Iohn 14. 6. Jesus saith vnto him I am the way and the truth and the Life c TWO DISCOURSES VIZ. A DISCOURSE OF TRUTH By the late Reverend Dr. RVST Lord Bishop of Dromore in the Kingdom of Ireland The Way of HAPPINESS And SALVATION By Joseph Glanvil Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty LONDON Printed for James Collins in the Temple-passage from Essex-Street 1677. A DISCOURSE OF TRUTH By the late Reverend Dr. RVST Lord Bishop of Dromore in the Kingdom of Ireland Together with a LETTER giving an Account of the Author and the Book Written by JOS. GLANVIL Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty LONDON Printed for James Collins in the New Temple-passage from Essex-street 1677. A LETTER Concerning the Subject and the Author SIR I Have now perused and returned the Manuscript you sent me it had contracted many and great Errours in the Transcription which I have corrected I was enabled to do it by a written Copy of the same Discourse which I have had divers years in my Hands The Subject is of great and weighty importance and the Acknowledgment of the Truths here asserted and made good will lay a Foundation for right conceptions in the Doctrines that concern the Decrees of God For the first Errour which is the ground of the rest is That things are good and just because God Wills them so to be and if that be granted we are disabled from using the arguments taken from natural Notions and the Attributes and Perfections of the Divine Nature against the Blackest and most Blasphemous Opinions that ever were entertained concerning Gods proceedings with the Sons of Men. If there be no settled Good and Evil Immutable and Independent on any Will or understanding then God may have made his reasonable Creatures on purpose to damn them for ever He may have absolutely decreed that they should sin that he may damn them justly He may most solemnly and earnestly prohibit Sin by his Laws and declare great displeasure against it and yet by his ineluctable Decrees Force men to all the sin that is committed in the World He may vehemently protest his unfeigned desire of their Life and Happiness and at the same time secretly resolve their Eternal Destruction He may make it his Glory and Pleasure to triumph eternally in the torments of poor Worms which himself hath by his unalterable and irresistible Will made miserable yea as the discourse instanceth he may after his Decrees concerning the Salvation of the Elect after the death of his Son for them and the mission of his Spirit to them and after all the promises he hath made to assure them thrust them also at last into the dreadful Regions of Death and Woe I say if there be no immutable respects in things but Just and Vnjust Honourable and Dishonourable Good and Cruel Faithful and Deceitful are respects made by meer arbitrarious will it will be in vain to dispute from Them against any such dismal Opinions yea it will be great folly to argue for the Simplicity of the Divine Nature against the vile conceits of the old Anthropomorphites and the Blasphemies of the present Muggletonians of God's having a Corporal shape Parts and Members if there be no necessary Independent Connexion Immensity Spirituality and Perfection but this being establish'd that there are immutable respects in things and that such and such are Perfections and their contrary Defects and imperfections hence it will follow that it is impossible the forementioned Doctrines can be true concerning God who cannot lye cannot deny himself viz. He being Absolute and Infinite Perfection cannot act any thing that is Evil or imperfect But all the expressions in Scripture that at first sight look towards such a sense must be interpreted by the general Analogy and course of them which declares his Infinite Immutable Excellencies and these Notions of himself which he hath written on the Souls of Men. So that the Subject of this little Discourse is of vast Moment and the truth asserted in it is I think confirmed with an irresistable Strength and force of Reasoning and not to be convinced by it will argue either great weakness of Vnderstanding in not perceiving consequences that are so close and plain or great obstinacy of Will in being shut up by prejudices and preconceiv'd Opinions against Light that is so clear and manifest The Author was a Person with whom I had the Honour and Happiness of a very particular acquaintance a man he was of a clear Mind a deep Judgment and searching Wit greatly learned in all the best sorts of Knowledge old and new a thoughtful and diligent Enquirer of a free Vnderstanding and vast Capacity join'd with singular Modesty and unusual Sweetness of Temper which made him the Darling of all that knew him He was a Person of great Piety and Generosity a hearty Lover of God and Men An excellent Preacher a wise Governour a profound Philosopher a quick forcible and close Reasoner and above all a true and exemplary Christian. In short he was one who had all the Qualifications of a Primitive Bishop and of an extraordinary Man-This I say not out of kindness to my Friend but out of Justice to a Person of whom no Commendation can be extravagant He was bred in Cambridge and Fellow of Christ's Colledge where he lived in great Esteem and Reputation for his eminent Learning and Vertues he was one of the first that overcame the prejudices of the Education of the late unhappy Times in that Vniversity and was very Instrumental to enlarge others He had too great a Soul for the trifles of that Age and saw early the nakedness of Phrases and Phancyes He out-grew the