and in Them the Image and Work of God to the vilest of Drudgeries When the Vnderstanding which is capable of the Knowledge of God and should be exercis'd to the right conceiving of all Virtues and the best Methods of bringing them forth into Action shall be fill'd with Impure Conceptions and wrought up to the Knowledge of all Wickedness and of the readiest ways of reducing it upon all occasions into practice When the Will which ought to be bent to the pleasing of God in an Universal Compliance with his Laws shall be forward in the desiring and prosecuting of Evil and shall rest satisfied in the accomplishment of it When the Memory which is so well fitted for God's Service shall be far from retaining the great Mercies he hath shewed to Men in general and to ourselves in particular in various Circumstances of our Lives When the excellent Things of God's Law are allow'd no room in it but on the contrary when itself is chiefly imploy'd in the remembring of those things which are light and vain in the preserving present to our Minds the readiest ways of bringing about ill Actions and in the keeping fresh those Injuries which by others have been done us whether through Imprudence Passion or Design that we may never upon Opportunities forget to revenge them When the Affections which should be engaged in an Holy Joy at the great things which God hath done for us in an Vnfeigned Love to Him for his being so loving and gracious unto us in a Delight in those Commandments which are so agreeable to the Nature and Souls of Men in an Ardent Longing for that Blessed State where we shall be wholly freed from Sin When these Affections I say shall be turned into Coldness towards God and the Things of Heaven into an hot and eager persuit after those things which minister only to Worldly Advantage or Sensual Pleasures into Ill Wishes towards others Envy at their Welfare Delight in their Troubles or Miscarriages And likewise when our Bodies which are Temples of the Holy Ghost shall be alienated to prophane Uses when our Members which are the Members of Christ shall be made to become the Members of Vnrighteousness our Eyes in beholding Vanity our Tongues in uttering Deceit or those things which Minister not Grace to the Hearers our Hands in doing that which is Evil our Feet in being swift in running to Mischief all of which were made for better Ends. When Men which were Created in the Similitude of God and should in their Actions also be like him shall through Disobedience have their Bodies and Souls brought under to such vile Offices is not the Great God made to serve in the Principal of his Handy-Works on Earth Certainly he is We know among Men there may be a suffering of Indignities in Effigie in somthing that shall represent the Man though his Person be absent or untouched and the Discredit shall redound to him in great measure as if he himself had in Person suffered And will it be otherwise with the Almighty God We are his Image and Likeness in respect of our Souls and both in our Souls and Bodies we bear the Image of his Son our Lord who was pleased to take upon him our whole Nature If therefore Disobedience shall throw such Dishonour on his Image and Workmanship in us although it reach not his Person to hurt that it yet makes him through his Works and his Image too as we are his Works and Image to serve Neither doth it Theophilus any more spare the Almighty in the other visible things of the World. The Sun and Moon and Stars in their Light and Influences The Earth and Sea and all the Creatures thereof in their several Capacities He made instrumental to the Life and Virtuous Actions of Men and through them to his own Praise and Glory And therefore since They as of themselves being Mute cannot Celebrate the Praises of their Creator Man's Mouth is to be theirs and to offer up Praise unto God in their stead Thus did the Royal Psalmist for them Praise the Lord ye Sun and Moon Praise him all the Stars of Light. Praise the Lord ye Heavens and ye Waters that be above the Heavens Praise the Lord from the Earth ye Deeps Fire and Hail Snow and Vapours Wind and Storm fulfilling his Word Mountains and all Hills Fruitful Trees and all Cedars Beasts and all Cattel Creeping things and Flying Fowl Psal 148. So likewise since these Visible Things of themselves are unable to do any Virtuous Deeds in relation unto Men our Hands are in some sort to become theirs through which they are to promote Actions of Justice of Kindness and of Mercy These are the Ends for which they were made and in them all they are to do Service unto God. But Theophilus our Disobedience to the Divine Law turns all these things another way and makes the Holy God in his Creation to be Instrumental unto Services which are quite contrary unto Himself When the Sun shall rise and make the Day only that those Sins may be acted which require Day-light in the Commission When it shall set and Night come on merely for the accomplishing of those Vices which need secresie chiefly and darkness When Malice and Ill Nature