of the Apostles and from the general Sense of the Primitive Church 2. God is a Being as of infinite Purity and Holiness so also of infinite Goodness and Mercy and as he cannot possibly be reconciled to Men so long as they continue wicked so when ever they cease to be so and return again to the Obedience of Gods Commands and to the imitation of his Nature we cannot suppose but that he will again admit them to his Pardon and Favour Goodness and Mercy are our most natural Notions of God and the Discoveries which he hath made of himself by Revelation are most exactly agreeable thereto At the passing by of his Glory before Moses he proclaimed himself The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in Goodness and Truth forgiving Iniquities Transgressions and Sins Exod. 34. 6. By the Prophets he declares and swears by himself As I live saith the Lord I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live Ezek. 33. 1â— And above all by that stupendous Instance of Mercy the sending his only Son out of his Bosom to give himself a Sacrifice for the Sins of Men he has discovered such an earnest desire of our Reconciliation and Salvation as will be the everlasting subject of the Praises of Men and the Admiration of Angels If therefore God when he had made a Covenant of perfect Obedience and had not promised Pardon at all to great and presumptuous Sins did yet give Pardon and declare also to the Jews by his Prophets that he would do so And if when Men were yet Enemies to him he was so willing that not any should perish but all should come to Repentance yea so desirous to have all Men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the Truth that he not only spared not his own Son to deliver him up for us all but tells us even of Joy in Heaven at a Sinners accepting the gracious Terms of the Gospel and represents himself as a tender Father running to meet his returning Prodigal and falling up-his Neck and kissing him If this I say was the Compassion which God shewed to Man in his first sinful and miserable State 't is very reasonable to conclude and hope that his Mercy is not so entirely exhausted at once but that the same Pity may be yet further extended even to those also who after the knowledge of the Truth having been seduced by the Temptations of the World and the Devil to depart from God and to forsake their Duty shall again return unto him with Sincerity and Perseverance 3. The Design of the Gospel is to teach us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world And certainly whensoever it comes to have this effect upon a Man it gives him a Title to the blessed Hope and a well-grounded Assurance of Mercy at the glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. The Foundation of the Christian Dispensation upon which the whole Summ of Affairs is now established is Faith and Repentance and whensoever a Man so truly repents as to purifie himself effectually from every evil Work and by the Spirit mortifies the deeds of the Body he shall certainly live Our Saviour himself gives express Directions when a Man's Christian Brother trespasses against him to use all possible means to reclaim him both by private and publick Reproof before he rejects him utterly as a Heathen Man and a Publican He commands us though our Brother sins never so often against us yet if he turns again and repents to forgive him and has promised upon this Condition that we also shall in like manner find forgiveness at the Hands of God And in the Epistles sent by the Apostle St. John to the Bishops of the Seven Churches of Asia he exhorts them earnestly to remember from whence they were fallen and to repent and be zealous and do their first works and promises that if upon this Invitation any Man would hear his Voice and open the Door that is would be moved by these Exhortations to repent and amend he would come in to him and sup with him that is would again receive him to his Mercy and Favour 4. Accordingly the Writings of the Apostles though directed to Christians are yet full of earnest Exhortations to Repentance and their History contains many Instances of those who after great falls were thereby restored to their first state St Peter exhorts Simon Magus who thought the Gift of God could be bought with Money to repent of this his wickedness and gives him encouragement to hope that he should thereupon obtain forgiveness Acts 8. 22. St. John tells us That if any Man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous and he is the Propitiation for our Sins 1 John 2. 2. St. James tells us That if any one err from the Truth and one convert him he that converteth the Sinner from the Error of his way shall save a Soul from Death and shall hide a multitude of Sins Jam. 5. 20. St. Jude advises us to have compassion of some making a difference and to save others with fear pulling them out of the fire ver 23. St. Paul exhorts Timothy to instruct in meekness those that oppose themselves if God peradventure will give them Repentance to the acknowledging of the Truth and that they may recover themselves out of the Snare of the Devil who are taken Captive by him at his will 2 Tim. 2. 25. He advises the Galatians that if any Man be overtaken in a fault they which are spiritual should restore such a one in the Spirit of meekness considering themselves lest they also be tempted Gal. 6. 1. He threatens the Corinthians to excommunicate those who had sinned and had not repented of their uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they had committed 2 Cor. 12. 21. And even the Incestuous Person who had been guilty of such a Sin as was not so much as named among the Heathens themselves he delivers indeed to Satan for the destruction of the Flesh but it was that the Spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus 1 Cor. 5. 5. For when the punishment which was inflicted of many had been sufficient to reduce him to Repentance he writes to the Church to forgive him and comfort him lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow 2 Cor. 2. 7. 5. And this excepting as I have said one Sect of Men was the constant Doctrine and Practice of the Primitive Church To those who were yet Innocent they thought indeed no Promises too great and no Threatnings too severe whereby they might make them infinitely careful to preserve their Innocence But those who had already sinned they incouraged to repent and upon their Repentance admitted them again to the Peace of the Church and
and designed to be educated in the Christian Religion have by the general Practice of the Christian Church been baptized in their Infancy upon Promise made by Sureties that they should be instructed in the Faith and in the Obedience of the Gospel 2. And that Infants are rightly so admitted to this Ordinance besides the almost general consent and practice of the Christian Church I shall use but this One Argument to demonstrate Those who are fit to be admitted into the Kingdom of Christ in Heaven as our Saviour himself pronounces Infants to be Mar. 10. 