Practical Christianity Or an Account of the HOLINESSE WHICH THE Gospel Enjoyns WITH The MOTIVES to it AND THE REMEDIES it proposes AGAINST TEMPTATIONS With a Prayer concluding each distinct Head Imprimatur Ex Aedib Lambethanis 23. Decemb. 1676. GEO. HOOPER LONDON Printed by S. and B. G. for R. Pawlet at the Sign of the Bible in Chancery-lane 1677. TO THE READER Reader I Have endeavour'd in this following Discourse to endear Holiness to the Love and Practice of Mankind which is a design neither so trifling nor criminal as to stand in need of an excuse But because a very worthy design may miscarry in the contrivance and method of its prosecution therefore I think my self oblig'd to give you some account of that which is thus I have endeavour'd to represenâ— Religion in its true and natural Character purified from the sensual Freedomes which some and the frantick and conceited Whimsies which others deform it by I have propos'd the glorious Motives to Holiness and the powerful Remedies against Temptation which it contains I have perform'd this as near as I could in an easie Method and familiar Stile I have not intermixt either Fancy or Passion which seems to me too light and garish a dress for Divine thoughts but writ them in as natural a plainness and Majesty as I could give them hoping all from the conquering power and influence of clear truth and therefore it will be necessary to him who shall design any advantage to himself from this Treatise to read it deliberately and allow each sentence a proper Consideration for being forc'd to crowd many Truths into a narrow compass I have wove the matter a little closser and chose a conciser Stile than otherwise I should have done and therefore do not expect to be betray'd by me into a wise Love of Religion at unawares or to be heated into a Romantick Passion for Vertue the former is impossible and the latter of little use but if you bring an honest and attentive mind I hope you may find something in this Discourse which may be of very important service to your Soul And besides this I had one inducement more to the Publication of this Treatise that is I am sufficiently assur'd that no kind of Discourses contribute more to the peace and welfare of Church and State than those practical ones which aim at implanting a real goodness in the minds of men for the want of this goodness is it which hath betraid us into Errors so numerous and so fatal to the publique Peace and Charity and to the very vitals of Religion for if our minds were possess'd with that Charity and Meekness and true Zeal for the Divine Glory which becomes Christians we should consider more calmly and see more clearly and act more sincerely we should discern a more manifest contradiction to Religion in those unnatural Feuds which are carried on by so much passion in such irreligious methods and made use of to such unchristian purposes than in any thing which is the subject of our contests and we should follow after peace by a compliance if not to all yet to all we could and then I am confident we should soon put an end if not to our Mistakes yet to our Divisions If I have contributed my endeavours to this in my degree and capacity I hope for pardon at least here and am assur'd of a Reward hereafter Farewell ERRATA PAge 15. l. 26. after all which add gives us an excellent notion of God and. p. 48. l. 11. r. Thee or four l. 13. r. Faith Love Temperance and Humility p. 98. l. 2. r. his happiness or glory p 102. l. 14. r. unkind p. 123. before the prayer adde Sect. 3. As to the means of attaining Temperance I refer my Reader to the Section of Fasting p. 138. l. 14. for better r. lesser p. 164. l. 11. for word r. world p. 223. l. 9. for are of r. use p. 249. l. 23. r. or universal yet THE CONTENTS PART I. Chap. 1. THe great Motive to Religion 1. The Salvation of the Soul Chap. 2. Of the Nature of Christianity in general in relation to Faith pag. 13 Chap. 3. Of Christianity with respect to practice in general p. 29 Chap. 4. Of Christianity with respect to practice in particular Of Faith 65 Of the Love of God 82 Of the Love of our Neighbour 91 Of Temperance 112 Of Humility 124 Of Perfection 133 PART II. OF the Motives to Holiness contain'd in the Gospel Of the Reward and punishment in another Life 152 The Second Motive the Consideration of Divine Nature 172 The Third the Consideration of Jesus Christ 179 The Fourth the Vanity of Temptations 193 The Fifth the Nature of Virtue and Vice 195 The Sixth the assistance of the Divine Spirit 206 The Seventh the Nature of the Gospel Covenant 207 PART III. OF Temptations to Sin Of Pleasure 220 Of Pain 241 Of some particular Methods by which we are betraid into Sin 265 Of the Instruments of Holiness the Sacraments Prayer and Fasting 280 The Conclusion 296 Practical Christianity CHAP. I. Shewing the necessity of being Religious because the Salvation of our Souls depends on it Sect. 1. 1. WHat is a Man profited saith our Blessed Saviour Mat. 16.26 if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own Soul That I have in this state I am now in a Soul as well as a Body whose interest concerns me is a truth my own sence sufficiently discovers for I feel Joyes and Sorrows which do not make their abode in the Organs of the Body but in the inmost recesses of the Mind pains and pleasures which Sence is too gross and heavy to pertake of as the peace or trouble of Conscience in the Reflexion upon good or evil Actions the delight or vexation of the mind in the contemplation of or a fruitless inquiry after excellent and important Truths 2. And since I have such a Soul capable of Happiness or Misery it naturally follows that it were sottish and unreasonable to lose this Soul for the gain of the whole World For my Soul is I my self and if That be miserable I must needs be so outward circumstances of Fortune may give the World occasion to think me happy but they can never make me so Shall I call my self happy if Discontent and Sorrow eat out the life and spirit of my Soul if lusts and passions riot and mutiny in my bosome if my sins scatter an uneasie shame all o're me and my guilt apales and frights me what avails it me that my Rooms are stately my tables full my attendanrs numerous and my attire gawdy if all this while my very Being pines and languishes away These indeed are rich and pleasant things but I nevertheless am poor and miserable Man Therefore I conclude that whatever this thing be I call a Soul tho it were a perishing dying thing and would not out-live the Body yet it were my wisdome and interest to prefer its content and