shall strengthen themselves by calling to their Aid whatever we possess rather than fall unactive to the ground When what should in Sobriety be imploy'd for the good of ourselves and in Charity and Friendship for the Benefit of others shall be abused to Intemperance Covetousness or Ambition is not God through the Works which he hath Created made to Serve Yea to Serve the worst of Beings his greatest Adversary in the worst of Services Theoph. Were it not that the Creation is by some Religious Men improved to right Ends we might not wonder if it should give Signs that it rather would be reduced to its first nothing than be thus abused to the Dishonour of its Maker and of itself Eubul This Slavery Theophilus the Creature is in a manner sensible of for the Apostle saith Rom. 8.22 The whole Creation Groaneth and travelleth in pain together until now and all upon the aceount that it is made Subject unto Vanity and brought under the Bondage of Corruption It is not willingly that it thus serveth the Prince of Darkness It groaneth and travelleth in pain Which expressions denote the State it is now in to be a State of great Misery and speak forth the greatest longing and the most earnest Expectation to be delivered from it into the glorious Liberty of the Sons of God Where as those Sons of God shall be freed from Sin and shall do Service pure and uncorrupted unto God so the rest of the Visible Creation which hath too much and too long been forc'd to minister unto Vain Ends and Ungodly Practices shall be asserted also into that Freedom where it never shall be imployed more but in the true Service of God whose Service is perfect
Freedom This I doubt not but those words the whole Creation groaneth do signifie not only Men but the rest of the Creatures also which have been for so long a time abused to Unrighteousness Theoph. If thus it be in respect of the Creatures whose Being as to a great part of them is of the more insensible sort we may be sure that He who is a Jealous God of his Honour is more neerly concern'd Eubul Yes Theophilus he is throughly Sensible how Vnworthily in the Creations Thraldom he hath been dealt with and therefore all these things must have the Pollution which hath been thrown upon them to be purged off The Heavens shall pass away with a great Noise and the Elements shall Melt with Fervent Heat and all the Works therein shall be Burnt up 2 Pet. 3.10 and so shall be purified from their Corruption and Stains For v. 12. it is said We look for a new Heaven according to his Promise and a New Earth wherein dwelleth Righteousness all which Expressions though by some they be made to signifie the Dissolution of the Jewish State and the Establishment of the Gospel of Christ in the World yet certainly they have relation to the Last Day the Day of Judgment also if not only unto That And the Fire is denoted as to destroy the Vain Works of Men on the Earth so likewise to purifie those parts of the Creation which have by Men been abused unto Sin and Vanity Theoph. Were the Foul Nature of Disobedience rightly discern'd surely Eubulus all Men would abhor it For could any one on this side Hell be willing to bring such Servitude on God such Thraldom on the Creation and thereby such unspeakable Deformity on Themselves Eubul Such Evils are there in Disobedience that when we think the worst of it we think not bad enough but we have as yet only in part seen it of such an Extensive Nature is this hateful Thing that it would spread itself beyond all Time and Place And so the Actors of it although somthing shorereach'd they be in their Deeds yet are not so in their Will and Desires Yea they may truly be said to affect a kind of Eternity in their Sins The Pleasures of Wickedness in which they make God to Serve as hath been said how sorry are they that they are of no greater a length And did they but know how to do it how forward would they be to stretch them out into an Infinite Duration and bind the Almighty all the way to minister to their Polluted Conversations If Conscience within doth check them full gladly would they remove it for ever out of their Breasts that it might disturb them no more And Him who in Heaven is the Lord of All they would either wholly Dethrone and Dispossess of all his Sovereignty or else would entrust him with it no farther than to Serve their Humours as they upon occasion should call for it Theoph. Pray give a particular Instance or two of what you now say Eubul Take Theophilus the Malicious Man first he cannot it may be do much against them whom he Hates but he hath a Will to punish them Eternally knew he but how And this methinks those severe Curses too much speak out when he Dreadfully upon any Displeasure bids God to Damn Them and as far as his Words and Wishes will do it gives them over unto the Devil to be taken Neither is it any better with the Ambitious Man. He would be always rising above others and the Great God must for ever administer to his Proud Wishes and Designs If he at any time be disappointed in his Hopes and Enterprises