pretended Orthodoxy of those days and addicted himself to the Primitive Learning and Theology in which he even then became a great Master After the return of the Government the excellent Bishop Taylor foreseeing the vacancy in the Deanery of Connor sent to Cambridge for some Learned and Ingenious Man who might be fit for that Dignity The motion was made to Dr. Rust which corresponding with the great Inclination he had to be conversant with that incomparable Person He gladly accepted of it and hastn'd into Ireland where he landed at Dublin about August 1661. He was received with much Respect and Kindness by that great and good Bishop who knew how to value such Jewels and preferr'd to the Deanery as soon as it was void which was shortly after He continued in that Preferment during the Bishops Life always dearly lov'd and even admir'd by him At his Death that sad stroke to all the Lovers of Religion and Learning he was chosen for the last solemn Office to his deceased Father and Friend and he preach't such a Funeral Sermon as became that extraordinary Person and himself It hath been since published and I suppose you may have seen it upon the lamented Death of Bishop Taylor which hapned August 13 th 1677. The Bishopricks were divided Dr. Boyle
is far more acceptable to God who delights not in the exercises of meer Nature Psal. 147. 10. but is well pleased with the expressions of Grace in those that fear him So that a sincere and lowly-minded Christian that talks of no immediate incomes or communications and perhaps durst not out of reverence trust to his own present conceptions in a work so solemn but useth the help of some pious form of words sutable to his defires and wants who is duly sensible of his sins and the necessity of overcoming them and is truly and earnestly desirous of the Divine aids in order to it such a one as this Prays by the Spirit and will be assisted by it while the other doth all by meer Nature and Imitation and shall not have those spiritual aids which he never heartily desires nor intends to use This I think I may truly and safely say But for the Controversie between Forms and Conceived Prayers which of them is absolutely best I determine nothing of it here And indeed I suppose that in their own nature they are alike indifferent and are more or less accepted as they partake more or less of the Spirit of Prayer viz. of Faith Humility and holy desire of the good things we pray for and a man may have these that prays by a Form and he may want them that takes the other way and thinks himself in a dispensation much above it So that my business is not to set up one of these ways of Devotion against the other but to shew that the heights and vehemencies of many warm people in their unpremeditated Prayers have nothing in them supernatural or Divine and consequently of themselves they are no marks of Godliness which I hope no one thinks I speak to discredit those pious ardours that are felt by really devout Souls when a vigorous sense of God and Divine things doth even sometimes transport them Far be it from me to design any thing so impious my aim is only to note that there are complexional heats raised many times by fancy and self-admiration that look like these in persons who really have little of God in them and we should take care that we are not deceived by them Thus far also those may go that shall not enter I add III. A man may endeavour somewhat and strive in some degree and yet his work may miscarry and himself with it 1. There is no doubt but that an evil man may be convinced of his sin and vileness and that even to anguish and torment The Gentiles saith the Apostle Rom. 2. 14. which have not the Law shew the works of the Law written in their Hearts their thoughts in the mean time accusing or excusing one another Conscience often stings and disquiets the vilest sinners and sometimes extorts from them lamentable confessions of their sins and earnest declamations against them They may weep bitterly at their remembrance and be under great heaviness and dejection upon their occasion They may speak vehemently against sin themselves and love to have others to handle it severely All this bad men may do upon the score of natural fear and self love and the apprehension of a fature judgment And now such convictions will naturally beget some endeavours A convinced understanding will have some influence upon the will and affections The mind in the unregenerate may lust against the Flesh as that doth against it So that 2. such a meer animal man may promise and purpose and endeavour in some pretty considerable measure but then he goes not on with full Resolution but wavers and stops and turns about again and lets the law of the members that of death and sin to prevail over him His endeavour is remiss and consequently ineffectual it makes no conquests and will not signifie He sins on though with some regret and his very unwillingness to sin while he commits it is so far from lessening that it aggravates his fault It argues that he sins against conscience and conviction and that sin is strong and reigns 'T is true indeed St. Paul Rom. 7. makes such a description seemingly of himself as one might think concluded him under this state he saith vers 8. That sin wrought in him all manner of concupiscence vers 9. That sin revived and he died vers 14. That he was carnal and again sold under sin vers 20. That sin dwelt in him and wrought that which he would not vers 23. That the Law of his Members led him into captivity to the law of Sin and vers 25. That he obeyed the law