satisfaction before all the world unless I could chose to be miserable and delight to be unhappy 3. This very Consideration supposing the uncertainty of another World would yet strongly engage me to the service of Religion for all it aims at is to banish sin out of the world which is the source and Original of all the troubles that disquiet the mind for 1. Sin in its very Essence is nothing else but disordered distempered passions affections foolish and preposterous in their choice or wild and extravagant in their proportion which our own experience sufficiently convinces us to be painful and uneasie 2. It engages us in desperate hazards wearies us with daily toils and often buries us in the ruins we bring upon our selves and lastly it fills our hearts with distrust and fear and shame for we shall never be able to perswade our selves fully that there is no difference between good and evil that there is no God or none that concerns himself at the Actions of this life and if we cannot we can never rid our selves of the pangs and stings of a trembling Soul we shall never be able to establish a peace and calm in our bosomes and so injoy our Pleasure with a clear and uninterrupted freedome But if we could perswade ourselves into the utmost height of Atheism yet still we shall be under these two strange inconveniences 1. That a life of Sin will be still irregular and disorderly and therefore troublesome 2. That we shall have dismantled our Souls of their greatest strengths disarm'd them of that Faith which only can support them under th' afflictions of this present Life Not to mention that after all the sad Stories of another Life will not be strait way nonsense because we think them so they will continue at leastwise disputable and who would but a desperate-Sot commit his Soul to such a venture Sect. 2. 4. But when I consider that the immortality of the Soul is a perswasion which generally obtain'd in the Heathen world That the more wise and virtuous any of 'em were the more deeply were they possess'd by the belief and hopes of it that the reasons Plato Cicero c. founded this assertion in deriv'd from the nature of the Soul its operations its little affinity to any visible matter its resemblance of the Deity c. have rendred it so highly probable that it hath shed a very powerfull influence upon the Lives of many 5. But especially and above all when I consider that the Holy Scripture whose Divine Authority is clear'd by as strong evidences as any matter of that nature is capable of assures me that this Soul whether in its own nature immortal or no I 'le not now examine shall not perish in the Dissolution of this Earthly Tabernacle as Eccles 12.7 Then shall the Dust return to the Earth as it was and the Spirit shall return to God who gave it and Mat. 10.28 Fear not them which kill the Body but are not able to kill the Soul The Soul it seems is not liable to the injuries of a Disease or the violence commited on the Body but doth subsist when the Body is dissolv'd into its dust When I consider all this I can never so far renounce my Reason and harden my self against all the tenderness and passion I have for my self as to be content that this Soul should be lost in that other State provided I be fortunate and successeful in this for what satisfaction can I then reap from a patrimony or purchase wide as the world it self in a state wherein I shall be depriv'd of all means and opportunity of enjoyment What can the Wealth or Power or Beauty of the World signifie to me when the Body which is the proper instrument of earthly pleasure shall lie stark dead and cold in the Grave shall have no passions no appetites nor can all the Rhetorick or wanton charms on Earth awaken in it one languishing desire or one imperfect act of Life and as to the Soul it must dwell in the Mansions of a new world far far remote from this wherein every thing will be strange wonderful unalterable and eternal But I must pursue this thought a little further and not stopping in the contemplation of the uselessness of the World after the Souls departure from it go on to consider the Soul in its intermediate state between Death and the Resurrection that I may know the utmost if I can that the loss of a Soul imports and here I would suppose my self surprised in the midst of gavety and pleasures of Love and Honour by a violent inexorable disease I resign up my dear objects and my dotage together I am torn from my possessions and my hopes and when the storm hath burst the Cable and shatter'd the Hulk of this frail Bark the Body it casts my Soul that is all that remains of me upon an unknown strand naked and poor and desolate without interests or friends or hopes it must dwell in the dismal blackness of eternal night and Melancholly rackt by despair and guilt scourg'd by shame and rage tortur'd with envy and vexation stab'd by regret and repentance not a calm and soft but a tempestuous and painful one then like some sick body which rowles