he inwardly rageth and is in effect sorry that the Power of the Highest is not so much at least in his Hand as that he may exalt himself above all other Men and continue there without any fear of ever being Lower thus far God must always Serve him and when he should be accustom'd for some time to the greatest Height on Earth we have reason to think he would next wish to be the Supream of Heaven too and to extort the whole Power from the Creator of the World. Some Men perhaps would think that what I have spoken borders too much upon Fancy but Theophilus in Reality it doth not And well for us it is That there is a God above who will not let go his Power That his Laws are fixt and that his Authority in them will never can never be overthrown Happy are we that Heaven will always be his Gift and Hell be never otherwise than in his Disposals Alas what should we do if we and all things else were in the power of some Men How miserable would their Malice and ill Nature make us to be on Earth Upon what light Offences should we be sent quick into Hell How would Heaven lie open to Pride and Ambition How all the Work of our Redemption be trodden under foot And those sacred Laws in so much Righteousness and Mercy given us by our Lord how turn'd into Confusion Nothing is so evil but might they have their Wills God's Power should serve for the accomplishing and perpetuating of it And not only his Holy Name and his Works but his Person and Glorious Attributes should be brought under and made Vassals to their wicked Imaginations and uncontroul'd Impiety Theoph. What could Disobedience do more if God were an Intruder in the World If he used his Power in an Oppressive way and if Man were least of all Creatures fitted for his Service Eubul Here it is Theophilus that Disobedience hath its Loathsomness For so far is the Almighty from being an Intruder that there was no God formed before him neither shall there be any after him nor is there any besides him He is the only Potentate King of Kings and Lord of Lords and so he usurps the Right of none affects no unjust Power The Heavens and the Earth were the Works of his Hands nor hath he ever made over his Right to any other None then can say that he intruded into the World and by Injustice holds the Dominion thereof Neither doth he Rule in an Oppressive way At the first â—â—nstrain'd by no necessity nor owing any thing to any one and needing the Services of none but prompted by his own Goodness alone He through his Power gave Being unto Men. When he had this done He honoured them with the Dominion over all Things in this Lower World but much more he honour'd them in making them such who could discern Him that Created them and could do him Service Indeed the meanest Creatures upon Earth however sensless in their Natures do yet serve God Even Snow and Hail Wind and Storm fulfil his Word but then they know not that they fulfil it and so their Obedience in respect of themselves is less worthy God may more truly be said to serve himself of them according to the Expression of the Prophet Jer. 34.10 than they be said properly
be when yet they have the greatest Arguments to convince them that they are May not God exceed their Understandings in things relating to Heaven as much as in things belonging unto Earth And if the things which are seen are in great measure in the Dark to them shall they contradict those things which are not seen meerly because they cannot equal them with their Thoughts Because Christ is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Anatomiz'd as it were Naked and open unto Men as Men are unto Him shall they therefore have no Faith in him But as I said before Although the Things we are to believe are high who can throughly know them yet the Law that bids us believe is Clear and Intelligible And it may very well deserve our Love because there are none of these Mysteries which we are to believe but what our Wellfare and Happiness are Founded in and what are instrumental to the Birth and Exercise of those excellent Virtues which the other Laws of our Lord do enjoyn Yea so far as they are Revealed unto us they are to be Rested in not Pryed into And we shall not think amiss if we persuade ourselves they shall hereafter be more fully manifested unto us as a Reward of the Obedience of our Understandings here You 'l excuse me Theophilus that I have been so long on this Answer though truly I could not well help it since the Objection or rather Objectors seem'd to require it Theoph. You shall have your pardon on one Condition that you will be guilty of the like fault in Answering the next Eubul It is very likely I may However I shall not be over Solicitous because I have my pardon before Hand But it begins to be late Every thing is bending Homewards and minds us of what we likewise are to do The next Evening will I hope allow us that Hour which this denies us DISCOURSE the Third The Contents THE Severities of the Christian Laws are not unreasonable neither do they reduce us to such straights as cannot be gone