of sin If this be so and St. Paul a regenerate man was in this state it will follow that seeking and feeble endeavour that overcometh no difficulty may yet procure an entrance and he that is come hitherto viz. to endeavour is safe enough though he do not conquer This objection presseth not only against this head but against my whole Discourse and the Text it self Therefore to answer it I say That the St. Paul here is not to be understood of himself He describes the state of a convinced but unregenerate man though he speaks in the first person a Figure that was ordinary with this Apostle and frequent enough in common speech Thus we say I am thus and thus and did so and so when we are describing a state or actions in which perhaps we in person are not concerned In this sense the best Expositors understand these expressions and those excellent Divines of our own Bishop Taylor and Dr. Hammond and others have noted to us That this description is directly contrary to all the Characters of a regenerate man given elsewhere by this and the other Apostles As he is said to be dead to sin Rom. 6. 11. Free from sin and the servant of Righteousness Rom. 6. 18. That he walks not after the Flesh but after the Spirit Rom. 8. 1. That the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made him free from the Law of sin and death Rom. 8. 2. That he overcometh the world Joh. 5. 4. He sinneth not 1 Joh. 3. 6. He hath crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts Gal. 5. 24. Which Characters of a truly regenerate person if they be compared with those above-cited out of Rom. 7. it will appear that they are as contrary as 't is possible to speak and by this 't is evident that they describe the two contrary states For can the regenerate be full of all manner of concupiscence and at the same time be crucified to the Flesh and its affections and lusts one in whom sin revives while he dies and yet one that is dead to sin carnal and yet not walking after the flesh but after the Spirit sold under sin and yet free from sin Having sin dwelling in him and a captive to sin and obeying the Law of sin and yet free from the law of sin and death how can these things consist To tell us 'T is so and
upon the arbitrarious resolves of any Being whatsoever If any should affirm that the terms of Common Notions have an eternal and indispensible relation unto one another and deny it of other truths he exceedingly betrayes his folly and incogitancy for these common Notions and principles are foundations and radical truths upon which are built all the deductions of reason and Discourse and with which so far as they have any truth in them they are inseparably united All these consequences are plain and undeniable and therefore I shall travel no further in the confirmation of them Against this Discourse will be objected that it destroys God's Independency and Self-sufficiency for if there be truth antecedently to the Divine Understanding the Divine Understanding will be a meer passive principle acted and inlightned by something without it self as the Eyes by the Sun and lesser objects which the Sun irradiates And if there be mutual congruities and dependencies of things in a moral sense and so that such and such means have a natural and intrinsecal tendency or repugnance to such and such ends then will God be determined in his actions from something without himself which is to take away his independency and Self-sufficiency The pardoning of Sin to repenting Sinners seems to be a thing very suitable to infinite Goodness and Mercy if there be any suitableness or agreement in things antecedently to Gods Will therefore in this case will God be moved from abroad and as it were Determined to an act of Grace This will also undermine and shake many principles and opinions which are look'd upon as Fundamentals and necessary to be believed It will unlink and break that chain and method of Gods Decrees which is generally believed amongst us God's great plot and design from all eternity as it is usually held forth was to advance his Mercy and Justice in the Salvation of some and Damnation of others We shall only speak of that part of Gods design the advancement of his Justice in the Damnation of the greatest part of mankind as being most pertinent for the improving of the strength of the objection against our former Discourse That I may do this He decrees to create man and being created decrees that man should sin and because as some say man is a meer passive principle not able no not in the presence of objects to reduce himself into action Or because in the moment of his creation as others he was impowered with an indifferency to stand or fall Therefore lest there should be a frustration of God's great design he decrees in the next place infallibly to determine the Will of man unto Sin that having sinned he might accomplish his Damnation and what he had first from all eternity in his intentions the advancement of his Justice Now if there be such an intrinsecal relation of things as our former Discourse pretends unto this design of God will be wholly frustrated For it may seem clear to every mans understanding that it is not for the Honour and Advancement of Justice to determine the will of man to sin and then to punish him for that Sin unto which he was so determined Whereas if God's Will as such be the only Rule principle of actions this will be an accommodate means if God so please to have it unto his design The Sum is We have seemed in our former discourse to bind and tye up God who is an absolute and independent