14 and 15. are certainly qualified to be received as Members of his Church on Earth The Qualifications which fit Men for both are Repentance and Faith Now though Infants have not Repentance yet they have Innocence which is better than Repentance and which makes them that they need it not For if those who have been the most enormous sinners are yet by their Repentance qualified for Baptism how much more are Infants who have never sinned fitted for it by their Innocence And though Infants have not and cannot have actual Faith yet they are Sanctified by being born of Believing Parents they are already in some sense within the Limits of the Church and of the Covenant of Promise and are ready without Prejudice to be instructed in the Truth of the Gospel and in the Obedience thereof 3. Infants therefore are rightly admitted to Baptism and thereby to the Privileges appropriated by Christ to the Members of his Church But because Baptism is a Covenant wherein there is as well a Promise made on the part of the Person baptized of certain Duties to be performed as one on God's part of certain Graces and Privileges to be conferred and because Infants are not capable of making any Promise immediately by themselves it has therefore been the wisdom of the Church to appoint certain Sureties who should promise in the Name of the Child what it self should afterwards be obliged to perform i. e. who should undertake to see it instructed in the Nature and Obligation of those Duties which upon account of its being a Member of the Church of Christ it would at years of Discretion be bound to perform CHAP. VI. Of the Duty of God-Fathers and God-Mothers 1 THAT therefore which the Sureties undertake for a Child at its Baptism is briefly this That it shall be taught all the Articles of the Christian Faith with the reasonableness of their Belief that it shall be instructed in all the Duties of the Christian Life with the necessity of their Practice and that it shall be minded in convenient time to make a publick Declaration of its being hearty in this Belief and to enter into a renewed Engagement to continue constant in this Practice They promise that it shall be taught to Believe in one God the Father Almighty c. and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord c. and in the Holy Ghost the Holy Catholick Church c. They promise that it shall be instructed to renounce the Devil and all his Works the Pomps and Vanities of this wicked World and all the sinful Lusts of the Flesh i. e. that it shall be taught to live Soberly Righteously and Godly in this present World And they promise that it shall in fit season be brought to declare solemnly in the presence of God and of the whole Congregation its firmness in the Faith of these Articles of Religion and its Resolution to continue in the Obedience of these Commands 2. This is what the God-Fathers or God-Mothers promise for a Child at its Baptism This they promise solemnly in the presence of God and in the face of the Congregation And is it a small thing to undertake for the Soul of a Person to be admitted into the Church of Christ Is it a light thing to enter into such a Promise solemnly before God and his Church I doubt not but whoever considers the matter seriously will hardly find any Duty of greater Importance or any Promise of more solemn Obligation yet is there no Duty more generally and more shamefully neglected nor any Promise more lightly regarded 3. If a Man be made Guardian to the Son of a deceased Friend and be intrusted with the Care of his Education how justly do we expect that he should be careful to have him instructed in all that necessary Knowledge on which depends the management of his Life and Conversation that he should be zealous to have him further indued with all those useful Accomplishments which may become his Quality and recommend him in the World but above all that he should spare no pains to secure to him his Estate and to improve his Fortunes And do we not look upon that Man as the vilest and most unfaithful of Men who having such a charge committed unto him should wholly neglect all or any of these things Yet how much a greater Trust does he betray who having the Soul of a Child committed to his care by God and the Church neglects wholly to have it taught those necessary Truths in the Knowledge and Practice of which consists its everlasting Happiness who takes no care at all to secure to it that Portion which God hath designed and prepared for it in Heaven and who seeing the Soul of an Innocent Babe perhaps meerly for want of good Advice and Instruction beginning to be over-run with the Seeds of those Vices which in time must drown it in destruction and perdition does yet show no Care or Concern for it What greater Uncharitableness can a Man possibly be guilty of towards the Soul of his Brother or what greater Mockery of God 'T is True the Education of a Child is not wholly committed to the Care of those who are its Sureties in Baptism but first and principally to the Parents themselves But undoubtedly they are bound to be Assistants and if the Parents either thro' Wickedness neglect to instruct it or by Death are taken away from it the Sureties must look upon this Care as chiefly devolved upon Them and of which they must give a strict Account 4. In what Station soever God appoints any Man over the Soul of his Brother either to warn the wicked or to instruct the ignorant if he neglects his Duty and his Brother perish through his default the Blood of him that perisheth will be required at his hands Ezek 3â— 8. When I say unto the Wicked O Wicked Man thou shalt surely die if thou dost not speak to warn the Wicked from his ways that wicked Man shall die in his Iniquity but his Blood will I require at thine hand How much more when the Soul of an innocent Child is committed particularly to the care of any Person if thro' his neglect it be corrupted and perish shall its Blood be required at his hand With what Confusion and Amazement shall we at the day of Judgment hear those who have been committed to our Charge accuse us for having
that convincing Proof of his Resurrection from the Dead did undeniably demonstrate that he had himself been there and was able to give Men a satisfactory Account of the Nature of that State The great Duties of the Christian Religion are things not only most reasonable and most excellent in themselves but they are moreover taught and inculcated by one who has given the most credible and convincing Evidence that could possibly be desired of his being sent immediately from God The Miracles which our Saviour wrought were to his first Disciples who were Eye-witnesses of them a most perfect demonstration of the Truth of his Doctrine And the History of his Life Death and Resurrection delivered down to us upon the Testimony of those Disciples are to Us also a sufficient Evidence of the same Truth Their having conversed from the beginning with our Saviour himself their having heard and having seen with their Eyes their having looked upon and having handled with their Hands of the Word of Life as St. John expresses it 1 John 1. 1. made it impossible that they should be deceived themselves And their whole Life and Conversation their Sufferings and Deaths were invincible proofs against the Adversaries of Christianity that they had no design of imposing upon others They saw all the Prophecies of the Old Testament precisely fulfilled in the Life and Doctrine the Sufferings and Death of our Blessed Saviour they saw him confirm what he taught with such mighty works as his bitterest and most malicious Enemies could not but confess to be above the Power of Nature even while they were blaspheming that Holy Spirit which wrought them they saw the whole course of his Life to be such as to all unprejudiced beholders loudly proclaimed his Divine Commission they saw him so constantly despise all worldly greatness as once when the People would have made him a King even to work a Miracle to avoid that which was the only thing that was possible to be the aim and design of an Impostor In fine they saw him alive after his Passion by many infallible proofs conversing with him for forty days together and at last beholding him ascend visibly into Heaven These were such demonstrations of his being a Teacher sent from Heaven and consequently that his Doctrine was nothing less than an immediate and express Revelation of the Will of God that nothing but the extremest Malice and Obstinacy could withstand them And the same reason that these Disciples of our Saviour had to believe his Doctrine the same reason the rest of the World had to believe theirs They confirmed what they taught by Signs and Miracles they lived according to the Doctrine they Preached though manifestly contrary to all the Interests and Pleasures of this present World and which no Deceiver could ever do they died with all imaginable cheerfulness and joy of mind for the Testimony of their Doctrine and the Confirmation of their Religion So that unless God should work upon Men by such Methods as are wholly inconsistent with the Design of Religion and the Nature of Virtue and Vice which we are sure he will not do nothing can be done more than has already been done to convince Men of Religion and to perswade them to Happiness 'T is true the Resurrection of Christ is not such an ocular demonstration to after Generations as it was to those Men who then lived and saw him and conversed with him