and tumbles for an easie posture rather out of an inability to suffer pain than any hope of finding rest it sometimes languishes and looks back upon the world vanisht like a dream and repeats ineffective wishes for the Body but it shall return to its dear wealth and beauty no more for ever Sometimes like Dives in the flames it looks towards that Region where Light and holy Souls do dwell but the unpassable gulph of the Almighty's Decree cuts off all hopes of that so that that Light onely augments its envy and despair and Heaven it self adds misery to the wretched Souls hell This is the natural and unavoydable state of a wretched Soul dislodg'd from the body despair and rage and shame and guilt and fear and grief and anguish gnaw and devour the miserable creature and for ever must encrease Blessed God! need there any chains to sink it lower than its own weight hath done Needs there any other darkness cover that Soul which such a cloud of sorrows hath benighted Tell me no more of pleasures these thoughts are enough to make me tremble and grow pale at the approach of a temptation rather than my Soul should dwell in such a state a thousand years may shame and poverty be my portion in this life may the hatred of powerful enemies or what is worse the scorn of my dearest friends persue me may my Body be but a Scene of Diseases and so incapable of the least gust of pleasure and more than this may an awakened tender Conscience every moment flash Death and Hell into my face or if there be any thing worse let me suffer it so it but preserve my Soul from Sin here and from that inexpressible
state of torments afterward And yet all this while I have taken no notice of those additional sufferings which Divine Vengeance will no doubt inflict upon the Soul nor of the nature of the Soul the exaltedness of whose Essence heightens and sharpens the pain for the more delicate the Being the more subtle its perception and the more exquisite the torment Sect. 3. There is a third State wherein misery swels to the highest marke it can possibly when the Body being rais'd again shall follow the Fate of the Soul and both shall be condemn'd to inextinguishable flames O Hell where only the Enemies of God and Goodness dwell where wretched men undergo all that sullying the Divine Glory and trampling on the blood of Christ can merit But I have reserv'd a place for a further survey of this state I am sufficiently convinc'd that the gaining of the whole World cannot recompence the loss of my Soul since its loss implies all this and more for what would I take to be miserable or rather what would I take to be eternally so is it a rational question if I lose my self what can be gain to me the world peradventure will continue amiable many ages after I am gone but what is that to me And if to gain the whole world at so dear a price be so ill a Bargain how fatal a purchase should I make who am like to gain so little being none of the worlds greatest Favourites My Soul is not so cheap yet that I can set it at so low a rate as a few hundreds a year I am as immortal as any Monarch in Christendome and my pretensions to the Almighties favour may grow equal to that of any of the Sons of men and I should be a Profligate and Reprobate a Brute indeed if I should abandon my poor Soul to Misery and renounce the interest I have in the God of Heaven and Earth for I know not what Let who will therefore sweat and toil for wealth and greatness I have but this one business to do to insure this dear dear Soul of mine in its voyage to eternity let who will gain the Reputation of a wise man by a clearer fore-sight and thriftier management of affairs by an unwearied Attendance and insinuating applications I shall think my self wise enough if I can but be sav'd and great enough if I enjoy but the Smiles of Heaven Let who will applaud themselves for the contempt of intrigue and sullen business whilst they thaw and dissolve in soft and delicate pleasures or waste and spend themselves in course and toilsome Lusts If I may enjoy the pleasure of a manly rational life spent in a constant course of Religion and virtue without Superstition or frowardness of a mind unharass'd by desires and fears of a peaceful assur'd conscience of the contemplation of glorious Truths and the hopes of a blessed immortality I shall envy none the happiness of the most luscious pleasure or kindest fortune the World affords A Prayer reflecting on the precedent Discourse BLessed God give me grace to prefer the interest of my Soul to the World and Flesh the things eternal to the things temporal that amidst the pleasures of Prosperity and Peace and the flatteries of Reputation I may not forget to think what will be the condition of my future State and that amidst the troubles which besiege this mortal Life I may be supported by the blessed hopes of a better world that the confident belief of the Souls immortality may render me industrious to lay up a good foundation for the time to come so that when I shall have put off this Tabernacle of clay I may be cloath'd with a building of God not made with hands eternal in the Heavens all this I beg through Jesus Christ our Lord. CHAP. II. Of the Nature of Christianity Sect. 1. CHristianity may be considered either in Relation to Faith or Practice I will first consider the Christian Faith and that in the most practical manner I can In my Creed I have regard to three things especially 1. To the use and end of Faith which is certainly to guide and influence our lives 2. To the peace of my own Breast And 3. To the preservation of Charity My Reason for the first is evident of it self for the two later is this Tho I may doubt whether I believe aright all that is necessary to my eternal salvation and yet that doubt not prove injurious