Happiness I shall in the next Place endeavour to give some brief Account of that Part of the Christian Life which is purely militant and which wholly consists of those instrumental Duties by the Use of which we are to conquer the difficulties of those heavenly Virtues and to acquire and perfect them Which Difficulties as I shewed before Chap. 2. are the inbred Corruptions of our own Nature together with those manifold Temptations from without by which they are continually provoked and excited and so to subdue and conquer these as that they may neither take us off from nor clog and indispose us in the Exercise of the heavenly Virtues is the great Design and Business of this warfaring Part of the Christian Life THAT I may therefore handle it distinctly I shall divide it into three Parts and endeavour with as much Brevity as I can First To explain the Duties of each Part and to shew how they all conduce to our conquering the Difficulties of the heavenly Virtues and to the acquiring and perfecting them and Secondly To press the Duties of each Part with proper and suitable Arguments IN this part of our Christian Life therefore there is 1. Our Beginning or Entrance into it which is in Scripture called Repentance from dead works 2. Our Course and Progress in it and this is nothing but a holy Life 3. Our Perfecting and Consummation of it and this is final Perseverance in well doing Each of which have their proper and peculiar Duties which I shall endeavour in this Chapter to explain and inforce SECT I. Concerning those Duties that are proper to our Beginning and Entrance into this warfaring Part of our Christian Life shewing how they all conduce to the subduing of Sin and acquiring the heavenly Virtues THIS first part of our militant Life being nothing but our Initial Repentance or the first turning of our Souls to God from a state of wilful Sin and Rebellion the Duties that are proper to it and by which this turn of our Souls is to be introduced and performed may be reduced to these six Heads 1. A hearty and firm Belief of the Truth of our Religion 2. A due Consideration of its Motives and a ballancing of them with the Hardships and Difficulties we are to undergo 3. A deep and through Conviction of our great need of a Mediator to render us acceptable to God 4. A hearty Sorrow Shame and Remorse for our Sins past 5. Earnest Prayer to God for Aid and Assistance to enable us effectually to renounce them 6. A serious and well weighed Resolution to forsake and abandon them for ever I. IT is necessary to our good Beginning of this our Christian Warfare that we should heartily believe the Truth and Reality of our Religion For our hearty Belief of the Gospel is in Scripture represented as the main and principal Weapon by which we are to combat against the World and our own Lusts. And hence it is called the shield of faith and the breastplate of faith which are the two principal parts of Armour of Defence denoting that an hearty Belief of the Gospel is the principal Defence of a Christian against all the fiery darts of Temptation the Armour of Proof that guards our Innocence and renders us Invulnerable in all our spiritual Conflicts For above all things saith the Apostle take the shield of faith whereby ye shall be able to quench the fiery darts of the wicked one Eph. vi 16 And as it is the principal part of our defensive so it is also of our offensive Armour For so we find all the Victories and Triumphs of those glorious Heroes Heb. xi attributed to this irresistible Weapon of their Faith 'T was by Faith that they despised Crowns confronted the Anger of Kings and triumphed over the bitterest Torments and Afflictions by faith that they wrought righteousness obtained promises stopped the mouths of lyons quenched the violence of fire escaped the edge of the sword and out of weakness were made strong Nay so great a share hath Faith in the Successes of our Christian Warfare that it is called by the Apostle the good fight of faith 1 Tim. vi 12 and S. John assures us that this is the victory that overcometh the world even our faith 1 John v. 4 FOR if we firmly believe the Gospel that will furnish us with undeniable Answers to return to all Temptations and enable our Faith infinitely to out-bid the World whatsoever it should proffer us for our Innocence For our Belief of the Gospel carries in the one hand infinitely greater Goods and in the other infinitely greater Evils to allure and bind us fast to our Duty than any the World can propose to entice or terrifie us from it For on the one hand it discovers to us those immortal Regions of the Blessed which are the proper Seat and pure Element of Happiness where the blessed Inhabitants live in a continued Fruition of their utmost Wishes being every moment entertained with fresh inravishing Scenes of Pleasure where all their Happiness is eternal and all their Eternity nothing else but one continued Act of Love and Praise and Joy and Triumph where there are no Sighs or Tears no Intermixtures of Sorrow or Misery but every Heart is full of Joy and every Joy is a Quintessence and every happy Moment is crowned with some fresh and new Enjoyment On the other hand it sets before our eyes a most frightful and amazing Prospect of those dismal Shades of Horror where mighty Numbers of condemned Ghosts perpetually wander to and fro tormented with endless Rage and Despair where they always burn without consuming always faint but never die being forced to languish out a long Eternity in unpitied Sighs and Groans And after such a Prospect as this what poor inconsiderable Trifles will all the Goods and Evils of this world appear to us But yet unless we believe the Reality of them how great soever they may be in themselves they will signifie no more to our Hope and Fear which are the Master Springs of our Action than if they were so many golden Dreams or liveless Scare-crows For all Proposals of good and evil do work upon the Minds of men proportionably as they are believed and assented to and as that which is not true is not so that which we do not believe is to us as if it were not How then is it possible we should be moved by that Good or Evil which we do not believe and in which by consequence we cannot apprehend our selves concerned WHEREFORE in our Entrance into the Christian Warfare it is highly necessary that we do not take up our Faith at a venture and believe winking without knowing why or wherefore but that we should so far as we are able impartially examine the Evidences of our Religion and search into the Grounds of its Credibility that so we may be able to give some Reason to our selves and others of the Hope that is in us For
which End it will be needful that we should read and impartially consider some of the Apologies for the Christian Religion of which we have sundry excellent ones in our own Language and if we will but take the pains to instruct our selves in the plain and easie Evidences of Christianity we shall quickly see abundant cause to assent to it and then our Faith being founded on a firm Basis of Reason will be able to bid defiance to the World and to out-stand the most furious Storms of Temptation II. TO our good Beginning of this our Christian Warfare it is also necessary that we should duly consider the Motives of our Religion and ballance them with the Hardships and Difficulties we are to undergo For thus our Saviour makes Consideration a necessary Introduction to our Christian Warfare Luke xiv 28 where he compares mens rushing headlong into the Difficulties of the Christian Life without Consideration to a mans resolving to build a Tower without computing the Charge of it or a Kings going to War without ever considering before-hand whether with his Army of ten Thousand he be able to encounter his Enemy with Twenty By both which Comparisons he intimates to us the unprosperous Issue of mens listing themselves under his Banner to combat the Devil the World and their own Lusts without ever considering before-hand either their own Strength or their Enemies the Arguments with which they must fight or the Difficulties that will trash and oppose them So that when they come to execute their rash Resolutions there start up so many Difficulties in their way which they never thought of and against which they took no care to fore-arm themselves that they have not the Heart and Courage to stand before them but after a few faint Attempts are presently sounding a cowardly Retreat FOR indeed Consideration is the Life and Soul of Faith that animates and actuates its Principles and elicits and draws forth all their natural Power and Energy And let the Truths we believe be never so weighty and momentous in themselves never so apt to spirit and invigorate us yet unless we seriously consider and apply them to our Wills and Affections and take the pains to extract out of them their native Vigour and Efficacy and to infuse it into our Faculties and Powers they will lie like so many dead Notions in our Minds and never impart to us the least Degree of spiritual Courage and Activity And accordingly our Saviour attributes the ill Success of Gods Word in the Hearts of men which he compares to the high-way the stony and thorny Ground either to their not considering it at all or to their not considering it deeply enough or to their not considering it long enough Either the divine Truths which they heard went no farther than their Ears and so lay openly exposed like so many loose corns upon the high-way to be picked up by the Fowls of the Air or if it entred into their Mind and Consideration it was so slightly and superficially that like corn sown in a rocky ground it had not Depth enough to take root to fasten and grow into their minds and digest into Principles of Action or if they at present received it into their deeper and more serious Consideration it was but for a little while for by and by they permit their worldly Cares and Pleasures like Thorns to spring up in their Thoughts and Choak it before it was arrived to any Maturity But that which rendred it so prosperous and fruitful in good and honest Hearts was that having heard the word they kept it i. e. retained it in their Thoughts and Consideration and so brought forth fruit with patience Luk. viii 12 13 14 15. So that to the making of a good Beginning in Religion it is not only necessary that we should ponder the Motives and Arguments of Religion and ballance them with the Difficulties of it but that we should revolve and repeat them on our minds till we have represented to our selves with the utmost Life and Reality whatsoever makes for and against our Entrance into the Christian Warfare and upon our having weighed them over and over in the Scales of an even and impartial Judgment we have brought the Debate to this Result and Conclusion that there is infinitely more Weight in the Arguments of Religion to persuade us to it than in all the Difficulties of it to dishearten us from it For unless we enter into Religion fore-armed with the Motives and forewarned of the difficulties of it we shall never be able to stand our Ground but finding more Opposition than we expected and having not a sufficient Strength of Argument to bear up against it we shall quickly repent of our rash Undertaking and be forced to retreat from it with Shame and Dishonour For this is usually the Issue of those rash and unsetled Purposes which men make in the heats of their Passion when they have been warmed by some pathetick Discourse or startled by some great Danger or chafed into a Displeasure against their Sins by the sense of some very dolorous Accident whereinto they have been betrayed by them in these or such like Cases its usual with men to make hasty Resolutions of Amendment without considering either the Matters which they resolve upon or the Motives which should support their Resolution and so finding when they come to Practice more Difficulty in the Matter than they were aware of and having not sufficient Motives to carry them through it their Resolution flags in the Execution and very often yields to the next Temptation which encounters them NOW though I do not deny but that those Heats of Passion are good Opportunities to begin our Religion in and if wisely improved will very much contribute to our Voyage heavenwards and like a brisk Gale of Wind render it much more expedite and easie yet if in these Heats we resolve too soon without a due Consideration of all Particulars and of the Difficulties on the one side and the Arguments on the other it is hardly possible that our Resolution should ever prove a lasting Principle of Goodness For when we resolve inconsiderately we resolve to do we know not what and our Resolution includes a thousand Particulars that we are not aware of most of which being repugnant to our vicious Inclinations will when we come to practise them be attended with such Difficulties as will easily startle our weak Resolution which having not a sufficient Foundation of Reason to support it will never be able to outstand those boisterous Storms of Temptation whereunto it will be continually exposed If therefore we mean our Resolution should hold out and commence a living Principle of Goodness we must found it in a through Consideration both of the Duties and Difficulties of Religion and of the Motives which should ingage us to embrace it we must set before our Minds all the Sins we must part with and all the Duties we must submit