But since the matter of fact is as clearly proved to us as 't is possible for any matter of fact at that distance of time to be since the Evidence of this is as great and greater than of most of those things on which Men venture the whole of their Secular Affairs and on which they are willing to spend all their time and pains since I say the Case is thus he that will rather venture all that he can possibly injoy or suffer he that will run the hazard of losing Eternal Happiness and falling into Eternal Misery rather than believe the most credible and rational thing in the World meerly because he does not see it with his Eyes 't is plain that that Man does not dis-believe the thing because he thinks the Evidence of it not sufficiently strong but because 't is contrary to some particular Interest of his that it should be true and for that reason he might also have disbelieved it though he had seen it himself 17. This is in brief the Evidence which we have of the Necessity of Religion in general and of the Truth of the Christian Institution in particular And he that would so lay the Foundation of a Religious Life as to be able to Conquer all the Temptations of the World and persevere in Well-doing to the end must at least so far consider this evidence as before all things to work in his own Mind a Firm Settled and Well-grounded Belief of the great Truths of Religion To produce which Effect this Evidence is most abundantly sufficient For if in other Cases we assent to those things as certain and demonstrated which if our Faculties of Judging and Reasoning do not necessarily deceive us do upon the most impartial view appear clearly and plainly to be true there is the same Reason why in Moral and Religious Matters we should look upon those things likewise to be certain and demonstrated which upon the exactest and most deliberate Judgment that we are capable or making do appear to us to be as clearly and as certainly true as 't is certain that our Faculties do not necessarily and unavoidably deceive us in all our Judgments concerning the Nature of God concerning the proper Happiness of Man and concerning the difference of Good and Evil. And if in other Cases we always act without the least hesitation upon the Credit of good and sufficient Testimony and look upon that Man as foolish and ridiculous who sustains great Losses or le ts slip great Opportunities and Advantages in Business only by distrusting the most credible and well-attested things in the World 't is plain there is the same reason why we should do so also in Matters of Religion So that unless our Actions be determined by some other thing than by Reason and Judgment the Evidence which we have of the great Truths of Religion ought to have the same effect upon our Lives and Actions as if they were proved to us by any other sort of Evidence that could be desired 18. There are indeed some Men who being conscious to themselves that they act contrary to all the reasonable Evidence and Convictions of Religion are yet apt to imagine that if the great Truths of Religion were proved to them by some stronger Evidence they should by that means be wrought upon to act otherwise than they do But if the true reason why these Men act thus foolishly is not because the Doctrines of Religion are not sufficiently evidenced but because they themselves are hurried away by some unruly Passions
God and his Relation to Men t is plain all that these things naturally led Men to was only to keep up in themselves such a Holy Temper and Disposition of Mind as might discover it self in a constant endeavour of being Like unto God and of obeying his Laws And though this most simple and absolute Religion did through the corruption of Mens Wills and Affections quickly degenerate into the grossest Idolatry and most ridiculous Superstition tho' instead of real and substantial Virtue the generality of Men soon fell into the Observance of foolish and absurd Rites and the World was overspread with Ignorance and Vice yet the wisest and most considerate Men amongst the Heathens always understood that God did not look so much at the Outward Pomp and Ceremony of Religion as at the Inward Holiness and Purity of the heart that God valued not Sacrifices and Rich Offerings but only the Piety and Devotion of the Mind and that the only way to keep the Favour of God was to imitate his Nature and to obey his Commands 8. Nor is it less evident that the great and ultimate design of the Jewish Religion was to preserve and increase the Moral Virtue of Men. For though God did impose upon the Jews a burdensom System of Rites and Ordinances yet 't is plain he did it not that he took any delight in that External and Ceremonial Service but that by condescending in that manner to the infirmities and prejudices of a stiff-necked People he might keep up the Worship of the True God and restore that Holiness and Inward Religion of Mens Minds which the Light of Nature had not been sufficient to maintain This therefore God perpetually inculcates to them by his Prophets that he did not value their Ceremonious Performances without Holiness and Obedience to the Moral Law I spake not to your Fathers saith he nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the Land of Egypt concerning Burnt-Offerings and Sacrifices but this thing commanded I them saying Obey my Voice Jer. 7. 22. Nay so far was God from Instituting the Jewish Service upon any other design than the making that People more holy than the Heathen about them were that whensoever it failed of having that desired Effect he declares that he even abhorred all their Religious Exercises He that killeth an Ox is as if he slew a Man he that sacrificeth a Lamb as if he cut off a Dogs neck he that offereth an Oblation as if he offered Swines Blood and he that burneth Incense as if he blessed an Idol yea they have chosen their own ways and their Soul delighteth in their Abominations Isa. 65. 3. And though the later Jews grew generally so superstitious in the observance of their Ceremonies as thereby even to neglect the weightier matters of the Law yet those who considered things more throughly always maintain'd taught zealously that it was not slaying a multitude of Sacrifices or bringing splendid Offerings or even building and adorning the Temple of God with all the cost and beauty in the World that could truly denominate a Man religious that it was a great deceit for Men to think that God would be flattered and put off with Outward Ceremonious Services instead of Truth Righteousness and Holiness of Mind and that nothing could be more ridiculous than for Men to be very careful not to enter into the Temple which is built of Wood and Stone without first washing and cleansing their bodies and yet not be afraid to appear before God in Prayer with unclean and polluted Minds 9. Lastly That the only design of God's Instituting the Christian Religion was to make Men yet more Vertuous and more Holy is evident from the whole Tenour of the Gospel The design of our Saviour's Life and Preaching was to give Men a body of more Spiritual and Refined Laws to set them an Example of a more perfect and holy Life and to make a clearer Revelation of the Wrath of God against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of Men The Design of his Death and Passion was to make an Expiation for Sins that are past and to make a fuller discovery of the heinous nature of Sin which God would not pardon even upon true Repentance without so great and sufficient a Satisfaction And the Design of his sending the Holy Spirit was to purifie to himself a peculiar People by teaching and enabling Men that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts they should live soberly righteously and godly in this present World 10. Accordingly we find the Apostles every where in their Epistles plainly declaring and giving Men warning that since they had now received a most full Revelation of the Will of God and a most clear Discovery of the Rewards and Punishments of a future State if their Virtue did not become proportionable to their Knowledge and they purified not themselves from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God it would be even worse for them than if they had never known the way of Righteousness Be not deceived saith Saint Paul neither Fornicators nor Idolaters nor Adulterers nor Thieves nor Covetous nor Drunkards c. i. e. no unrighteous person shall inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6. 