through without a great deal of uneasiness if at all The Design of our Lord is not to beat down our Natural Inclinations and Appetites but to rectifie them Our Dispositions if well managed not averse from a right Improvement The Laws of Christ do not dash the pleasure of Conversation by threatning idle Words with the Day of Judgment The Loving of Enemies while they persist to be injurious is in itself not unmeet but highly equitable in case the History of our Redemption be true Fasting and Abstinence not unreasonable nor the parting with Estates and Lives for the asserting of the Gospel From the Laws of Christ we have a fair way for the Pardon of all Sins What the Law of Faith require of us How much it is different from the Old Law. What the Law of Repentance is Too many make Faith and Repentance to stand in opposition to the other Laws of our Lord. How the Laws being done away which was Engraven on Stones is to be understood Repentance for Sin cannot without the greatest Absurdity be wrested to the further and more safe committing of Sin. The Examples of the Thief on the Cross and of the Labourers in the Vineyard at the Eleventh Hour consider'd None of the Divine Laws unsuitable to one another These Laws of themselves are grievous unto none As they have relation only to Civil Society and the welfare of Men in this World they do far surpass those of the most noted Lawgivers They by no means do favour the Opinion that Right of Possession is Founded in Grace And that it is Lawful to resist Sovereign Princes in the Maintenance of True Religion They make the Man truly beautiful within EVBVLVS AFter that store of Visitants in whose obliging Conversation your Afternoon I hear hath been spent I had thought Theophilus that your Evening Retirement would have been forgot if not wholly hindred and I began to be content that my Walk must to Night be lonely THEOPHILVS NO Eubulus I did not intend to leave you so you see I am at liberty and though I am much Delighted with the Company of Temperate and Ingenious Friends as these to Day were yet I could not forget when they were gone that Eubulus would be here I am I confess much taken with that pleasantness which ariseth from a number of good Friends together but I more enjoy myself with One alone if that One be like my Eubulus The Other smooth my Forehead into Smiles This I will say doth me good at Heart And therefore permit me without further Ceremony to put you in Mind of what will be so Grateful unto me Viz. Your vindicating of the Divine Laws against those who say That granting the Precepts of Christianity are very full and enjoyn'd to a greater Spirituality than in olden Time yet the Severities of them are unreasonable to Vs as we are Men reducing us to such Straights as cannot be gone through without a great deal of Vneasiness if at all And though there be you say none who will not commend a pure Air yet if it be so thin and pure as not to be breath'd in without much difficulty there is no Reason it should be over-delighted in and loved Eubul With Acknowledgments of your kind Expressions to me which I wish I could deserve but am very sensible I do not I would in reference to the Objection of these Men know what those Severities those Straights are which they mean as unreasonable so should we the more clearly answer them Theoph. I remember I heard these things particularly mentioned by them Viz. That the Laws of Christ beat down those Inclinations and Appetites which are Natural unto us That they dash the Pleasure of Conversation by threatning every word that is impertinent or awry with the dreadful Day of Judgment Matth. 12.36 Which instead of Chearfulness in a Mans self and Courtesie to his Friends may in Him excite an anxious Fearfulness and towards them a silent or morose Deportment That they require the Loving of Enemies even while they persist to be injurious which they say deprives us of that sense of Honour and Courage which as we are Men should belong to us and makes way also for new and greater Injuries to be done us That they enjoyn the Macerating the Body with Fasting and Abstinence which what is it but the making a Man cruel to his own Flesh Yea that they bind us to part with our Estates and Lives for the asserting the Gospel when merely some outward Compliance and a Denial of some few things only and this no otherwise than in shew for a time would preserve us Which is an hard saying and who say they can bear it Eubul Truly I think this is the whole they can object and with how little Reason they do it I shall I trust sufficiently shew As to the first viz. That the Laws of Christ beat down those Inclinations and Appetites which are Natural
