us and these have unspeakable charms upon all ingenious minds and they are intelligible enough to any that will consider them it is true he is a spirit and so incomprehensible to us in his essence and therefore I cannot frame to my self an Image for my Love as one friend doth of another but the time will come when I shall be spiritual enough to see him as I am seen and then my delight and Love will be proportionable in some measure to his beauty and perfection in the mean time my Reason as well as the Gospel assures me that he is infinitely aimable tho that beauty be now a Light that is inaccessible But besides this that great Character of Love and Mercy manifested in its most excellent lustre in the Gospel is enough to endear him to us He is not now our Father only upon the account of Creation and Providence because he hath made us fed and cloathed us these are Common and trivial mercies compar'd to the obligations of the Gospel i. e. the Redeeming us from our evil conversation by the blood of Chriâ—â— and the power of his Spirit into that holiness which is his own Image and resemblance the designing us for the joys and pleasures of his own Heaven his readiness to pardon our transgressions his care employ'd upon us against temptations his delight in us c. If the World could shew us such evidences of Love or could assure us of such an Eternity if it could tell us as the Serpent did Eve eat and ye shall be as God then indeed there were temptation in it but till it does there 's none really Besides these two considerations of the aimableness of the divine nature in himself his goodness to us including his infinite power too there is but one thing more which can be a proper motive to engage our affections that is that such an object be lasting and this is the great prerogative of God alone that he never changes nor dies he will for ever be what he is now most perfect and most gracious The Prayer O Glorious God it is the sole excellence of my Nature that I am capable of loving thee and it is my glorious priviledge that thou art pleas'd to suffer and admit of the addresses of my Soul in this only I am a kin to Angels In those talents which serve only to the end of a corporal life I am out done by Brutes O therefore give me grace to dwel as often as I can in the divine contemplations of thy nature to look forward to that glory which thy bounty hath reveal'd and promis'd me to consider by what methods of infinite Love thou dost prepare me for it and let all this make me love thee above all things and desire to know nothing but Thee my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and him crucified Amen Amen 2. The Second part of Charity is the Love of our Neighbour of which now Charity is in short the Love of our Brethren or a kind of Brotherly affection one towards another the Rule and Standard by which we are to examine and regulate this Habit is that love we bear Ourselves or that which Christ bore us that is that it be unfeigned constant and out of no other design but their happyness The Apostle 1. Cor. 13. taking Charity in a most comprehensive sense as it animates all other graces and influences all our actions which relate to our Neighbour doth thus divinely describe it Charity suffereth long and is kind Charity envieth not Charity vaunteth not it self is not puffed up doth not behave it self unseemly seeketh not her own is not easily provoked thinketh no evil rejoyceth not in iniquity or wrong but rejoyceth in the truth faithfulness or fair dealing beareth all things or rather covereth or concealeth i. e. others Error believeth all things hopeth all things endureth all things But now to reduce all to fewer heads and to consider Charity in a closser sense it contains two things 1. The doing good to and 2. Forgiving one another The things which are capable of receiving any benefit by our Charity are our Neighbours Reputation Body Soul and therefore 1. Charity secures mans credit by denouncing a Hell to the Slanderer and Whisperer and Evil speaker c. This Charity obligeth us not to give way to weak surmises but to be forward to believe the best in favour and excuse of an Error not to proclaim anothers faults though true and real unless the discovery may serve a better end than the concealment which is that thinkest no evil beareth all things that believeth all things in the Apostle and if it forbid these sins much more those blacker of open Slanders and private whispers Nor doth this Charity oblige us only not to wrong our Neighbours credit but as far as we can not to suffer it to be wrong'd to protect and generously rescue their Reputations from the jaws of the Persecutor to awe and check the Slanderer by the Majesty of an holy Anger into shame and Confusion for otherwise we become accessary to those slanders we entertain and give ear to If we consider that to blast a mans Reputation is to render him the Scorn and Hate of others and a Burden to himself it cannot be that we should be willing to heap such killing mischiefs upon the Head of one we Love and Charity is suppos'd to love all 2. Charity ministers to the Body of our Neighbour if we will act like men possess'd by that Charity which suits with the Spirit of the Gospel our Hearts and Hands must be alwayes open to our Brothers necessities our Souls must delight to do good and to be kind And if we are not able to redress their grievances or relieve their pressures by our wealth or interest we must ease them by our compassion comfort 'em by holy advice and succour them by our Prayers ' All that profess Christianity believe this a Duty and yet how great and numerous are the sufferings of the needy and distressed and more great and numerous are the luxuries and the wantonnesses of the Rich but it happens thus all acknowledge the duty but shift it off by two pretences 1. Their own inability 2. The demerit or unworthiness of the needy person In answer to the first pretence it must be confess'd that it is not only Lawful but our duty to make provision first for our selves and those who are more
it is the Gospel means by temperance by enquiring 1. What is the end it aims at in enjoyning this Duty 2. By what words it describes and expresses it 3. The examples of our Saviour and his followers in this point Likewise the motives it adds and the method it prescribes will serve to clear up its intention to us The great end St Paul suggests to me 1 Cor. 9.25 Every man who striveth for the Mastery is temperate in all things intimating that the means are then proper when they are suited and fitted for the attainment of their end and by the allusion implying that the end of our Temperance is a striving for the Mastery that is a Conquest over the World and the body for the Gospel represents the World and the Flesh as those enemies against which the Christian is to be engag'd in a continual warfare and tells us that the lusts and pleasures of them do War against the Soul Religion being nothing else but the Love of God and heavenly things the Gospel endeavours all that it can to wean us from all fondness for or delight in the world and the flesh it being impossible to serve two such contrary interests By a clear consequence from all this I conclude that we are to endure hardship as good Souldiers of Jesus Christ that we are