9. And again Let no man deceive you with vain words For because of these things cometh the Wrath of God upon the Children of disobedience Eph. 5. 6. And again Of which things I tell you before as I have also told you in times past that they who do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Gal. 5. 21. And all those Metaphorical Expressions such as the New Man the New Creature the New Birth Regeneration Conversion and the like by which the Apostles frequently represent Religion do manifestly tend to this that under the Gospel-dispensation nothing will stand a Man in any stead but an entire Reformation of Life and Manners and that all other things are nothing except only the keeping the Commandments of God 11. How miserably then do those Men abuse this great Salvation and turn the Grace of God into lasciviousness who imagine that because Christ has disannulled the Old Law which was appointed only for a time therefore we may be excused by our Christian Liberty from obeying the Eternal Commands of God that because Christ has established for us a Covenant of Grace therefore we need not be zealous to abound in good Works that because Christ has Redeemed us from the Punishment of Sin by the Sacrifice of himself therefore we need not be zealous to rescue our selves from under the Power and Dominion of it that because the Righteousness of Christ shall be available for us unto Justification therefore there is no necessity we should have any of our own In a word that because Christ has promised Salvation to those who believe the Gospel therefore there is no necessity we should be solicitous to
But then secondly To the keeping a man's Baptism pure and undefiled that which was thought further necessary was that from falling into an habitual practice of any of those smaller and less scandalous sins which carelesness and culpable ignorance would be very apt to betray a man into the Acts of he ought to indeavour to secure himself by great cautiousness and sincere enquiry after the knowledge of his Duty that from sins of omission from growing cool in Religion and remitting of his first Love he ought to indeavour to preserve himself by constant Meditation and hearty Prayer to God for the assistance of his holy Spirit that in order to grow in Grace he ought to be always humble and teachable penitent and devout meek in spirit and pure in mind and that to attain Perfection he ought to be always pressing forward towards the mark of the prize of the high calling with a perfect contempt of the World an entire Love of God and a boundless Charity to all Mankind 3. This was what the Primitive Christians understood by keeping their Baptism pure and undefiled viz. A regular and constant practice of all Holiness and Virtue from the time of their Baptism to their Death And to this they thought themselves most strongly obliged by the very Form of their Baptism They were immersed into the Water and they rise out of it again and this great Solemnity was never after to be repeated in token that as Christ once died for Sin and Rose again never to come under the power of Death any more so they were this once to have their Sins perfectly washt away by his Blood and were bound never to return under the Power of them any more Thus St. Paul himself most expresly and excellently argues Rom. p. 6. v. 9. Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more death hath no more dominion over him For in that he died he died unto Sin once but in that he liveth he liveth unto God Likewise reckon ye also your selves to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof The force of which Argument is plainly this When we descended into the Water and rise out of it again we made publick profession that as we hoped for pardon of our past sins through the Merits of the Death of Christ so we our selves would thenceforth die unto sin that is utterly cast it off and forsake it and for the future rise again to walk with Christ in newness and holiness of Life So that unless from the time of our thus putting off sin we continue constantly to live in all holiness and righteousness we have no just reason to expect Remission by virtue of the Death of Christ into which we were baptized For it being the express Condition of the Remission of sin that we continue no longer in it but live from thencefotth unto God the Blood of Christ it self which was shed to be a Propitiation for the Sins of the whole World can avail nothing for one that continues in Sin whom our Saviour himself has particularly excepted from the benefit of the Pardon purchased by his Death and Passion 4. Accordingly Persons after their Baptism were instructed That they must now utterly and for ever renounce all the sinful pleasures and desires of the World They were told that they now received remission of their past sins by vertue of the Death of Christ and therefore they must take great heed that they sinned no more They were told that they now washed their Garments in the Blood of the Lamb for a signal whereof they were accordingly cloathed in white and that they must take care to bring this unspotted Innocence with them before the Tribunal of Christ To which Custom our Saviour himself seems to allude Rev. 3. 4. Thou hast a few Names even in Sardis which have not defiled their Garments and they shall walk with me in white for they are worthy They were told that they were now baptized for the remission of all their past sins and if they kept not this Baptism pure and undefiled they could not be sure they should ever be able to obtain the like full and perfect Remission again They were told that they now started in that great Race which they were to run for the Crown of Immortality and if those who were found tardy in an earthly Race were beaten and disgraced of how much sorer punishment should they be thought worthy who negligently faultred in the race of Immortality They were told that they now entred into that Covenant of God the Seal whereof was Let every one that Names the Name of Christ depart from Iniquity and if they kept not this Seal their punishment would be among Apostates whose Worm shall not die and whose Fire shall not be quenched They were told that they had now escaped the Pollutions of the World through the Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and if after this they should be again intangled therein and be overcome and turn from the Holy Commandment delivered unto them their Punishment should be double to that of those who had never known the way of Righteousness Finally They were told that they were now enlightned and had tasted of the heavenly Gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and were sealed thereby unto the day of Redemption and if after this they should fall away it would be exceeding difficult to renew them to Repentance That they had now received the perfect knowledge of the Truth and if after this they sinned wilfully there would remain no more Sacrifice for sin but a certain fearful looking for of Judgment and fiery Indignation which should devour the Adversary In a word That they now received a certain Promise and Assurance of Eternal Life but if they would sell this blessing for the momentary gratifications of sense they might perhaps afterwards be rejected when they should desire to inherit it and find no place for Repentance though they might seek it carefully with Tears 5. These were the severe cautions with which the Primitive Church obliged baptized Persons upon their utmost Peril to keep themselves stedfast from the time of their Baptism in all holy and blameless Conversation Those who did continue to walk suitably to this Profession were said to be washed to be sanctified to be justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God And because in those purest times there were hardly any among Christians who did not walk suitably to their Profession it being the same thing then to be a Christian and to be a good Man therefore those Terms Elect Regenerate Sanctified born of God and the like which we now appropriate only to the best and most holy Men are not in Scripture
