there are some particular Seasons when their Wants call louder as in times of Sickness or Scarceness of Work or Dearness of Provisions or in the beginning of Arrests before the Prison hath devoured them or after a great Loss when their Fortunes are sinking and a small Support may keep their Heads above water or in a word when they are young and capable of Work or Instruction and their Parents are not able to dispose of them when the placing them out to some honest Calling may prevent their turning Thieves or Beggars and render them useful to the World or when they are setting up their Trades with an insufficient Stock and a little Help may encourage their Diligence and advance them to a comfortable Livelihood These and such like are the proper Seasons of Almsgiving in which by tendering our helping hand we may rescue many a poor Wretch out of a deep Abyss of Misery and render their future Condition happy and prosperous Wherefore the Law of Mercy obliges us not only to bestow our Alms but to bestow them at such Times and Seasons wherein they are most needed and may do the greatest Good that we should not reserve them to our last Will and Testament like Medlars that are never good till they are rotten but embrace all Opportunities while we are living to give timely Reliefs to the Necessitous For he who deferreth his Alms when such proper Seasons are presented is so far the Cause of all the consequent Calamities which the Poor do suffer by the want of them And since the Design of Mens Alms is to relieve the Sufferings of the Poor 't is doubtless a degree of Cruelty to prolong their Sufferings by needlesly delaying to relieve them You would think her a cruel Mother that having Bread enough and to spare should rather choose to afflict her Child with a long unsatisfied Hunger than to content its craving Appetite by giving it its Food in due Season And sure 't is a great Defect of Compassion unnecessarily to prolong the Sufferings of our indigent Brother though it be but for a Day or an Hour when we have a present Opportunity to relieve him And since whatsoever Relief we do design him he must necessarily lose so much of it as the Time of our Delay amounts to Mercy obliges us to relieve him quickly and not to suffer him to pine away whilst our Charity is growing Sixthly and Lastly THIS Duty of Almsgiving ought to be performed discreetly and prudently For thus the Psalmist tells us Psal. cxii 5. A good man sheweth favour and lendeth and will guide his affairs with discretion And indeed unless Prudence be the Dispenser of our Alms Mercy will miss of what it aims at and designs by them which is to do good to the Poor to supply their craving Necessities and give them a comfortable enjoyment of themselves Instead of which if we do not manage our Charities with Prudence we shall many times create Necessities by supplying them and increase and multiply the miseries of the World by an unskilful Endeavour to redress them For it is with Alms as it is with Estates where half of the Riches doth consist in the Discretion of the Owner and those very Charities which being distributed by a blind Superstition or a foolish Pity do many times do more Hurt than Good might have been improved into a plentiful Provision for the Necessities of the World had they been wisely ordered and disposed But what Harvest can the World reap from this precious Seed of our Alms when they are sown with a careless or unskilful hand When they are either thrown on a heap to useless or superstitious purposes or scattered at all Adventures without any distinction of the cultivated from the fallow Ground so that the Birds of Prey the useless Vagrants Drones and Beggars devour and eat them up whilst the modest impotent and laborious Poor are utterly destitute and unprovided Since therefore the Design of Mercy is to do Good with its Alms to comfort and relieve the Poor and supply their pinching Necessities it is doubtless very necessary in order to this end that it should be conducted by Prudence and Discretion which ought more particularly to guide and direct our Alms First In the Method of Provision of them Secondly In the Choice of the Objects of them Thirdly in the Nature and Quality of them Fourthly As to the Proportions of them Fifthly In the Manner of bestowing them I. WE ought to exercise our Prudence as to the Method of providing our Alms. For herein Prudence will direct us not only to be frugal in our Expences to pare off our Superfluities and to be diligent and industrious in our Callings that we may have to give to them that need but also out of our Incomes and Profits to consecrate a considerable Proportion to pious and charitable Uses And herein the Apostle giveth us an excellent Rule 1 Cor. xvi 2. Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store as God hath prospered him that there be no gatherings when I come which though it doth not carry with it a necessary and indispensable Obligation it being impossible for many Men to take a Weekly Account how God hath prospered them and to lay by accordingly yet thus far at least it is a very wise Direction to us that as oft as we cast up our Accounts whether it be weekly monthly or annually we should in Proportion to our Increase devote some convenient Share of it as a private Bank or Treasury for charitable Uses that so we may not be to seek for Alms upon sudden and emergent Occasions but may have a Store ready by us to supply our daily Expence and Distribution And if we take care not to alienate or imbezle what we have thus devoted to our private Corban we shall always give with chearfulness having by us a Stock designed to no other End but that of Charity II. WE ought also to exercise our Prudence in the Choice of the Objects of our Charity so as to take care that they be such as do truly need and deserve it For unless we do so we shall many times encourage Vice instead of relieving Poverty and be tempted by the clamorous Importunities of idle and vicious Persons to prostitute our Alms to their Sloth and Intemperance For how often do we see the imprudent Charities of well disposed Minds poured into those Sinks of Filthiness and like the Sacrifices of Bel devoted to the importunate Lusts of a company of idle Drones and Beggers that are not so properly the Members as the Wens of the Body Politick as being utterly useless to all its Natural Ends and only serving to deform and bring Diseases upon it and to draw away the Nourishment of it from its useful Parts and Members Now what a Shame and Pity is it that these precious Fruits of Mercy should be thus abused and misemployed to pamper a company of
Johannes Scott S. T. P. THE Christian Life PART III. Wherein the GREAT DUTIES OF JUSTICE MERCY and MORTIFICATION are fully Explained and Inforced VOL. IV. BY IOHN SCOTT D. D. late Rector of St. Giles's in the Fields LONDON Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's-Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1696. To the Right Honourable Sir GEORGE TREBY LORD CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE Common PLEAS MY LORD THose excellent Treatises of Christian Life which were published some years since by the learned Author have I doubt not in a great measure answered his Design in writing them which was to do as much good as he could to the World and had he lived to finish the other Parts of it we might have had such a compleat Body of Christian Institutions in our own Language as would have highly contributed towards a Revival of true Piety among us For besides those Pieces which have already seen the Light 't was the Author's design to proceed to a particular Explication of the several respective Duties which Men are obliged to render to God their Neighbours and Themselves and for a Conclusion of all he proposed a distinct Treatise of Ecclesiastical Duties The two Discourses of Iustice and Mercy which I now present to your Lordship were intended as a Part of that Duty which we owe to one another and which with other Enlargements had the Author liv'd would have made a Volume of themselves And the Discourse of Mortification is likewise a Part of what He designed for the Explication of that Duty which Man owes himself which was also intended for another distinct Volume Besides these he proposed a particular Examination of those great Duties which God requires which together with the other Volumes would have compleated the whole Design In Justice therefore to the Memory of this incomparable Person I thought my self obliged to communicate to your Lordship this short Account of him The Design which he proposed was Great and Noble and I 'm sure those Pieces which he hath already published do loudly speak the Excellent Qualifications with which God had endowed him to compleat it had not a laborious Station and what was worse a very sickly Constitution at last interrupted him from the Prosecution of it As for these Remains they are faithfully transcribed from the Author's Manuscript and your Lordship may easily discern that they are his true and genuine Off-spring by your Perusal of them I know your Lordship hath a very high Value and just Esteem for the Memory of that great and good Man and that is a prevailing Inducement to take into your Protection those Works which he has left behind him To You they address themselves and I doubt not but under that Character which your Lordship bears they will be sufficiently recommended to the World and that they may effectually promote the Good of it is the hearty Prayer of Your Lordship's most Obedient Humble Servant J. G. THE CONTENTS OF JUSTICE CHAP. I. OF Justice as it respects the Rights of Men whether natural or acquired The natural Rights of Men shewn in four particulars First As dwelling in mortal Bodies Secondly As rational Creatures Thirdly As joyned to one another by natural Relations Fourthly As naturally united in Society Page 3. As Men dwell in mortal Bodies they have a Right to their Bodies p. 4 5 6. And to their bodily Subsistence p. 7 8 9 10. CHAP. II. OF Justice in preserving the Rights of Men considered as rational Creatures p. 11. Which Rights are reduced to four particulars p. 12. First That every Man hath a Right to an equitable Treatment from every Man p. 13 14 15. Secondly That every Man hath a Right to judge for himself so far as he is capable p. 16 17 18 19 20 21. Thirdly That every Man hath a Right not to be forced to act contrary to the Iudgment of right Reason p. 23 24 25. Fourthly That every Man hath a Right to be respected by every Man p. 26 27 28 29. CHAP. III. OF Justice in preserving the Rights of Men as united together by Natural Relations p. 30 31. And as joyned together in Society p. 32. Wherein is shewn first That they have a Right to Love p. 33. Secondly To Peace p 34 35. Thirdly To Truth p. 36 37 38 39 40. Fourthly To Credit p. 41 42 43. Fifthly To Protection p. 44 45 46. Sixthly To Communication in the Profits of Commerce and Intercourse p. 47 48. CHAP. IV. OF Justice as it preserves the Acquired Rights of Men and particularly those which arise from Sacred and Civil Relations As first Of Sovereign and Subject p. 54 55 56 57 58 59. Secondly Of Subordinate Magistrates to the Sovereign and People p. 60 61. Thirdly Of Pastors and People p. 62 63. Fourthly Of Husband and Wife p. 64 65 66 67 68. Fifthly Of Friend and Friend p 69 70. Sixthly Of Masters and Servants p. 71 72 73. Seventhly Of Truster and Trustee p. 74 75. Eighthly Of the Benefactor and Receiver p. 76 77. Ninthly Of Creditor and Debtor p. 78 79 80 81. 82. CHAP. V. OF Justice as it preserves the Rights of Men acquired by Legal Possession p. 83 84 85 86 87 88 89. CHAP. VI. OF Justice in reference to the Rights of Men acquired by personal Endowments p. 90 91 92 93. And of outward Rank and Quality p. 94. 95. CHAP. VII OF Justice in reference to the Rights of Men acquired by Compact p. 96 97. Wherein are prescribed some general Rules of Righteousness to Conduct our Bargains and Contracts First That we should use Plainness and Simplicity in our Dealings Secondly That we should impose upon no Man's Ignorance or Unskilfulness Thirdly That we should take no Advantage of another's Necessities Fourthly That we should not substract from the Commodity or Price for which we have contracted Fifthly That we should not go to the utmost Verge of what we conceive to be lawful Sixthly That in doubtful Cases we should chuse the safest side p. 98 99 100 101 102. CHAP. VIII OF the Eternal Reasons whereon Justice is founded and which render it morally good which are these four p. 103. First The eternal Proportion and Congruity of Iustice to the Nature of Things p. 104 105 106 107. Secondly The eternal Conformity of it to the Nature of God p. 108 109 110 111. Thirdly The Agreement and Correspondency of it with the Divine Providence and Disposals p. 112 113 114 115. Fourthly The everlasting Necessity of it to the Happiness of Men p. 117 118 119 120 c. CHAP. IX SOme Motives and Considerations against the Sinfulness and Unreasonableness of Injustice viz. First The great Repugnancy of it to the Terms and Conditions of the Christian Religion p. 125 126 127. Secondly The great Vanity or Desperateness of it p. 128 129 130 131 132. Thirdly The manifest Inexcusableness of it in it self p. 133 134 135 136 137. Fourthly The Fruitlesness and Mischievousness of it to our selves p. 140 141 142 143. Fifthly The