Fifthly we shall not only render our Recovery more difficult for the future but plung our selves for the present into a far more criminal and guilty Condition p. 501.502 c. sixthly we shall not only render our selves more guilty for the present but expose our selves if we die in our sin to a deeper and more dreadful Ruine 508.509 CHAP. V. Containing some short Directions for the more Profitable reading the ensuing Discourse p. 513.514 and also directions for the good Conduct and regular Exercise of our Closet Religion in all the different states of the Christian Life together with Forms of private Devotion fitted to each State p. 517. the first are for the State of Entrance into the Christian Life p. 517.518 c. the second for the state of actual Engagement in it p. 530. the third for the state of Growth and Improvement towards Perfection OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE CHAP. I. Concerning the ultimate End of the Christian Life IN order to our understanding what is the Nature Use and Excellency of any Means it is necessary we should have a true and genuine Notion of those peculiar Ends which they drive at For the nature of them as they are Means consists in being serviceable to some End but to what they are particularly serviceable must be collected from the nature of those particular Ends whereunto they are directed And therefore till we know what those particular Ends are it is impossible we should know whether they are Means or no or which is the same thing whether they are serviceable to any End or Purpose IT being therefore the Design of this Work to explain the nature of the Christian Life it will be necessary for the clearing of our way to give some account of the blessed End for which it is intended which will very much contribute to our right understanding of the great usefulness and subserviency of each part of it thereunto Therefore I. I shall endeavour to shew what is the peculiar End of the Christian Life II. Wherein the true Nature of this End consists I. As for the End of the Christian Life we are assured from Scripture that it is no other but Heaven it self that state of endless Bliss and Happiness which God hath prepared in the World above for the reception of all those who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality That this is the End of the Christian Life is evident from hence because 't is every where proposed by our Saviour and his Apostles as the Chief Good of a Christian and the Supreme Motive to all Christian Virtue For so St. John that bosome-Favourite of our Saviour assures us that This is the promise which Christ hath promised us even Eternal Life 1 John ii 25 And if we look into the Gospel of St. John who hath more largely recorded our Saviours Sermons and Discourses than any other Evangelist we shall find Eternal Life still proposed by him as the supereminent Promise to encourage and persuade men to the profession and practice of Christianity For so John iv 36 't is proposed by our Saviour as that which is the Harvest of a Christian to which like the Husbandman's plowing and sowing all our care and endeavour is to be directed He that reapeth receiveth wages and gathereth fruit unto eternal life Consonantly whereunto St. Paul tells us that he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting Gal. vi 8 And this as our Saviour tells us is the great Reward which he gives to all those that hear and follow him John x. 27 28. and this the great argument which he every where insists on that he that believeth hath Life Everlasting that whosoever heareth his word hath Life Everlasting and that his commandment is Life Everlasting And Rom. vi 22 Everlasting Life is expresly said to be the End of having our fruit unto Holiness and as such we are bid to direct our actions unto it to believe in Christ unto Everlasting Life 1 Tim. i. 16 to do good to this end that we may lay hold upon Eternal Life 1 Tim. vi 18 19. to look unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross c. Heb. xii 2 And therefore Heaven is described to be the Christian Canaan to which we are to direct all our steps whilst we are travailing through this World Heb. xi 14 15 16. And the whole life of a Christian is expressed by seeking it Mat. vi 33 Heb. xiii 14 Col. iii. 1 And the incorruptible Crown is affirmed to be as much the end of the race of the Christian Life as those corruptible Crowns were of the races in the Olympick Games 1 Cor. ix 25 For it is to Eternal Glory that we are called 1 Pet. v. 10 2 Thes. ii 14 and in the discharge of all that Duty whereunto we are called we are to look to this blessed Hope as our great End and Encouragement Tit. ii 13 THIS I have the more largely insisted upon because of a great mistake that many persons have lain under in this matter which is that the Glory of God is the only ultimate End of a Christian and that this is a distinct End from Heaven The first of which I confess is very true but the last absolutely false That the glory of God is the last End of a Christian is evident from those Texts which bid us do all to the glory of God 1 Cor. x. 31 and which make the glory of God to be the point in which all the fruits of righteousness do concenter Phil. i. 11 which propose this as the End of all Religious Performances that God in all things may be glorified 1 Pet. iv 11 and affirm that t is to this purpose that we are chosen to be Christians that we should be to the Praise of his Glory Eph. i. 12 But that the glory of God is no distinct End from our being made partakers of the Happiness of Heaven is as evident from hence that this Glory consists not in any thing that we can add or contribute to Him whose essential Glory is so immense and secure that there is nothing we can do can either Increase or Diminish it and there is no other Glory can redound to him from any thing without but what is the Reflection of his own natural Rays He understands himself too well to value him self either the more or the less for the Praises or Dispraises of his Creatures For he is enough of Stage and Theatre to himself and hath the same satisfying Prospect of his own Glory in the midst of all the loud Blasphemies of Hell as among the perpetual Halelujahs of Heaven And having so it cannot be supposed that he should injoyn us to Praise and Glorifie him for the sake of any Good or Advantage that can accrue to Himself by it or out of any other pleasure he takes in
when ever he surveys himself in the glorious mirrour of his own Mind he discerns nothing in himself but what is infinitely lovely nothing but what exactly corresponds with the fairest Ideas of his own infinite Reason Whereas if upon an impossible Supposal it were otherwise there would arise a Civil War within his own Bosom against which Omnipotence it self could not protect or defend him For in despight of himself he would be continually exposed to the just reproaches of his own Mind and his own All-seeing Eye would every moment detect and libel and upbraid him and render him a most inglorious Spectacle to himself So that he would be so far from being infinitely pleased and satisfied with himself that his own infallible Reason would be an everlasting vexation to him AND so will ours be to us unless we take care to imitate God in those his divine Perfections from whence his infinite self-satisfaction arises For so long as we are conscious to our selves that we wilfully swerve and deviate from the great Exemplar of our rational Natures we cannot but be ashamed of and condemn our selves and be highly dissatisfied with our own Actions Our Conscience must necessarily reproach our Will and our Reason upbraid our base Inclinations Now what an intolerable plague is it for a man to be forced to make Invectives against himself and continually to carry his own Satyrs in his bosom In this life indeed what by disguising our Faults with specious Names or colouring them over with plausible Pretences what by bribing our Consciences with false Presumptions or diverting our selves from listning to their reproaches by hurrying into Vice or Business we may happily make a shift to deal well enough with our selves But alas what shall we do when we come into the other world where all fair Colour and Pretence shall be wiped off our Vices and We shall appear to our selves in our own naked and undisguised Ugliness where all our false Presumption shall be baffled by a woful Experience and all the din of worldly Pleasure and Business in which we were wont to drown the clamours of our Conscience shall be for ever silenced so that we shall be exposed without Fence or Guard to the furious Reflections of our own mind and lie stark naked under the lash of an enraged Conscience for ever O good God! what Tongue can express the intolerable Anguish of such a State wherein our own Deformities shall be continually objected to our Eyes and we shall have nothing to palliate or excuse them but be always forced to condemn and hate and curse our selves for them and yet not be able to correct and reform them wherein we shall still be hurried on to such Actions by our own furious Inclinations as when we have done them will startle and amaze us set on our Reason and Conscience to worry us with their reproachful Reflections yet in despight of all their Reproaches we shall still reiterate and repeat them Like a desperate Murderer who having killed an innocent Person reflects with Horrour upon his own Act tears his Hair beats his Breast curses and calls himself a thousand Villains but being hereby chased into a greater Fury instead of reforming he grows more mischievous and so murthers another and then rages afresh at his own Act but still the more he rages the more he murthers And this will necessarily be our State in the other world if through our neglect of imitating God we go away thither under an habitual Contrariety of nature to him Besides that we shall be wholly indisposed to those beatifical Acts of divine Love Worship and Contemplation in which as I have shewed a great part of the pleasure Heaven consists For since all Love is founded in Likeness and Likeness is the effect of Imitation how is it possible we should love God unless we imitate him and if we do not love him what Pleasure can we take in contemplating and adoring him WHEREFORE in prosecution of its