the Time before them and are so happy as not to have been yet seduced through the deceitfulness of Sin consider these things Let them consider what a Prize they have in their Hands and let them be zealous that no Man take their Crown Let them consider that if God and Angels rejoyce at the Conversion of an old and great Sinner much more must they be pleased to see a young Person amidst the alluring Glories and Pleasures of the World bravely resisting all its Temptations Let them consider that That time which a dying Sinner would if it were possible give Millions of Worlds to redeem is now in their Hands and they may make a glorious use of it Let them consider that they are yet cloathed with the white Robe of Innocence and if they be careful never to defile that Garment they may attain to a Portion among those few who shall walk with Christ in white for they are worthy Let them consider that if they zealously continue to maintain their Innocence and their good Works for a few Years they will soon be almost out of the danger of Temptation they will escape the bitter Pangs of Remorse and Repentance they will be wholly above that greatest of human Miseries the dread and horrour of Death and may not only without Fear but even with exceeding Joy expect the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ at the Judgment of the great Day and in the Glory of the World to come Lastly let them consider that if they hold fast the confidence and rejoycing of their Hope firm unto the end they shall be intitled to all those great and inconceivable Promises which our Saviour has made to those who shall overcome To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the Tree of Life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God Rev. 2. 7. He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second Death ver 11. He that overcometh the same shall be clothed in white Raiment and I will not blot his Name out of the Book of Life but I will confess his Name before my Father and before his Angels Rev. 3. 5. Him that overcometh will I make a Pillar in the Temple of my God and he shall go no more out and I will write upon him the Name of my God and the Name of the City of my God which is New Jerusalem ver 12. And To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my Throne even as I also overcame and am sit down with my Father in his Throne V. 21. CHAP. X. Of making Religion the principal Business of our Lives 1. THirdly Resolve to make Religion the main Scope of all your Actions and the principal Business of your Life One great reason why Religion which was the reigning Principle that wholly governed the Lives of the Primitive Christians has now so little influence upon the Actions of Men is because those Holy Men sought first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness and relied upon the Providence of God to have all other things added unto them whereas now Men make Religion not their first but their last care and while their whole Hearts and Affections are set upon the things of this present World they think themselves sufficiently Religious if they spend but some small Portions of their time in the outward and Ceremonious Acts of Religion But if Religion be the same now that it was in the times of the Primitive Christians if the Happiness proposed to us be the same for which they so painfully contended if our Obligations excepting perhaps some few particular Cases be the same with theirs this slight careless and superficial Religion will not serve our turn He that will obtain that Crown of Immortality which God has promised to those who Love and Obey him must be effectually and Substantially Religious in the main Course of his Life and he that will be so truly and sincerely Religious must make that Religion his principal and his first Care 2. By making Religion the Principal Care and Study of our Lives I do not mean that Men should withdraw themselves from their Business and Imployments in the World to spend their time anxiously in Reading Praying Meditating the like I hese things are not the whole nor the principal part of Religion and it is an Antient and Notorious Errour to think that Men can become more truly Religious by the continued Exercises of a private Retirement than by living Soberly Righteously and Godlily in the World The Life and Substance of Religion is to have our Minds habitually possessed with the profoundest Veneration of the Divine Majesty and with a desire of expressing at all proper opportunities our Devotion to him and our Zeal for his Honour To endeavour constantly in the whole Course of our Lives to promote the good and the happiness of all Men and to be Temperate in the use of all earthly Enjoyments as those who expect their Happiness not in this World but in the next This is the Essence of true Religion And These things a Man may make his principal nay even his whole Care without any way neglecting or in the least withdrawing himself from his Secular and Worldly Business There is no Imployment wherein a Man may not be always doing something for the honour of God for the good of Men or for the Improvement of the Virtues of his own Mind There is no Business wherein a Man may not make it his main Care to act always like a good Man and a Christian There is no state of Life wherein a Man may not keep a constant Eye upon a future State and so use the things of this present World as that the great and ultimate Scope of all his Actions may always respect that which is to come 3. And to make Religion thus far the principal Business of our Lives is absolutely and indispensably necessary No Man can overcome the Temptations of the Word No Man can be truly and effectually Religious unless he stedfastly proposes to himself one great Design of his Life and indeavours to Act always regularly upon that Design He must constantly keep an eye upon his main End and in every thing he does must be careful always to have a respect to that Every thing he undertakes must be either directly conducive to that end or at least not contrary to and inconsistent with it In a word he must be True to himself and to his own happiness and be resolute never to be tempted to do any thing which he knows he shall afterwards wish undone For otherwise if a Man acts only uncertainly according to the present Appearances of things and without any fixt design it must needs be that every violent temptation will either surprize or overpower him and his Religion will be as inconstant as his Resolutions His Life will be at best no other than a continued Circle of sinning and repenting and his End will be in
Man's Condition in Opposition to that of the rich Man without taking any notice at all of their Behaviour one to another Though therefore it may justly be supposed that our Saviour designed to hint to us that the poor Man did not meet with that Comfort and Relief which might reasonably be expected in a Place where there was such plenty and abundance of all things and that this did mightily increase the rich Man's Condemnation yet this is not the thing that is now laid to his Charge and therefore is not the main Design of the Parable Parables are certain familiar ways of representing things to the Capacity of the Vulgar by easie and continued Similitudes and the close of the Similitude always shows the principal Scope of the Parable as is evident in most of our Saviour's Discourses to the Jews Had our Saviour therefore in this Parable chiefly designed to shew the evil of Uncharitableness and the Condemnation that attends uncharitable Men he would when he had represented the rich Man crying out to Abraham to have Mercy upon him and begging that he would send Lazarus that he might dip the tip of his Finger in Water and cool his Tongue he would here I say have introduced the Patriarch charging him with his Uncharitableness as the cause of his being cast into that place of torment It would have been told him that since when he lived in Ease and Plenty and in the abundant enjoyment of all the good things of this Life he had had no regard to the then miserable Estate of this poor Man he had no reason to expect