to my happiness at the last day because I did both believe aright and live conformably to it and the scruple arose only from the Disputes and Contests of men and the weakness of my own understanding not from any iniquity of my will yet this doubt will disquiet and disturb my repose damp my cheerfulness and vigour and may peradventure unsettle my faith and end if not in Atheism in coldness and indifferency And tho 2. I may believe Another in a damnable Errour when he is not without prejudice to my own Soul because I may make this judgement in the Simplicity of my heart by the best light and Rule I have yet peradventure this opinion may improve it self insensibly upon my affections to a very ill consequence and invite me to an uncharitable and unfriendly deportment 1. If I consider the Christian Faith with regard to the great end of it Holyness I observe that the Gospel contains two great things the Knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ This is Life eternal Joh. 17.3 To know thee the onely true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent This knowledge contains in it all the Obligations imaginable to a Holy Life and secures the hopes and comforts of Christians upon an unmovable foundation and this knowledge agrees perfectly with the Nature and Ends of Religion 1. First With the Nature of Religion Religion is nothing else but the true and spiritual worship of the only true God who is a Spirit Now all the worship we are capable of paying him consists either in the Affections of the Soul or Actions of the Body so that that Belief or Knowledge which tends to render these proper and acceptable to God is directly conformable to the Nature of Religion The Gospel therefore hath discovered God to us 1. One infinite in Wisedom Power Holyness Goodness c. And secondly as he stands more particularly related to us in the Work of Creation Providence Redemption All this put together proves him to be God and to be Ours it evinces his Excellency and his Supremacy it represents him infinitely Lovely and Adorable in himself and entitles him to all the service and affection which Dominion Love and Munificence can lay a just claim to all which is enforcement enough which is the use of Faith to our Duty when we are acquainted with it Which that we might be and that we might have assistance to enable us to performe it and that there might be a Provision made for the pardon of our errors God in
as such And as insignificant would this opinion render it to the happiness of Man for of what use will all the excellent rules of Justice Charity Meekness Temperance c. prove if we continue peevish and revengeful intemperate and lustful c. to what purpose are the fuller discoveries of another World Life and Immortality and the Belief of Jesus being the Son of God if they do not enable us to conquer the world and mortifie the flesh and if I walk according to the Laws of the Flesh i. e. Violate the Laws of the Spirit can I choose but dread a God whom I have wrong'd and will not unruly Passions and a troubled Conscience make a Christian as miserable as a Jew or Heathen If Goodness now be the end and drift of the holy belief of Christians then I infer 1. That the best Man is the best Son of the Church and he whose affections are more rais'd and heavenly and hath least of the mixture of sensuality is of the highest form in the School of Christ because he doth best answer the design of his Lord and walks in some measure as he walk'd 2. That the most infallible characters of a true Faith are to be taken from the government of our Passions our conquest o're the world and the increase of our inward joy and peace and hope Good Lord how apt are we to put a a cheat upon the World and our selves to perswade it and our selves that we believe tho there be no change in our Souls and Conversations and therefore consequently we do nothing less I shall hereafter never think that I believe aright till I have a Love for all his Commandments till I can meditate delightfully pray vigorously relie constantly obey readily suffer patiently rejoyce humbly expect reverently and happy is me if I attain that height earnestly too the hour of my death or the appearance of my Lord. I shall never hereafter think that I have studied or known divine truth to any purpose till the Truth hath made me free rescued me from the bondage of Sin and fears of Death The Prayer THou Holy Pure and Eternal Spirit who canst not indure iniquity who dost so love goodness that thou hast sent thy Son into the world to promote it his Life and his death his Pains and his blood were spent in this Cause O enable thy poor Servant who names the name of Christ to hunger and thirst after righteousness and to depart from iniquity Lord let thy truth and thy Spirit be powerful in me to the subduing all of evil inclinations I believe that all things are naked and bare before thee and therefore that thou canst not be mock'd or impos'd upon by specious pretences or formalities That I am not to expect to appear any other in thy Eyes than such as I am in my self inable me therefore to confess thee in my practice as well as words to live like one who believ'd thy holy Truths Let my heart be fixt in Honesty and uprightness to obey all thy Commandments Let the Belief of things not seen have the same influence upon me they had upon all thy holy Saints Martyrs and Confessors i. e. Perswade me to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and holily in this present world through Jesus Christ Sect. 2. Of doing Good There are a sort of People who indeavour all they can to withdraw from the world and rid their hands of business and think it abundantly sufficient if they can discharge their duty towards God in their Retirements This is Lawful nay