great Design which is to make us happy the Gospel strictly requires us to be always imitating so far as they are imitable the Perfections and Actions of our heavenly Father to endeavour to form our Natures to his to rectifie the Features and Lineaments of our Souls by his most amiable Idea to be continually framing our tempers by the noble pattern of his Mercy and Goodness his Justice Purity and Wisdom that so being new cast as it were in the perfect mould of his Nature we may be transformed into living Images of him So Ephes. v. 1 be ye therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imitators or followers of God as dear Children i. e. that so you may resemble him in the Qualities of your Minds as children do their Parents in the Lineaments of their Bodies And this is the sense of all those Evangelical Injunctions which require us to be pure as God is pure merciful as he is merciful and perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect that is to take example by God in the whole course of our lives and trace and follow him in all his imitable Perfections by putting on that new that god-like man that divine temper and disposition which after God that is according to the pattern of his Nature is created in righteousness and true holiness Ephes. iv 24 This therefore is an essential part of our Christian Life to set God always before our Eyes as the great Pattern of our Lives and Actions and to endeavour constantly to write after him and transcribe his Graces into our Natures that so when we go away into the other World we may carry with us at least a rude and imperfect draught of his blessed Image upon our Minds such as when we are removed from the manifold impediments of flesh and blood and the perpetual diversions of this sensitive World and admitted to a near view of God may be a prevailing byass upon our Wills and incline us to imitate him for ever For if for the main we are here transformed by imitating God into a godlike Temper and Disposition all those involuntary contrarieties to him which by reason of our Ignorance of his Nature of our bodily Temper and the manifold Temptations we are here exposed to are still remaining in our Natures will be immediately extinguished upon our arrival into the other World where being freed from all our misconceptions of God from all the repugnancies of our bodily Temper to him and from all those Temptations that were wont to avert us from him we shall have no involuntary Disposition or Inclination in us and then our Wills being already predominantly inclined to follow God and take example by him and having no contrary Inclination to contend with we shall presently attend to and imitate his Perfections with the greatest Vigour Freedom and Alacrity of Soul So that now we shall be so intensely fixed to chuse and act like God who is the Example and Pattern of our Natures that we shall everlastingly
Natures that they will by no means hearken to a Submission but in despight of their own Dread and Horrour do still persist in an open Defiance to their Almighty Enemy and so tremble and sin and sin and tremble for ever And so shall we if we go into the other World habitual Rebels to God our deep and inveterate malice against him will still hurry us on to incense and provoke him and then our natural Dread of his Power and Majesty will break into frightful and horrible Thoughts and so be continually revenging upon us those our continual provocations of him For then our soul will be nakedly exposed to the lash of its own furious thoughts and have no shield to defend it self against the terrours of its guilty Conscience which being rouzed up and kept awake by the unintermitting Sense of our misery will be always clamouring upon us and continually torturing us with black and horrid Reflections So that whilst we are wandering among wretched Ghosts through those dismal shades below we shall be perpetually meditating Horrours and never leave lashing our selves with our own sharp and terrible thoughts till we have chased our selves into Furies and boiled up our self-condemning Rage into an everlasting Madness Thus as our sense of our unlikeness to God will ever fill us with Shame and Confusion so will the sense of our Rebellion against him continually strike us into Fear and Amazement TO prevent which our holy Religion which doth so industriously consult our Happiness requires us now to submit our selves to God James iv 7 to live to God Gal. ii 19 to present our selves living sacrifices holy and acceptable to God Rom. xii 1 to yield our selves unto God and our members as instruments of righteousness unto God Rom. vi 13 the sense of all which is that we should endeavour so to affect our Minds with the sense of Gods Authority over us and with the manifold Reasons of our obedience to him as to be firmly and constantly resolved within our selves neither to chuse any thing that he forbids nor to refuse any thing that he commands that we should set him up a Throne in our Hearts a fixt and prevailing Resolution of Obedience that therein he may sit and reign and have the absolute Empire and Command of all our inward Motions and outward Actions in a word that we should acquire such an habitual Respect to and Reverence of his sovereign Authority that no temptation from within or without us may be able to countermand it or to seduce us from our duty into any wilful course of Rebellion against him And when once we have framed our minds into this obediential Temper we are in a forward preparation for Heaven And though by reason of those Remains and Reliques of corrupt Nature that are in us which are here continually excited by the many Temptations among which we live we may find reluctant and counter-striving Principles within us a stubborn Appetite contending against an obedient Will and sometimes upon Surprize or Inadvertence over-powering it yet if we heartily bewail this as our Unhappiness and if when we thus fall we weep and rise again and take more care of our steps for the future we shall carry with us when we go from hence into the other World a Will that is habitually resigned to God and so being there removed from all the Temptations that were wont to excite in us those contrary Appetites and Inclinations we shall immediately become all Duty and Obedience and freely give up our selves to God without the least shadow of Contest or Reluctancy And in this blessed State we shall continue for ever so intirely devoted to God that between him and us there shall ever be one common Will and End and Interest and our Hearts which before were in a great measure set and tuned to the Heart of God will be instantly such perfect Vnisons with it that whensoever or whatsoever he speaks we shall still resound and eccho to him from our inmost bowels with unspeakable Chearfulness and Alacrity AND being thus reduced to a perfect Submission to the Will of God we shall therein find our selves incomparably happy For now our Wills being always determined by the Will of God we shall be perfectly eased of all the Trouble and Distraction of chusing Now our Minds will no longer hover in Suspence nor be divided between contrary Reasons but all its thoughts will glide gently on in a calm and even Current without ever being tossed and bandied to and fro by cross and opposite Deliberations For now it no sooner knows the Will of God but it rests in it immediately with a free Assent and uncontrolled Approbation so that upon new Occasions it's free from the trouble of forming new Choices and Resolutions being already fixt under all Events to one steady Course of Motion and immovably resolved whatever befals ever to do what God would have it And its will thus perfectly acquiescing in God as in its proper Place and Element it will no longer dispute as it was wont to do no longer waver between two Loadstones but always obey upon the first Motion and follow him for ever without Deliberation In which happy state we shall be no longer ground between those coutermoving Milstones the law in our Minds and the law in our Members but being intirely resigned to God we shall ever obey him secundo flumine with a full Current of Inclination and Nature And what a mighty Ease must this be to the Soul especially considering that by being thus entirely subject to God it will not only be released from the Trouble of chusing and deliberating but also throughly warranted of the Goodness and Rectitude of its own Choices For so far as we are subject unto God our Wills are his and so are our Actions too and whilst they are so we can have no reason to mistrust either that they are bad in themselves or that he is angry and displeased at them For his Will we know is governed by his Nature which is the Standard of Good and Evil the Law and Measure of Right and Wrong so that while we will and act as he would have us we have a sufficient warrant for what we do a warrant that will for ever bear us out and justifie us to our own Minds and always render us abundantly satisfied with our selves so that we shall not only always acquit but always reverence our selves and our Conscience will not only cease to shame us but be continually applauding and smiling upon us and instead of those importunate Clamours with which it was wont to entertain us it s constant eccho to all our actions will be well done good and profitable servant So that being entirely determined by the Will of God which never varies from the Law of his Nature we shall be perfectly satisfied with our selves and for ever chuse and act without the least Mistrust or Hesitance And then our Wills being perfectly subject to
those Virtues which through our vicious Aversations to them seemed at first impossible will grow on by degrees from possible to easie and from easie to necessary and then the Sins will be more impossible to us than the Virtues NOW what a mighty Encouragement is this to make a good Beginning of the Christian Warfare that in so doing we are sure to conquer the main Difficulty of it that when we have broke through all those Oppositions that lie in the way to a wise and good Resolution we are past the Frontiers of Religion and having gotten over those steep Alps at its Entrance shall be sure to find the Region round about a plain and an easie Champain in which the further we go the smoother 't will be and so smoother and smoother till at last 't will be all sweet and delightful like the flowry Walks of Paradise Let us therefore be persuaded without any farther Delay to enter immediately upon this our holy Warfare and by Faith and Consideration c. to lay the Foundations of a religious Resolution that so when we are actually ingaged against our spiritual Enemies we may be able to stand our ground against all Temptations and that having finally conquered and subdued them we may receive that Immortal Crown which God the righteous Judge hath laid up for the victorious AND so I have done with the First Part of our Christian Warfare viz. our Entrance into it SECT III. Concerning the Second Part of the Christian Warfare with a particular Account of the Duties thereunto appertaining I SHALL now proceed to the Second Part of our Christian Warfare viz. the Course and Progress of it which consists in holy living For when once we have reduced our Wills to a firm and well-grounded Resolution of entring into this militant State that which is next incumbent upon us is to pursue our Resolution in the future Course of our Lives and Actions that is to abstain from all Sin and endeavour to mortifie our Inclination to it and to practise all the contrary Graces and Virtues and endeavour to improve them to farther and farther degrees of perfection or as the Scripture expresses it to cease to do evil and to learn to do well to strive against sin and to die to it and to grow in grace and perfect holiness in the fear of God In this consists the Course