Being to the petty formalities of Good and Evil to fetter and imprison freedom and liberty it self in the fatal and immutable chains and respects of things I answer This objection concerns partly the understanding of God and partly his Will As for the divine understanding the Case is thus There are certain Beings or natures of things which are Logically possible it implyes no contradiction that they should be although it were supposed there were no power that could bring them into being which natures or things supposing they were in being would have mutual relations of agreement or opposition unto one another which would be no more distinguished from the things themselves than Relations are from that which founds them Now the Divine Understanding is a representation or Comprehension of all those natures or beings thus logically and in respect of God absolutely possible and consequently it must needs be also a comprehension of all these Sympathies and Antipathies either in a natural or a moral Way which they have one unto another for they as I said do necessarily and immediately flow from the things themselves as relations do posito fundamento termino Now the Divine understanding doth not at all depend upon these natures or relations though they be its objects for the nature of an object doth not consist in being motivum facultatis as it is usually with us whose apprehensions are awakened by their presence but its whole nature is sufficiently comprehended in this that it is terminativum Facultatis and this precisely doth not speak any dependency of the faculty upon it especially in the divine understanding where this objective terminative presence flows from the faecundity of the Divine nature for the things themselves are so far from having any being antecedently to the Divine understanding that had not it been their exemplary pattern and Idea they had never been created and being created they would lye in darkness I speak of things that have not in them a principle of understanding not conscious of their own natures and that beauteous harmony they have among themselves were they not irradiated by the Divine understanding which is as it were an universal Sun that discovers and displayes the natures and respects of things and does as it were suck them up into its beames To the second part of the Objection the strength whereof is that to tye up God in his actions to the reason of things destroys his Liberty Absoluteness and Independency I answer it is no imperfection for God to be determined to Good It is no bondage slavery or contraction to be bound up to the eternal Laws of Right and Justice it is the greatest impotency and weakness in the world to have a power to evil and there is nothing so diametrically opposite to the very being and nature of God Stat pro ratione voluntas unless it be as a redargution and check to impudent and daring inquirers is an account no where justifiable The more any Being partakes of reason and understanding the worse is the imputation of acting arbitrariously pro imperio We can pardon it in Women and children as those from whom we do not expect that they should act upon any higher principle but for a man of reason and understanding that hath the Laws of goodness and rectitude which are as the Laws of the Medes and Persians that cannot be altered engraven upon his mind for Him to cast off these golden reins and to set up arbitrarious Will for his Rule and
of the generality of Religious men that never do so mtch And if all this be short what will be available who then shall be saved To which I Answer That we are not to make the measures of Religion and Happiness our selves but to take those that Christ Jesus hath made for us And he hath told us That except our Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees we shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 5. 20. Now the Scribes and Pharisees did things in the way of Religion that that were equal to all the particulars I have mentioned yea they went beyond many of our glorious Professors who yet think themselves in an high form of Godliness They believed their Religion firmly and Prayed frequently and fervently and Fasted severely They were exact and exceeding strict in the observation of their Sabbaths and hated scandalous and gross sins and were very punctual in all the duties of outward Worship and in many things supererrogated and went beyond what was commanded Such zealous people were They and They separated from the conversations and customs of other Jews upon the account of their supposed greater Holiness and Purity These were heights to which the Pharisees arrived and a good Christian must exceed all this And he that lives in a sober course of Piety and Vertue of self Government and humble submission to God of obedience to his Superiours and charity to his Neighbours He doth really exceed it and shall enter when the other shall be shut out So that when our Saviour saith that the Pharisaick Righteousness must be exceeded the meaning is not That a greater degree of every thing the Pharisees did is necessary but we must do that which in the nature and kind of it is better and more acceptable to God viz. That whereas they placed their Religion in strict Fastings an nice observations of Festivals in lowd and earnest Prayers and zeal to get Proselytes we should place ours in sincere subjections of our wills to the will of God in imitation of the life of Christ and obedience of his Laws in amending the faults of our natures and lives in subduing our Passions and casting out the habits of evil These are much beyond the Religion of the Phanatick Pharisee not in shew and pomp but in real worth and divine esteem So that upon the whole we have no reason to be discouraged because They that do so much are cast out since though we find not those heats and specious things in our selves which we observe in them yet if we are more meek and modest and patient and charitable and humble and just our case is better and we have the Power of Godliness when theirs is but the Form And we whom They accounted Aliens and Enemies shall enter while they the presumed friends and domesticks shall be shut out But 2. I expect it should be again objected against this severity of Discourse That our Saviour saith Mat. 11. 