commendable only upon two accounts 1. If my Temper or Circumstances be such that my Conversation cannot be publick and safe too for then the Salvation of my own Soul is naturally the most near and dear concern or 2. If my qualifications are such that my retirement is likely to prove more advantagious to the publick than my filling any other Post for then I act according to the Rules of Charity There are two other Inducements to a retir'd Private Life The one founded in a vice the other in a mistake 1. The First is when Men withdraw from the Business as from the trouble of the World and their Pleasure not Religion is their first and chief motive They meet with many rubs and oppositions in a busie Active Life and then they grow soft and weak and lasie and they want Courage and Industry and the frequent interruptions of their private peace and enjoyment is uneasie and they would withdraw to enjoy themselves and this is unchristian and unmanly 't is Epicurism not Contempt of the World 2. The mistake is when we look upon a Monastical kind of life as the whole of Christianity and the meer Perfection of the Regenerate state and place Piety so wholly in acts of solitary Devotion as to seclude the doing good and communicating c. It will behove such to consider 1. That true and apparent Motives Pretence and Religion are sometimes so twisted together that it is hard for a man to distinguish 'em and therefore some secret weakness or reserve may be the real whilst zeal is made the pretended cause of this choice 2. That the Busie and Active Life is the more Excellent and the more necessary 1. the more excellent as being fuller of hazards and troubles and temptations there is a larger field for virtues for Patience Courage Meekness Reliance c. in an active than speculative life and such will receive more Crowns And when I consider the Nature of God and necessities of Mankind I cannot but think acts of Charity as prevalent to the wiping off our guilt as the severest penances A vigorous and active life spent in promoting the welfare of others is a more perfect instance of self denial speaks a greater contradiction to our ease and pleasure commits more violence upon our inclinations than any acts of private Austerity can pretend to do for besides the Pains the watching and the fasting incident to both a like the trouble of Contrivance the industry of addresses the uneasiness of refusals c. sufficiently weigh down the one side Besides this Confinement imprisons our light under a bushel it is a Cover a Napkin for our Talents to conceal them and render them useless to others and therefore our reward will be less in another world and our graces the fainter in this For to him what hath i. e. useth shall be given Grace like the Widows Oile increases by being charitably imparted That Flame which warms my Neighbour reflects back with a double heat upon my self and that Goodness which cherishes his heart softens and sanctifies my own And over and above all this I enjoy a strange delight in doing good and in beholding the fruits which my own hands have planted And my assurance and the confidence of my hopes encreases by the conscience of that Love which my works convince me I have for my Brethren 2. That a busie
that thou hast secured our happiness by the Revelation of glorious truths by the encouragement of precious promises and by the sanction of wise Laws Grant most gracious God that I may be daily conversant in thy most glorious Gospel to this End that the pleasures of the world and the flesh may not ensnare and entangle me but that I may be enabled through thy word and Spirit to live above the corruptions of Lust to possess my vessel in purity and honour and to enjoy thy blessings moderately and thankfully that I may at last be received into an Eternity of Rest and Peace and Joy thorough Jesus Christ my Lord. CHAP. II. Of Pain consider'd as a Temptation to Sin BY Pain I mean every thing which is troublesome All troubles may be reduc'd under two Heads Imaginary and Real ones by Real I mean such as do actually injure the mind or bodies of men by Imaginary I mean such as could have no influence at all upon men but through the assistance of prejudice or fancy I 'le begin with the latter and in speaking to both I must premise this that I will not bring home every Argument by a close Application for then this very Head would swell into a vast proportion but content my self with proving That there is no pain which can be a just warrant for sin because the Gospel hath provided such Remedies as may render it supportable and such Rewards as may countervail all our sufferings There is no Temptation which befals us but what is common to men and God is faithful and will not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able the strengths he allows us but will with the Temptation make a way to escape that we may be able to bear it There are many things which are not really harsh and unsufferable in themselves but they become such because it is the custom of the world to think them so For example a shallow Fortune but sufficient for the necessary comforts of life an inglorious solitude or privacy the Opinions of others concerning us these things have no real influence either upon mind or body they cannot make the Soul less rational nor the body less healthy a man may be happy here and go to Heaven afterwards without much fame or wealth that all the misery that is deriv'd from these things depends upon Opinion is plain because some have made that Poverty retirement and contempt their choice which is such a Bug-bear to others and so the same thing which is ones affliction becomes anothers pleasure So that it is plain fancy gives us the wound not the things themselves or else if misery were an inseparable