which God hath allowed him and so under a Vizard of Right and Possession we are no better than Robbers in the Account of God when by refusing to relieve our Brothers necessities we spoil him of his Goods his Goods I say by the very same Title that any thing is ours even by the free Donation of God 'T is the hungry Man's Bread which we hoard up in our Barns his Meat that we glut and his Drink that we guzzle 't is the naked Man's Apparel that we shut up in our Presses and do so exorbitantly ruffle and flaunt in and what we deny out of our Abundance to an Object of real Pity and Charity is in the account of God an unjust Usurpation of his Right For by the Institution of God I owe every man this Right not to see him pine and perish for want whilst I surfeit and swim in Plenty And thus you see what Rights appertain to a Man in his first Capacity viz. as inhabiting a Mortal Body CHAP. II. Of Justice in preserving the Rights of Men consider'd as Rational Creatures II. I Proceed in the second place to observe That there are other Rights accruing to Men as they are Rational Creatures for it is this indeed that giveth a Right to common Justice to be governed by Laws and by Rewards and Punishments that we are free and Rational Agents who can chuse or refuse and determine our selves which way soever we think fit or reasonable For without Reason and Free Will we could no more be capable of Laws nor subject to Rewards and Punishments than Stones or Trees are For no Law can oblige a Being that hath no Power over his own Actions nor can he deserve to be rewarded when he doth well nor punished when he doth evil if it be not in his Power to do otherwise and therefore Beasts cannot be said to do either justly or unjustly towards one another because whatsoever good or evil they do one another they do it necessarily and it was not in their power to do otherwise But because Men are free Agents and have power to determine themselves either to do good or evil to one another therefore of right they claim of each other the mutual Performance of such Goods and Forbearance of such Evils as agree or disagree with the State and Condition of their Natures And hence every Rational Creature hath a Right to be used and treated by those of his own Kind agreeably to the state of his Rational Nature and for one Man to treat another otherwise is not only hurtful but also injurious Now the Rights which one Rational Creature may by the condition of his Nature claim of another may be reduced to these four particulars First Every Man has a Right to an equitable Treatment from every man Secondly Every Man hath a Right to judge for himself so far as he is capable Thirdly Every Man hath a Right not to be forced or impelled to act contrary to the Judgment of right Reason Fourthly Every Man hath a Right to be respected by every man according to the dignity of his Nature I. EVERY Man hath a Right to an equitable Treatment from every man that is to be treated according to the measures of that Golden Rule of Equity prescribed by our Saviour Matth. vii 12. Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you do ye even so to them for this is the Law and the Prophets i. e. in all your Intercourses with men suppose you had exchanged conditions with them and that you were in theirs and they in yours and be sure you do them all that good which upon a due consideration of the case you could reasonably expect or desire of them if you were in their persons and circumstances And this Right of being treated by others as they would expect to be treated by us supposing they were in our Circumstances ariseth from that equality of Nature that is between us which giveth every one a right to be equally treated by every one and to claim all those good Offices from others which they might reasonably claim of him if they were in his state and circumstances For we being all propagated from the same Loins and partakers of the same Nature every Man in the world is by cognation of blood and agreement of nature every man's Brother and Kinsman We are all but so many several Streams issuing from one common Source but so many several Twigs sprouting from the same Stock we are all of us but one Blood derived through several Channels but one Substance multiplyed and dilated into several Times and Places by the miraculous Efficacy of the divine Benediction We are all fashioned according to the same Original Idea resembling God our common Father we are all endowed with the same Faculties Inclinations and Affections and do all conspire in the same essential Ingredients of our Nature and there is nothing doth distinguish or diversifie us but what is accidental to our Being such as Age and Place Figure and Stature Colour and Garb so that every man is not only our most lively Image but in a manner our very Substance or another Our Self under a small Variation of present Circumstances which Circumstances are to be considered in every application of the above-named Rule of Equality to our Actions If I am superior to another either in my place or Relation or in the Goods of my Mind or Fortune I am only obliged by this Rule to do that by him which I might reasonably desire he should do by me were he as much my Superior as I am his But when all Men naturally as such are equal and do stand upon even terms and level ground there ought to be no other Inequality in their mutual Treatment of one another but what is owing to the Inequality of their Circumstances and he who doth that to another man which upon good Reason he would not have another do to him in the same Circumstances doth unjustly usurp a Superiority over him which neither Nature nor Providence alloweth of For there is no Proposition in the Mathematicks more self-evident than this Paria paribus conveniunt equal Things agree to equal Persons and therefore since we are all equal by Nature whatsoever things are due to me must by the same reason be due to another in the same Circumstances and therefore he that denieth to another Man that which he conceiveth he might justly claim of him in the same condition unjustly with-holds from him a Right that is due to him as he is his Equal in Nature II. EVERY Man hath a Right to judge for himself so far as he is capable for we must either suppose that every Being hath a Right to use its own Faculties or else that it hath its Faculties in vain for to what purpose serve its Faculties if it hath no Right to make use of them And to what purpose serveth our Faculty of Reason but only to judge for
for want of Bread and have little or none to give them to behold our Children shivering with Cold and drooping with Famine and not be able to succour and relieve them whilst our pined and miserable Carkasses are either covered with loathsom Rags or nakedly exposed to the Injuries of the Weather and more destitute and unprovided than the Foxes and Birds for want of a Hole or Nest where to lay their Heads These are Circumstances miserable enough to move a Heart of Stone to Pity and Compassion In this case therefore we are obliged by the Law of Mercy first to a tender Sympathy and Commiseration to affect our Souls with a soft and compassionate sense of the Wants of our poor Brethren to put our selves in their Case and represent their Condition to our own Hearts and Affections as if it were our own and thereby to endeavour and excite in our selves a proportionable Feeling of their Calamity and Misery And to this we are universally obliged whether we are high or low rich or poor whether we are in Circumstances to relieve the Needs of others or to need Relief for our selves for so the Precept runneth universally Finally be all of one mind having compassion one of another love as Brethren be pitiful be courteous 1 Pet. iii. 8. And as we are universally obliged to compassionate those that are in Need so we are also bound according as we have opportunity and ability to succour and relieve them Indeed if we are poor and needy we are by no means obliged to pinch our selves or our Families to relieve the Necessities of others for the desire of Self-Preservation being of all others the most vehement Passion which God hath implanted in our Natures he doth thereby not only warrant but direct us to take care of our selves in the first place and not to sacrifice the means of our own Preservation to the Needs and Necessities of others And then our nearest Relatives being next to our selves we are obliged in the next place to relieve them and consequently in all Competitions for our Relief and Mercy to prefer the Wants and Necessities of our own Families But though we may not be able without wronging our Families to give Alms to our necessitous Brother yet if by representing his Necessities to others who are better able to relieve him if by solliciting his Cause and begging Relief for him which he perhaps is ashamed to do for himself we can any way contribute to his Succour and Support we stand strictly obliged to it by the Laws of Mercy and this if we can do no more will be as acceptable to God as the most liberal Alms. For where the Deed is impossible God always accepts the Will for it and reckoneth in all those good Works to our account which he knows we would do if we were able But when he hath furnished us with Means as well as Opportunities to relieve the Necessitous he expects the Deed as well as the Will from us knowing that we cannot sincerely will the Deed if when it is in our power we do not effect it Hence is that of the Heb. xiii 16. To do good and to communicate forget not for with such sacrifice God is well pleased And accordingly the Apostle biddeth Timothy 1 Tim. vi 17 18. To charge them that are rich i. e. whose enjoyments do exceed their necessities that they do good that they be rich in good works ready to distribute willing to communicate And how necessary the Deed is to the Sincerity of the Will when it is in our power that passage of St. Iohn doth fully Evidence 1 Epist. chap. iii. v. 17. But whoso hath this worlds good and seeth his Brother have need and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him how dwelleth the love of God in him This therefore is an Act of Mercy indispensably due from us to those who are in Necessity to contribute according to our ability towards their Relief and Support and accordingly Alms which signifies a gift to one that is in need cometh from the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth Mercy which plainly denotes it to be one of the greatest and most principal Acts of Mercy that we owe to the Miserable CHAP. III. Of Almsgiving as to the manner of performing it and some Motives thereunto WE have seen that Almsgiving is one of the principal Acts of Mercy and it being so I shall more largely insist upon it and endeavour to shew First THE Manner in which it ought to be preformed And Secondly To press the Performance of it by some Considerations I. THE Manner in which this Duty of Almsgiving ought to be performed and that in these following particulars First IT ought to be performed with a good and merciful Intention Secondly JUSTLY and Righteously Thirdly READILY and Chearfully Fourthly LIBERALLY and Bountifully Fifthly TIMELY and Seasonably Sixthly DISCREETLY and Prudently I. THIS Duty of Almsgiving ought to be performed with a good and merciful Intention not meerly to court the Applauses and Commendations of Men to bring our Names in vogue or to serve our secular Designs but chiefly and principally to express our Gratitude and Duty to God and Confidence in Him who hath not only filled our Cup but crowned it with an overflowing Plenty thereby inabling us to relieve others and thereby constituting us Trustees for the Poor and Needy with a strict and inviolable Charge to give them their Food in due season to which he hath annexed a Bill of Credit under his own Broad Seal to repay us the Principal of our Alms with a thousand-fold Interest With respect therefore to these mighty Reasons and out of a tender Commiseration to our poor Brethren we ought to perform our Alms that so like Curls of holy Incense they may ascend to Heaven and breath a sweet smelling Savour into the Nostrils of God For 't is by this alone that they are consecrated into an acceptable Sacrifice to him and render'd true Piety and Devotion whereas if we give our Alms meerly or mainly to be seen of Men or to serve a worldly Interest they proceed not from Mercy but Self-Love And since all Acts that are materially good do receive their Form and Denomination from the Intention such Pharisaical Alms can be denominated neither Pieties nor Mercies but are a sordid Traffick for Applause and Interest and hence our Saviour cautions us Take heed that ye do not your Alms before men to be seen of them otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in Heaven therefore when thou dost thine Alms do not sound a Trumpet before thee as the Hypocrites do in the Synagogues and in the Streets that they may have glory of men verily I say unto you they have their reward Matth. vi 1 2. II. This Duty of Almsgiving ought to be performed with Iustice and Righteousness that is we ought not to give that in Alms
it And accordingly Prudence will sometimes direct us to search and find out just Needs and prevent the Poor from asking by surprizing them with a Kindness which they did not look for by which means we shall strengthen their Faith in the Providence of God who thus creates them Friends out of the Dust and brings them Supplies without and beyond their Expectations And then in giving Prudence will direct us not to upbraid the Want or insult over the Miseries of those we give to for that would be to feed them with a Bit and a Knock and to sophisticate our Mercy with Cruelty And when any miserable Creature would borrow or beg of us Prudence will advise us not to turn him away with Scorn nor yet to remove him at a distance with signs of Disdain or Contemptuous Violence but if we see Reason to grant him his Request to do it with a ready and open hand that so the Freedom of our Charity may raise and enhanse the Comfort of it and that that which we design for a Relief and Succour may leave no Sting behind it in the Mind of the Receiver And above all we ought to take especial Care not to oppress the Modesty of the Humble especially of those who have been wont to give and not to receive not to relieve them with lofty Looks or angry Words or a scornful and severe Behaviour not to expose their Poverty by the divulging our Charity or conveying it to them in the open View of the World but to hand our Relief to them in such a secret and benign courteous and obliging manner as that they may receive it with chearfulness and without Blushing and Confusion And then as for those whose constant Necessities have habituated them to ask and receive with more Confidence and Assurance our Prudence will direct us to convey our Alms to them with such a mixture of Severity and Sweetness as neither to encourage them to grow upon our Charity nor drive them into Desperation of it I now proceed to press and enforce the Practice of this great Duty with some Motives and Arguments which are these that follow First Almsgiving is imposed upon us as a necessary Part of our Religion Secondly 'T is recommended to us by the Examples of God and of our Saviour Thirdly It is a substantial Expression of our Love and Gratitude to God and our Saviour Fourthly It charges an high Obligation to us upon the Accounts of God and our Saviour I. CONSIDER that giving Alms is imposed upon us as a necessary Part of our Religion that is when God hath furnished us with Abilities and Opportunities to do it For where we cannot give Mony to relieve the Poor our Pity and our Prayers are accepted for Alms for if there be a willing mind saith the Apostle that is a charitable Heart it is accepted according to that a man hath and not according to that he hath not 2 Cor. viii 12. But where a Man hath it is his indispensable duty to do accordingly for Pure Religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the world Jam. i. 27. And that this visitation is to be performed with an open and a liberal Hand the same Apostle imformeth us Iam. ii 15 16. If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food and one of you say unto them depart in peace be you warmed and filled notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body what doth it profit That is