to abstain from fleshly lusts as strangers and pilgrims in plainer words that that abstinence from sensual pleasures which renders the body tame and governable serviceable to the soul and chearful in the exercise of Religion which doth enfranchise the mind of men from its captivity to sense which doth establish its dominion over the brutish part so that the man lives the life of faith and not of sense is disengag'd from the World and so ready to depart is that Temperance which the Gospel of Christ requires and by consequence on the other hand that that indulgence to worldly pleasures which tends to pamper and enrage the body to awaken our passions for this present state to endear and recommend the World to us to make the minds of men soft and feeble heavy and sensual to make our temper delicate and wanton unable to suffer and froward if our appetite be not satisfied is flatly contradictory to the Temperance of the Gospel of Christ This is a Rule which if well consider'd and conscientiously applyed to every particular will sufficiently conduct man in the paths of this great duty and answer all scruples concerning the enjoyment of pleasures whether they be real or phantastick ones For is any man such a stranger to himself that he doth not understand the working of his own soul that he cannot give an account of the passions which he feels nor know by what methods he is betray'd into the Love of the World and a decay of his Religion Doth not every man feel what kind of eating and drinking clogs the soul and emboldens the body what kind of sights or dalliance doth dart the poison of lust and ambition into our very souls Or what doth thaw and melt us and make us Love and hate delight or grieve hope and fear like the Children not of Light but of the World certainly unless a man will impose upon himself he must needs discern the birth and growth of his own Passions and discover the methods by which he doth insensibly degenerate into a loose or cold or senceless Spirit 2. This Temperance is in general express'd in Holy Writ by Mortification and Holyness the former imports such a change in the body as flattens and deads its appetites for the World I am crucified to the World and the World is crucified to me The latter imports an excellent and Godlike nature a transformation of mans into a spiritual a frame as man in this imperfect State is capable of arriving at And certainly men thus qualified can not place their delight in the sensual enjoyments of this life how innocent soever they might be the World hath nothing agreeable to souls of this Heavenly nature nor nothing worthy of them Temperance in the particular branches of it is call'd Purity Sobriety Abstinence Modesty c. all which are to be interpreted according to the method of the Spirit in a sense which doth not onely restrain the outward Acts but also the inward passions of man in a sense which doth not onely forbid the commission of gross sins but also all tendencies towards them in the body and in the soul Conformable to this Doctrine were 3. The lifes and examples of the Holy Jesus and his followers tho' peradventure it would not be altogether errational to suppose that the extraordinary measures of the Divine Spirit in his immediate Disciples and their conversation with the blessed Jesus and afterwards the fresh memory of all his Power and Glory might render a corporal discipline the less necessary I will not deny but that our blessed Master did often accept of entertainments nor did I ever design to forbid any such thing on particular occasions which may warrant them but it is easie to observe how course and plain and sparing his constant Diet with his Disciples was how frequent in his fastings and his watchings he was As for his Disciples after his departure their lives were but a constant warfare and the World and the flesh their enemies they Liv'd like strangers and Pilgrims upon earth and their pleasures were altogether Spiritual and Holy These were the paths that they trod towards conquest and a glorious Crown and I can easily conceive how their Life was fill'd with such spiritual ravishments how they long'd for the appearance of Christ and how they left the World with such glorious assurances as that I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith all which may have regard not only to his sufferings but also to his conflict with the flesh too henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the Righteous Judge shall give me at that Day and not to me onely but unto them also that Love his appearance But how that softeness of conversation that full and luxurious feeding and drinking that garishness and wantonness of dress that sloth and lazyness of Spirit which is so universal in the world can become the life of a Souldier of Christ I am not wise nor lucky enough to comprehend But I can now easily discern from whence it proceeds that Religion seems so unpleasant a thing and that men are so unwilling to depart hence into another life it is because we are such imperfect Christians and we live sensually It will therefore behove us to lay to heart the great motives by which the Gospel engages us to this duty as 1. The nature of our present State in this World the poor soul lives in a treacherous body and a tempting World both which conspire its ruin and therefore it must be upon its watch upon its guard it is not a time
for mirth and pleasure and feasting when the enemy hath seiz'd the outworks and entred into the very Subburbs the soul is striving for the Mastery and is it sense to arm its enemy and feed it into a fierce and brutish courage by indulging to those enjoyments which are the food and fuel to its lusts every sensual pleasure it indulges to the body is a plain giving ground before the face of its enemy 2. The reward of this spiritual conquest which is fullness of pleasures in the life to come an Eternity of bliss and happiness and how rational is it to prefer Eternity to a moment and that exceeding weight of glory and unspeakable unconceiveable pleasure to the dreams and mockeries of this imperfect State even in this present life we think it becomes our wisdome to renounce trifling pleasures out of the prospect of greater what a Discipline of severities did those contenders in the Grecian games run through out of the hopes of honour and applause from whence St. Paul excellently argues if they did this for a corruptible Crown a Crown of Leaves how much more should the Christian for an incorruptible one 3. The example of a whole Cloud of witnesses gone to Heaven before us who press'd in thorough this narrow way and strait gate but especially the consideration of a crucified Saviour for what have we to do who have taken up the Cross of Christ with rioting and drunkenness with Chambering and wantonness What resemblance is there between his Crown of Thorns his Scourging his Agony c. and the security and sloth the gaiety and vanity of a sensual life for shame let those who profess Christianity do something which may become men who have taken up the Banner of the Cross 4. The great advantage and pleasure of the State of Mortification 1. The Soul enjoys a more entire peace a more absolute empire and is not alarm'd by the daily mutinies of rebellious lusts 2. It is become a fit Temple for