Companion to the things themselves it were impossible that Content should ever sojourn in Cells or Cottages or ever be a stranger to Wealth and Honour Of this sort of troubles are all those other passions which are inkindled in us by the impressions of things from without for even Beauty Grandure Gaity c. though in their own nature innocent things are sharpen'd and arm'd by our fancies with trouble and danger to our repose Now though it be true that as the cold or heat of Climates are things innocent enough to bodies inur'd to them and yet are fatal to others so here though all temptations of the world are in themselves harmless things yet 't is plain that upon Beings so dispos'd and temper'd as ours are they make dangerous impressions Therefore in the Gospel of Christ the remedies prescrib'd by him do all tend to the removal of these ill dispositions and the reforming our false Opinions and the suppressing our inclinations As 1. Our first care must be to frame our Opinions of things by the Rule of Faith and to root out all false Notions of things to this end the holy Gospel doth every where insinuate the emptiness the transitoriness the uncertainty of all things here below the Excellency of Holiness and Righteousness and the little tendency which the things of the world have to promote it And lastly the Weight and Eternity of happiness in another world all which contribute to our happiness as they arm us against the impressions of outward objects by possessing us with a contempt of them and with desires far greater and nobler and contradictory to those other 2. The Gospel of Christ injoyns us to shun and fly temptations all that we can we are to block up all the Avenues by which the world may make its approaches the lustful must not gaze upon Beauty nor the ambitious on greatness c. and because sin usually gains by Parley we are carefully to shun the least appearance of evil not to entertain thoughts c. 3. We are to labour earnestly to mortifie all the lusts of the Body by Fasting and Watching and Prayer and a constant temperance incourag'd to it by the example of our Lord and a whole Cloud of Witnesses gone to Heaven before us and the promise of rewards annexed to the careful performance of and unwearied perseverance in these duties And 4. The assistance of the mighty Spirit of God and a certain Victory is promis'd to him who thus contends and unless men will willingly deprive themselves of such an Auxiliary by not contending or not begging him of Christ or grieving him it is not to be doubted but we shall obtain him and together with him sufficient strength and glory honour and immortality will be the end of our warfare These are the Means these are the Motives this is the Assistance which our blessed Jesus hath prescribed and offer'd us by which we may be inabled to live above those miseries which they are intangled in who obey not his Gospel and defeat those Airy Apparitions which would fright us into sin Therefore in whatever condition I am I will still ask what would my blessed Saviour have done or said or thought in this case what opinion of or value for this or that thing or condition hath God and I shall soon find that no condition can make me truly miserable but that wherein I cannot love God I cannot pray or cannot do good For if I can I am both great and happy If a man love me Joh. 14.23 my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him Happy abode what can my Soul desire more I cannot think my self mean who am his Favorite nor can I be poor who possess that God whose presence makes up Heaven My God how happy should I be could I be content to make thee alone my Portion but because I cannot be content to be poor and contemptible because I seek my comforts from without because I am not at leisure to entertain thee only therefore thou dost not dwell so ravishingly with me But I will seek thee more diligently hereafter vain world adieu I have Nobler hopes than thou canst feed and I shall have comforts thou canst not rob me of How can I be miserable if I be
fill'd with joy and peace through believing or if I abound with hope through the power of the Holy Ghost I can think of that shine of Glory with which I shall be once invested and then suffer these Rags with patience till my Nuptials come and my new Suits be made I can love this contempt and poverty because it shall make my Crown more weighty and my being more glorious What is it O my Soul for which I complain what is it that I have lost Estate Reputation It is affirm'd by the Spirit of God concerning all sensual pleasures in general That they war against the Soul 1 Pet. 2.11 in particular concerning wealth How hardly shall a rich man enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 19.23 concerning vain-glory and how can they believe who receive the praise of men c. Am I then so much troubled because my difficulties in the way to Heaven are diminished my Chains grown lighter and mine Enemies fewer because my tyes to or dependances on the world are few and consequently my distractions in and diversions from holy duties are the fewer I have no fears no cares no contrivances no jealousies because I have no concern in it How near Heaven am I grown who am thus remov'd from Earth And being in this condition I am not expos'd to the changes of the world I have nothing wherein ill fortune can attacque or wound me This state is not so contemptible which is thus full of peace wherein I may possess my self and need not spend the greater portions of my life in things which fame or greatness requires of me not inclination or choice The Prayer LOrd teach me to form my Opinions according to the light of thy Gospel to guard my Soul against all the impressions of the World and Flesh to mortifie the inbred Inclinations