20. That his yoke is easie and his burden is light which place seems to cross all that hath been said about the Difficulties of Religion And 't is true it hath such an appearance but 't is no more For the words look as cross to the expressions of the same Divine Author concerning the straightness of the Gate and narrowness of the Way as to any thing I have delivered from those infallible sayings Therefore to remove the semblance of contrariety which the objected Text seems to have to those others and to my Discourse we may observe That when our Saviour saith that his yoke is easie the word we read is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth very good excellent gracious and the meaning I suppose is That his Precepts had a native beauty and goodness in them That they are congruous and sutable to our reasonable Natures and apt instruments to make us happy In which sense this expression hath no antipathy to the Text or to any thing I have said And whereas 't is added My Burden is light I think by this we are to understand That his Commands are not of that burdensome nature that the Ceremonies of the Jewish Laws were Those were very cumbersome and had nothing in their nature to make them pleasant and agreeable whereas his Religion had no expensive troublesome Rites appendant to it nor did it require any thing but our observation of those Laws which eternal Reason obligeth us to and which of our selves we should choose to live under were we freed from the intanglements of the World and interests of Flesh. So that neither doth this Objection signifie any thing against the scope of my Discourse AND now I descend to the Improvement of what I have said and the things I have to add will be comprehended under these two Generals 1. Inferences and 2. plain Advice in order to practise I begin with the Inferences and Corollaries that arise from the whole Discourse And 1. We may collect What is the state of Nature and What the state of Grace We have seen that 't is the great business of Religion to overcome evil Inclinations and the prevailing influence of sense and passion and evil customs and example and worldly affections And therefore the state of Nature consists in the power and prevalency of These This is that the Scripture calls the Old man Eph. 4.22 The Image of the earthy 1 Cor. 15. Flesh Gal. 5. 17. Death Rom. 7.24 Darkness Joh. 3. 19. and old leven 1 Cor 5. 7. On the contrary The state of Grace is a state of sincere striving against them which if it keeps on ends in Victory And this is call'd Conversion Acts 3. 19. and Renovation while 't is in its first motions And the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1. 4. the Image of the Heavenly 1 Cor. 15. 20. The Spirit Gal. 5. 16. Light Ephes. 5. 8. and Life 1 Joh. 3. 14. when 't is arriv'd to more compleatness and perfection For our fuller understanding this we may consider That Grace is taken 1. for Divine favour 2. for Christian Vertue As it signifies Divine favour so it is used 1. For those helps and aids God affords us viz. the Gospel Joh. 1. 17. and the influences of his Spirit 1 Cor. 12. 9. In this sense we are deliver'd from the state of Nature by Baptism viz. We are intituled to divine helps which is a kind of regeneration for we are born in a condition of importence and weakness and destitution of spiritual assistances This is the world of meer nature But then in Baptism we are brought into the world of the Spirit that is are put under its influences and are assured of its aids and so are morally born again Not that this Regeneration alone will save us without our endeavours it imports only an external relation and right to priviledges and by these we may be powerfully assisted in our striving if we use them But then 2. Grace as it signifies divine favour
the other hand we think our selves well and do not always attempt forwards our state is bad and our sins will be imputed Be our pretences what they will our Faith is not sincere and will not stead us When we get to a certain pitch in Religion and make that our state 't is an argument that our Religion was meerly Animal and but a mode of complexion self-love and natural fear When we overcome some sins and are willing to spare and cherish others 't is a sign that we are not sincere in our attempts upon any and that what we have done was not performed upon good and divine motives Sincerty is discovered by growth and this is the surest mark that I know of Tryal So that we have no reason to presume though as we think we have gone a great way if we go not on Nor on the other side have we any to dispair though our present attainments are but small if we are proceeding The buds and tenderest blossoms of Divine Grace are acceptable to God when the fairest leaves of the meer Animal Religion are nothing in his esteem This is a great