own satisfaction also and shall they find fault with them in Religion And if the Holy Laws of Christ shall not only make us fit to live among Men by putting a Bridle on those Inclinations as to the outward Act but shall also render us well-pleasing in the sight of God by keeping up Chastity in the Heart and a Cleanness in the Soul shall any be so devoid of Reason as to urge this as an Argument against the Laws of Christ and not rather be willing to esteem it the Honour of these Laws and the great Credit of those who give Obedience to them This they may be sure of that the prohibiting some Inclinations even as to their most inward Motions however it may seem severe is yet in reality the facilitating of our Obedience as to the whole of it For how easie is it for him to abstain from Adultery who dares not lust The Laws would have been difficult indeed if they had forbidden the Effects and at the same time allow'd the Appetites Yea I might yet further say That there is in our Nature a Principle of Modesty and Shamefacedness which doth as much resist unclean and carnal Actings as our Inclinations may seem to promote them And he who keeps under his Appetite doth not offer so great a Violence to his Nature as he doth who by giving the Reins to his sensual Desires brings Shame and a Blush Disgrace before Men sits more uneasie upon the libidinous Actor than the restraining of his Appetite would have done This later would have been but his private pain if his pain for a time the other lasts the longer for being publick and strikes a greater torment into him by being so Yea though the unclean Person should escape Cognizance of Men yet his own Thoughts would upbraid him as having acted poorly and below the Excellence of a Man. I have Theophilus been as earnest and long upon this Subject as if these Men had been present with us and I wish they had been so if what we have said might have had any good effect upon them I am sure could we regulate their Wills it would be no difficult thing to convince their Understandings That the Laws of our Lord are in respect of Natural Inclinations and Appetites very reasonable yea truly excellent Theoph. Well it would be that if these Men will not by a right managing of their Appetites be Virtuous they were of that Rank of Creatures which by an uncontroul'd yielding to their Inclinations are not Vicious Eubul But let us proceed to another unreasonable thing which they object against the Christian Laws viz. That they dash the pleasure of Conversation by threatning every Word that is impertinent or awry with the dreadful day of Judgment Matt 12.36 which instead of Cheerfulness in a Mans self and Courtesie to his Friends may in Him excite an Anxious Fearfulness and towards Them a silent or Morose deportment It is Theophilus a very great mistake concerning idle Words to think that an innocent Cheerfulness and a kind and Courteous Converse is struck at by our Lord. No were there nothing else his Example might teach us to interpret him otherwise He came not as John the Baptist in a rough and severe manner But Eating and Drinking i. e. in an Amicable Friendly and Sociable way Having the Law of kindness in his Mouth and obliging Men unto him by his Verbal Expressions as well as doing them good by his outward Actions There are two Interpretations of our Lawgivers Speech concerning idle Words One is That by them all such Words are meant as are Un-profitable both to those that speak them and those whom they are spoken unto The other Interpretation is this That all Evil False and reviling Words are primarily meant The occasion of our Lords speaking them being from the Pharisees saying That he cast out Devils by Beelzebub the Prince of the Devils Hereupon we are told that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Idle Word is somtimes read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Evil Word And though the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should be the truer Reading yet still it would be but little different for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies Vain and Vain is in Scripture-meaning the same with False But Theophilus take whether of these Interpretations you will I cannot see how the pleasure of Conversation will thereby be beaten down He would deserve to be excluded from all Friendly Society who should censure innocent Freedom and cheerful Talk in the number of idle Words If in the midst of worldly cares and trouble they refresh and recreate the Speakers and Hearers how can they be said to be useless to both Nay if they Administer to the Vertues of Courteousness and Affability of Kindness and Friendship the account of them at the last day we may hope will be joyful And so the Anxious Fearfulness and the Silent or Morose Deportment which was talk'd of may be laid aside It is very fit that the Best Member which a Man hath should be under a Law and I readily yield that by Idle Words the Filthiness and Foolish Talking and Jestings that are not convenient and likewise all Malicious and Perverse Speaking are utterly forbidden But by the Prohibition of these and by the Tongues being brought under a Law Conversation is very much promoted which were there no Government over the Mouth would be shrewdly Wounded if not quite overthrown An Ingenious Person would choose the greatest Solitude rather than Company should he there find Tongues let