of my Body to Lust and to fix my mind so upon the things that are not seen that when ever vain fears assault me from without they may find the House guarded by the strongest Man Amen Amen SECT II. Of Real Evils whereof some are unavoidable others only common to this life THere are some Evils so natural and constant Appendages to this state of Mortality and Imperfection that unless men can cease to think them Evils they cannot be happy For example a Friend dies or proves false c. or I am to die my self i. e. things happen in their natural course and as I ought to expect them I may as well quarrel with God that he did not create me an Angel and that my first Station was not in the Courts of Heaven Now though it be true that an Evil is not the less an Evil because it is incurable or unavoidable or yet universal I must from hence infer that the wise man ought to be better provided and confirm'd against such and that he gains no small step towards happiness who can divest these Evils of their affrighting shapes which the man shall in a great measure do who shall expect nothing more in this state than what is proper to it and then can no more be aggriev'd at Death Chance Folly c. than at the imperfection of our intellectual capacities the meanness of our natural inclinations and the frailties of our bodies for those other are the effects of these and yet no man thinks himself miserable because he doth not understand as much as God does because being flesh and blood he doth not will as Nobly as Angels and why should he think it amiss or hard that being mortal any thing should die or being imprudent or passionate any thing should act so It is highly reasonable that he who Created us out of nothing should Create us as he pleas'd for he who was not bound to do any thing cannot be blam'd for doing so much But Christianity rests not here it provides a Remedy for all these Evils 1. By the discovery of the Souls Immortality of the Bodies Resurrection and of glorious Rewards which shall Crown those who suffer contentedly and patiently 2. By the discovery of Objects fitted for the affections of an Immortal Soul noble and great enough to fill the biggest capacities and most inlarg'd desires such are God and Jesus Christ and the glories of another life which are unalterable and unchangeable so that the happiness and pleasure of a Christian Soul depends not upon these uncertain things below but upon those things which are above 3. Since these misfortunes are such as are unavoidable in this life they can be no temptation to sin because we cannot avoid them by sinning and they who endeavour to drown their sense of worldly afflictions by an indulgence in any sins do worse than those who kill themselves to get rid of some uneasie passion the very Remedy is the worst of mischiefs But to proceed as to pains which are common to though not unavoidable in this life I cannot chuse but see there are a sort of men who suffer bravely and yet I must confess they suffer and though they are patient cease not to be miserable these are the only things which I could ever think so unhappy as to deserve my pity and yet it will not be reasonable to sin for the avoiding such sufferings as these for though Religion cannot remove all sense and pain and passion for then this world would be a Heaven and the Scripture is plain that no affliction for the present is joyous and if they were not Fiery Tryals they would be no temptations yet it supplies all the ease and comfort which such a state is capable of and such as is enough to make it supportable Therefore I first premise these two Propositions 1. That no temptation befals us but what is common to men That a whole Cloud of Witnesses is gone before us in the severest and bloudiest paths and therefore that there is no state which is not supportable by Divine Assistance and may not be pass'd thorough without such an ill demeanour as may forfeit our everlasting happiness 2. That there is no condition so miserable but it is capable of some mixture of comforts let us for an example in matter of fact regard the Apostle of our Lord 2 Cor. 6. In affliction in necessities in distresses in stripes in imprisonments in tumults in labours in watchings in fastings and yet the Cloud had a bright as well as dark side for v. 10. Though dying yet behold we live though chasten'd yet not kill'd though sorrowful yet alway rejoycing though having nothing yet possessing all things Now it matters not I confess as to entire happiness whether Scale of sorrow or comfort outweighs because to entire happiness it is requir'd that both parts of us as well Body as Soul enjoy good yet it will become a wise man to get as much ease as he can and when the Sun is set not to despise a Candle And this proves thus much that no man can be necessitated to sin since a man can
stupid and senseless not only of their secular but eternal interest the former is utterly false and the latter absurd therefore it is more than probable no such confutation could beform'd That the Wisdome and Majesty the Purity and Holyness the Misteries and Prophesies of it are so many tracks of Divine Glory which bespeak God its Author it being very improbable that e're the Devil should be so set against himself as to promote that Holiness which is so contradictory to his nature and tho he should have blended it with speculative errors that cannot be thought a mischief able to satisfie him for all the good it hath done in the world nor would such a design savour enough of the malice of Hell for surely God will never make a good man eternally miserable for a speculalative Error into which his Humility and Resignation to God and such strong probabilities not to say more betray'd him But suppose against all Reason that it were Fictitious