the Spirit of purity to dwell in for the Spirit of glory and of God to rest upon and the consequence of this will be abundance of inward pleasure of peace and joy and hope 5. The uncertainty of the time of our Saviours appearance to judgement and who that hath a grain of sense would be surpriz'd by that day at unawares who would be overtaken by the Judge of the World in surfieting and drunkenness or any other of the sinful pleasures of this Life The Prayer O Thou God who art a holy and a pure Spirit sanctifie me in Spirit Soul and Body that I may offer up my self unto thee a holy living and acceptable sacrifice Enable me to fight the good fight of Faith to take up the banner of the Cross against the World the Flesh and the Devil to imitate my holy Saviour and his blessed Apostles that having subdued the Flesh and conquer'd the World I may enjoy a more entire peace and pleasure in my life and may at last depart with the greater chearfulness and triumph out of it and receive from my blessed Saviour an incorruptible Crown Amen Amen blessed Jesus Sect. 4. Of Humility This is the Ornament and Guard of all our Graces that which sets off and illustrates all our excellencies and keeps us upon our Watch to secure them it is both the foundation and perfection of all virtue even holiness and goodness without it would be unacceptable to God and therefore it is well worth your consideration in the next place Humility is a mean opinion or rather the true knowledge of our selves a sober contemplation of our infirmities and a real perswasion of our imperfection which is St. Pauls sobriety of Spirit or humility of mind contrary to the being puff'd up The sense of this shedding it self upon the will renders men modest in their desires and humble in their deportment which is that other part of humility whereby a man is enabled to reject praise and honour and to debase himself to the meanest offices thus the blessed Jesus sought not his own honour and he came not to be ministred unto but to minister There are three things which are liable to be made the grounds of pride the gifts of Grace of Nature and of Fortune but the humble man in respect of the gifts of Grace looks not upon what he hath attain'd but what is still before he payes his sacrifice of honour not to that earthen vessel which contains the treasure but to the God from whose fulness it is deriv'd he dwells not upon the pleasing spectacle of his good Actions but mostly on the catalogue of his frailties and his sins and therefore rests himself on the mercy of God thorough the blood of Christ and from fresh repentances he takes up fresh resolutions and Spirits every Day As to the gifts of Fortune the World is too much a trifle in the sight of an enlighten'd understanding to raise in a good man any esteem or Love of it and if so a man can never prize himself for the possession of what he slights nor be proud of what he despises As to the gifts of Nature he must value them as they are the gifts of God but he considers withal that they are but common ones and are but the imperfect ornaments of this imperfect State which must be done away when we come into a better and withal he reflects often upon his blemishes and imperfections his follies and miscarriages and considering how poor miserable and comfortless a thing he should have been if abandon'd to the conduct of Nature he layes his mouth in the dust and at once admires the bounty and Goodness of God and confesses his own vanity 2. The fruit of this humility is an entire subjection resignation of ones self to God meekness and patience towards man a calm and tranquillity in ones own bosome for as to God considering him as infinitely Glorious and himself intirely dependent of him the humble man composes himself to believe all he reveals to obey what he commands to trust in him to attend the Decrees and the leisure of Heaven to suffer meekly and enjoy modestly As to himself out of the conscience of how little he deserves he is neither ambitious of wealth nor honour but he is thankful for the past satisfied with the present and neither impatient for nor distrustful of the future And out of a sense of his own indisposition to good and the weakness of his own strength he blesses God for the grace he hath receiv'd and tho he stands he takes heed least he fall As to his Neighbour out of the distrust of his own abilities the sense of his own infirmities or else taught by the example of his great Master who took upon himself the form of a Servant the humble man is more forward to obey than to command to believe than to dispute he is slow to speak swift to hear not fond of opinions but desirous to be enlighten'd by
there much more do so because being rais'd spiritual it seems to me that it will be knit in a closser union and be more capable of those influences but besides this 2. It will have pleasures agreeable and natural to it self which it will reap 1. From the glory and perfection it possesses which will be one peculiar to it self and of a different nature from that of the Soul thus in our Saviour on the Mount from whose transfiguration we may receive a little light they were two different things which made up the beauty of his mind and of his body Wisdome Love Holiness c. were the charmes and graces of his Soul but light and glory and proportion the Majesty and Beauty of his body and since this body will be in its nature distinct from the soul for though spiritual it will not be intelligent therefore too it will have objects fit to entertain it what those objects will be that I 'le not endeavour to discover the Scripture doth in the general tell us that the place it self will be fill'd with a mighty glory that our conversation will be strangely delightfull that there are things prepar'd for us which are not therefore God himself which the eye hath not seen c. if that place be to be understood of the entertainments of another life but least any should mistake me I doe not in the least dream of any gross pleasure not the pleasure of the glorified body will be as spiritual a the body and no more from all that I have said I infer 1. That the joy and pleasure of the Life to come is most perfect and Excellent for the more excellent the being the more delicat and refin'd its pleasure or else there could be no difference between the happiness of an Angel that 's ravisht with the enjoyment of Heaven and an Hog that fattens in is stie and grunts at a full meal and if so how unconceiveably great will our pleasures be in that State wherein the worse and meaner part of us our very bodies shall be spiritual and incorruptible 2. That there is no reason that we should be the less mov'd and captiv'd by the promises of such pleasures in another life because they are pourtrayed to us in such an excellence and lustre as doth rather dazle and amaze than take and please us for tho now we are as far beneath them as we are at a distance from them yet then our natures will be made equal to them and when we stand upon the same level with Angels what makes up their Heaven will constitute ours too And now what can man fancy more than this that our natures should be rais'd to the highest perfection they are capable of and be entertain'd by the most glorious objects imaginable there is only one thing more to