if instead of Food and Raiment you only give him fair Words and good Wishes what doth it profit him Or what advantage can you expect to reap by it And to the same purpose 1 Iohn iii. 17. But whoso hath this world's good and seeth his brother have need and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him how dwelleth the love of God in him that is let him pretend what he pleases he hath not one Spark of Love to God or true Religion in his Bosom So that for Men to pretend to Religion who are able to relieve the Poor and yet refuse it is one of the greatest Mockeries in the World for howsoever Men's Covetousness may bribe their Conscience to dispense with the Obligations of Almsgiving as if it were only a carnal Ordinance or useless Relique of Popery a holy Cheat a devout Drunkard a pious Fornicator are not greater Contradictions in the sense of Scripture than a hard-hearted a stingy and a hide-bound Saint For though our Religion doth by no means warrant us in such a vain and fond Opinion of our good Works as to think we merit Heaven by them or to presume to drive a Bargain with God by putting our good Works into the Ballance with an infinite and eternal Reward our hopes of which we wholly owe to the infinite Goodness of God through Iesus Christ yet it requires them of us as a necessary Condition upon which God hath entailed all our future Bliss and without which we can never hope for Admittance into the Kingdom of God So that if we are able to relieve the Poor and yet will not when we have Opportunity by shutting up our Bowels against them we shut the Door of Heaven against our selves and must one day expect to receive the same Answer from God that we give to them I have nothing for you no Mercy no Heaven for such unmerciful Wretches as would rather suffer their poor Brethren to perish than part with a penny to relieve them For of this Doom our Saviour himself hath fairly forewarned us Matth. XXV 41 42 43. Go ye cursed into everlasting fire for when I was hungry ye fed me not when I was naked ye cloathed me not so that from any encouragement our Religion gives us we may as well hope to go to Heaven without Faith and Repentance as without giving of Alms according to our Ability and Opportunity II. CONSIDER that giving of Alms is highly recommended to us by the Examples of God and our Saviour For as for God the whole Series of his Providence is little else but a continued Dole of Alms and Charities to his Creatures It was his Charity that founded this vast and magnificent Hospital of the World that stock'd it with such a numberless Swarm of Creatures and endow'd it with such plentiful Provisions for the Support and Maintenance of them all so that we do all of us live upon his Alms and depend upon his boundless Charity for every Breath of Air we draw for every Bit of Bread we eat and for every Rag of Cloaths we wear And indeed what are all the Good Things of this World but so many Effluxes and Arguments of his Almighty Liberality Look every where about Nature consider the whole Tenor of his Providence survey all the Works and Actions of his Hands and you shall find them all conspiring in
that amiable Character the Psalmist gives of him Psal. cxix 68. Thou art good and thou dost good So that in relieving the Necessities of others we act the Part and the best Part too of the Almighty Father of Beings who sits at the upper End of the Table and carves to his whole Creation Hence St. Gregory Nazian speaking of the Charitable Man saith that he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. A God to the unfortunate imitating the Mercies of God for Man hath in nothing so much of God as in doing good which is doubtless the most divine and Godlike thing that a Creature is capable of What then can be more honourable or more becoming a Creature than to tread in the Footsteps of God to transcribe his Nature and Actions and be a kind of Vice-God in the World Surely did we but understand and consider how divinely magnificent it is to supply the Necessities and contribute to the Happiness of others we should court it as our highest Preferment and bless God upon our bended Knees for deeming us worthy of such an illustrious Employment and that among the numerous Blessings he hath heaped upon us he hath vouchsafed to admit us to share with himself in the Glory of doing Good AND as the Example of God doth highly recommend to us relieving of the poor and miserable so also doth the Example of our Saviour For it was for this that he left his Father's Bosom and came down from Heaven into our Nature that he might relieve a poor perishing World and rescue it from Eternal Ruin And what a glorious Recommendation of Charity is this that the Son of God chose rather to do good upon Earth than to reign over Angels in Heaven And while he was here the sole Employment he thought worthy of himself was to relieve the Miserable to feed the Hungry to cure the Blind and the Lame to restore the Sick to instruct the Ignorant and reclaim the Rebellious This was the Drift of all his Actions this the Subject of his Miracles and this the Scope of all his Doctrines So that his whole Life was nothing else but a continued Train of Beneficencies for the Apostle telleth us in the x. of the Act. 38. that he went about doing good Consider this therefore O thou hard-hearted Christian that stoppest thy Ears against the poor Man's Cries What would thy blessed Lord have done had he been in thy Case and Circumstances Would He who had so much Compassion on the Multitude as to work a Miracle to feed them have turned that miserable Wretch away as thou dost without the least Dram of Comfort and Relief Would He whose Heart and Hand was always open to the Poor and Miserable have despised the poor Man's Moans as thou dost or shut his Bowels of Compassion against him Do but peruse the Pattern of his Life and scan over his whole Behaviour and see if there be any one Action in all that great Exemplar that doth not upbraid thee and cry Shame upon thee for entitling thy narrow cruel and stingy Self a Disciple to such a merciful generous and liberal Master and if so learn for the future either to be so honest as to follow his Rule and Example or else so modest as to disclaim thy Relation to him III. CONSIDER that giving of Alms is a most substantial Expression of our Love and Gratitude to God and our Saviour How much we are obliged to express our Gratitude to God for these our outward Enjoyments and Abilities to do good to others is evident from hence because we receive them from him and do hold in vertue of his Donation For to suppose our selves independent Possessors of them is in effect to devest God of his Dominion and to strip him into an insignificant Cypher that only sits above in the Heavens like an Almighty Sardanapalus with his Arms folded in his Bosom and no further concerning himself in the Affairs of this lower World than to look down from his Throne and please himself to see Men scrambling for their several Shares of it But if we suppose him as we have infinite Reason to do the Almighty Author and Supream Disposer of all things then we must acknowledge that 't is from his overflowing Bounty that we derive whatever we possess that 't is the Gold of his Mines that enriches us the Crops of his Fields that feed us the Fleeces of his Beasts that cloath us and that every Good Thing we enjoy is handed to us by the Ministry of his all-disposing Providence And since we owe all to his Bounty and in our greatest Flourish are but his Alms-men and Pensioners how deeply are we obliged to return upon him in the Oblations of Love and Thanksgiving And since Love and Gratitude consist either in the Affection of the Mind or in the verbal Signification of it or in the effectual Performance of good things to the Person whom we thank and love this last is the most compleat and substantial Expression of the Reality of our Words and Affections For though Good-Will is indeed the Root of Love and Gratitude yet that lying under Ground and out of sight we cannot conclude its Being and Life without visible Fruits of Beneficence to the Person whom we thank and love And as for good Words they are at best but the Leaves of Love and Gratitude but 't is good Works that are the real Fruits of them by which their Sincerity is demonstrated For as no Man doth ever impress a false Stamp upon the finest Metal so costly Thanks and Love are seldom counterfeit It is to decline spending their Goods or their Pains that Men do so often forge and feign pretending to make up in wishing well the Defects of doing so and paying down Words instead of Things But where Works are wanting there is no Expression of our Love or Gratitude can either be real in it self or acceptable to God So that we may spare our Breath if we keep back our Substance for our close Hand giveth the lye to our full Mouth and all our verbal Praises of God when we will part with nothing for his sake are only so many empty Compliments and down-right Mockeries But then do our Love and Gratitude to God discover their Reality when it appears by our Actions that we think nothing too dear for him when for his sake who hath fed and clothed us and abundantly supplied our Necessities we are ready upon all Opportunities to feed and cloath and supply the Necessities of others And can we think any Thing too dear by which we may express our Gratitude to Him upon whose overflowing Bounty we depend for every Blessing we have or hope for who hath provided not only this Temporal World for our Bodies but also an Eternal Heaven for our Souls and hath sent his Son to us from his own Bosom to tread out our Way to it and conduct us thither Or can we think any Thanks too costly for
produced only a present Fit and pang of Religion which in the Heat of the next Temptation withered and died away or else they considered but by halves their Minds being all over-grown with worldly Cares and Thoughts which quickly choked that Holy Seed and rendered it barren and unfruitful Thus Inconsideration you see will render the most powerful Motives insignificant and it will be to no purpose for Religion to knock at the door of our Souls while our Reason is asleep and our Understandings deaf to its Importunities But would we be but so true to our own Interest as to inure our selves to a through Consideration of our Religion that would arm us with such invincible Arguments as none of our Lusts would be able to withstand and we should have so many good Thoughts like Guardian Angels perpetually encamped about us that whensoever the Devil or the World besieged us they would find our Souls impregnably fortified against all their Batteries If in the Morning before we go into the World we would sit down a while and take a little pains to antidote our Souls with such Thoughts as these O my Soul now am I going into the midst of a crowd of temptations where ever and anon one bad Object or other will be beckoning to me and inviting me unto that which is evil let us therefore consider a little what answer we shall return to all their importunities By and by perhaps some great opportunity of gain may present it self before thee to tempt thee to a fraud or consenage but alas What a poor recompence will a little Money be for all that Eternity of misery whereunto I shall consign my self by it Can I carry this sorry Pelf thither with me Or if I could can I bribe my Flames or corrupt my Tormentors with it And shall I for such a trifling momentary Gain incur such an everlasting Damage When I have thus answered this Temptation perhaps immediately after some amorous Object may present it self to court me to the Harlot's Bed but O my Soul Will the Pleasures I am promised there compensate the loss of all that Heaven of immortal Ioys which I shall forfeit by it And if they will not as doubtless they will not shall I be so childish as for the Pleasures of a moment to extinguish all my hope of being pleased for ever And when thou hast thus baffled this Temptation perhaps thou mayst be solicited a new with some importunate invitation to Intemperance but O my Soul Remember the bitter Agonies that thy Saviour endured upon the Score of thy Sins how this among the rest filled his deadly Cup and vomited it full of Gall and Vinegar and can I be so sensless as to make light of any sin the guilt whereof was so heavy as to crush the Lord of Life into his Grave Shall I be so disingenuous as to gratifie any Lust that had a hand in the murder of my dearest Saviour my Saviour who loveth me a thousand times better than I love my self And now no sooner hast thou repulsed this temptation but happily some other may assault thee thou mayst be presented with a favourable opportunity of treating thy Lusts so privatly and securely as that no Eye shall discover thee and then how difficult will it be for thee to refuse such an inviting Occasion but consider O my Soul thou art always and every where under the inspection of thy Iudg by whose righteous Doom thou must stand or fall for ever and he that seeth what thou dost in private will one day call thee to account and openly unmask all thy actions and present them bare-faced upon the publick Theatre before all the world of Spirits unless therefore thou couldst find a place to be wicked in where God might not see thee 't is in vain to promise thy self coverts and retirements for he will one day bring to light all thy deeds of Darkness and display thy shame to the open view of the world would we I say but take the pains every Morning before we enter into the World to season and antidote our Souls with such Meditations as these it would doubtless mightily contribute to the Mortification of our Lusts. For this would make the Arguments of our Religion so familiar to us that no Temptations whatsoever would be able to baffle our Resolutions which being backed with such a Strength of Reason would stand like a Rock of Adamant outbraving the Fury of those Waves that dash themselves against it and forcing them to retire after all their threatning Rage in empty and insignificant Foams For what Temptation can be too hard for that Soul that is armed with the Hope of Heaven and the Fear of Hell and is furnished with Arguments from all the Quarters of Reason and Religion to oppose against it This therefore is another of those Means and Instruments by which we are to Mortifie our Lusts viz. a serious Consideration of the Motives and Arguments whereby we are to oppose them III. ANOTHER Instrument of Mortification is a hearty and well-grounded Resolution and indeed without a firm Resolution it is in vain for us to attempt the mortifying of our Lusts or any difficult Undertaking whatsoever For there is a wide Distance between Thoughts and Things and 't is much easier to discourse of Things than to pass them into Execution for clear Reasonings are accompanied with a wonderful Delight because there we engage only with Designs and fighting only with the Idea's of Things they will easily suffer themselves to be conquered by us and taken Captive at our Will but when we pass into Practice that will revolt and oppose us in the Execution which was so very compliant in the Thought and Meditation then you will find that you must wrestle stoutly with those Difficulties that will make Head against you and that these will put you to a greater Proof of your Valour and Constancy than ever you did imagin so that unless you are armed with a great Strength of Resolution you will be beaten oft at the first Attempt and meeting with greater Resistance than you expected be forced upon a base and Cowardly Retreat Now to form a firm Resolution requires a great deal of Prudence and good Conduct for it is of great avail in all Cases to begin well and as a Foundation well laid doth secure the Superstructure so a Resolution well formed will render the Execution of what we are to do a great deal more easie and feasible Before we do resolve therefore on mortifying our Lusts let us be sure to make use of the former Instrument of Mortification that is let us acquaint our selves with all those mighty Arguments against sin wherewith either our Reason or Religion can furnish us and let us consider them over and over till they are familiar to our Understandings and our Thoughts have extracted the utmost Force of them for which End it will be necessary for us to seek Direction from our Spiritual Guides