what can any man suffer by the belief of these Principles certainly they tend to make us like God and there is no article which reflects any disparagement upon the Divine Nature but discovers it to the World in the greatest and the loveliest characters and therefore unavoidably if any Religion than this will secure our future Life As to the present if our Life be clouded and o'recast by afflictions these Principles alone can support us under them because these only are substantial grounds of courage or content if our Life be calm and fair no man injoyes it with a more constant and untroubled satisfaction than the Religious for Religion only crowns our outward prosperities with a firm peace and content within And yet all the clamour rais'd against Religion is this that it enviously intrenches upon the pleasures of Nature and wheadles us out of the possession of present pleasures by the deceitful promises of future In answer I would fain know of any the most fortunate Epicure for I confess I have never been lucky enough to discover any such state whether there be any enjoyment rich as Fancy and ravishing as Dotage if there be of what constancy and unmixt purity it is for if it be not fixt and steady then a constant chearful Life as free from uneasie fears desires and troubles and repentances as from the taste of such luscious Meals is surely to be preferr'd before a few fortunate minutes of a Life in the general disorder'd and troubl'd or whether accounts being stated rightly we may not safely conclude that there is no such thing as such an enjoyment much less any permanent state of it and then I may easily defend Religion as to this point for then it is but reasonable that our desires should be calm and temperate and that we should sit down content with such easie and obvious pleasures as suit this state of imperfection and child-hood and if so what harm can Christianity do men as God expostulates with his People Testifie against me wherein have I wronged thee It doth not forbid us to like but dote it doth not forbid us to enjoy the World but it forbids us to equal it with Heaven And when it hath once fixt the limits of worldly happiness aright it is so far from driving us out of the reach of it that it is the onely path to it we sail within those Sea marks which if we slight we dash on Rocks and Sands for Answer me Are the Faculties of our Soul rendred more uncapable of Happiness because cultivated and improv'd imploy'd to useful and ingenious purposes not lost on trifles are our Senses less subtle and judicious because the Body is preserv'd in an entire and vigorous health by temperance and imployment and content of mind As to the Objects of our affections Is a Good Estate less useful or less creditable by being spent temperately and Charitably Is Greatness the less firm or the less glorious because its Basis is Vertue Is a Beauty the less taking because innocent and vertuous of all the pleasures of humane Life I have alwayes thought Friendship the dearest and certainly sense as well as wit true courage and honor and constancy the product of Religion as well as the Accomplishments of Nature and gentile Education must go to make it perfect and delightful when any are endear'd by a generous goodness by an innocent and undefigning passion by a combination of vertues and a confederacy of rational delights and glorious hopes I am confident no debauch'd mind can ever fancy any thing so charming and romantick and if this be the case if this be all that Religion doth that is if it be onely a wise method to happiness fet on foot by the goodness and contriv'd by the Wisdome of God I cannot discover any just ground of quarrel against it I cannot see how the sinner can get clear off from these Arguments remember then 't is a disingenious kind of confidence to return only raillery for answer to Arguments and to think a loud laughter a sufficient confutation of important truths Be not deceived God will not be mocked a day is coming when the secrets of all hearts shall be laid open when God will argue his own cause in a flaming vengeance and then what a miserable Tragedy will thy Mirth and Pleasure the Sinner and his World end in What astonishment and dread will seize upon every Soul which hath hardened it self against the Gospel of Christ how miserably fool'd and cheated will all the gay and jolly Sinners find themselves But glory honour and peace will be the portion of every one who worketh righteousness The Prayer O Thou holy Spirit of God thou divine principle of a divine life remove all blindness hardness and impenitence from off the hearts of all those who read the truths of the Gospel of Christ and grant that they may receive the word of Christ with an entire humility and pure Affections and bring forth the fruit of it in their Conversation that when the winds blow and the rain descends and the floods beat they may be like houses built upon a rock and stand unshaken in the great day of Judgement Amen Amen FINIS A Catalogue of Books printed for and sold by Robert Pawlet at the Sign of the Bible in Chancery Lane near Fleetstreet VIllare Anglicanum or a view of all Towns Villages c. In England and Wales alphabetically composed so that naming any Town or place you may readily find in what Shire Hundred Rape Wapenstake it is in Also the number of Bishopwricks Counties under their several jurisdictions and the Shire Towns Boroughs and Parishes in each County by the appointment of the eminent Sir Henry Spelman Kt. The Nuns Complaint against the Friers being the Charge given in the Court of France by the Nuns of St. Katharines near Province against the Father Fryers their Confessors shewing their abuses in their allowance of undecent Books and Love-letters and marriages of the Fryers and