be added that this State be Eternal that we not only have all which our hearts can desire but also that we have all this for ever and ever and this is one property of Heaven too the things which are seen are Temporal the things which are not seen are Eternal now Eternity is a duration that never passes a stream of time which still glides on and yet never runs quite away a day that never sets in any Cloud or night a State of Life which shall never grow old by time nor decay by age a pleasure which will alwayes delight and never surfeit us a meeting of the dearest friends never to part again O my God how unconceiveable is the Glory thou dost design me for I cannot comprehend what I am going to be and what can be the influence of all this but that I should count all the advantages of this present Life dung and dross in comparison of the happiness of the Life to come that I should count all the afflictions of this present life not worthy to be put in the balance against the glory that is to be reveal'd how is it almost possible for me to resist the charms of such a Heaven or not to despise this World who have the prospect of such a one to come I need but cast an eye of Faith upon the joyes of Heaven and it will be enough to confront and baffle all the allurements of flesh and blood and all the gawdy nothings of this fading World one thought a day of Heaven will raise me so far above all the fears and troubles which distract and disquiet this present State that I could sit with unconcernment and see all my hopes and interests lost and shipwrackt on the billowes of an inconstant Word whilest I knew that my Heaven my Eternity were sure nay death it self would be the onely thing on this side Heaven which would be an object fit for my desires and wishes what is it then can tempt a man to sin who is thus arm'd who is proof against the flatteries or menaces of the World against the soft addresses of a Wanton or the impatiences and querulency of a weak tender body what conflict if possible can be difficult which is to be thus rewarded who can faint or languish in his race who hath his eye fixt upon such a Crown The Prayer O Most glorious God strengthen my Faith in the belief of the invisible things of another World that it may inable me to conquer this imprint in my Soul such a lively Image of that future State as may make me run with patience and chearfulness the race which is set before me O let me not chuse my portion in this Life Let me not exchange the Crown and Glories of Eternity for the pomp and vanity of this Life Let me not forfeit the pleasure and peace of that State of bliss for the dull momentary Lusts of this mortal earthly State but let me who have this hope purifie my self Let me make it my business to be doing thy Will for which way can I so advantagiously lay out my time and strength as for an infinite reward O my God let these considerations prevail with me to Live so that when I come to dye I may have nothing to do but to receive a Crown Amen Amen Blessed Jesus Of Hell Now tho a meer exile from this Heaven were Hell enough and there needed no flames nor darkness to make that State miserable for that there should be an eternal day whose light should never shine on me that there should be full tides of pleasures which I should never taste of this is Hell enough Yet besides all this there are real and endless torments to be inflicted upon all impenitent sinners when Christ shall come to take vengance on all them who know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ The place is a Lake of Fire and Brimstone of flame and darkness which together with a worm that never dies imports the excess of that torment which shall produce weeping and wailing and gnashing of Teeth The Company is the Devil and his Angels the fearful
and unbelieving the abominable and Murtherers Whoremongers and Sorcerers Idolaters and Lyars and all the Enemies of God and Goodness The Duration of this State is for ever as Eternal as the Joys of Heaven an Everlasting Punishment the Worm never dies and the Fire cannot be quenched And though the Almighty may not be bound up to fulfil his threats which whether so applicable to God as Man I 'le not dispute yet certainly our Saviour and his Apostles in giving us a Narrative or History of the different Issues of things are bound to speak truth Hell then is a fixt state of misery wherein men have bid adieu to the pleasures of Earth and to all hopes of Heaven the memory of past pleasures doth but increase their pain and what 's beyond all the misery of this world they enjoy not as much as the deceitful Dreams of flattering hopes Hell where there 's no light nor ease nor God nor any harmless pleasure to divert the pain a moment Hell where only the wretched Objects of an Incens'd God do for ever weep and wail Is this the Death which is the wages of Sin Can Sin offer me any pleasure that can countervail this Eternity of miseries or is there any thing in poverty or shame or banishment or death equal to this Hell if not what blind brutish madness pusheth me on to sin Can I dwell with Everlasting Burnings Can I be content to live in an endless Night of pains and horrours Adieu my fatal pleasures I had rather starve and macerate this Body into sobriety than by Indulgence betray it to the rage and fury of Almighty Vengeance I 'le shut my eyes against all forbidden Fruits rather than for ever deprive 'm of the sight of Heaven and close them up in an Eternal Night Welcom whatever Penances Religion may impose upon me whatever the World may threaten me with for the discharge of a good Conscience I 'd watch and fast till Death rather than be Damn'd I 'd be the scorn and hate of Mankind rather than of God Are not these terrible Truths Are they not arm'd with Lightning and Thunder enough to startle the most harden'd sinner Good God what makes the World so dead so callous that such dreadful Objects cannot rouze nor pierce them It must needs be because they put that evil day so far off that the biggest terrours of it look but like Moats at such a distance But surely we mistake our selves in our computation we are now in Time how narrow is the Isthmus which parts Time from Eternity or is there any Partition at all but one groan that the frame of our Nature cracks with but one parting moment wafts us over upon the shore of another world Heaven and Hell they are not at the distance of so many years from this world but just of so much time as will serve us to die in And is this so much that we should frolick and wanton in our sins as if we were not within ken of danger there 's scarce a moment in the day wherein some Soul or other in some part of the world doth not make its Exit into another life and shall I sin as securely as if my time and death were at my own disposal I came but a few years ago into the world and within a few more I must go out on 't how soon this day will come I know not I 'm sure that the Sentence of Death is past upon me already I only wait the hour of Execution which any trifling cause can be the instrument of I may die of pleasure or of pain I may die of want or fulness I may die of desire or enjoyment what is it then which cannot give Death the very heighth of health is a degree of sickness my Scull is weak my skin and flesh thin and