our Religion that we should ever and anon be obliged to give him new Security For which End he hath instituted this other Sacrament which is not like that of Baptism to be received by us once for all but is to be often repeated that so at every return of it we might be obliged again to renew our old Vows of Obedience And doubtless would we but follow this good Design of our Saviour we should be far more successful in our Religion than we are For till we come to a confirm'd State of Goodness our holy Fervour will be very apt to cool our good Purposes to slacken and unwind and our vertuous Endeavours to languish and grow weary So that unless we revive our Religion by frequent Restoratives in a little time it will faint and dye away Wherefore to keep it alive it is very necessary that we should come to our great Master's Table every time we are invited by the solemn Returns of this holy Festival that here we may renew our Vows and reinvigorate our Resolutions and repair our Decays and put our sluggish Graces into a new Fermentation And if we would thus frequently communicate with a due Preparation of Mind we should doubtless at every Sacrament acquire new Life and Vigour and our good Resolutions would every day get ground of our bad Inclinations till at last they had totally subdued them VI. And Lastly ANOTHER Instrument of Mortification is constant Prayer For besides that by our sincere and honest Prayers we are sure to obtain Strength and Assistance from God to enable us to vanquish and subdue our Lusts he having promised to give his Holy Spirit unto every one that asketh it Besides this I say by a constant and serious Devotion our Hearts will be filled with such an over-awing Sense of God that in all our Actions we shall dread and revere his Authority and be ready to tremble at every Thought of offending him For there is nothing gives us such a quick Sense of God as Prayer that being the most immediate Address that we can make to him and the highest Elevation of our Souls towards him For we are a sort of Beings that are a kin to two Worlds being placed in the middle between Heaven and Earth as the common Center wherein these distant Regions meet By our superiour Faculties we hold Communion with the spiritual World and by our inferiour with the corporeal one But to this sensible or corporeal World we lye open and bare all its Objects being present to us and striking immediately on our Senses whereas between us and the spiritual World there is a Cloud of sensible things which interrupts our Prospect of that clear Heaven above them so that before we can perceive that which is Divine we must remove this World out of the way and withdraw our Souls from those Thoughts and Desires wherein these lower things have entangled them that so we may lye open to the heavenly Light and our cold Affections may be immediately exposed to the enlivening Warmths of the Sun of Righteousness And hence arises the Necessity of holy Meditations and devout Prayers the one being necessary to abstract our Minds from the Objects of corporeal Sense and the other to inspire our Wills with divine Affections and Inclinations For Meditation furnishes our Understandings with noble Thoughts and heavenly Ideas and Prayer carries out our Wills to the Love of them and joyns our Affections fast to them so that by the one we are tied in our Minds and by the other in our Choice of the better World For Prayer does naturally sublimate our gross and earthly Passions and by keeping our Minds intent upon God it wings our Affections towards him and animates them with Divine Fires And we do never rise from our Knees after a devout Address unto God without deriving a magnetick Vertue from him and being sensibly touched with his Charms and Attractions So that if we did but inure our selves to fervent Prayer those holy Affections which we should suck in with our Devotions would be instrumental to extinguish our vicious Inclinations and we should go every day from the Throne of Grace with such a lively Sense of God and such a vigorous Relish of Divine things as would be sufficient to antidote us all the day after against the Venom of any sinful Contagion Wherefore if we are in good earnest and do seriously intend the Mortification of our Lusts let us every day before we go into the World be seasoning of our Minds with holy Devotions and while we are addressing unto God in the deepest Sense of his unbounded Perfections and of our own Dependence upon him let us pour out our Souls before him and make an hearty Oblation of our Souls and Bodies to him Let us offer up our Wills to him broken and contrite that he may put them into what Form and Posture he pleases shew him an Heart that quitteth all Interest in it self and that would be only led and conducted by him tell him that you are sensible that to mortify your Lusts is far more difficult than to resolve to do it and beseech him to enable you to be valiant in your Actions as through his Grace you are already in your Minds and Hearts that you may with as much Certainty if not with as much Ease do and effect as you have projected and resolved And having thus implored his Aid and sincerely offered up your selves unto him you have laid a strong Engagement upon him not to abandon you For to be sure he will not throw away a Heart that puts it self thus humbly into his hands nor suffer the Devil to make a Prey of that which hath been so affectionately devoted to him For it was by the Concurrence of his Grace with our own Faculties that this Resolution of Submission to him was begotten in us and can we think that the Father of Love will ever abandon his own Offspring while it crys out to him and with pitiful and bemoaning Looks implores his Aid and Compassion Surely this cannot choose but move his Fatherly Bowels and make them yern and turn towards it and by a strong Sympathy draw his compassionate Arm to aid and relieve it Let us therefore but faithfully use our own Endeavours and fervently implore God's Grace and then to be sure he will never suffer that Divine Fire which he hath kindled within us to be over-born by our Corruptions but will kindly cherish it with his own Influence and touch it with an out-stretched Ray from Himself till it hath burned through all that Rubbish that oppresses it and till it rises into a victorious Flame CHAP. III. Of some Motives to Mortification taken from the Mischiefs of Sin HAVING shewn you at large what are the proper Instruments of Mortification I shall in the next place proceed to press you with some prevailing Motives and Arguments faithfully to employ and use them And here I shall not insist upon those Arguments
our Minds and render them unfit especially for the most perfect Exercise of our Reason Thus Drunkenness dilutes the Brain which is the Mint of the Understanding and drowns those Images which are stamp'd upon it in a Deluge of unwholsome Moistures Thus Gluttony cloggs the Animal Spirits which are as it were the Wings of the Mind and renders them incapable of performing the noblest and sublimest Flights of Reason Thus Anger and Wantonness force up the boiling Blood into the Brain and by that disorders the Motions of the Spirits there confounds the Fantasms and disturbs the Conceptions and shuffles the Ideas of the Imagination into an heap of inarticulate and disorderly Fancies And how is it possible our Minds should strike true Harmony when its Instrument is thus disorder'd and all the Strings of it are so out of Tune How should we understand well while our Brains are overcast with the thick Fumes of sensual Lusts and those Spirits which should wing our minds are grown so listless and unactive that they rather hamper and entangle them For what Clearness is to the Eye that Purity is to the Mind As Clearness doth dispose the Eye to a quick and distinct Perception of Material Objects so Purity from Lust and Passion disposes the Mind to a more clear Apprehension of Intellectual ones and the more any Man's Soul is cleansed from the Filth and Dregs of Sensuality the brighter it will be in its Conceptions and the more nimble and expedite in its Operations For Purity doth naturally fit the Body to the Mind it puts its Organs all in Tune and renders its spirits fine and agil and fit for the noblest Exercises of Reason which they can never be whilst they are subject to disorderly Passions and drenched in the unwholsome Reeks of Sensuality and Voluptuousness But besides this Mischief which Sin doth to our Understandings by rendering our Bodies unapt to all Intellectual Purposes it also dyes the mind with false Colours and fills it with Prejudice and undue Apprehensions of Things For while our Souls are under the sway of any disorderly Passion or Appetite they will naturally warp our Iudgments into a Compliance with their own Interest and bribe us to judge of things not according to what they are but according to what we would have them And when our Iudgments are thus bribed by our Interest and swayed by our Passions it is impossible we should judge truly of Things For our Passions will discolour the Objects of our Understandings and disguise them into such Shapes as are most agreeable to our Humor and Interest and so our Opinions of Things will alter upon every Variation of our Humours and our Thoughts like Weather-cocks will be wheeling about upon every Change of Wind. So that while we are encompassed with the Mists of sinful Prejudice they will necessarily hinder the Prospect of our Reason and obscure the Brightness of our Understandings and the Clearness of our discerning Faculties And thus you see how natural it is to Vice to spoil and wast our Understandings and to choke up those Fountains of Light within us with Clouds and Darkness And that it doth so is very apparent in Fact for how much wicked Men have lost their Reason is apparent by the ridiculous Principles upon which they generally act which generally are so very weak and absurd that it would be impossible for Men to assent to them were not their Understandings perished and the Reason of their minds wofully impaired and wasted As for instance the desperate Atheist wishes that there were no God upon this Principle that it is better for Men to be without a God than to be without their Lusts then which there can be nothing more wild or extravagant For it is plain that without our Lusts we can be happier than with them whereas it is the common Interest of Mankind that the World should be governed by infinite Goodness conducted by infinite Power and Wisdom and no Man or Society of Men can be happy without it For take God out of the World and you take away all Hope from the miserable all Comfort from the sorrowful and all Support from the dejected and calamitous and at one blow cut in sunder all the Bands of Society rase the Foundations of Virtue and confound all Distinction between Good and Evil. And yet the besotted Wretch for the sake of a paltry Lust that betrays him with a Kiss and stings him in the Enjoyment would fain banish God out of the World though it is apparent that in so doing he would do Mankind more Mischief than if he should blow out all the Lights of Heaven or pull down the Sun from the Firmament And in the general what more ridiculous Principles can there be thought than such as these That Sense is to be preferred before Reason Earth before Heaven Moments before Eternity that the short-liv'd pleasures of sin which expire in the fruition are sufficient to ballance the loss of an immortal Heaven and the sense of an eternal Hell that 't is time enough to repent when we can sin no more and that God is so fond a Being as that rather than ruin those that wilfully spurn at his Authority and trample upon his Laws he will accept a few Tears and Promises to live well when we can live no longer in exchange for all the Duty we owe him and that we may sit all the day in the lap of our Lusts and enjoy them without controul and then at night when we can enjoy them no longer fly up to Heaven upon the Wings of a Lord have mercy upon us And yet a wicked Life is either built upon no Principles at all or upon such as these which are ridiculous beyond all the extravagant Conceits of Fools or Madmen 'T is no wonder therefore that the Scripture so frequently brands the Sinner with the infamous Character of a Fool for if you measure him by the Principles he acts upon there is not a greater Fool in Nature which is a plain Evidence how much Vice doth besot the Understandings of Men and like those Barbarous Philistines puts out their Eyes only to sport it self with their Follies and Extravagances So that methinks had we any Reverence for our own Reason by which we are constituted Men and distinguish'd from the Beasts that perish we should never endure those Lusts within our Bosoms that do so much impair and wast it II. SIN subverts the natural Subordination of our Faculties For the natural Order and Politie of our Natures consists in the Dominion of our Rational Faculties over our sensitive Passions and Appetites so that then only we live according to the Law of our Nature when we eat and drink and love and hate and fear and hope and desire and delight according as right Reason prescribes For the noblest Principle of Humane Nature is Reason by which it is that we are constituted Men and advanced into a Form of Beings above all sublunary