and Progress of our Christian Warfare In order whereunto it 's indispensably necessary that we should still repeat the Practice of those Duties by which we were first prepared to enter into it all those means by which our good Resolution was produced being naturally conducive to maintain and support it And therefore we find that Faith and Consideration c. are not enjoined as temporary Duties that are only to be practised in the Beginning of our Warfare but as means that will be always necessary for us throughout our whole Progress to Heaven For so we are commanded not only to acquire a sincere Faith or Belief of the Gospel but to continue and be stablished in it Col. i. 2 3. compared with Cap. ii 7 And so again we are injoined not only to admit the proposals of Religion into our Consideration but to keep them there Luk. viii 15 and suffer them to dwell richly in us Coll. iii. 16 And so for all those other preparatory Duties For that from a hearty Conviction of our need of Christ we should beg all Mercies of God in his Name and for his sake is a standing Precept of Christian Devotion John xvi 24 and so is also Confession of our sins to God 1 John i. 9 and Prayer for his Grace and Assistance Coll. iv 2 Nor is it only required that we should once repent or change our bad Resolution for a good one but that we should also repeat and confirm our good Resolution that we should stablish our hearts that is keep our Wills fixed and determined to all good Intentions and Purposes James v. 8 and stand fast in the Lord that is adhere to the Profession and Practice of Christianity with a firm and constant Resolution Phil. iv 1 For to proceed in our Christian Warfare is constantly to live up to our good Resolution which will require a continued Application of those means by which we were first prepared and disposed to enter into it Thus Faith is no less necessary to inable us to perform than it was to prepare us to make our good Resolution and still the more we believe our Religion the more we shall think our selves concerned in its proposals and consequently the more firmly we shall be resolved to close with and embrace them and so still as our Faith improves in degrees of Certainty our Resolution will proportionably grow stronger and stronger Again if it were necessary to the Birth of our Resolution that we should first duly weigh and consider the Motives and the Difficulties of the Duties we were resolving on then it will be no less necessary to the Growth and Emprovement of it that we should frequently consider over these Motives and Difficulties again and ballance them one against another And at first especially while our good Resolution is yet in its Infancy it will be very necessary that we should every day before we go abroad into the World spend some portion of Time in fore-thinking of the many Temptations that do lie in wait for us whether in our Business or Company or necessary Refreshments and Diversions and fore-arming our selves against them with the Motives and Arguments of our Religion that so we may have our Weapons ready when ever they shall assault us and be always provided to resist them Again if it were necessary to the forming our Resolution that we should be convinced of the Necessity and Reality of our Saviours Mediation then it will be no less necessary to the performance of it that our Hope and Fear which are the Springs of our Action should still be excited by the glorious Assurance of Mercy and horrid Prospect of Sin which this Conviction implies Once more was it necessary to the well making of our Resolution that we should affect our selves before-hand with a hearty Shame and Sorrow for our past Transgressions then will it be no less necessary for the strengthening and confirming it that we should ever and anon revive this our Shame and Grief by reflecting on the Filthiness of our past State and the Weakness and Imperfection of our present and by an ingenuous Confession of both to the high and holy God that so our Shame and Sorrow for our Sins being digested into Anger and Displeasure may sharpen our Resolution and animate it more and more against them In short if it be necessary to the founding of our Resolution that we should first earnestly implore the divine Grace and Assistance then it will be no less necessary for the continuance of it that for the same purpose we should continually apply our selves to the Throne
and to be than to be seen His Heavenly-mindedness was such as rendred him neither too sour nor too talkative and his Patience was always equally distant from Stupidity and Effeminacy For so when he endured that miserable Death of the Cross he suffered like a Man that was sensible of Pain and yet very well knew how to undergo it as became him For as on the one hand he did not breath out his Soul like an effeminate Epicure in whining Complaints and wretched Lamentations so neither on the other hand did he give up the Ghost like a flanting Stoick in a huffing Contempt of death or an affected Insensibility of Pain and Misery But from the beginning to the end he acted his Part in that bloody Tragedy as one that was neither insensible of Torment nor conquered by it For the last words which he breathed which were a hearty Prayer for his Murderers manifested his Soul to be calm and serene under all the Agonies of his Body Thus is his great Example intirely composed of those excellent Virtues that are the proper Graces and Ornaments of humane Nature Now though there be some Actions of our Saviours Life which were never intended for our Imitation viz. such wherein he either exercised or proved and asserted his divine Authority yet whatsoever he did of precise Morality and in pursuance to his own Laws he designed and intended for our Imitation So that in all such matters as his Law is to be our Map and Rule so his Practice is to be our Guide and President FOR this is the great End of our Religion to which God hath predestinated us namely to be conformable to the Image of his Son Rom. viii 29 and in this consists our putting on of the Lord Jesus Christ namely in imitating his Manners and following the Garb and Fashion of his Conversation and accordingly our Saviour tells his Disciples John xiii 15 I have given you an example that is of Humility and Charity that you should do as I have done to you and 't is one of his great Commands that we should learn of him who was meek and lowly of heart with a promise that in so doing we should find rest unto our Souls Mat. xi 29 WHEREFORE if we would lead a holy Life pursuant to our holy Resolution we must set holy Examples before our eyes and especially that most holy one of our blessed Saviour We must peruse the History of his sacred Life and diligently observe his Carriage and Demeanour in all those Capacities and Circumstances wherein he was placed and closely apply it all to our selves as a perfect Pattern of Action Thus and thus did my Saviour Sic ille manus sic ora so he demeaned himself when he was in my Circumstances after this manner he acted and thus he suffered and can I follow a more glorious Example nay would it not be a burning Shame for me not to imitate his Manners whilst I profess my self his Disciple Think O my Soul what would he have now done if he were in thy Condition and had thy Temptations before him Would he have pawned his Innocence for such a Trifle or prostituted himself to such a base infamous Action to avoid such an inconsiderable Inconvenience No doubtless he would not and art thou not ashamed to comply with such a Temptation knowing with what Indignation thy Saviour would have rejected it If we would but thus inure our selves to reflect upon our Saviours Example and apply it to and compare it with our own Actions we cannot imagine with what a divine Emulation 't would inspire us how it would animate our Weaknesses and shame our Irregularities and inamour our Souls with true Virtue and Goodness III. TO the Course and Progress of our Christian Warfare it is also necessary that we should frequently apply our selves for Advice and Direction to our spiritual Guides For it is to be considered that men of a secular Life and Conversation are generally so engaged in the Business and Affairs of this World that they very rarely acquire Skill enough in Religion to conduct themselves safely to Heaven through all those Difficulties and Temptations that lie in their way For before they can be capable to guide themselves safely they must in all points of great moment be able to distinguish between Truth and Falshood and to make a difference between good and evil which in many Instances do border so near upon one another that it requires much greater Skill and Knowledge than the Generality of men are Masters of to discern the Point and Boundary that parts them And supposing their Vnderstandings to be so well instructed as to be able to resolve them truly in all those doubtful Cases wherein they are or may be concerned yet still there is generally such a fault in their Wills as renders them incompetent Judges for themselves and that is that through an Excess of Self-love they are prone to be partial in their own Concerns and consequently unless the Case be very plain to vote that true that is most for their Interest and determine on that side they are most inclined to For when a mans Judgment is before in Suspence a very small weight of Interest on the wrong side of the Question usually turns the Scale against the greater probability on the right And whilst Interest fees mens Affections and their Affections bribe their Judgments it will be almost impossible for them to secure their Innocence whilst they determine all Cases of Right and Wrong at the Tribunal of their own Reason For when once they have determined falsly as many times to be sure they will besides the many single Miscarriages in Practice that will be consequent thereunto by practising on upon their false Determinations they will intangle themselves in such evil Customs and Habits as by that time they have discovered the Error of their Judgment will render it very difficult for them to correct the error of their Practice And therefore to secure our selves in our Innocence and Duty it is mighty necessary that in all doubtful Cases we should appeal from our selves to the Judgment of others who having no Interest to biass them one way or t'other will be much more impartial and therefore if they have but equal Understanding more competent Judges of our Case than our selves UPON both which accounts the Christian Religion hath wisely separated an Order of Men from the World to be the Guides and Conducts of Souls to oversee and direct the secular Flock who upon the above-mentioned accounts cannot be supposed to be in all Cases competent Guides of themselves For 't was to this purpose that our Saviour before his Ascension commissioned his Disciples Mat. xxviii 18 19 20. All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth Go ye therefore and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Ghost teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded
and unite them in one Center and not to suffer himself to be tossed hither and thither by independent Designs and Intentions because this will unavoidably distract him in his prosecutions and so divide and weaken his Principles of Action that he will be able to do nothing to any Purpose God therefore being the great Object of Religion it is necessary in order to our progress therein that we should as much as in us lies respect and aim at him in the whole Course of our Actions that we should continually look up to him as to the directing Star by which we are to steer our Motions and conduct our whole Lives under a fixt Intention to obey his Will and imitate his Nature AND indeed unless we do this we are not good Men in the Sense and Judgment of Religion For Religion as such is a Rule of divine Worship and under this Notion the Christian Religion in particular enjoins all its Duties viz. of Homage and Worship to God For it requires us to do all as unto God Col. iii. 23 and to do all to the glory of God 1 Cor. x. 31 that is to do all in Obedience to him and Imitation of him from a sincere Acknowledgment of the Perfections of his Nature of his sovereign Authority over us and immutable Right to rule and command us Not that an actual explicite Intention of obeying or imitating God is necessary to every good Action for our Occasions of doing good being so infinite and so often occurring in our secular Affairs and our Minds being so incapable as they are of attending many things at once it is impossible for us actually to intend Obedience to God in every good thing we perform but that in the general we should heartily intend it is indispensibly necessary to the consecrating our best Actions and adopting them into the Family of Religion For that we must obey God is the fundamental Law of Religion from whence all the particular Commands and Prohibitions of it do receive their Force and Obligation So that unless we do what he commands with a general Intention of Mind to obey him we do not act upon a religious Obligation and consequently though our Actions should be materially good yet are they not formally religious NOW to the fixing and setling such a general Intention in our Minds it is necessary that in the particular Exercises of our Religion we should so far as we are able actually intend and aim at God that we should throw by all other Ends so far as we are able and refer our Actions directly and immediately to him in a word that we should formally devote and dedicate them to his blessed Will and Pleasure so as to be able to say this and this I do purely to please God with a single Intention of Soul to resemble and please him to transcribe his Nature and comply with his Will For which end we must take care as oft as we can to perform our religious Actions in such a manner as that no secular Ends may interpose between God and our Intentions to be as private and as modest as we can in our Religion and not expose it any more than needs must to the eye of the World lest Applause and Reputation should intrude themselves upon us and carry away our Intention from God For thus our Saviour advises in the Case of Charity and Prayer Mat. vi 1 7. that we should not do our alms before men to be seen of them nor sound a trumpet before them to make the Streets ring of our Charity nay if possible that we should not let our left hand know what our right hand doth but that our Alms should be secret and known only to God and our selves and that when we pray we should not affect to make a pompous shew of it in the Synagogues and corners of the streets but that we should enter into our closets and shut our door and in the most private manner unbosom our Souls to God the sense of all which is that should we endeavour so far as in us lies so to circumstantiate our Charity and Devotion as not to give any Opportunity to secular Ends and Aims to obtrude themselves upon us to mingle with our pious Intentions and deflower the Purity of them NOT that I think it unlawful for a man to intend any thing but God in the discharge of his Duty or that our Intention is bad when it immediately respects any worldly End such as Pleasure or Profit or Honour which are proposed by God himself as Arguments to persuade men to their Duty and what hurt can it be for men to aim at that in the discharge of their Duty which God hath proposed to them as an Encouragement to it 'T is true if worldly Advantage be the only or chief End we aim at our Intention is naught and so are all the Actions thence proceeding but if together with that we do so heartily intend and aim to please God and conform our selves to his blessed Will and Nature as to continue on in the path of our Duty to him not only when we have no prospect of outward Advantage to induce us to it but when outward Evils and Inconveniences lie in our way we need not doubt but our Intention is truly good and sincere notwithstanding those immediate Respects which it many times hath to secular Ends and Inducements But yet it is certain that the more it respects these the more imperfect it is and the more liable to be vanquished by outward Temptations For it 's a plain sign that 't is conscious of its own Weakness when it dares not stand alone but is fain to call in to it the Assistance of these worldly Ends to support and defend it and the less of worldly Aim there is in our religious Intention to be sure the more pure and simple it is and the more of substantial Piety there is in it and though it may be truly sincere notwithstanding its being compounded with secular Aims and Respects yet the more of these there is in it the weaker and more instable it must necessarily be For our Mind being finite cannot possibly intend many things with equal Strength and Vigour as it can do one and when its Intention is dispersed among various Objects it must necessarily be more languid than when 't is collected united and fixt upon one and consequently the more a mans Intention respects the World the less in proportion it must respect God and so on the contrary And then the less a man respects God in his Duty and the more he respects the World the more liable he will be to the Temptations of worldly Loss or Advantage For when those Advantages which he so much respects lie on the opposite side to his Duty to be sure he will be so much the more inclined to desert it and as often as Fortune shifts sides and carries with it the Advantages of Pleasure Profit or Honour
Delay as soon as we had strayed from our Duty we might have soon recovered the Ground we had lost by it and by a little more Diligence have gotten as far onward as if we had never interrupted our Progress at all by deferring our Repentance we set our selves farther and farther back and shall every day be more and more indisposed to return For in the Course of our Religion there is no standing still but either we are progressive or retrograde going backward or forward as long as we live so that when once we are out of our Way we are still going farther out till such time as we return again and consequently the longer we are out the harder 't will be to return and the farther we shall have to the end of our Way For when I first sin and the Wound of my Innocence is yet green fresh it may easily be cured by the timely Application of a sorrowful Confession and new Resolution of Amendment but if I neglect it 't will rot and putrifie my Sense of it will be hardned and my Inclination to it grow every day more inveterate and then if it be not lanc'd and corroded by a sharp a long and a painful Repentance it will turn into an incureable Gangrene Hence the Apostle bids us exhort one another daily while it is called to day that is to repent while it is called to day lest any of us be hardned through the deceitfulness of sin Heb. iii. 13 So that when we have wilfully sin'd we run a mighty Hazard of our final perseverance if we don't repent immediatly For all the while we delay our Conscience grows more sear'd and our Lust grows more confirm'd and God knows where it will end but 't is fearfully to be suspected that that neglected Bruise which we got by our Fall will grow worse and worse and determine at last in final Impenitency Wherefore as we intend to persevere in wel-doing it concerns us in the first place to take all possible Care not to give way to any wilful Sin nor suffer our selves by any Hopes or Fears to be tempted from our good Resolution but if at any time our wicked Inclinations should prevail against it to betake our selves immediately to a serious Repentance to make a sorrowful Confession of it to our offended God and solemnly renew our Resolution against it that so we may stop the growing evil betime before it 's capable of indangering our final Apostacy III. TO our final perseverance it 's necessary that to prevent the like Falls and Miscarriages for the future we should indeavour to withdraw our Affections from the Temptations of the World but more especially from those Temptations which were the Occasions of our Fall For thus we are strictly prohibited to set our affections upon things on the earth Col. iii. 21 to love the World and the things that are in the World Joh. i ii 15 to lay up for our selves treasures upon earth Mat. vi 19 and 't is the proper Character of a true Christian to be crucified to the World Gal. vi 14 and to converse as a Stranger and a Pilgrim in it Heb. xi 13 As on the contrary to mind earthly things and to be lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God are made the proper Characters of Infidels and Apostates Phil. iii. 19 compared with Tim. ii 3.4 And so inconsistent is an inordinate Affection to the World with our perseverance in the Christian Warfare that St. James expresly tells us that the friendship of the World is enmity with God Jam. iv 4 and 't is to the Excess of our friendship to it that the Scripture frequently attributes our Apostacy Tim. ii 4.10 and the Apostle tells us that they that will be rich that is immoderately covet to be so fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in perdition and destruction and that the love of money is the root of all evil 1 Tim. vi 9 10. From all which it 's apparent how necessary it is in the accounts of Christianity in order to our perseverance that we should indeavour to wean and abstract our selves from the World FOR this world is the Magazine of all those Temptations by which our Vertue and Innocence is importuned and assaulted and 't is either the Hope of some worldly Pleasure Profit or Honour that allures or the Fear of some of the contrary Evils which are incident to us in the Course of Religion that affrights us from our Duty Whilst therefore we immoderately love those Goods and Evils which are the Solicitours of Vice we are in very great danger of being conquered and led captive by it For 't is not for the sake of sinning that men sin but for the sake of those Goods or to avoid those Evils which are appendent to their sinning or not sinning and consequently the more a man loves those Goods which cling and adhere to a sinful Action the more propense he will be to the Commission of it and the more he dreads those Evils which he can most easily avoid by a sinful Action the more prone and inclinable he will be to it Wherefore to secure our perseverance in this Warfare against sin it is absolutely necessary that we rectifie our Opinion of the Goods and Evils of this World and moderate and abate our Affection towards them especially towards those that have been most prevalent with us For the Temptation that prevails upon us discovers the weak Side of our Nature and instructs the Devil what Good or Evil it is that is most apt to allure or affright us and to be sure that subtil Tempter who hath been so many thousand Years studying the Arts of seducing us will not fail to assault us again where he hath been already successful and therefore it concerns us to fortifie our selves there where we have so much reason to expect the Enemy will assault us and to rectifie our Opinions of and mortifie our Affections to those things which have already so much imposed upon our Virtue and Innocence For 't is our Imagination that gives Life and Efficacy to the Charms and Terrors of the World and renders them so successful against us we fancy that to be in them which is not and so are affected not so much with the things themselves as with the false Representations we make of them FOR it's plain the Goods of the World are beholden to our selves for the greatest part of those Beauties with which they tempt and allure us and 't is our Fancy that gives the Paint and Fucus with which they charm and inamour our Affections and so for the Evils of the World 't is our own Imagination that disguises them into such Bugs and Scare-crowes and puts those gastly Vizors on them with which they fright and amaze us If therefore we would but take care to rectifie our Opinions of them both and to strip them out of their imaginary