soft my heart tender and my passions easie my inner part is full of strange mazes vessels curiously contriv'd and subtilly dispos'd what a little will ravel this intricate contexture and discompose this delicate frame and shall I be as secure as if my strength were Iron and my sinews Brass and the position of my parts fixt as the Decrees of Heaven No no I 'le live in continual expectation of my Death I 'le examine my Soul each Evening and close my eyelids as if I were to awake next morning in another world I 'le often take my leave of this world and fancy I shall see this or that pleasant object no more no more and I 'le address my self to my God as if my Soul were ready to take wing and I 'le soberly consider the Nature of my God the value of Christs Sacrifice and the Truth of my Faith and so I shall learn to disingage my self from this world and to die handsomely and comfortably if not in rapture The Prayer O Most gracious God who hast hedg'd about our ways that we may not stray and wander into ruine who hast endeavour'd to frighten us into happiness by the dread and terrours of a Hell O grant that this fear may be fixt in my very flesh and produce in me a cautious and a wary depormtent that I remembring that our God is Consuming Fire may not dare to provoke thee to wrath and indignation against me And grant O most merciful Father that I may not put the day of death far from me and flatter my self into security and misery but live each day as if it were my last because I do not know but that it may be so that I may enter at last into that state where there shall be no more conflict with sin nor fear of death through Jesus Christ our Lord. SECT II. Of the second Motive to Holiness i.e. the consideration of the Divine Nature THe knowledge of the Nature of God is so powerful an inforcement to Vertue and a determent from Vice that Religion and the knowledge of God and Irreligion and a want of that knowledge are made use of by the Spirit of God as expressions of the same import as 1 Cor. 15.34 Awake to righteousness and sin not for some have not the knowledge of God And this not without reason for the knowledge of God will 1. Discover to us the Nature of Holiness and of Sin 2. It will convince us how reasonable it is that we should serve him And 3. It will confirm in us a full perswasion of the Reward of Vertue and Punishment of Vice To this purpose therefore let us consider the Nature of God as it is taught us in the Gospel of that Son of God who lay in the Bosom of his Father and hath declar'd him to us And the first thing is that God is a Spirit Jo. 4.24 and those Attributes which the Gospel assigns him and which are a fuller discovery of his Nature are Knowledge Wisdom Holiness under which may in the opinion of some be comprehended Goodness Justice and Power and Dominion Now from that resemblance which Religion
Covenant of Grace is Believe and repent and you shall be saved our sins cannot exclude us from Heaven if we forsake them for the time to come and relye upon the Mercy of God thorough the Blood of Christ for he died to this purpose that every one which believeth in him might not perish but have everlasting life Which Mercy extends it self not only to the sins which precede Conversion p. 76. but to those also which follow it as I have before prov'd Now the result of all this is 1. That the overture of pardon incourages us to repentance 2. That the sense of the love and goodness of God obliges us to love and obey bim Despair clips the wings and cramps the vigour of the Soul no man would be good if he knew it were to no purpose to be so for why should he deny his sensual satisfactions if he could expect no fruits of his Mortification but when the Almighty makes a tender of Mercy and invites the sinner to be reconcil'd what will not he do who is sensible of the advantage of his favour or the dreadfulness of his anger that he may avoid the one and gain the other The trouble of a wounded Conscience is an uneasie thing to bear and who would not rid himself of it and possess his Soul of an entire peace when he sees that he may who can be willing to be all his life in bondage who may be translated into the glorious liberty of the Sons of God who would feed the slavish fears of an approaching Death in his bosom who may extinguish and dispel them if he will Salvation is not so inconsiderable a matter but that every one makes this naturally his enquiry What shall I do to be sav'd and therefore when to do ones best is to do all and to be sorry for our sins is to attone them in the acceptance of God who would slight the happiness of the Divine Favour and Heaven tender'd upon these terms O my Saviour thou hast indeed brought Life and Immortality to light thou hast freed me from the curse of the Law and thou hast open'd a plain and easie way to Reconciliation and Heaven thorough thy Body upon the Cross without this the Contemplation of Gods Justice would have o'rethrown all those hopes which I could have deriv'd from the Contemplation of his Mercy and Goodness and I could never without an affront to his Holiness have flatter'd my self from his Clemency into the hopes of pardon for those numerous sins I have committed against my Conscience For ever blessed be thy Name that thou hast taken the weight and burden of my sins upon thee that thou hast suffer'd that I might be justified through thy Blood I will no longer deliberate whether I shall ease me of my sins and guilt whether I shall be happy or no! I come I come blessed Lord I renounce all the sins and vanities of my former life and desire to devote my self a holy living and acceptable Sacrifice to God for the time to come for why should I any longer sin against so much love and goodness When I had broken the Laws of God and given manifest affronts to that glorious Being who created and doth preserve me when I had trampled upon all his Obligations and abus'd all his Mercies into wantonness without any temptation to it besides the baseness of my own Nature I might have expected that a just Wrath would have reveal'd it self in Thunder and Lightning in Judgments and Death but instead of that he continues the overtures of his Mercy and Courts me with the tenderness of an Indulgent Father O my God thou hast conquer'd me by thy patience and long-suffering thou hast taken me by thine infinite love and goodness I adore thy Clemency and Wisdom and am asham'd of the wildness and extravagancy of my own folly O pardon me and my mourning and revenge shall witness what resentments I have of thy sweetness and tenderness I will serve and love thee much because thou hast forgiven me much Farewel my sloth and ease I have devoted my self to my great Creator and I must redeem the time that I have spent amiss Farewel my sinful pleasures and my vain diversions I will no longer indulge that Body which hath betray'd my God which hath made me a Rebel against a gracious Father Farewel my ambitious and vain-glorious aims these are not the Ornaments which become an Humble Penitent These and such like Resolutions are I think the natural results of a serious consideration of the Divine Goodness manifested in this Covenant of Grace no man can believe himself in a capacity of Pardon and Salvation but he must naturally desire to be rid of those fears which