or linked into some pious Family or vertuous Association by whose wise Admonitions holy Examples or friendly Reproofs we are frequently inspired with good Thoughts and serious Resolutions and from these or such like Providences ordinarily spring the Beginnings of our Reformation So that it is no mean Assistance that the Divine Providence contributes to us but by a thousand Arts of Love and Methods of Kindness which we take no notice of it administers to our Recovery and serves the everlasting Interests of our Souls Sometimes it removes Temptations from us and keeps them at a distance while our Lust is hot and ready to take fire till it is cool'd and extinguish'd by sober Counsels Sometimes by indiscernible Accidents it suggests good Thoughts to us and raises good Desires in us and then seconds those Accidents with such a Train of Events as it knows will be most conducive to continue those Thoughts and to nurse up those Desires into fixt and lasting Resolutions In a word it observes the molliafandi-tempora and is infinitely watchful in the timing its Addresses so as to strike while the Iron is hot and to interpose when we are most apt to be persuaded and wrought upon If therefore by these Assistances of the Divine Providence we do mortify our Lusts we do it by the Spirit who doth so order and dispose all those outward Events and Accidents as may be most conducive to our Amendment III. LET us consider those Aids and Assistances which the holy Angels give us who are the Agents and Ministers of the Holy Ghost whom he sends forth to succour and assist us in the Discharge of our Duty And hence Heb. i. 14. they are said to be ministring spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation And in pursuance of this their Ministry they are said to pitch their tents round about those that fear God Psal. xxxiv 7. and God himself hath promised to give his Angels charge over them to keep them in all their ways in the xci Psal. 11. which Expressions I confess do immediately refer unto the outward and temporal Protection which good Men do receive from the holy Angels But since those blessed and benigne Spirits are so much concerned in Humane Affairs we cannot but suppose that so far as their own Ability and the Laws of the invisible World will permit them they are ready to succour our Souls as well as Bodies and to contribute to our eternal as well as temporal Interests especially considering that of our Saviour Luk. xv 10. that there is joy in the presence of the Angels of God over one sinner that repenteth And if they are so far concern'd in our Repentance as to rejoice in it to be sure they will and do promote it since in so doing they contribute to their own Ioy Now the holy Angels being the Ministers of the Divine Providence have great Advantages of assisting us in our Duties and serving the Interests of our Souls which Advantages to be sure their own Goodness and Benignity will prompt them to make the utmost Improvement of They have many Opportunities to present good Objects to us and to remove Temptations from us of disciplining our Natures by Prosperities and Afflictions and of ordering and varying our outward Circumstances so as to render our Duty more facile and easy to us And besides as they are Spirits they have a very near and familiar Access to our Souls not that they can make any immediate Impressions upon our Understandings or Wills which is a Sphere of Light to which no created Spirit can approach but is under the immediate Oeconomy of the Father of Spirits But yet being Spirits I conceive they may easily insinuate themselves into our Fancies and mingle with the Spirits and Humours of our Bodies and by that means suggest good Thoughts to us and raise holy Affections in us For that they can work upon our Fancies is apparent else there could be neither Diabolical nor Angelical Dreams And if they can so act upon our Fancies as to excite new Images and Representations in them they may by this means communicate new Thoughts to the Understanding which naturally prints off from the Fancy all those Ideas and Images which it sets and composes And as they can work upon our Fansies so they can also upon our Spirits and Humours else they have not the Power of curing or inflicting a Disease And by thus working upon our Spirits they can in some measure moderate the Violence of our Passions which are nothing but the flowings and reflowings of the Spirits to and fro from the Heart And by working upon our Humours they can compose us to such a sedate and serious Temper as is most apt to receive religious Impressions and to be influenc'd by the Motions of the Holy Ghost These things I doubt not but the blessed Angels can do and many times do though we perceive it not And though possibly by the Laws of the World of Spirits they may be restrained from doing their utmost for us that so we may still act with an uncontrouled Freedom and be left under a Necessity of constant and diligent Endeavour yet doubtless their Assistance is not wanting to us but as the evil Angels are always ready to pervert and seduce us so the good are no less ready to reform and recover us And since whatsoever they do for us they do as the Agents and Ministers of the Divine Spirits whatsoever we do by their Assistance we do by the Holy Spirit Fourthly and Lastly LET us consider the internal Motions and Operations of the Holy Ghost upon our Souls For besides all those Assistances which the Holy Spirit vouchsafes to us by his Word and his Providence and his Holy Angels he does also very powerfully aid and help us by his own immediate Motions and Suggestions For that the Ministrations of Religion have been always accompanied with the internal Operations of the Spirit is evident from that miraculous Success that Religion hath found in the World For I cannot imagine how Christianity that never was beholding to humane Force and Power but instead of that found all the Powers of the World armed against it and had so many mighty Prejudices to combate before ever it could be admitted to speak with Mens Reason I say I cannot imagine how under such Circumstances it could have thriv'd and flourish'd as it did had it not been accompanied with an invisible Power from above For how did it triumph in its very Infancy over all the Power and Malice of the World growing like the Palm-tree by Depression and conquering in the midst of Flames What wonderful Alterations did it make in the Lives and Manners of Men transforming in an instant the debauch'd and dissolute into Patterns of the strictest Temperance and Sobriety and with its mighty Charms turning Wolves into Lambs and Vulturs into Tuttle-doves Which wondrous effects were so very frequent that the Heathens themselves took
no such thing as future Rewards and Punishments it is a Folly for any Man to concern himself about any thing but his present Interest and in reason we ought to judge things to be good or evil only as they promote or obstruct our temporal Happiness and Welfare Now though it is certain that in the general there is a natural Good accruing to us from all vertuous Actions as on the contrary a natural Evil from all vicious ones and it is ordinarily more conducive for our temporal Interests to obey than to disobey the great Law of our Natures Yet there are a world of Instances wherein Vice may be more advantageous to us than Virtue abstracting from the Rewards and Punishments of another World It is ordinarily better for me to be an honest Man than a Knave it is more for my Reputation yea and usually for my Profit too and it is more for the publick Good in which my own is involved But yet pro hic nunc it may be better for me with respect only to this World to be a Knave than an honest man For whensoever I can but cheat so secretly and securely as not to fall under the publick Lash nor to impair my Reputation and I can but gain more by the Cheat than I shall lose in the Damage of the Publick it will be doubtless more advantageous for me as to my worldly Interest to cheat than to be honest And how often such fair Opportunities of Couzenage do occur no Man can be insensible that hath but the least Insight into the Affairs of the World So that if God had not reserved Rewards and Punishments for us in another World we should not have sufficient Motives universally to observe that great Law of Righteousness which he hath given us For whensoever we could cheat or steal securely it would be highly reasonable for us to do it because thereby we might promote our own temporal Happiness which would be the only End we should have to pursue And the same may be said of all other Laws of Nature which without the great Motives of a future Happiness and Misery could no longer induce any reasonable Man to obey them than it is for his temporal Interest to do so For suppose I can secretly stab or poison a Man whom I hate or dread or from whose Death I may reap any considerable Advantage What should restrain me from such a barbarous Fact If you say the Law of Nature pray what Reward doth the Law of Nature propose sufficient to compensate the Dissatisfaction of my Revenge or the Danger I run in suffering my Enemy to live Or what Punishment doth the Law of Nature denounce that is sufficient to balance the Advantage of a thousand or ten thousand Pounds a year that may accrue to me by his Death If you say the Law of Nature proposeth to me the Reward of a quiet and satisfied Mind if I forbear and denounces the Punishment of a guilty and amazed Conscience if I commit the Murder I easily answer that this Peace or Horror which is consequent to the Forbearance or Commission of Murder arises from the Hope and Dread of future Rewards and Punishments which being taken away to murder or not murder will be indifferent as to any Peace or Horror that will follow upon it And this being removed what Consideration will there be left sufficient to restrain me from the bloody Fact when I have an Opportunity to act it securely and am furiously spurred on to it by my own Revenge and Covetousness So that if there be no Rewards and Punishments in another Life to enforce the Commands of the Law of Nature it is apparent that no such Rewards or Punishments are annexed to it in this Life as are universally sufficient to oblige Men to observe it And is it likely that the All-wise Governour of the World would ever impose a Law under an insufficient Sanction That he would ever give out his Commands to his Creatures and then leave it indifferent to them whether they will obey him or no As he must needs have done if in all circumstances it be not far better for us to obey him than to disobey him And if our Nature is so framed as not to be effectually persuaded to Obedience without the Motives of everlasting Rewards and Punishments it is at least highly credible that there are such Because it would be unworthy of God so to frame the Nature of one of his noblest Creatures as to render it incapable of being governed by him without Falshood and Deceit II. THAT there is a future Happiness reserved for Good Men in the other World is highly probable from those Desires and Expectations of it which do so generally and naturally arise in pure and vertuous Minds We rarely if ever read of any vertuous Man of whatsoever Nation or Religion or Sect of Philosophers whose Mind hath not been wing'd with earnest Hopes and Desires of future Happiness and I know none that have ever denied or despaired of it but only such as have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and vitiated the Principles of their own Nature Such were the Sadducees and Epicureans Sects that had drowned all that was humane in them in Sensuality and Voluptuousness and are branded upon Record for their shameful Indulgence to their own brutish Genius And such are no Standards of Humane Nature but ought rather to be looked upon as Monsters of Men and therefore as we do not think it natural to Men to be born with six Fingers upon one Hand though there have been many such monstrous and unnatural Births so neither ought we to judge either of what is natural or unnatural to Men by those humane Brutes who by their perpetual wallowing in the Pleasures of the Body have monstrously disfigured their own Natures and dissolved all that Reason by which they are constituted Men into a mere sensual Sagacity of catering for the Appetites of the Flesh. If we would know therefore what is humane and natural to us we must take our Measures from those who are least depraved and are most conformable to the Laws of a Rational Nature who have preserved the natural Subordination of their Faculties and reduced their Passions and Appetites under the Empire of their Reason And these are the Men whom we call vertuous and who because they live in the Exercise of those noble Virtues which are proper to us Men are to be looked upon as the Standards of Humane Nature by whom alone we can judge of what is natural and unnatural to us Now Virtue and the Desires and Hopes of Immortality are so near allyed that like Hippocrates's Twins they live and die together For though while Men live a brutish and sensual Life their future Hopes are usually drowned in their present Enjoyments yet when once they recover out of this unnatural State and begin to live vertuously like reasonable Beings immediately they feel great Desires and Expectations of a future Happiness