now that the Scale was turned and himself fallen into a state of Misery that the poor Man should leave that place of Happiness which is figured to us by Abraham's Bosom to come and quench the violence of the Flame that tormented him He would have been told that 't was but just that since he had shewed no Mercy none should be shewn to him and that he should receive no Relief from the poor Man after Death to whom he had given none when he was alive But instead of all this we find only that short Reply Son remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things therefore now thou art tormented 12. It remains therefore that the reason for which this rich Man is represented as condemned to that place of torment is because he had in his life time received his Portion of good things that is not because he had received the Blessings of this World but because he had received and used them as his Portion and his Happiness He had a large and plentiful Estate and he spent it in Jollity and Splendour He was clothed in Purple and fine Linnen and he fared sumptuously every day He denied himself nothing that tended to the Ease and Pleasure of his own Life or that could make him look splendid in the Eyes of others Hereupon he accounted himself a happy Man and blessed himself in the multitude of his Riches He look'd on them not as Talents committed to him by God to be employed for the doing good in his Generation but as his own Portion that he might live in Ease and Plenty and that his Heart might chear him in the days of his Life His Treasure therefore was upon Earth and his Heart and Affections were there also He set up his Rest here and was so wholly taken up with the splendour and gaiety of this World that he had no time to think upon another till he found by woful Experience that he 〈◊〉 settled his Affections upon a wrong Object and chosen those things for his Portion and his Happiness which were not to be of equal duration with himself Thus the Design of this Parable seems plainly to be this to condemn a soft and easie a delicate and voluptuous Life And to show that for those who have a plentiful share of earthly Blessings to make it their main Design to live in Ease and Pleasure in Gaiety and Splendour with them to set their Hearts and Affections upon them to esteem them as their good things and to place their Happiness in them is inconsistent with that temper and disposition of Mind which the Christian Religion requires in those who expect their Portion in the Spiritual Happiness of the World to come And to this Sense we must understand those Sayings of our Saviour Luke 6. 25. Wo unto you that are full for ye shall hunger wo unto you that laugh now for ye shall mourn and weep And ver 24. Wo unto you that are rich for ye have received your Consolation that is ye have received those things which ye accounted your Portion and wherein ye placed your Happiness 13. In like manner the Parable of that other rich Man Luke 12. whose Ground brought forth plentifully and he thought within himself saying What shall I do because I have no room where to bestow my Fruits and he said This will I do I will pull down my Barns and build greater and there will I bestow all my Fruits and my Goods And I will say to my Soul Soul thou hast much Goods laid up for many Years take thine ease eat drink and be merry This Parable I say seems also plainly designed against the same softness and voluptuousness of Life Our Saviour does not describe this Man to be Covetous and that he would store up all his Goods to no use but that he would take the good of them himself he would eat drink and be merry 'T is the same word that we render elsewhere to fare sumptuously But God said unto him Thou Fool this night shall thy Soul be required of thee and 〈◊〉 whose shall those things be which thou hast provided His Case seems to be the very same with that of the rich Man Luke 16. The one resolved that in his Life time he would eat drink and be merry and in the midst of his Jollity his Soul was required of him The other was clothed in Purple and fine Linnen and fared sumptuously every day and when after Death he complained that he was in a place of torment he was by Abraham reminded that he had in his life time received his good things 14. Lastly the History of the young Man Mark 10. who came running and kneeled to our Saviour and asked him Good Master what shall I do that I may inherit eternal Life is an eminent Instance of the deceitfulness of the Love of the World He had kept all the Commandments from his youth and therefore one would think was well prepared to receive our Saviour's Doctrine Yet when he bad him Go thy way sell whatsoever thou hast and give to the Poor and thou shalt have Treasure in Heaven and come take up thy Cross and follow me 't is said he was sad at that saying and went away grieved for he had great possessions 'T is not said either that he was covetous on the one hand or prodigal on the
other much less that he spent his Substance in Revelling and Drunkenness But here was his Fault his Heart was set upon his great Possessions and he could not persuade himself to part with them though upon the prospect of an extraordinary Reward So unfit is a Mind deeply immersed in the Love of this present World for the reception of the Truth and Severity of the Gospel and so difficult for those who have a large share of the good things of this World not to be thus immersed in the Love of it 15. For this reason it is that great Riches and continual Prosperity in the World are all along through the New Testament described as a very dangerous and unsafe State Persecution has not a greater power to force Men violently from their Duty than Riches and great Prosperity have to supplant them insensibly and to intice them from it Riches and Prosperity do by degrees soften and debase Mens Minds they do as it were tie Men down and fasten their Affections to the things of this present World they sensualize Mens Thoughts and divert them from taking any pleasure in the Contemplation of Spiritual and Divine things in a word they ply Men so constantly with fresh Baits and Temptations and are so continually pressing them to satisfie their sensual Appetites that without a very great Measure of the Grace of God and an extraordinary degree of Temperance and Contempt of the World Man's Mind is not able to keep it self free from the Service of so enticing a Master 16. And this I take to be the meaning of those severe Sayings of our Saviour Matth. 19. 23. Verily I say unto you that a rich Man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven And again I say unto you It is easier for a Camel to go through the Eye of a Needle than for a rich Man to enter into the Kingdom of God At which when his Disciples taking his Words in too strict a Sense were astonished above measure he answered again and said unto them Mark 10 24. Children how hard is for them that trust in Riches to enter into the Kingdom of God! He does not say that 't is absolutely impossible for a rich Man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven But because 't is certain that they who put their trust in Riches never shall and because 't is exceeding hard for them that have Riches not to put their trust in them therefore he says How hardly shall they that have Riches enter into the Kingdom of God! Riches and constant Prosperity are so great a temptation that with Men i. e. humanly speaking it is not possible for one who enjoys these things to be a good Christian though with God i. e. with the Grace of God to which all things are possible this Temptation may not only be overcome but those Riches which are to most Men an occasion of falling may become the matter of a more extraordinary Virtue and the occasion of a Man's doing much more good in this World and obtaining a much greater degree of happiness in the next Our Saviour therefore does not say That a rich Man cannot possibly be saved or that any Man shall be miserable in the other World for no other reason than because he has been happy in this but only that Riches are exceeding apt to lull Men into that trust in and love of the World which is inconsistent with that disposition of Mind and Soul which the Christian Religion requires of those who expect their Portion in another Life 17. And hence are those so frequent and repeated Exhortations in the New Testament to mortifie our earthly Desires and to deny our selves not to love the World neither the things that are in the World 1 Joh. 2. 