accompany his guilts and to be secur'd of Heaven no man can see the Majesty of Heaven contending for Conquest over us by love and goodness but he must blush at his ingratitude and melt at the sense of the Stupendious Mercy The Prayer O Glorious Ood grant that these may be the effects of my knowledge of thy Covenant of Grace that thy goodness may lead me to Repentance and that I may not by the contempt of thy Mercy treasure up to my self wrath against the day of wrath Lord what should make me backward if thou art forward to a Reconciliation what should make me refuse thy pardon when thou art willing to bestow it Is it not worth my while to be sav'd or can I be sav'd in despight of God! Lord I cannot be so blind to think so grant me then the Grace to repent to day whilst it is call'd to day to mind the things which belong to my peace before they are hid from mine eyes Amen Amen blessed Jesus And now I have finish'd the second part of this Discourse and consider'd all or at least the main Motives to Holiness which the Gospel contains nothing is here wanting that can justly beget our love or hate nothing wanting that can work upon our hopes or fears nothing more to be desir'd which can invite or incourage us all the Arguments of interest and pleasure of necessity and possibility of obligations and duty are here combin'd and twisted to make the Cords that should draw us strong enough that one might justly wonder how any man can resist the power of such Arguments and how it is possible to be damn'd And yet we cannot see what effect Christianity hath upon the generality of mankind they are as loose as Heathens as covetous as Jews and in a word as much addicted to the pleasures of the world and flesh as if neither Life and Immortality had been brought to light nor there were any promises of Supernatural assistance It will become us therefore in the third place to enquire into the reason of this and to discover those Temptations which detain men captive to sin notwithstanding all the Son of God hath done to redeem them Practical Christianity Part. III. Of Temptations to Sin THe
Horizon and expect the breaking forth of the Sun of Righteousness Sometimes in my Contemplation I die and strip my self of all and bid farewel to my dearest friends and my fancy wraps my body in its winding sheet and wafts my Soul to God and I enter as far as I can into Heaven and I dwell there and so the taste of another world like the eating of Manna makes my Palat too nice for the Garlick and Onyons of Egypt 3. The great Motives of the Gospel whereby we are incourag'd to despise worldly pleasures are 1. The Love of God manifested in his loving us and in the sending his own Son into the world for our sakes that we might be the Sons of God whence the Apostles every where infer That the love of God should constrain us to obey him as dear Children and Sons of the most High God and consequently not to walk as those who know not God in the lusts of the flesh and the fashions of the world but being renewed in the spirit of our minds to please him in holiness and purity and the inexpressible Love of the Blessed Jesus dying for us on the Cross will not suffer us to be guilty of such a baseness as to betray him at the sollicitation of a Sensual Lust and that blessed Spirit of Love which dwells in the Children of Obedience is quench'd and griev'd by carnal lusts and therefore they must deny all impurity that the Lord may delight to live amongst them Nothing will seem difficult to us if we but consider these things the Majesty of God and the vanity of man the height of his love and imperfection of mans obedience 2. Our own Exeellency We are the Temple of the Holy Spirit we are the Children of the living God the Children of Light the Purchase of the Blood of Christ the Delight of God and the care of Angels and shall we wallow in bruitish lusts like those who have no knowledge no hopes 3. Our rewards here joy and peace and hope do constantly dwell in that Soul which works Righteousness and continues in patience and well doing and can any of the fulsom pleasures of the body be compar'd to the calm and transport of a holy Soul and yet these are but imperfect dawnings of an Eternal Day there are things laid up for those who love God which the heart cannot conceive nor the tongue express and these precious promises must needs inable us to live above the corruption which is in the world through lust So that now though the pleasures which Christians are commanded to renounce were very full and satisfactory yet the love of God who injoyns this Abstinence the love of Jesus who suffer'd for us and the love of that Spirit which is tender'd in the Gospel to purifie our minds and fill them with delight and pleasure would render our compliance with these Commands very reasonable and easie and if we add the consideration of the peace and satisfaction which flow from an entire Mortification and the glorious promises which are annex'd to it it will be almost impossible to resist the united force of such powerful Arguments and how much more if we consider 4. The emptiness and vanity of all those pleasures by which the sinner is insnar'd The world hath nothing in it which is truly great and satisfactory it s most exquisite entertainments are strangely empty mixt and alloy'd and fleeting 1. Empty Every mans practice is a daily confession of this for how taking soever a pleasure may appear in fancy and prospect yet 't is common that men soon disrelish what they enjoy and disdain what they possess and if men daily change and contrive new pleasures is it not a plain confession of being dissatisfied with the old And what shall the poor Epicure do if Enjoyment it self prove fatal is it not an evident proof that the choice is foolish the object empty the faculties weak and the world a Cheat It were easie to prove this if I should run oâ—e particulars What is Greatness it is so much nothing I know not what it is it is a slippery height it is a glorious slavery a pretty Pageantry and fantastick formality What is Wealth this should not be reckon'd as an enjoyment 't is but the mean to one what is Lust but an outragious ferment of the blood a sudden mutiny of spirits it is a sudden blaze that flashes and then dies the delicacy and flavour of Meats and Drinks is scarcely perceptible to most it is so much nothing gaity of attire is the pleasure only of Children and of Fools it is an imaginary prettiness But the truth on 't is pleasure here below is not to be measur'd by the weight and substance of the Objects but by the quickness and strength of Fancy or Imagination for 't is with Men as 't is with Children 't is not the rattle or the toy but 't is the silliness of the fancy which creates the pleasure and therefore I 'le consider this a little If the Imagination be childish nice and fond it frames and creates Art and delicacy in the object and begets passions tender impotent and warm possession now one would fancy would certainly make one thus qualified happy but the mischief on 't is these are the characters only of a raw unexperienc'd sinner who admires what he never tryed like a man come into a new world the strangeness only begets the wonder success will make him unhappy when he hath tryed all objects he will find all but vanity for