loose to Idle Impertinencies or imploy'd in nothing but Obscenities or Scurrilous and Unsavory Reflections Neither will Conversation be lessen'd or rendred less pleasing by the intermixtion of matters that are more Serious and Profitable And these are reckoned by the most ingenious of all the Poets the best Enjoyments of Society Sermo oritur non de villis domibusque alienis Nec bene necne Lepos Saltet We talk not saith he of other Folks business and affairs nor yet enquire whether such an one Danceth well or no Sed quod magis ad nos pertinet nescire malum est agitamus but what more concerns us and which it would ill become us to be ignorant of That is our Discourse As whether Riches or Vertue make Men Happy Whether Honesty or Profit should be the ground of Friendship What is the Nature of Goodness and wherein it is that the chief Good consisteth Christianity well allows of such Discourse and affords a large Field for it And surely the Heavens or the Earth the effects of Providence at large or those things that more immediately relate to our own or Neighbours advantage may seem little obliged to us if they cannot engage us from idle or disingenuous Speeches Some Theophilus for the avoiding of Idle Words have addicted themselves in all Companies to the talk of Religion and somtimes not to the pleasure of all have been forward to declare their own particular Evidences and the secret
and in Mercy accepted by God. But the Scripture accounts of it as a thing not ordinary and as it were out of the usual course Let us except that one instance of the Thief on the Cross which is to be looked upon as a special and un-common Example and therefore it stands by itself in the whole Book of God And we shall find the Gospel to promise in the usual Current of it Eternal Rewards to that Obedience only which hath Perseverance joyned with it and which lasts unto not begins at the end of Life He that endureth to the end shall be saved and be thou faithful unto Death and I will give thee a Crown of Life Such considerations as these Theophilus for the true Conception of Faith and Repentance are requisite abroad where so many either do not understand them rightly or else are willing by false arguings to make them serve for quite other than Christian Ends. And to Vs they may be of use at least so far as to stir up our Grief that the favour of our Lord in the Pardoning of Sins should by any be abused to their greater Condemnation Theoph. They not only encline me to grieve for these miserable Men who are so much their own Enemies but do also give me a pleasure in conceiving these instances of Holy Writ mentioned by you more fully and to better advantage than before I did That knowledge being most of all others delightful to me and satisfactory which ariseth from the Laws of our Lord or which is instrumental to the better understanding and practising of them Eubul I am sure These Laws of Faith and Repentance are well worthy our Love as for the Excellence of their Effects so for the Sacredness of their Matter What an inward pleasure is it to conceive the Son of God leaving the Glory of Heaven to live upon Earth and become one among the Sons of Men How may it engage all the Powers of the Soul into a Divine Love while we contemplate him in in the Garden sweating as it were great drops of Blood and shedding afterwards the remainder thereof upon the Cross amidst bitter pains for our Sake This is indeed in itself matter of the sadest kind But in respect of Vs what Wonder and Joy may it not excite But then if we by Faith look upon our Lord as he is Ascended into Heaven to prepare Mansions for us and as he shall come again in the Clouds with great Glory that where He is there We may be also with what an Holy Splendour will our understandings be entertain'd Men are usually taken with great things State and Grandeur though such in appearance only draw the Eyes of the most if really such they be and do carry in them true Worth as here they eminently do they engage the Hearts also of the Wise and the Good. Truly our Faith from the Sweet and Admirable matter it is fraught with may well work by Love Love not only to God and Men but even to the Law likewise by which it is enjoyn'd Such Majesty as is included in our Faith is not I confess to be found in Repentance which consists chiefly in those Actions that are Humble and Lowly But how comely is it that an offending Soul should be humbled before an offended God who at such Submission and Sorrow condescends and accepts it with the greatest Love A Face which hath so Holy a Sadness in it and is wet with such Religious Tears cannot but appear amiable Yea even to the Person who thus repenteth there ariseth a secret Satisfaction in the midst of Sorrow and it is none of the least Chearings to him that he can grieve in earnest for his Sins against so gracious a Father And thus much Theophilus may suffice for the Consideration of the Laws themselves And if like Those who walking over pleasant Fields and flowery Meads as not content alone with Delights