Terrors and Allurements we should thereby disarm them of their main Strength and render them much less able to seduce us for the future And this methinks we might easily do if we would but fairly represent to our selves the present State and Posture of our Affairs For we are a sort of Beings that are every Moment travailing from hence to an eternal World where an unexpressible Happiness or Misery attends us and all that we enjoy or suffer in this Life is only the Convenience or Inconvenience of a short Journey to a long Home but can have no other Influence upon our everlasting Condition than as it is the Occasion either of our Virtue or Vice which are the only Goods and Evils that will accompany us to Eternity and make us happy or miserable there for ever But as for Poverty or Riches Pain or Pleasure Disgrace or Reputation they are things which probably within these ten or twenty Years will be as perfectly indifferent to us as our last Nights Dream was when we awoke in the Morning And this methinks duly considered were enough to render us very unconcerned at any Good or Evil that can happen to us here For what a mighty Matter is it whether I fare well or ill for twenty or thirty Years who when that is expired must be happy or miserable for Millions of Millions of Ages and what will these little Goods or Evils signifie to me when my Body is in the Grave and my Soul in Eternity When I am stript into a naked Spirit and set ashore upon the invisible World then all these things will be as if they never were and in the twinkling of an Eye I shall lose Sight of them for ever and of all that I enjoyed or suffered in this Life I shall have nothing remaining but my Virtue or Vice whose Issues will prove my eternal Happiness or Misery Doubtless would we but accustom our Minds to such Reflections as these they would effectually restrain us from the immoderate Love or Fear of the things of this World and reduce us to a constant and efficacious Persuasion that there is no Good in this World comparable to that of doing our Duty nor any Evil incident to us in this Life that is not infinitely less formidable than Sin And when once our Affection to this World and our Opinion of the Goods and Evils of it are thus moderated and rectified the Temptations to Sin will quite lose their hold of us and be no more able to fasten upon our Resolution So that now we may pass safely through them whilst they are sparkling about us there being no Tinder in our Breasts for them to catch fire and kindle upon Now they will be no longer capable to allure or affright us those bosom Orators being silenced that were wont to contend for them and to magnifie their Charms and Terrors and when we neither immoderately love nor fear them 't will be no hard matter to defend our Virtue and Innocence against all their Assaults and Importunities IV. TO our final Perseverance it is necessary that we should more curiously search into the smaller Defects and Indecencies of our Nature in order to our reforming and correcting them Hence we are commanded to hate even the garments spotted by the flesh Jude 23. i. e. to take care of the Beginnings of Sin of any thing that hath the least Spot or Infection of it and accordingly we are obliged not only to take care to rub out the greater Stains of our Nature but to be diligent that we may be found of our Lord in peace without spot and blameless 2 Pet. iii. 14 i. e. to indeavour to reform those smaller and more indiscernable Defects of our Nature which though they do not totally stain yet very much spot and blemish it that so at the coming of our Lord we may be found not only sincere and upright but as near as may be innocent and blameless For so Phil. ii 15 we are bid to be blameless harmless and without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation i. e. to endeavour so to demean our selves in this World as that we may appear not only honest for the main but so near as is possible spotless and unreproveable And indeed there is nothing doth more frequently occasion mens final Miscarriage in Religion than their not being careful and diligent in this matter When they first enter into the Christian Warfare they very industriously set themselves against that Course of wilful Sin in which they formerly lived and this were wondrous well if they did not stop here and go no farther but alas in the mean time while they are thus industriously busied in subduing their old Sins there are a great many lesser Flaws and Defects in their Nature which by a timely Care and Inspection they might easily correct but these they take no Notice of but quietly permit them to grow and increase till at last they become as hurtful dangerous to them as their old Sins were against which they have all this while so zealously contended As for Instance when they first entered upon a Resolution of Amendment they were profane it may be or sensual or vehemently adicted to Fraud and Oppression and against these they opposed themselves with great Zeal and Animosity and so far they did well but in the mean time perhaps there was Pride and Ostentation Envy and Peevishness Self-will and Censoriousness secretly budding and sprouting up in their Natures all which they might have easily cured by timely Applications but alas in the Heat of their Contest against their other Sins they never so much as minded or regarded these but e'en left them alone till they grew up into obstinate and inveterate Habits and became every whit as fatal and destructive to their Souls as those were which they have been all this while subduing and mortifying So that after all they have only changed their Sins and have been conjuring up one Devil while they have been laying another and whilst the Tide of their Wickedness hath been ebbing on this Shore it hath been flowing on the contrary and as it hath sunk in Sensuality it hath swelled into Devilishness Perhaps whilst you are zealously carrying on your Warfare against your old Sins you may find your selves too apt to be tickled with Applause and puff'd with vain Ostentation have a Care now that while you are starving one Vice you do not pamper another For if you do not correct this little Irregularity of your Nature betimes 't will soon be as dangerous and mischievous to you as ever any of those Vices were against which you are contending 't will by degrees so insinuate into your good Intentions and so sophisticate the Purity of them that at last you will intend nothing else but Applause and so your whole Religion will be converted into dead Shew and empty Pageantry and your spiritual Warfare will prove only a passage out of Profaneness
infests us all over with continual Anguish and Pain how when he hath tired and exhausted us with his continued Batteries and worn out our Strength with a succession of wearisom Nights to sorrowful Days he at last storms the Soul out of all the Out-works of Nature and forces it to retire into the Heart and how when he hath marked us for dead with a Baptism of clammy and fatal Sweats he summons our weeping Friends to assist him to grieve and vex us with their parting Kisses and sorrowful Adieus and how at length when he is weary of Tormenting us any more he rushes into our Hearts and with a few Mortal Pangs and Convulsions tears the Soul from thence and turns it out to seek its Fortune in the wide World of Spirits where 't is either seized on by Devils and carried away to their dark Prisons of Sorrow and Despair there to languish out its life in a dismal Expectation of that dreadful Day wherein it must change its bad Condition for a worse or be conducted by Angels to some blessed Abode there to remain in unspeakable Pleasure and Tranquillity till 't is Crown'd with a glorious Resurrection Now since 't is most certain that we must all one time or other experience these things but most uncertain how soon how much doth it concern us to think of them before-hand and to forecast such Provisions and Preparations for them as that whensoever they happen we may not be surprized For besides that the frequent Meditation of death will familiarize its Terrors to us so that whensoever it comes our Minds which have been so long accustomed to converse with it will be much less startled and amazed at it besides that it will wean us from the inordinate Desire and over-eager Prosecution of the things of this World which as I told you before are the Snares with which our Vices do too often intangle us besides all this I say it will put us upon laying in a Store of spiritual Provisions against that great day of Expence For he that often considers the dreadful Approaches the concomitant Terrors and the momentous Issues and Consequents of Death must be strangely stupified if he be not thereby vigorously excited to fore-arm and fortifie himself with all those Graces and Defences that are necessary to render it easie safe and prosperous VIII To our final perseverance in the Christian Warfare it is also necessary that in order to the putting our selves into a good Posture to die we should discharge our Consciences of all the Reliques and Remains of our past guilt For so we are commanded to take care that our hearts be sprinkled from an evil conscience Heb. x. 22 and to hold faith and a good conscience 1 Tim. i. 19 and to make this our rejoycing the testimony of our conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity we have had our conversation in the world 2 Cor. i. 12 in a word to live in all good conscience Acts xxiii 1 and to have a conscience void of offence towards God and towards men Acts xxiv 16 Which though they are General Duties do necessarily imply this Particular that we should very nicely and curiously examin our Consciences those faithful Records and Registers of our Actions and where-ever we find the least Item of an uncancel'd Guilt immediately cross it out by a hearty Sorrow for and moral Revocation of it For notwithstanding we may have in the general repented of all our past Sins yet there are some Siins which notwithstanding we react no more do leave a lasting Guilt upon the Mind which nothing can cancel but our actual revoking and unsinning them As supposing that I have heretofore either by my bad Counsels or Example seduced other men into wicked Courses it is not sufficient for the Expiation of my Fault that I my self abstain from those wicked Courses for the future but I must indeavour to undo the Mischief which I have done to others by them and by a solemn Recantation of my past Follies by Persuasion and good Counsel and the Application of all other pious and prudent Means indeavour to reduce those whom I have formerly perverted For till I have done this I wilfully permit the mischievous Effect of my Sin to remain and if when I have wounded another I suffer him to perish without taking any care of his Cure I am guilty of his Murder though I never wound him more Suppose again that I have injured another by any malicious Slander or Calumny it is not enough to acquit me of the Guilt of it that I cease to scandalize him for the future but I must also indeavour by a free Retractation to vindicate his injur'd Name from the ill Surmises of those to whom I have asperst him for so long as his Reputation suffers through my not Retracting the Calumnies I have cast upon it I wilfully persist to defame and calumniate him and so long the Guilt of it must stick and abide upon my Conscience Once more suppose I have injur'd another in his Estate either by Theft or Fraud or Oppression it will not be sufficient to acquit me that for the future I forbear defrauding forcing or stealing from him any more but if it be in my Power I must make Restitution of all that I have wrongfully deprived him of and that to himself if he be living or if not to those that succeed him in his Rights and for want of such to the Poor who by Gods Donation have the Propriety of all such Wefts and Strays as have no other Owner surviving For it 's certain that my wrongful Seizure of what is another Mans doth not alienate his Right to it so that he hath the same Right to it while I keep it from him as he had at first when I took it from him and consequently till I restore it back to him I continue to wrong him of it and my detaining it is a continued Repetition of that Fraud or Theft or Oppression by which I wrongfully seized it and whilst I thus continue the Sin 't is impossible but the Guilt of it must still abide upon me In these Cases therefore it concerns us to be very nice and curious in examining our Accounts to see if there be any of these Scores yet uncancel'd any of these bad Effects of our Sin yet remaining For if any such matter appear in our Accounts it concerns us as much as our everlasting Interest amounts to to use all present Care and Diligence to discharge it that so before Death summons us to give up our Accounts to the great Auditor of the World all Scores between him and us may be even'd and adjusted And indeed if we would be safe it vastly imports us to leave as little as may be to do upon a Death-bed for that is most commonly a very improper State for religious Action since for all we know we may be distracted in it by a Feaver or stupified by an Apoplexy or deprived