advantage we have from the Gospel that imperfection will be accepted where there is sincerity whereas according to the measures of exact and rigorous Justice no man could be made happy in the high degree of glory but he that was perfect and whose victories were absolute VII It may be collected from our Discourse Wherein the Power of Godliness consists viz. In a progress towards perfection and an intire victory over all the evils of our Natures The Forms of Godliness are not only in the ceremonies of Worship and external actions of feigned Piety But all the fine things of the Animal Religion are of this kind and they are the worst sort By the grosser Forms men hardly deceive others by these they effectually gull themselves So that many that vehemently oppose Forms are the greatest Formalists Forms of Worship may well agree with the Power of Godliness whenas zeal against Forms may be a Form it self whatever makes shew of Religion and doth not make us better that 's a Form at least to us There are Spiritual Forms as well as those of the other sort and these are most deadly Poyson is worst in Aqua Vitae He that speaks his Prayers ex tempore with vehemence and lowdness if he strive not against his ill nature and self-will is as much a Formalist as he that tells his Prayers by his Beads and understands not one word he saith And those that run away from Forms in Churches meet more dangerous ones in Barns and private corners Orthodox Opinions devout Phrases set Looks melting Tones affected Sighs and vehement Raptures are often meer Forms of Godliness that proceed from the Animal Religion which it self is a Form likewise O that the observers of so many motes in their Brethrens eyes would learn to throw out the Beames of their own The Form of Godliness that pretends it self to be no more is not so hurtful But the Formes that call themselves the Power are deadly 'T is the Formality and Superstition of Separatists that keeps on the Separation They contend for phancies and arbitrary trifles We for order and obedience The people are abused by names and being frighted by the shadows of Superstition and Formality they run into the worst Formality and silliest Superstition in the World The Kingdom of Heaven consists not in meats and drinks Rom. 14. 17. neither in Circumcision nor Vncircumcision 1 Cor. 7. 19. not in zeal for little things nor in zeal against them both the one and the other are equally formal The power of Religion lies in using Divine aids heartily and constantly in order to the overcoming the Difficulties of our way This Godliness is not exercised so much in reforming others as our selves The chief design is to govern within and not to make Laws for the World without us This is that Wisdom that is from above which is pure and peaceable Jam. 3. 17. It makes no noise and bluster abroad but quietly minds its own business at home So that certainly the best men have not always had the greatest fame for Godliness as the wisest have very seldom been the most popular They are the effects of the Animal Religion that make the biggest fhew The voice of true Religion is heard in quiet it sounds not in the corners of the street The power of Godliness is seen in Justice Meekness Humility and Charity things that look not so splendidly as the Spiritual Forms And thus of the Inferences and Corollaries that may be drawn from my Discourse which though they cannot all be inferred from any of its minute and seperated parts yet they lie in the design and contexture of the whole I Come now to the Advice for Practice The way of Happiness is difficult but the difficulties may be overcome by striving A little will not do many seekers are shut out what remains then but that we perswade our selves to strive and that diligently with constant resolution and endeavour We were made for Happiness and Happiness all the World seeks Who will shew us any good Psal. 4. 6. is the voice of all the Creatures We have sought it long in emptiness and shadows and that search hath still ended in shame and disappointment Where true substantial Felicity is we know and the Way we know Joh. 14. 4. It is not hid from us in Clouds and thick Darkness or if it were 't were worth our pains to search after it It is not at so great a distance but it may be seen yea it may be brought so neer as to be felt Though the way is streight yet 't is certain or if it were otherwise who would not venture his pains upon the possibility of such an issue Many Difficulties are in it but our Encouragements and Assistances are infinite The love of God and the gift of his son the blood of Christ and his intercession the aids of the Spirit and the directions of the Gospel the Invitations and Promises the rare Precepts and incomparable Examples of those holy men that have gone before us These are mighty helpes and great motives to assist us in striving and to quicken us to it Let us then arise in the strength of Faith and in the encouragement of those aids and attempt with courage upon the Difficulties of our way Let us ingage our deepest Resolutions and most diligent endeavours Here is no need to deliberate the things are necessary the benefits unspeakable and the event will be glorious It is no Question I hope whether God or the Creature is to be first chosen whether Heaven or Hell be better and therefore there is no cause that we should stay and consider we cannot be rash here we cannot hurt our selves by a too sudden ingagement we have delayed too long already and every moment we sit still is one lost to our Duty and our Happiness Let us resolve