as soon as Experience hath defeated him of the Imagination it robs him of the pleasure too and a weather-beaten sinner derives his temptation only at last from custom and he sins not so much because 't is pleasant as because he is us'd to do so This is the whole state of the case Imagination and Fancy is the pleasure not enjoyment and that cannot last without this nor with it but besides there is such an uneasiness accompanies a violent desire of any thing that it more than punisheth the pretty pleasures which Fancy frames hear a man essaying to discover what he feels and he 'll express his passion by flames and feavers wounds and diseases pleasing smarts and killing pleasures so sick are they of their passions and languish of their desires and die of enjoyment 't is in all pleasures as in those of eating and drinking the painful appetites of hunger and thirst fore-run them and feeding and drinking extinguish the appetite and pleasure too This is the case of those who pretend to the greatest gallantry and wit in the choice and contrivance of their sins what shall we think of those who drudge for bafer metals and more dreggy course vices the toilsom pleasures of gluttony and drunkenness of pride and covetousness the malicious pleasures of frowardness faction and disobedience Surely these are worse than vanity the Soul of man must be light and airy and silly and unballasted e're it can
fill'd with joy and peace through believing or if I abound with hope through the power of the Holy Ghost I can think of that shine of Glory with which I shall be once invested and then suffer these Rags with patience till my Nuptials come and my new Suits be made I can love this contempt and poverty because it shall make my Crown more weighty and my being more glorious What is it O my Soul for which I complain what is it that I have lost Estate Reputation It is affirm'd by the Spirit of God concerning all sensual pleasures in general That they war against the Soul 1 Pet. 2.11 in particular concerning wealth How hardly shall a rich man enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 19.23 concerning vain-glory and how can they believe who receive the praise of men c. Am I then so much troubled because my difficulties in the way to Heaven are diminished my Chains grown lighter and mine Enemies fewer because my tyes to or dependances on the world are few and consequently my distractions in and diversions from holy duties are the fewer I have no fears no cares no contrivances no jealousies because I have no concern in it How near Heaven am I grown who am thus remov'd from Earth And being in this condition I am not expos'd to the changes of the world I have nothing wherein ill fortune can attacque or wound me This state is not so contemptible which is thus full of peace wherein I may possess my self and need not spend the greater portions of my life in things which fame or greatness requires of me not inclination or choice The Prayer LOrd teach me to form my Opinions according to the light of thy Gospel to guard my Soul against all the impressions of the World and Flesh to mortifie the inbred Inclinations of my Body to Lust and to fix my mind so upon the things that are not seen that when ever vain fears assault me from without they may find the House guarded by the strongest Man Amen Amen SECT II. Of Real Evils whereof some are unavoidable others only common to this life THere are some Evils so natural and constant Appendages to this state of Mortality and Imperfection that unless men can cease to think them Evils they cannot be happy For example a Friend dies or proves false c. or I am to die my self i. e. things happen in their natural course and as I ought to expect them I may as well quarrel with God that he did not create me an Angel and that my first Station was not in the Courts of Heaven Now though it be true that an Evil is not the less an Evil because it is incurable or unavoidable or yet universal I must from hence infer that the wise man ought to be better provided and confirm'd against such and that he gains no small step towards happiness who can divest these Evils of their affrighting shapes which the man shall in a great measure do who shall expect nothing more in this state than what is proper to it and then can no more be aggriev'd at Death Chance Folly c. than at the imperfection of our intellectual capacities the meanness of our natural inclinations and the frailties of our bodies for those other are the effects of these and yet no man thinks himself miserable because he doth not understand as much as God does because being flesh and blood he doth not will as Nobly as Angels and why should he think it amiss or hard that being mortal any thing should die or being imprudent or passionate any thing should act so It is highly reasonable that he who Created us out of nothing should Create us as he pleas'd for he who was not bound to do any thing cannot be blam'd for doing so much But Christianity rests not here it provides a Remedy for all these Evils 1. By the discovery of the Souls Immortality of the Bodies Resurrection and of glorious Rewards which shall Crown those who suffer contentedly and patiently 2. By the discovery of Objects fitted for the affections of an Immortal Soul noble and great enough to fill the biggest capacities and most inlarg'd desires such are God and Jesus Christ and the glories of another life which are unalterable and unchangeable so that the happiness and pleasure of a Christian Soul depends not upon these uncertain things below but upon those things which are above 3. Since these misfortunes are such as are unavoidable in this life they can be no temptation to sin because we cannot avoid them by sinning and they who endeavour to drown their sense of worldly afflictions by an indulgence in any sins do worse than those who kill themselves to get rid of some uneasie passion the very Remedy is the worst of mischiefs But to proceed as to pains which are common to though not unavoidable in this life I cannot chuse but see there are a sort of men who suffer bravely and yet I must confess they suffer and though they are patient cease not to be miserable these are the only things which I could ever think so unhappy as to deserve my pity and yet it will not be reasonable to sin for the avoiding such sufferings as these for though Religion cannot remove all sense and pain and passion for then this world would be a Heaven and the Scripture is plain that no affliction for the present is joyous and if they were not Fiery Tryals they would be no temptations yet it supplies all the ease and comfort which such a state is capable of and such as is enough to make it supportable Therefore I first premise these two Propositions 1. That no temptation befals us but what is common to men That a whole Cloud of Witnesses is gone before us in the severest and bloudiest paths and therefore that there is no state which is not supportable by Divine Assistance and may not be pass'd thorough without such an ill demeanour as may forfeit our everlasting happiness 2. That there is no condition so miserable but it is capable of some mixture of comforts let us for an example in matter of fact regard the Apostle of our Lord 2 Cor. 6. In affliction in necessities in distresses in stripes in imprisonments in tumults in labours in watchings in fastings and yet the Cloud had a bright as well as dark side for v. 10. Though dying yet behold we live though chasten'd yet not kill'd though sorrowful yet alway rejoycing though having nothing yet possessing all things Now it matters not I confess as to entire happiness whether Scale of sorrow or comfort outweighs because to entire happiness it is requir'd that both parts of us as well Body as Soul enjoy good yet it will become a wise man to get as much ease as he can and when the Sun is set not to despise a Candle And this proves thus much that no man can be necessitated to sin since a man can