piercing sense of my Sins as may cause the floods of unfeigned Grief and Contrition to gush forth from it Cause me to bleed for my sins now that I may not bleed for them for ever and that having felt the Smart and Anguish of them I may utterly detest and abhor them and never be reconciled to them more Thus do thou assist me O good God in the Exercise of all these Duties till thou hast throughly conquered my Will by them and prepared it for a firm Resolution to forsake all ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world And now that I am going into the world among those very Temptations that have hitherto so miserably captivated and inslaved me O let thy blessed Spirit be present with me to keep my drousie Conscience awake and arm me against them with his holy Inspirations that so those good Thoughts and Desires which thou hast at present excited in me may stick fast upon my Soul in the midst of my worldly Occasions and never cease importuning my Conscience Will and Affections till they have produc'd in me the happy Effect of a serious and hearty Repentance All which I most earnestly beseech of thee even for pity sake to a poor perishing Soul and for Jesus Christ his sake in whose name and words I farther pray Our Father c. In the Evening when you find your self most sit for serious Thoughts go into your Closet again and consider cooly with your self whether you are heartily willing to part with every Sin and particularly with your beloved Sin and to submit to every Duty and even to those that are most contrary to your vicious Inclination if you are not as it 's very probable you will not for some time or if you find the least reason to suspect you are not press your self anew with such divine Reasons as are most apt to affect you with the Hope of Heaven and the Fear of Hell with the love of God and of your Saviour represent your Obstinacy to your self with all its Baseness and Disingenuity Madness and Folly till you find your self affected with a sorrowful Sense of it and then offer up this following Prayer O Father of Mercies and God of all Grace and Consolation who art a ready help in time of need look down upon me I beseech thee a miserable and forlorn Wretch that have wilfully sold my self Captive to the Devil and am now strugling to get loose from this my wretched Bondage into the glorious Liberty of the Sons of God I know O Lord that I am striving for my immortal Life and accordingly as I succeed I expect to be happy or miserable for ever I have seriously considered the Reasons on both sides and am fully satisfied in my mind that there is infinitely more Force in thy Promises and Threats than in all the Difficulties of my Duty and the Pleasures of my sin But after all this I find a law in my Members warring against the law in my Mind a perverse Will that rejects the counsels of my Reason that makes obstinate Reservations of some beloved Sins and Exceptions to some particular Duties in despite of all the persuasion of my Reason and Religion So that after all my Endeavours I am still detain'd in Captivity to the law of sin that is in my Members and am not able to incline my self to an intire Resolution of Amendment O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of Sin and Death I know O Lord though I am weak and impotent and of my self unable to shake off the Chains and Fetters of my Lusts yet thy Grace is abundantly sufficient to rescue and deliver me from them and thou hast promised to assist with it my honest Endeavours and crown them with a blessed Success Wherefore for thy Truth and Mercies sake suffer not thy poor Creature who with pitiful and bemoaning Looks cries out for help to thee to spend himself in weary and fruitless Struglings against this violent Torrent of my sinful Nature which without thy aid will quickly overcome my poor Endeavours and drive me down into eternal Perdition My sole Dependence is upon thee my Hope of Success is wholly in thee help Lord help or else I perish stretch forth thy powerful Arm to my sinking Soul and let not this Deep swallow me up but do thou so quicken my faint Endeavours so strengthen my weak and doubting Faith so enliven my cold and languid Considerations so clear up my Convictions of my need of a Saviour and of the Danger and Odiousness of my Sins and thereby so increase my penitential Sorrows and Remorses as that by all these means together my obstinate Will may at last be conquered and effectually persuaded to part with every Sin be it never so dear to me and to comply with every Duty be it never so cross to my vile Inclinations Then shall I freely resign up my self unto thee and with a firm Resolution devote all my Powers to thy Service And that I may do so and by so doing be reconciled to thee O my offended God before I go hence and be no more seen receive me I beseech thee into thy protection this Night that I may yet see the light of another Day and have a longer space to finish my Repentance All which I humbly implore even for Jesus Christ his sake in whose name and words I farther pray Our Father c. If upon searching your own Heart you find that after you have fairly represented to your self what sinful Pleasures you must part with what Duties you must submit to and what Difficulties you must ingage with you are willing without any Reserve or Exception to submit your self to God beware you be not too hasty to form your Resolution but take some little time to try your self see whether you will continue to morrow of the same mind you are in now and if then you perceive you have reason to suspect your self try a little longer and at the present indeavour as much as in you lies to confirm and settle your self in the good Mind you are in by pressing and urging your self with all those Arguments of your Religion by which you have been thus far convinced and persuaded and while you are thus trying your self instead of the former let this be your Evening Prayer O Blessed Lord and most merciful Father thou art a God hearing Prayer and to thee shall all flesh come I admire thy Goodness I adore thy Grace that after so many heinous provocations I have given thee for which thou mightest have justly shut thine ears against me for ever thou hast heard my Cries and pitied my Misery and thus far contributed towards my Recovery I acknowledg 't is by thy Grace that I am what I am that this stubborn Heart begins at last to relent this perverse Will to bow and stoop these lewd Affections to hunger and thirst after
Endeavour So that unless thou wilt still go along with me and still quicken and animate me by thy blessed Spirit my Work is so great and my Strength so little that it will be in vain for me to proceed any farther These importunate Temptations that surround me will quickly conquer my present Resolution and I shall do as I have too often done already resolve and sin and sin and resolve and so increase my Guilt by the Treachery of my Vows and Engagements Wherefore for Jesus Christ his sake withdraw not thy self from me but continue to assist my weak Endeavours by thy powerful Grace till thou hast crown'd them with a perfect Victory For which End I beseech thee inspire me more and more with Patience and Constancy of Mind that I may stand fast in my good Resolution in despite of all Temptations to the contrary Suggest to my Mind those holy Examples thou hast set before me especially that of my blessed Saviour and incline my Heart to coppy and imitate them Direct me to some wise and faithful Guide that may be willing and able to assist me in all my spiritual Necessities and by frequently exciting me to dedicate my Actions to thee do thou purifie my Intentions from sinful and from carnal Aims that so I may always live to thy Glory And since thou art present with me wherever I am and dost always behold me whatsoever I am doing O do thou inspire me with such a strong continual and actual Sense of it as may be a constant Check to my sinful Inclinations and render me afraid of offending thee Let thy blessed Spirit be my constant Monitor to put me in mind to consider my Ways and frequently to examine my Actions that so whenever I go astray I may be immediatly convinc'd of it and by my speedy Repentance recover my self before I have wandered too far from my Duty And grant I beseech thee that the sense of my past Failings may still render me more watchful and circumspect for the future that whensoever I have been carelesly or wilfully faulty I may from thenceforth be more cautious of my Actions and more vigilant against the Temptations that betrayed me And that I may not run my self unnecessarily into Temptation for the future preserve me O Lord from sloth and idleness and from intermedling with matters that do not belong to me and do thou still put me in mind to do my own Business and to be faithful and diligent in the State and Calling wherein thou hast placed me And that I may always serve thee with Freedom and Alacrity remove from me I beseech thee all unprofitable Sadness and Melancholy and help me to acquire an equal Tranquillity of Mind and a becoming Chearfulness of Spirit For which end Good Lord do thou inspire me with a lively Sense and earnest Expectation of that blissful State towards which I am travelling that having this glorious Prospect always in my Eye I may go on with Joy and Triumph over all the Difficulties and Temptations that oppose me And that by all these means I may be more and more strengthened and confirmed in the good Resolution I have made do thou stir up my slothful mind to a dilligent Attendance on thy publick Ordinances that so in the solemn Assemblies of thy Saints I may constantly hear thy Word with Reverence and Attention offer up my Prayers with Fervency and Devotion and approach thy Table with all that Humility and Love Gratitude and Resignation of Soul that becomes this solemn Remembrance and Representation of my dying Saviour In these things and whatsoever else is needful to secure my Resolution of Obedience assist me O Lord for Jesus Christ his sake to whom with thy self and eternal Spirit be render'd all Honor Glory and Power from his time forth and for evermore After this Prayer bethink your self a little what Temptations you are like to meet with in the ensuing Business of the