15. Not to lay up for our selves treasure upon Earth where Moth and Rust doth corrupt and where Thieves break through and steal but to lay up for our selves treasure in Heaven Matth. 6. 19. To set our affections on things above not on things on the Earth Coloss. 3. 2. And to take heed and beware of Covetousness for that a Man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth Luke 12. 15. To beware of Covetousness that is not of hoarding up Riches to no use as we generally understand the word but of setting our Hearts upon Riches and employing them to no other End than living merrily and splendidly in the World as is most evident from the Parable of the rich Man whose Ground brought forth plentifully following immediately in the next words 18. 'T is therefore a necessary Duty in those who believe the Gospel of Christ and profess themselves his Disciples if God calls them not to suffer and to part with all for his sake yet at least to wean themselves from the love of this present World and to get above the Desires of it They must be careful to use the good things of this Life so as not to corrupt and soften to sensualize and debase their Minds and to clog and unfit them for the Contemplation of Spiritual and Divine Things They must remember that they receive this Worlds Goods not that they may live in Ease and Softness in Delicacy and Voluptuousness with them but that they may thankfully employ them to the Glory of God and to the Good of Men In a word they must always be careful so to behave themselves with respect to all earthly Enjoyments as may become those who look upon the present Life as a state of Labour and Trial but expect their Happiness and their Reward in the future This is as I have said the true Measure of Christian Temperance and this Temper of Mind every one who will be the Disciple of Christ must resolve to attain 19. If this seem hard to any one let him consider that as a Mind sensualized and wedded to earthly things is here utterly unfit for a spiritual and heavenly Life so it must also hereafter be as utterly incapable of the heavenly Glory If a Man places his Happiness in the Contemplation of God and the Exercise of Virtue here he shall continue to enjoy it also hereafter because God and Virtue continue for ever But if he places his Happiness in the Pleasures of this World and in the Enjoyments of Sense when these things are at an end his Happiness must be at an end also Mens Minds are by degrees tinctured and transformed into the Nature of the things they are fixed upon and in such things as they delight to dwell upon in such things must be their Portion Hence Tully and after him some Christian Writers have thought that the Souls of worldly-minded Men shall carry with them into the other State such strong Affections and Desires after the things they delighted in here that were a sensual Person to be admitted even into the Seat of the Blessed yet should he find nothing there that could make him happy 20. But hower this be which
I shall not now nicely dispute certain it is that nothing is more reasonable than that those who place their Happiness in the Enjoyments of this Life should come short of the Glories of the next We all know how short and transitory the present Life is and the Scripture every where tells us that we are Strangers and Sojourners in the World we are now only in a state of Trial and travelling as it were through a strange Country to our proper Home Whilst we are at home in the Body we are absent from the Lord 2 Cor. 5. 6. And here we have no continuing City but we seek one to come Heb. 13. 14. Now therefore if Men will stop in the midst of their Journey and make their Inn their Home If they will place their Happiness in those things which God has given them only as Conveniences for their present state what can be more reasonable than that God should assign them their Portion in those things Man's Soul is Spiritual and Immortal and by the nobleness of its Nature exalted above the Vanities of this present Life and though by being immersed in Body it be necessitated to converse with sensible and corporeal things yet does it thirst after more pure and refined Objects it can look beyond this World to its native Country and knows that its proper Happiness is by imitating the Life of God to be made partaker of his Glory Now if Men notwithstanding all this will take up with sensual and earthly Enjoyments if they will clog the flight of the Soul and stake it down to these ignoble Objects if they will set their Hearts and Affections on these things which God has given them as matter for the exercise of their Virtue what can be more Just than that God should suffer them to satiate themselves with their beloved Pleasures and deny them those nobler ones which they so little esteemed 'T is certain the Blessings of this World are Talents committed to our Charge which God expects we should lay out to his Glory and the Benefit of the World and to whom he has committed many of them of him he will require the more He expects we should do what good we can with them which is called in Scripture giving out our Money to the Exchangers that when our Lord cometh he may receive his own with Usury Now if instead of this we enjoy these things wholly our selves and employ them only to the serving our own worldly Designs what can be more reasonable than that God should suffer them to be our Portion and Reward The Pharisees in our Saviour's time were notoriously covetous and worldly minded doing even their acts of Charity meerly for the praise of Men and our Saviour repeats it no less than thrice in the Sixth of St. Matthew that They had their Reward The rich Jews also made generally no other Use of their Riches than to live in Ease and Pleasure in Gaiety and Splendour and our Saviour tells them that they had received their Consolation 21. The Happiness of Heaven is a great and glorious Reward and they who will be accounted worthy to obtain that World and the Resurrection from the Dead must be content not to live a soft and easie a sensual and voluptuous Life but to labour diligently and to work out their own Salvation with fear and trembling Our Saviour compares the Kingdom of Heaven to a Pearl of great price which when a Merchant-man found he sold all that he had and bought it and whoever hath worthy Notions of the things that God hath prepared for them that love him can never think any thing hard to purchase so great a Treasure St. Paul compares the Reward of Virtue to a Crown for which they who run in a Race run all but one receiveth the Prize And if they who strive for the Mastery to obtain a corruptible Crown are temperate in all things that is are careful to prepare their Bodies beforehand for the Race that they may run not uncertainly but so that they may obtain how much more ought we to bring the Body into subjection and by Temperance prepare it for the Christian Warfare who are to strive for an incorruptible and never-fading Crown 22. The History of our Saviour is an Example as of a Life not morose and retired from the World so of a Life very far from being sensual and voluptuous He utterly despised all the Grandeur and Pleasures of the World and willingly endured the scorn and contempt of obstinate and malicious Men that he might establish the Worship and true Religion of God He went about doing good making that the whole Business of his Life and cheerfully submitting to undergo any hardship that he might instruct the Ignorant or relieve the Distressed And if we hope at last to be made partakers of his Glory we must resolve now in some measure to imitate his Life who has left us an Example that we should follow his steps The Lives of all the Saints of God who have gone before us are eminent Examples not of Ease and Softness but either of great Sufferings for the Cause of Religion or of great Zeal and Pains in it The Patriarchs who lived before our Saviour and saw the Promises only afar off confessed that they were Strangers