in the Way will look back and bring into one prospect what successively and by parts did so much please them we shall turn our Eyes back upon these Laws and behold them in the Bulk which singly were so excellent they will afford us a new Delight in the Review There is none of them that is unsuty and disagreeing to another They are not like that Face whose Features by themselves were beauteous but united were uncomely but they are such as increase each others Lustre and shew a Symmetry altogether Divine Theoph. It is so Eubulus When I consider the Laws which require Duties to God I am the more in love with those which enjoyn my Behaviour towards Men. And when I weigh those that relate to others and myself those towards God appear more advantageously to me and I presently am excited to put them into practice by reverencing loving and praising Him who hath given such Laws unto us Every particular Precept towards God towards Men towards myself enkindles my Affection towards the rest and they Altogether do highly set off and commend to my Love every Particular And this our Love to the Divine Law is not like our Love in many other cases which when we recollect ourselves and betake us to serious Thoughts goes less For the gaining Acceptance and esteem no need is there of those Artifices that the Religious Institutions among the Heathens had which from Hieroglyphicks Fables pompous and divers Superstitions were served up rather to the Imaginative Faculty than to the Understanding and made to please not the Wise so much as the Multitude The Christian Laws fear not the most piercing and critical Eyes looking into them They discovering the greatest Excellency to him who hath the quickest Sight and profoundest Judgment joyn'd with an Upright Mind And therefore our Love to them gets new Strength from Consideration as having Right Reason for a Foundation from which like an House built upon a Rock it may stand strongly and not be cast down nor abated for any Wind or Waters that may come against it Eubul And truly Theophilus I find it a very great Inducement for the raising our Love to these Laws that They of themselves are grievous unto none but as the Manna was are in a sort fitted to every Palate unless to those that are grievously vitiated Who is it that ever had just cause to repent he had yielded Obedience to them To whom in the exercise do they not bring Content and Satisfaction If at any time they seem to create Trouble to a Man it is rather because others trangress them than because he himself observeth them A thing which cannot be said of other Laws Some of those which are profitable for the Community are not so for some particular Men who for the publick Good must be content to bear some private Inconveniences and some advantageous to a few Persons may not be so to a Nation in general Neither is there any thing in its own Nature truly Good which is omitted in their Injunctions nor any thing in
Neighbours one to another Nothing can possibly prevail more upon Rational Men for Obedience to Princes than that they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sacred Ministers of God. That Damnation shall be received if resistance be made And that the Conscience within is to be preferr'd before the Fear of Wrath without And surely Princes may well embrace the Name and maintain the Practice of Christianity which thus secures them of the Hands and Hearts of their Subjects What stronger Motives can there be for Peoples Respect and Love to their Ministers than that they are Stewards of the Mysteries of God upon their account That in Christs stead they beseech them to be reconciled unto God And that they are set apart for this very thing to wit the promoting the welfare of their Souls and how prevalent such Motives have been we may learn from the Galatians carriage towards St. Paul who would if possible have plucked out their own Eyes and given them unto him Neither are the Duties of Pastors urged with less Weight The Church's being purchased by the Blood of God is the argument for their Feeding it and they are charged before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall Judge the Quick and the Dead to do it The consideration of which what Heart would it not affect For Mutual Love and Delight between Those whom Wedlock hath joyn'd it is an highly sacred Motive That Marriage is so far honour'd as to become Mysterious in the Signification of Christ the Bridegroom and the Church his Spouse and of that Vnion which is between them never to be dissolved And how admirably may the Hardness of Mens Hearts be overcome by such a Consideration as this And how is the Credit of those who are the Weaker Sex provided for by not being permitted now to be cast off upon every trivial Distaste For that Mysterious Signification which we said Marriage is enobled with doth plainly hint that the Bond thereof is to continue firm and unbroken and that the Faithful Affections both of the One and the Other in the Wedded Pair will certainly with other Virtues after this Life