Day and briefly recollect those powerful Arguments which the Gospel urges to fortifie you against them and apply them particularly to the Sin or Sins you are most inclined to and then renew your Resolution to God in the following Prayer O God who art my Hope and Strength upon whose Aid and Assistance I depend look down I beseech thee upon a poor helpless Creature who am going forth into a busie World that is full of Snares and Temptations Blessed be thy Name my Heart continues still resolved upon a through Course of Amendment and therefore here in thy dreadful Presence I do again most solemnly promise and ingage my self that whatsoever Temptations I meet with this Day I will not wilfully commit any Sin no not the Sin I am most inclined to nor omit any Duty how contrary soever it may be too my Nature and that I will faithfully indeavour to keep such a constant Guard upon my self as that I may not be surprized and overtaken through my own Inadvertence and Vnwariness But this O Lord I promise not out of any Confidence in my own Strength but in Dependence upon thee and in Hope that out of thy tender Pity to a poor impotent Wretch thou wilt not be wanting to me in any necessary Assistance but that either thou wilt remove from me all great and importunate Temptations or inable me by thy Grace to repel and vanquish them and this I do most earnestly beseech in the Name and Mediation of Jesus Christ with whose Prayer I conclude this my morning Sacrifice Our Father c. In the Evening when you find your self best disposed for religious Exercise set apart such Portions of your Time as you can conveniently spare from your necessary Refreshment and Diversion to call your self to Account concerning the Actions of the Day and enquire whether they have been agreeable to your Morning Promise and Resolution and upon Enquiry you will find either that you have faithfully discharged what you promised or that you have sinned unawares or through Carelesness and Self-neglect or that you have sinned wilfully and against your own Conscience If upon Enquiry it appear that you have been faithful to your Morning Engagement represent to your self the great Reason you have to rejoice in it and to praise God for it and then offer up this following Thanksgiving BLessed be thy Name O most gracious and merciful Father for those great and numberless Favours which from time to time thou hast heaped upon me who am less than the least of all thy Mercies particularly for the signal Mercies of this Day for that thou hast not shut thine Ears against my Prayers nor withdrawn thy self from me but hast accompanied me with thy Grace through all those Snares and Temptations to which I have been exposed Praised be thy Name that thou hast not suffered me to be tempted above what I was able that thou hast so powerfully assisted me against those Temptations I have been ingag'd with and by putting so many good Thoughts into my
affecting Instances of his Love or upon the blessed State above and then go on with this following Prayer O Thou most excellent Being thou infinitely amiable and adorable Majesty thou Pattern of Beauty and Standard of Goodness who art glorious beyond all Praise and dost out-reach all Wonder and comprehend all perfection blessed be thy Name thou hast touch'd my soul with a lively sense of thy Glory I feel it shining through me and like an active Flame insinuating into my Heart it fires my Love cherishes my Hope wings my Devotion and diffuses a vital Warmth over all my Faculties it raises me up into a heavenly State and fills me with joy unspeakable and full of glory it captivates every thought into Obedience to thy Will and brings every Power of my soul into Subjection to thee Blessed be thy Name thou hast conquered me by thy Love and I resign my self to thee with a chearful Heart I am intirely thine I am thy Servant truly I am thy Servant and in this Title I glory more than in all the Honours of the World But though I am highly advanc'd and exalted by serving thee yet thou art so infinitely happy in the boundless perfections of thy own Nature that thou canst reap no other Advantage from it but only the pleasure of seeing thy poor Creature blessed and made happy by it What then shall I render unto thee O thou Joy of my Life thou Treasure of my Love thou supream Felicity of my Nature Alas I have nothing but my self to give thee nothing but this poor Heart that burns with Love to thee that pants and breaths after thee and desires above all things in the world to be eternally united to thee in perfect Love If I had ten thousand Hearts to love thee ten thousand Tongues to praise thee I would devote them all to thee as freely and chearfully as I do my self For whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee O God thou art my God and my Portion for ever In thee I am blest and in the Light of thy Countenance I rejoice more than in all the Joys and Pleasures of the World I am ravisht with thy Beauty I admire thy Love and from the bottom of my Soul adore thy Wisdom and Goodness My heart is ready O Lord my Heart is ready I will sing and give praise Awake up my Glory awake all the Powers of my Soul I my self will awake and celebrate thy praises Praised be the God of Glory praised be the God of Love praised be the Father of Mercies praised be the best Friend of Souls for thy Goodness reaches to the heavens thy Glory shines throughout the Creation and thy Mercy is spread over all thy works Who can comprehend thine infinite Beauties who can rehearse thy noble Acts who can shew forth all thy Praise I do confess my Thoughts are infinitely too short my Affections too narrow my Expressions too scanty to comprehend and sufficiently admire and celebrate thy Glory But O my God thou knowest that I love thee and blessed be thy Name I feel infinite reasons so to do O that I could love thee more that I could love thee but as much as Angels and glorified Spirits do who yet cannot love thee as much as thou deservest because thou deservest to be belov'd infinitely But my soul thirsts for thee and longs after thee O when shall I be admitted into thy blessed Presence there to see and admire and love and adore thee for ever when shall I shake off this clog of sinful Mortality that sinks and depresses me and flee to those happy Regions of perfect Love where I shall continually feed upon thee with inexpressible Delight and be filled with a strong and everlasting Sense of thy goodness O thou that art the beginner and finisher of every good work be pleased to assist my holy Endeavours to withdraw my Mind more and more from these sensible things that it may have a clearer sight of its heavenly Country from whence it came and whither it desires to return that so having my Eye always fixt on that blessed recompence of reward I may live above this World and in despight of all its Terrors and Allurements persevere to the end in a steady and even Course of Obedience And now O Lord since thou hast been graciously pleas'd to inspire my Mind with these delightful Thoughts of thee and to enlarge my Heart with such sweet Transports of Love to thee grant I beseech thee that they may not only please but better me that they may lift me up above all the Temptations of this World and revive my Strength and quicken my Endeavours and compose my distrustful Heart into a stedfast Dependence upon thee that so I may be fruitful in all good works and my heart may be establisht unblameable in holiness before thee unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Amen Amen After you have used one or more of the foregoing Prayers according as they suit with the present Temper of your Mind take a short view of your Defects and Imperfections and especially of those that cleave most to your Nature and briefly represent to your Mind the intrinsick Evil and Vileness of them and how they clog your Religion blemish your Nature and obstruct your Happiness and then conclude with the following Prayer for Growth in Grace O God who art the most excellent Nature the Perfection of all Beauty and the Fountain of all Graces who doest infallibly understand what is best to be chosen and invariably chuse by the best and purest Reason look down I beseech thee upon me thy poor defective Creature who am ashamed of my self to see how unlike thee I am how I am laden with Imperfections and how after all my religious Endeavours my Nature is still vitiated with unreasonable Lusts and Affections how much Vanity and Impertinence there yet remains in my Mind how much Perverseness in my Will how much spiritual and carnal Iniquity in my Affections and Appetites Lord I have been long a contending with this corrupt Nature and yet upon all Occasions I find my self too too prone to be Wo is me even my fairest Graces have their Spots and Blemishes my purest Dispositions their sinful Intermixtures and my best Works their Flaws and Imperfections O my God have pity upon me who here lie sighing at thy Feet under a miserable diseased Nature and as thou hast begun the blessed Cure in me so for Christ his sake I beseech thee to compleat it that being intirely recovered and raised up unto newness of Life I may in the perfect Health and Vigour of my Soul serve and glorifie thee for ever For which end I beseech thee confirm me more and more in the Belief of those immortal Pleasures beyond the Grave which thou hast treasur'd up for those that love and obey thee that by the strength of a lively Faith and vigorous Hope my Soul may be rais'd above this World and learn to despise and trample upon all its gilded Vanities whensoever they present themselves either to allure or to terrifie me from pursuing the heavenly Enjoyments Excite in me such a vehement Thirst after those Rivers of Pleasures above as may every day render me more cool and indifferent towards earthly things more contented and satisfied under all the Events and Issues of thy Providence and more active and vigorous in my heavenly Calling And I beseech thee to inspire me with such clear and lively Apprehensions of thy essential Beauties and Perfections and of thy bountiful Love and boundless Benevolence to all thy Creatures as may every day more and more raise and improve my Love to thee that this being the great Spring and Principle of all my Actions may continually excite me to a chearful Obedience to thy Will and a vigorous Imitation of thy Perfections O cause me to love thee for thy self and Religion for thee and the Instruments of Religion in order to thy Glory and my own Happiness that so founding my Content upon thee and the blessed Interests of a virtuous Life I may grow in Grace and be rich in good Works and go on with a satisfied and triumphant Spirit from Imperfection to Strength from Acts to Habits and from Habits to Confirmation in Grace and may be still more and more confirmed in all the heavenly Graces till they are finally consummated into everlasting Glory And when by thy Grace and Assistance I have perfectly conquered the corrupt Nature within and the Temptations without me and am arrived into the State of everlasting Triumph I will lay all my Victories at thy Feet and with Palms in my hand and Halelujahs on my lips celebrate thy praises to Eternity Hear me O my God in this and whatever else thou knowest to be needful for me even for Jesus Christ his sake in whose Name and Words I further pray Our Father c. FINIS Plat. Phaed. pag. 398. Ibid. Pag. 386. Paedag. l. 2. c. 1. pag. 141. Ibid. Pag. 139. * Dr. Stillingfleets Origines Dr. Patricks Translation of Grotius Sir Charles Wolsely * Here make a particular Confession of all those sinful Courses you have lived in together with all their aggravating Circumstances of Impudence Obstinacy and Ingratitude c. * When you renew your Vow in the Sacrament add * Here name the sinful Act you have committed * Here name the particular Infirmities that stick closest to your Nature