springing up in their Minds and arising higher and higher proportionably as their Progress is in Virtue and true Goodness Which is a plain Evidence that these Hopes and Desires are natural to us and that they are interwoven by the great Creator in the Frame and Constitution of our Souls Now how can it consist with the Goodness of God to implant such Desires and Hopes in our Natures and then to withhold from them the only Object that can suit and satisfie them As if it were a Recreation to him to sit above in the Heavens and behold the Work of his Hands spending it self in weary Strugglings towards him and gasping all the while it continues in Being after an Happiness it shall never enjoy As for other Beings we see they have no natural Desire in vain the good God having so ordered things that there are Objects in Nature apportioned to all their natural Appetites but if there be no State of Happiness reserved for good Men in the other World we are by a natural Principle most strongly inclined to that which we can never attain to As if God had purposely framed us with such Inclinations that we might be perpetually tormented between those two Passions Desire and Despair an earnest Propension after a future Happiness and an utter Incapacity of ever enjoying it as if Nature it self whereby all other Beings are disposed to their Perfection did serve only in Mankind to make them miserable and which is more considerable as if Virtue which is the Perfection of Nature did only contribute to our Infelicity by raising in us Desires and Expectations which without a future Happiness must be for ever baffled and disappointed For if there be no future Happiness either we may know it or we may not if we may not know it why should we think that which reflects so much Dishonor upon God viz. that he hath created in us Desires and Expectations only to mock and tantalize them But if we may know it then do these Desires and Expectations seem to be created in us on purpose to torment us For for what other End can we desire to be eternally happy who are only brought forth into the Light to be e'er long extinguished and shut up in everlasting Darkness The Consideration of which must needs be an exceeding Torture and Affliction to us III. THAT there is a future Happiness reserved for good Men is evident from the Iustice and Equity of the Divine Providence That God is a most just and righteous Governour is acknowledged by all that believe there is a God and that he rules and governs the World and if it be so then his Iustice must first or last discover it self in distributing Rewards and Punishments to men according as they obey or violate the Laws of his Government For what Iustice can he express in governing the World if he rules at random if he never makes any Difference between the Good and the Bad but rewards and punishes his Subjects promiscuously without any Distinction between the Loyal and Rebellious And yet in the ordinary Course of Divine Providence in this world we see little or no Distinction made between them but as the Wise Man hath observed Eccl. ix 2. All things come alike to all so that he cannot know God's Love or Hatred by any thing that is before us nay many times we see the wicked as the Psalmist describes them flourishing like a green Bay-tree Psal. xxxvii 35. whilst the righteous are sorely oppressed and crushed under the triumphal Chariots of their barbarous Enemies So that were there no other State of things but what we see before us it would be impossible for us to give any tolerable Account of the just Retributions of the Divine Providence For if when we have all acted our Parts upon this Stage of Time we were to lye down together and sleep for ever in the Dust how many millions of Good Men are there that have thought nothing too dear for God and have not only sacrificed their Lusts but their Lives and Fortunes to his Service who would have no other Recompence for so doing but a miserable Life and a woful Death and an obscure and dishonourable Grave And on the contrary how many millions of millions of Wicked Men are there whose whole Lives have been nothing but one continued Act of Rebellion against God who have blasphemed his Honour and affronted his Authority and openly contemned all the Laws of his Government and yet would undergoe no other Punishment for so doing but only to live prosperously to die quietly and then to be gloriously enshrined in Monuments of Marble And can we think this and at the same time believe that there is a righteous Providence which superintends the Affairs of the World Certainly if not to govern this material World and to put things into such a regular Course as may be suitable to their Natures and the Operations for which they are designed would argue some Defect of Wisdom in God then doubtless not to compensate Virtue and Vice and adjust things suitably to their Qualifications but thus crosly to couple Prosperity with Vice and Misery with Virtue would argue him deficient both in Wisdom and Goodness and Iustice. And perhaps it would be no less expedient with Epicurus to deny all Providence than to ascribe to it such Defects it being less unworthy of the Divine Nature to neglect the Universe altogether than to administer humane Affairs with so much Injustice and Irregularity So that either we must deny Providence or which is worse deny the Iustice of it or believe that there is a future State wherein all things shall be adjusted and good Men crowned with the Rewards of their Obedience and the Wicked undergo the Punishment of their own Follies For this we are sure of that the Judge of all the World will do righteously and that first or last he will distribute his Rewards and Punishments according to the Merit and Demerit of his Subjects and therefore because we see he doth not ordinarily do it in this World we have great Reason to conclude that he will do it effectually in the World to come Fourthly and Lastly THAT there is a State of future Happiness prepared for good Men is evident from the Revelation of his Will which God hath made to us by Iesus Christ. And this I confess is the most concluding Argument of all as for the former Arguments they render the Case so highly probable that this at least must be acknowledged that we have far more Reason to believe and expect a future Happiness than we have to doubt or despair of it but as for this last it puts all out of Question and leaves us no Pretence of Reason why we should doubt or suspect it For eternal Happiness and Salvation is the great Blessing which our Saviour hath promised us to encourage us to Perseverance in Well-doing and in that everlasting Gospel which he preached to the
impose upon the Almighty and make Him believe that we are good when we are not and so steal to Heaven in a Vizard Fourthly and Lastly FROM hence 't is visible what great reason we have to be chearful under the Afflictions and Miseries of this World considering what Glories and Felicities there are prepared for us in the World to come Indeed all the Miseries of this World are more or less as we have more or less reason to be supported under them but when we consider that our Time here is but a Moment compared with our everlasting Abode in the World to come our present Happiness and Misery will appear to be very inconsiderable We are now upon our Iourney towards our heavenly Countrey and it is no great matter how rough the Way is provided that Heaven be our Journey 's End for though here we want many of those Accommodations which we may expect and desire yet this is but the common Fate of Travellers and we must be contented to take things as we find them and not look to have every thing just to our Mind But all these Difficulties and Inconveniencies will shortly be over and after a few days will be quite forgotten and be to us as if they never had been and when we are safely landed in our own Countrey we shall look back from the Shore with Pleasure and Delight upon those boisterous Seas which we have escaped and for ever bless the Storms and Winds that drove us thither Wherefore hold O my Faith and Patience a little longer and your work will soon be at an end and all my Sighs and Groans within a few moments will expire into everlasting Songs and Hallelujahs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now our days are dark and gloomy but the bright glorious day is dawning which Night shall never interrupt for God himself is the eternal Sun that enlightens us with the bright Rays of his own Glory And what is a little cloudy Weather compared with an everlasting Sun-shine Doubtless these light Afflictions which are but for a moment are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us Let us therefore comfort our selves with these things and while we are groaning under the Miseries of this Life let us encourage our selves with this Consideration that within a little little while all our Tears shall be wiped from our Eyes and there shall be an everlasting Period put to all our Sorrows and Miseries when we shall be removed from all the Troubles and Temptations of a wicked and ill-natur'd World be past all Storms and secured from all further danger of Shipwrack and be safely landed in the Regions of Bliss and Immortality And can we complain of the Foulness of a way that leads into a Paradise of endless Delights and not chearfully undergo these short though bitter Throws which like the Virgin-Mother's will quickly end in Songs and everlasting Magnificats Chear up therefore O my crest-fallen Soul for thy bitter Passion will soon be at an end and though now thou art sailing in a tempestuous Sea yet a few Leagues off lyes that blessed Port where thou shalt be crowned as soon as thou art landed and then the Remembrance of the Storms thou hast passed will contribute to the Triumphs of thy Coronation and all the bad Entertainments thou meetest with in this life will but make Earth more loathsome to thee while thou art here and Heaven more welcome when thou comest there and these thy light Afflictions which are but for a moment will work for thee a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory 2 Cor. iv 17. CHAP. VI. Of the Necessity of Mortification to the obtaining of Eternal Life I COME now to the Second thing proposed namely that the eternal Life and Happiness of good Men depends upon their mortifying the Deeds of the Body and that it doth so I shall endeavour to prove First FROM God's Ordination and Appointment Secondly FROM the Nature of the Thing I. FROM God's Ordination and Appointment God who is the supreme Governour of the World hath proposed Eternal Life as an Encouragement to those who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality And supposing that wicked Men could enjoy the Happiness of the other World yet it would be inconsistent with the Wisdom of his Government to admit them to it For should he reward Offenders with eternal Happiness who would be afraid of offending him And if once he rules with such a slack and indulgent Rein as to take away all reason of Fear from his Subjects his Government must immediately dissolve into Anarchy and Confusion And therefore to prevent this he hath fairly warned us by his reiterated Threats that if we live in Disobedience to his Laws we shall be for ever banished from that Kingdom of Happiness which he hath prepared for those that love and fear him So in Rom. viii 13. we are assured that if we live after the flesh we shall die And in Gal. v. 19 20 21. we are told that the works of the flesh are manifest which are these adultery fornication uncleanness lasciviousness idolatry witchcraft hatred variance emulations wrath strife seditions heresies envyings murders drunkenness revellings and such like of which I tell you before as I have also told you in times past that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God And so 1 Cor. vi 9 10. Know ye not saith the Apostle that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God be not deceived neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor effeminate nor abusers of themselves with mankind nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God And to the same purpose the same Apostle tells us that no whoremonger nor unclean person nor covetous man who is an idolater hath any inheritance in the kingdom of God Ephes. v. 5. All which dreadful Denunciations must be supposed to be conditional for else they are not consistent with the Promise of Pardon to those that truly repent So that the meaning of them is plainly this that if we persevere in these Lusts of the Flesh and do not mortify them we shall have no Part nor Portion in the Kingdom of God Hence the Apostle exhorts us Col. iii. 5 6. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth fornication uncleanness inordinate affection evil concupiscence and covetousness which is idolatry for which things sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience which plainly implies that if they did mortify these Lusts the Wrath of God should not come upon them but if they did not they should be liable to the divine Indignation among the Children of Disobedience By all which it is apparent that according to God's free Ordination and Appointment our eternal Happiness and Welfare depends upon our mortifying the deeds of the Body since God hath so ordained that if we do
of its benign Influences and altogether indisposed to be wrought upon by it For as the Sun enlightens not the inward parts of an impervious Dunghil and hath no other effect upon it but only to draw out its filthy Reeks and Steams though as soon as he lifts his head above the Hemisphere he immediately transforms into his own Likeness all that vast Space whether he can diffuse his Beams and turns it into a Region of Light even so the divine Glory and Beauty which is the Object of the beatifical Vision will never illustrate lewd and filthy Souls their Temper being impervious unto his heavenly Irradiations and wholly indisposed to be enlightned by it but instead of that it will irritate their devilish Rage against it and provoke them to bark at that Light which they cannot endure whereas it no sooner arises upon well-disposed Minds but it will immediately chase away all those Reliques of Darkness remaining in them and transform them into its own Likeness But doubtless the Sight of the divine Purity and Goodness will be so far from exciting sensual and devilish Spirits to transcribe and imitate it that it will rather inspire them with Indignation against it and provoke them to curse and blaspheme the Author of it Fourthly and Lastly IN every sensual and devilish Soul there is an utter Incongruity and Disagreement to the Society of the Spirits of just Men made perfect For even in this Life we see how ungrateful the Society of good Men is unto those that are wicked it spoils them of their fulsome Mirth and checks them in those Riots and Scurrilities which are the Life and Piquancy of their Conversation So that when the good Man takes his leave they reckon themselves deliver'd his Presence being a Confinement to their Folly and Wickedness And as it is in this so doubtless it will be in the other World for how is it possible there should be any Agreement between such distant and contrary Tempers between such sensual and malicious and such pure and benigne Spirits What a Torment would it be to a spightful and devilish Spirit to be confined to a Society that is governed by the Laws of Love and Friendship What an Infelicity to a carnalized Soul that nauseates all Pleasures but what are fleshly and sensual to be shut up among those pure and abstracted Spirits that live wholly upon the Pleasures of Wisdom and Holiness and Love Doubtless it would be as agreeable to a Wolf to be governed by the Ten Commandments and fed with Lectures of Philosophy as for such a Soul to live under the Laws and be entertained with the Delights of the heavenly Society So that could these wicked Spirits be admitted into the Company of the Blessed they would soon be weary of it and perhaps it would be so tedious and irksom to them that they would rather chuse to associate themselves with Devils and damned Ghosts than to undergoe the Torment of a Conversation so infinitely repugnant to their Natures accounting it more eligible to live in the dismal Clamour of hellish Threnes and Blasphemies than to have a tedious Din of heavenly Praises and Hallelujahs perpetually ringing in their Ears