and Pilgrims in the Earth and that their Hopes were fixed upon a better Country that is an Heavenly and all the Primitive Christians who first followed our Saviour and saw the Promises fulfilled did either through Persecutions become naked destitute and afflicted or by their boundless Charity and Contempt of the World did almost make themselves so And if we hope to have our Portion among these Servants of the most High in that general Assembly and Church of the First-born in that heavenly Jerusalem the City of the living God we must in some proportion conform our selves to the imitation of their Zeal their Labour and their Patience and not be wholly carried away with the coldness and indifferency of a careless and corrupted Age. They generally parted with all things for the sake of Christ and certainly we are at least bound not to fasten our Affections so strongly upon the things of this World as hardly to be able to deny our selves any thing Their Temperance their Abstinence and their Contempt of the World was almost incredible and excessive and assuredly we cannot with the same Hopes spend our whole Lives in nothing but Softness Gallantry and Pleasure In fine Their Charity was wonderful and boundless extending it self even to such Instances as we can hardly think credible and can we imagine that we are not obliged to do at least something and to take some Pains for the Glory of God and for the Good of Men 23. Lastly If these things seem hard and tend to intrench too much upon the Pleasures of Life consider the conclusion and final upshot of things Consider what Opinion we
shall have of things at the conclusion of our Lives when Death and Judgment approach and let us view things now in the same Light as we know certainly we shall be forced to do then We know we shall then lament the loss of every opportunity of doing good which we have omitted and shall grutch every minute of Folly and Vanity which might have been employ'd to the increase of the Portion of our future Happiness We know we shall then look upon all the past pleasures of Life as emptiness and nothing and be convinced that there is no Pleasure but in true Virtue and no Fruit in any thing but in having done much Good And if we do indeed know this what can be more miserably and more inexcusably foolish than not to make the same Judgment of things now as we know assuredly we shall do afterwards The reason why Men die full of Fears and Uncertainties full of dark Suspitions and confused Doubts is because they are conscious to themselves that they have lived carelesly and indifferently without having taken any Pains either for the Service of God or for the Good of Men and without having used any zealous Endeavours to overcome the present World or to obtain the future But if Men would consider things in time if they would pass true Judgments of things and act accordingly with Resolution and Constancy they might then know certainly their own State and might live with Comfort and die with Assurance CHAP. XII Of our Obligation to be particularly careful to avoid those Sins to which we are most in danger to be tempted 1. FIfthly Be particularly careful to resist and avoid those Sins to which either your Constitution Company or Employment make you most in danger to be tempted This is the great Trial of every Man's Sincerity and of his Growth in Virtue He that for the Love of God and the Hopes of Heaven can mortifie and deny his most darling Lusts can quell and keep under his most natural Passions can resist and constantly overcome those Temptations by which he is most in danger to be seduced into Sin such a one has an infallible Assurance of his own Sincerity and is very near to the Perfection of Virtue But if there be any one Instance wherein a Man habitually falls short of his Duty or indulges a Lust a Passion a sinful Desire 't is certain whatever other Virtues he may be indued with that he either acts upon wrong Principles and is not sincere or that his Resolutions are hitherto too weak and ineffectual to intitle him to the Comfort of Religion here or to the Assurance of Happiness hereafter 2. There is no Man whom either the Constitution of his Body or the Temper of his Mind the Nature of his Employment or the Humour of his Company does not make obnoxious to some particular sort of Temptations more than to any other And in this thing it is that those who have something of Sincerity and will not with others run into all excess of Riot do yet make shift to deceive and impose upon themselves They think they are indued with many good and virtuous Qualities they hate Profaneness and professed enormous Impiety they know themselves innocent of many great Sins which they see others continually commit But something to which they are particularly tempted they indulge themselves in and the fatal Mischief is that those Sins which they see others commit and to which themselves are not violently tempted seem most absurd and unreasonable and easie to be avoided but that to which they are themselves addicted they think to be either so small as not to be of any very evil Consequence or so difficult to be resisted as to be allowed for among the unavoidable Infirmities of Nature Thus to many who have little or no Dealings in the World the Sins of Fraud Injustice Deceit Over reaching and the like seem very heinous base and unreasonable while at the same time they allow themselves in habitual Intemperances and Impurities as either harmless Vices or almost insuperable Weaknesses On the other hand there is no less a Number of those who applaud themselves in their own Minds that they are not as other Men Intemperate Debauched Drunkards Revellers and the like while at the same time they look upon Fraud and Deceit Tricking and Over-reaching as the necessary Art and Mystery of Business 3. But this is a very great and a very fatal Cheat. No Man can have any true and solid Peace in himself no Man can have any just Confidence in his Addresses to God no Man can have any Title to the Promises and Comforts of Religion here much less to the Glory and Reward of it hereafter before his Obedience be if not Perfect yet at least Universal God will not share with any Impiety nor ever accept of any Man's Obedience so long as 't is mixed with the accursed thing If there be any Sin that we can hardly part with if there be any Lust that is like a right Hand or a right Eye this is the thing that God hath proposed to us to Conquer this is the good Fight which we must fight through Faith this is the Victory to which Heaven is proposed For this we must gather together all the Forces of Reason and Religion for this we must strengthen our selves by Prayer and Consideration In this Warfare we must resolve strongly persevere obstinately and though we be conquered yet resolve to overcome always remembring that this is the Stake for Life or Death Happiness or Misery Heaven or Hell 4. Here therefore let every Man consider with himself and let him well observe his own Temptations and his own Strength Let him consider not how many Sins he can easily avoid but by what Temptations he may most easily be seduced and let him make it his Business to guard himself there Let those who are young and not yet entred into the hurry and business of the World not value themselves upon their being innocent from the Sins of Fraud and Injustice of Covetousness and Extortion or the like for that perhaps they may be without any Pains and without overcoming any powerful Temptation but let them try themselves whether they be firm against the Temptations of Vanity and Lightness of Heat and Passion of Intemperance and Impurity and let them judge of themselves by their behaviour in these Instances wherein they are most obnoxious Let them consider that their peculiar Task is to overcome the wicked one 1 John 2. 13. to subdue the Flesh to the Spirit to conquer and get above those Pleasures which sensualize the Soul and inslave the Mind to the Body and thereby bring it under the Power of Death and Destruction And in fine to strive continually to cleanse themselves from all Impurity not only of Body but even of Mind and Spirit perfecting Holiness in the Fear of God Let them consider that they are by Baptism dedicated to the