a new and repeated Engagement of our selves to the service of Christ to an obedience to his Laws and a Renunciation of those Enemies of the Christian the World the Flesh and the Devil From all this it is easie to infer 3. That it is a strong Fence and Antidote against Temptations for these fresh impressions of our Saviours love the new strengths of Divine Grace the vigour of a new and solemn Ingagement to Obedience fill the Soul with a holy zeal against sin and with a glorious contempt of sensual pleasures The Prayer ANd now O my God what should make me so prodigally venturous of my own safety as to neglect the frequent use of this holy Sacrament Have I not need frequently to examine my self Are not thy Graces apt to wither and decay unless thus water'd and refresh'd Doth not my converse with the World and my communication with Flesh and Blood render it necessary for me to renew my resolutions against them as often as I can or is there not a holy delight in the exercise of all this that surpasses all the pleasures of a sensual life and is it not a Sacrifice that my Lord and Saviour is highly pleas'd with and is it not reasonable that I should oblige him who died for me with this frequent acknowledgment of his infinite love evidenc'd in his death Pardon me O my God that I have been so ungrateful to thee so sensless of my own welfare and advantage for the time to come I will delight in this holy Communion I will often offer up my self a Sacrifice to thee and profess my Faith in a Crucified Saviour and there beg thy assistance and conduct through the difficult paths of this present life And O my God accept thou of my addresses and praises thorough thine infinite Mercies and the Blood of Christ Amen Of Prayer PRayer may be consider'd under those three Heads I before mention'd And 1. As a part of Holiness It is an acknowledgment of God's being our God a confession of his Majesty and our meanness being a solemn Adoration and Worship of him 't is a Sacrifice of praise to him 't is an act of Humiliation and of Repentance and of Faith and Reliance upon him And from hence we may infer what preparation of the Soul is necessary to a right discharge of this Duty that extempore Addresses are the most improper and the most unwelcom to God for these are at best but imagin'd to raise those passions or dispositions in the Soul which ought to be presuppos'd in it before-hand to the rendring of our Prayers acceptable for we draw near in prayer to offer up a Sacrifice which we had prepar'd before And we may secondly conclude that what ever the gifts of Prayer be the Spirit of Prayer is that which doth dispose and prepare the mind by such qualities as are fit to exert the acts I nam'd before and I am apt to think that a Soul which thus prepar'd and fixing it self in the immediate presence of God dwells with an inward devotion upon those acts of Adoration and Praise Humiliation and Faith without expressing these actings of the mind in words I speak of private prayer doth in S. Pauls sense Rom. 8.26 pray by the Spirit and consequently in publick those prayers are most spiritual which share most of this preparation 2. As an Instrument of Holiness it doth exercise all our graces and refresh and improve them by exercising the breathings of the Divine Spirit which is in an extraordinary manner assistant in this holy exercise fill the minds of men with joy and peace and hope which confirms them in their Christian Warfare and makes them disrelish all the pleasures of a sinful life Lastly Prayer hath extraordinary promises annext to it of receiving whatsoever we ask with Faith Mat. 7.7 Ask and it shall be given to you 3. It is an Antidote against Temptation for it possesses the Soul with an Awe of the Divine Majesty with a sense of his unspeakable love and with a horrour against sin whilst we enumerate his benefits and our sins with all their aggravating circumstances And certainly no man can be so sensless as to repeat those sins which he did just now bemoan and abhor renounce and resolve against before God nor will it be easie for him to fall who comes forth forewarn'd and arm'd to encounter a Temptation Lastly Prayer convinces a man of the loveliness and happiness of a holy life for he finds that his peace and reliance grows up or decays together with his Vertue If I did pray earnestly and often how humble how holy how heavenly and exalted would my Soul be with what glorious Notions of the Divine Majesty what dreadful apprehensions of sin what an unquenchable thirst of Holiness what fears and jealousies of the World and Flesh would my Spirit be possess'd by and what a mighty influence would all this have upon my Conversation how humbly how warily how fervently should I walk But when I do not pray often or with this care and preparation how lazy and careless is my life how dim and imperfect my conceptions how stat and tastless my relish of spiritual things how doth a worldly sensual temper grow and increase upon me and the Divine Life within droop and languish The Prayer O Therefore my God give me grace to be frequent and fervent in Prayer assist me by thy Spirit to dress and prepare my Soul for this more solemn approach to thee and then I shall experience this to be the high way of Commerce with Heaven I shall feel the wind blowing upon the Garden of my heart and the Spices flowing forth I shall feel the Spirit fanning that spark of holy life it kindled into a flame and I shall feel my self transported and ascending up above this vain world and all the allurements of it O therefore grant me O my God thy holy Spirit that I may pray with understanding and fervency with a prepar'd and a devout Soul that my prayer may not be the sacrifice of Fools and turn'd into sin but an acceptable Sacrifice to thee an Instrument of Holiness and a Guard against sin enabling us to fight the good fight of Faith that I may receive an Everlasting Crown and all for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen I should now add something concerning Fasting which the Universal practice of the Church besides our Saviours Rules prescrib'd to it do plainly suppose to be a Duty of Christianity but yet such a one as is a Free-will offering and so dependent of various circumstances that the practice of it cannot be fixt by particular Rules and therefore as I did on purpose omit speaking to it when I had a fair offer under that Head the means to obtaining Temperance consider'd as a habit in the mind so now I 'le only consider it very briefly 1. Who ever shall consider the constant practice of the devoutest men the Nature of this Body we are cloathed