And indeed considering the hellish Nature of a wicked Soul how contrary it is to the Goodness and Purity of Heaven I have sometimes been apt to think that it will be less miserable in those dismal Shades where the wretched Furies like so many Snakes and Adders do nothing but hiss at and sting one another for ever than it would be were it admitted into the glorious Society of heavenly Lovers whose whole Conversation consists in loving and reloving and is nothing else but a perpetual Intercourse of mutual Indearments For this would be an Employment so infinitely repugnant to its black and devilish Disposition that rather than endure so much Outrage and Violence it would of its own accord forsake the blessed Abodes to flee to Hell for Sanctuary from the Torment of being in Heaven But this however we may rationally conclude that so long as the prevailing Temper of our Souls is sensual and devilish we are incapable of the Society of blessed Spirits and that if it were possible for us to be admitted into it our Condition would be very unhappy till our Temper was chang'd so that it is a plain Case both from God's Ordination and from the Nature of the Thing that our eternal Happiness and Welfare depends upon our mortifying the deeds of the Body To offer some Practical Inferences from hence I. WE may perceive how unreasonable it is for any Man to presume upon going to Heaven upon any account whatsoever without mortifying his Lusts. For he that thinks to go to Heaven without Mortification and Amendment presumes both against the Decrees of God and the Nature of Things he believes all the Threatnings of the Gospel to be nothing else but so many Bugs and Scare-crows and though God hath told him again and again that unless he forsake his sins he shall never enter into the Kingdom of Heaven yet he fondly imagines that when it comes to the Trial God will never be so severe as he pretends but will rather revoke the Decree that is gone out of his mouth than exclude out of the Paradise of endless Delights a Soul that is infinitely offensive to him As if God were so invincibly fond and indulgent as that rather than excommunicate an obstinate Rebel from Happiness he would chuse to prostitute the Honour of his Laws and Government and commit an Outrage upon the Rectitude and Purity of his own Nature For so long as he is a pure God he cannot but be displeased with impure Souls and so long as he is a wise Governour he cannot but be offended with those that trample upon his Laws so that before he can admit a wicked Soul into Heaven he must have extinguish'd all his natural Antipathy to Sin and stifled his just Resentment of our wilful Affronts to his Authority When therefore we can find any reason to imagine that God is no Enemy to sin and that he hath no regard of his own Authority then and not till then we may have some Pretence to presume upon going to Heaven without Mortification and Amendment But supposing this Hinderance were removed and that God were so easie as to be induced to prefer the Happiness of a wicked Soul before the Honour of his Government and the Purity of his Nature yet still there is an invincible Obstacle behind that renders her future Felicity impossible and that is that it cannot be without a plain Contradiction to the Nature of Things For as I have shewed you already the Genius and Temper of a wicked Soul is wholly repugnant to all the Felicities of the other World so that if they were set before her She would not be able to enjoy them but must be forced to pine and famish amidst all that Plenty of Delights there being not one Viand in all
and transcribed into our own Natures And as we grow in Grace from one degree to another so Heaven will break forth clearer and clearer upon us and the nearer we approach to the top of the Hill the fuller View we shall have of the Horizon and extended Sky till at last we come to walk all along in sight of Heaven and to travel towards it in a full View and Assurance of it But if we secure our selves of Heaven before we have mortifyed our Lusts we do but entertain our Fancies with a golden Dream which when we awake will vanish away and leave us desperate and miserable If therefore we would be assured of our future Happiness let us not trouble our selves with numerous Signs of Grace nor go about to erect Schemes of our spiritual Nativity to cast a Figure to know whether we have Grace or were converted secundùm artem but let us impartially examine whether our Wills are so subdued to the Will of God as universally to choose what he enjoins and refuse what he forbids For if they are our Condition is good and our Hope secure by what Means or Motives soever it was effected and whether they are or no we need no Marks or Signs to resolve us for our Thoughts and Resolutions and Intentions are Signs enough to themselves and we need no Marks to know what it is that we choose and refuse this our Soul can easily discern by that innate Power she hath of reflecting upon our own Motions by which she doth as naturally feel her own Deliberations and Volitions as the Body doth its Hunger and Thirst. 'T is true indeed holy Dispositions like all other Motions the weaker they are and the more they are interrupted by contrary Motions and Inclinations the less they will be perceived which is the Reason why Beginners in Religion cannot be so sensible of the Grace that is in them because their good Inclinations are checked and hindred by the strong and vehement Counter-Motions of their Lusts but the more their good Inclinations prevail and free themselves from these contrary Inclinations which clog and incumber them the more their Souls will be sensible of them For this we find by Experience that as we perceive our own motions the more vigorous they are the more we perceive them especially when they are advised and deliberate as all vertuous Motions and Inclinations are For that a Man should be insensible of a Motion which he exerts advisedly or not be able to know that he is so disposed when he is knowingly so disposed implies a Contradiction and indeed if we are not able to know when we choose and refuse as we should when we resolve well and intend aright we cannot discern when we do right or wrong but are left to a Necessity of acting at random like Travellers in the dark that go on at a venture without knowing whether they go backward or forward If we cannot know when we do well it is impossible we should know how to do well but must necessarily leave the Conduct of our Actions to Chance and Fortune must determine us unto Right or Wrong Since therefore our Soul is not a senseless Machin that hath no Perception of her own Motions but is naturally sensible of whatsoever is transacted within her let us no longer excuse our Ignorance of our own Condition with that common Pretence that our Hearts are deceitful and hypocritical for our Hearts are our selves and if they are deceitful and hypocritical we our selves are so And yet I know not how it comes to pass it passes among some Men for a great Sign of Grace and Sincerity to complain of the Falseness and Hypocrisie of their own Hearts not considering that Men are as their Hearts are and that if these are Hypocritical they themselves are Hypocrites If therefore our Complaint be true the more Shame for us this is so far from being a Sign that we have Grace that it is a plain Confession that we are graceless Dissemblers If our Complaint be false we falsely accuse our selves in it which is also so far from being a Sign of Grace that it is an Argument only of our own extravagant Folly But if we mistake in our Complaint and think that to be Hypocrisie which is not we should seek to be better informed and if when you are so you still complain of your Hypocrisie I doubt you have too much Reason for it and if you fear that you are Hypocrites I fear you are so too For why should one that knows what an Hypocrite is fear that he is an Hypocrite were he not conscious to himself that he doth dissemble with God and under an open Pretence of submitting to him disguise some secret Purpose of rebelling against him Let us therefore lay aside all our impertinent Scrupulosity and fairly examine our own Souls whether we do submit to God without any reserve and are willing to lay down all our beloved Lusts at his Feet for whether we are or no we may easily discern if we will If we are then are the Foundations of Heaven already laid within our own Bosoms and if upon this Principle we grow in Grace and add one Degree of Vertue to another we may be sure the Superstructure will go on until the whole Fabrick of our Happiness is compleated For as Nature by its powerful Magick is continually drawing every thing unto its proper Place and Center so Heaven attracts to it self and freely imbosoms every thing that is heavenly and thrusts off nothing but what is unfit for and heterogeneous to it If therefore our Souls be of a pure and heavenly Temper Heaven is the Center of our Motions and the proper Place whereunto we belong and whither at last we shall safely arrive in despite of all those dismal Shades of Darkness that would beat us back and interrupt our Progress towards it but on the contrary if we secure our selves of Heaven while we are enslaved to any Lusts we presume unreasonably and embark our Hopes in a leaky Bottom which in stress of Weather will certainly founder under us and sink us into utter Despair For how can we hope to be admitted into Heaven whilst we retain that within our own Bosoms which kindles Hell and is the Spring of the Lake of Fire and Brimstone This would be a confounding of utter Darkness with the Regions of Light a blending of Heaven and Hell together Fourthly and Lastly FROM hence it appears what is the great Design of the Christian Religion We may be sure God would not have sent his Son into the World had not the Embassy upon which he was employed been of the highest Moment and Concernment to us And what other End besides doing the greatest Good could a good God propose in so great a Transaction Surely had we been in Heaven when the Holy One descended thence into the World though we had not known the Particulars of his Errand yet we should have
concluded that doubtless he was employed upon some great Design of Love to communicate from the Almighty Father some mighty Blessing to the World and accordingly we find that though the holy Angels did not comprehend the particular Intention and Mystery of Christ's Incarnation yet they concluded in the general that it was intended for some great Good to the World as is apparent by the Anthem they sung at his Nativity Glory be to God on high on Earth peace good will towards Men. Now the greatest Expression of God's good Will towards Men is to rescue them from all Iniquity and restore them to the Purity and Perfection of their Natures for without this all the Blessings of Heaven and Earth are not sufficient to make us happy While our Nature is debauch'd and overgrown with unreasonable Lusts and Passions we must be miserable notwithstanding all that an Omnipotent Goodness can do for us for Misery is so essential to Sin that we may as well be Men without being reasonable as sinful Men without being miserable Since therefore the End of Christ's coming into the World was to dispense God's greatest Blessings to Mankind and since the greatest Blessing that we can receive from God is to be redeemed by his Grace from our Iniquities and to be made Partakers of the Divine Nature we may reasonably conclude that this was his main Design in the World and the great End of that everlasting Gospel which he revealed to it And hence the name Iesus was given him by the Direction of an Angel because he should save his people from their Sins Matth. i. 21. and indeed I cannot imagine any Design whatsoever excepting this that could be worthy the Son of God's coming down into the World to live such a miserable Life and die such a shameful Death Had it been only to save us from a Plague or War or Famine it had been an Undertaking fit for the lowest Angel in the heavenly Hierarchy but to save us from our sins was an Enterprize so great and good as none in Heaven or Earth but the Son of God himself was thought worthy to be employed in This therefore was the Mark of all his Aims while he was upon Earth the Center in which all his Actions and Sufferings met to save us from our Sins and to inspire us with a divine Life and God-like Nature that thereby we might be disposed for the Enjoyment of Heaven and made to be meet Partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light 'T is true he died to procure our Pardon too but it was with respect to a farther End namely that we might not grow desperate with the Sense of our Guilts but that by the Promise of Pardon which he hath purchased for us we might be encouraged to repent and amend But should he have procured a Pardon for our Sin whether we had repented of it or no he would have only skinned over a Wound which if it be not perfectly cured will rankle of its own accord into an incurable Gangrene Christ therefore by the offering of himself is said to purge our consciences from dead works that we might serve the living God Heb. ix 14. and the great Apostle makes the ultimate Intention of his giving himself for us to be this that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Tit. ii 14. And until his Death hath had this Effect upon us it is not all the Merit of his Blood and Vertue of his Sacrifice that can release us from the direful Punishments of the other Life For unless he by his Death had so altered the Nature of Sin as that it might be in us without being a Plague to us it must necessarily if we carry it with us into the other World prove a perpetual Hell and Torment to us So that it is apparent that the great and ultimate Design of Christ was not to hide our filthy sores but to heal and cure them and for this End it was that he revealed to us the grace of God from Heaven to teach us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world Tit. ii 12. Let us not therefore cheat our own Souls by thinking that the Gospel requires nothing of us but only to be holy by Proxy righteous by being cloathed in the Garments of another's Righteousness as if its Design was not so much to cure as cover our filthy Sores not to make us whole but to make us accounted so For can any Man imagin that Christ would ever have undertaken such a mighty Design and made so great a noise of doing something which when it is all summed up is nothing but a Notion and doth not at last amount unto a Reality As if the great Design of his coming down from Heaven to live and die for us was only to make a Cloak for our sins wherein we might appear righteous before God without being so But do not deceive your selves it is not all the Innocence and Obedience of Christ's Life nor all the Virtue and Merit of his Death that can render you pure and holy in God's eyes unless you really are so and you may as well be Well with another's Health or wise with another's Wisdom as righteous before God with the Righteousness of Christ while you abide in your Sins For God sees you as you are and the most glorious Disguise you can appear in before him will never be able to delude his all-seeing Eye so as to make him account you righteous when you are not and if it were possible for you to impose upon God yet unless you could also impose upon the Nature of Things and by fancying them to be otherwise than they are make them to be what they are not it will be to no purpose For if you could be cloathed in Christ's Righteousness while you continue wicked it would signifie no more to your Happiness than it would to be cloathed in a most splendid Garment while you were pining with Famine or tortured with the Gout or Strangury Wherefore as we love our own Souls and would not betray our selves into an irrecoverable Ruin let us firmly conclude with our selves that the great Design of our Religion is internal Holiness and Righteousness and that without this all that Christ hath done and suffered for us will be so far from contributing to our Happiness that it will prove an eternal Aggravation to our Misery and that all that precious Blood which he shed in our behalf will be so far from obtaining Pardon and eternal Happiness for us that it will arise in Iudgment against us and like the innocent blood of Abel instead of interceeding for us will cry down Vengance from Heaven upon us For how can we imagine that the pure and holy Iesus who hated our Sins more than all the Pangs and Horrors of a woful Death should all of a
that they are only so many Exceptions to a General Rule and therefore ought rather to be looked upon as so many Monsters of Men than as the Standards of Humane Nature For as we do not look upon it as natural to Men to be born without Hands or Feet though there have been Instances of such monstrous and unnatural Births so neither ought we to think it natural to Men to be cruel and unmerciful because of a few Devils in Humane Shape that have pulled out their own Bowels of Compassion If we would understand what is humane and natural we must take our Measures from those who in all other cases do live most conformably to the Laws of Nature and to be sure the more regular Mens Natures are the more you will find them abounding with Pity and Compassion For hence it is that Mercy and Compassion are called Good Nature and Humanity and their contraries Ill Nature and Inhumanity because as the former are inseparable Properties of well-formed and regulated Natures so the latter are such hideous Deformities of Nature as do in effect devest us of our Manhood and render us a kind of Monsters among Men. By all which it is evident that the great Creator hath framed and composed our Nature to Mercy and implanted in it a tender Sympathy and fellow-feelling of each others Miseries by which as by a Voice from Heaven he doth eternally call upon us to let out these our natural Compassions into Acts of Mercy towards one another For the Voice of Nature is a genuine Eccho and Repetition of the Voice of God who by creating in us such a tender Sympathy with one another doth most expresly signifie that it is his Will that we should mutually succour and relieve each other For to what other end should he create in me such a Feeling of my Brother's miseries but only to provoke me by it to ease and succour him why should he cause me to partake as I do of other Mens Pains and Pleasures but to excite me thereby to use my best endeavour to asswage their Pains and advance their Pleasures Since therefore the God of Nature hath made my Neighbour's Misery my Pain and his Content my Pleasure and by the indissoluble Bands of mutual Sympathy hath linked our Fortunes and Affections together so that 't is for my own Ease to ease him and for my own Pleasure to please him this is an eternal and immutable Reason why I should be merciful to him III. ANOTHER eternal Reason upon which Mercy is founded and by which it is constituted morally Good is the near and intimate Relation of those Persons to us upon whom our Mercy is to be exercised For there is between Men and Men a most intimate Kindred and Relation as being all derived from one common Root whose prolifick Sap hath sprouted into infinite Branches which like the Boughs of Nebuchadnezzar's Tree have spread themselves to all the ends of the Earth And as we are all Children of the same Parents and consequently Brethren by Nature so we do all Communicate of the same Nature as being compounded of the same Materials and animated with the same Forms having all the same Faculties Inclinations Appetites and Affections and being only so many several Copies transcribed from the same Original and there is no other Difference between us but what is made by things that are extrinsick and accidental to our Natures So that in short we are all but one and the same Substance attired in a diverse Garb of Circumstances divided into several Times and Places and diversify'd by the little Accidents of Colour and Stature Figure and Proportions in all which perhaps within a little while we shall differ as much from our selves as we do now from other Men. For do but compare your selves in your Youth or in your Health or in your Prosperity with your selves in your Age or in your Sickness or in your Adversity and you will find as much Difference between your selves and your selves as you do now between your selves and others so that in reality other Men are as much you now as you are your selves in other Circumstances we being all the same in every stable essential Ingredient of our Natures and being only diversified by such Accidents from one another as will in a little time diversifie us from our selves Thus the Apostle saith Acts xvii 26. He hath made of one blood that is of one Nature all nations of men to dwell on the face of the earth There being therefore such a close Conjunction such a strict Union of Natures between Men and Men so that every other Man is every other Man's self a few trifling Circumstances excepted this is an everlasting Reason why we should treat them as we do our selves with all Compassion and Humanity For to commiserate one who is my other self is that which I am obliged to by own Self-Love which God hath made an eternal Law to my Nature 't is to feed a Member of my own Body and nourish a Branch of my own Root yea 't is to feed and succour my own Nature that is only individuate from mine by I know not what Metaphysical Principle and cloathed in different Accidents and Circumstances So that now the very same Self-Love which doth so importunately instigate us upon all occasions to redress our own miseries ought in all reason to provoke us to relieve and succour other Men since all the Miseries they endure are the Miseries of our own Nature insomuch that we run their Fortunes and by a natural Communion are Partakers of their Pains and Pleasures For the Humane Nature which is common to us and them endures the smart of their afflictions and bleeds through every wound that is given them so that by pouring into those Wounds the Balsam of our Mercy we do an Act of kindness to our selves and wisely consult our own Preservation As on the contrary by dealing cruelly and unmercifully by other Men we do affront and violate our own Natures and most unnaturally thwart that Principle of self-love which God hath implanted in us for our own Preservation For he whom thou treatest with so much Contempt and Cruelty is thy own self individuated into another Person and wears thy Nature under other Circumstances he is Man of thy Manhood Flesh of thy Flesh and Bone of thy Bone and no man ever yet hated his own flesh but nourisheth and cherisheth it Eph. v. 29. Wherefore thou canst not deal cruelly by him without wounding thy self through his sides and committing an unnatural Outrage upon the Humane Nature whereof he is equally Partaker with thee IV. ANOTHER eternal Reason upon which Mercy is founded and rendered morally Good is the Equitableness of it to our own State and Circumstances for no Man ever was or ever can be so happy as not to have need of Mercy for himself The best of Men are Sinners before God and for that are liable
without a World of Mercy to be rendered miserable for ever and there are very few whose Conversations with Men have been so inoffensive as never to have merited severe Retributions at their Hands and how happy and prosperous soever a Man's outward State and Circumstances may be at present he cannot be secure but the next Turn of Affairs may tumble him headlong thence into Wretchedness and Calamity Now since every Man might have been or may be miserable what can be more just or equitable than that we should deal with those that are so as we would be dealt by if we were so Put the case then as you may very reasonably do that You were now as miserable as that Wretched Creature is that craveth your Succour and Relief would not you desire Relief with the same Importunity that he doth Doubtless you would the Sense of Misery and the Desire of Miercy being naturally inseparable well but why would you desire it Why Because you are miserable you would say and hath not he the same Reason to desire it of you You may want what he desires and if you should you cannot deny but you should desire the same and is there not all the Reason in the World why you should grant him what you would ask for your self if you were in his Circumstances and he in yours This therefore is eternally reasonable that we should give and ask by the same Measures that we should grant that Succour to those that are miserable which we should think fit to ask or desire of them were We as miserable as They and They as happy as We. For since we are all of us naturally equal whatsoever is fit for one must be fit for another in equal Circumstances Either therefore it is not fit that I should desire Relief from others when I am miserable or else it is fit that I should grant Relief to others when they are so which if I refuse I must condemn my self either for being unreasonable in desiring Mercy when I need it or for being unjust in denying Mercy when I am asked it I know I may be miserable my self and if ever I am I know I cannot forbear desiring others to succour and relieve me and can I blame them for desiring that of me which I could not forbear desiring of them were I in their Circumstances and they in mine And yet of necessity I must either blame them for desiring of me what they do or blame my self for refusing them what they desire since whatsoever is just for them to desire of me is very fit and reasonable for me to grant them and if ever I should happen to want Relief with what Face can I desire or expect it who am deaf and inexorable to the Wants of others So that if I will shew no Mercy I were best take heed that I never need any for if I should it will be very unreasonable for me to expect it because by my unmerciful Treatment of others I have made a Precedent against my self against which it would be Impudence for me to plead for Mercy either with God or Men. With what Face can I supplicate for Mercy from the Hands of others when I have so plainly declared by my Actions that were I in their stead and They in mine I would never grant them what I ask for And when my Actions do thus loudly deprecate the Mercies which I pray for and enter such an unanswerable Caveat against my Claim and Pretence to them it is but modest to let fall my Suit and give up my Hope of Mercy for ever Fifthly and Lastly ANOTHER eternal Reason upon which Mercy is founded and rendered morally Good is the Necessity of it to the tolerable Well-being of Humane Societies That God is good and merciful to his Creatures hath been sufficiently demonstrated from the infinite Beatitude of his Nature which being an unbounded Ocean of Bliss and Happiness to it self must needs be abundantly communicative of Bliss and Happiness to others according to the Capacities of their Natures Since therefore Humane Nature of all these sublunary Ones contains the largest Capacities of Happiness we may be sure that God not only designs its Welfare but that he hath made all the Provisions for it that are necessary in order thereunto Notwithstanding which you see he hath at present exposed it to so many evil Accidents and Contingencies that unless those that are happy will take some care of the miserable and we will all of us mutually succour and relieve one another there is not a sufficient Provision made for our tolerable well-being in this World Since therefore it is evident even from the eternal Principles of God's Nature that he is infinitely kind and benevolent to us and yet notwithstanding this he hath placed us in a condition wherein we need one another's Mercy and cannot be happy without it it necessarily follows that it is his Will and Pleasure that whereinsoever he hath left us unprovided we should mutually provide for one another and that our own Mercy should be instead of a Counterpart to supply those Defects and void Spaces which his Providence hath left us in our present Happiness For we being free Agents God did not so provide for our Happiness as to exclude our own Virtue from having an hand in it but hath only taken care so to dispose and order our Affairs as that we may be happy if we will contribute our Part and behave our selves towards him our selves and one another so as is most conducive to our own and one anothers Welfare Since therefore he designs that all should be happy and in order thereunto though he hath not actually made them so yet hath fairly provided that all may be so it is plain he hath left something to be done on our Part and expects we should every one contribute what we are able towards every other Man's Happiness When therefore God places another's Happiness or any Degree of it within the Power of my Mercy it is plain that it is with an Intent I should employ that Power to make him happy and consequently that if I lavish out upon my own Pleasures and Conveniencies that Power to relieve the miserable with which he hath entrusted me and so permit them to continue miserable I am an unfaithful Steward to his Trust and responsible to him for all their Miseries In short since God by the eternal Bent and Inclination of his Nature aims at and intends our Happiness but yet hath put us into a condition wherein without the Assistance of each others Mercy we cannot be tolerably happy this is a plain Demonstration that it is his Will we should assist and further his Intention by being merciful to one another Whilst therefore God permits Misery in one that is an immutable Reason why he should exact Mercy from another since without that he can never obtain his End which is the Happiness of all For as since by the