be rewarded living in a manner for ever in that Divine Love they did here represent Fathers must be tender to their Children and not provoke them to Wrath from that winning Motive that they have a Father in Heaven who they desire may not be pitiless and wrathful to them And Childrens Obedience is quickned by its being in the Lord Which Expression doth not only hint the Extent of their Obedience and how far it should reach but doth shew also that God is concern'd in it and doth observe whether it be truly perform'd or no. And the taking notice of the Fifth Commandment as being the first that hath a Promise annex'd unto it and the improving that Promise of Earthly and Temporal Blessings into Spiritual and Eternal is a very high Encouragement of the Duty The Faithfulness of Servants hath Motives admirably strong to wit That they do Service to Christ while they do it conscionably to their Masters That He sees their Diligence or Loitering when their Masters cannot And that He will reward whatsoever good thing any Man doth no less though he be bound than if he were free And Masters have a Motive equally as strong for their Gentleness and Goodness towards their Servants from their having a Master in Heaven with whom is no respect of Persons Which imports that the Authority which a Master hath on Earth shall not in Heaven or at God's Bar stand him in any stead if he bear it hardly and frowardly towards his Servant Lastly For the Duty of Neighbours one to another What more taking Motive can there be for their Love and Peaceableness than that they are as lively Stones built up a Spiritual House Absurd it would be if in our Buildings the Materials should be at variance and will it not be much more so in Gods Building where Jesus Christ is the chief Corner-Stone They are excited to love one another as being Brethren in a far more Noble Relation than that of Nature Thy Brother saith St. Paul in more than one place for whom Christ died And what an effectual and kindly Operation may this have in all those Matters of Discord which may arise among Neighbours and Friends Shall such or such an Offence make me an Enemy to him for whom Christ hath died Shall any Worldly Concern overturn that Love and break that Vnion which Christ hath Cemented and Established with his own most precious Blood A mighty Inducement for the love of Neighbours this Though not proper to this Relation alone but running through all the foregoing ones The higher place in every one of them being not too high and the lower one not too low to admit the Name of Brother And so all the Duties thereof may be promoted and the more benignly carried on by this Motive I thought it not amiss Theophilus in short thus to hint the Excellent Motives which the Gospel affords as proper to every particular Law by itself consider'd And they are as I said either purely Evangelical as flowing some way or other from the Mystery of our Redemption which could not have been known had it not been divinely revealed or else such as are to a much greater Persuasiveness urged than ever they were before Theoph. They prevail so much with me that methinks were I in the meanest of these Relations or could I by turns be each part in them all I could love every Law belonging to them for the apposite and excellent Motives which to every Law are annex'd But Eubulus you have not yet given me any taste of those Motives which respect the Laws to a Mans Self in particular Eubul But since you seem to desire it I will. And while I recount them in my thoughts somtimes though I approve of any thing that leads to Virtue be it even in the meanest of Philosophers yet I have a low esteem of the very highest of their Encouragements if compared with these of our Lord. For the keeping of our Bodies free from Intemperance and Vncleanness can there be any thing more prevailing than that they are Members of that Body to which Christ is the Head That they are Temples of the Holy Ghost That they are bought with a price even with the Blood of Christ And that they will not be lost when they are laid in the Earth but will be raised up again from the Dead And he who is wiling to weigh these things rightly How can he take the Members of Christ and make them the Instruments of Vncleanness the Receptacles of Luxury and Excess How can he pollute that Temple which the Holy Ghost doth Consecrate and delight to reside in How can he answer it if be defiles that Body which is not his own yea which our Saviour hath Cleansed with his Blood as well as Bought And with what Face can he abuse That
Incorruption they are Sown in Dishonour they shall be raised in Glory They are Sown in Weakness they shall be raised in Power they are Sown Natural Bodies they shall be raised Spiritual This is plainly spoken and not only so but is confirmed by our Lords own Rising from the Dead and becoming the First-Fruits of them that Slept Which implies that as the Harvest followeth the First-Fruits so shall our Christian Friends with all other Holy Men follow our Lord in his Resurrection It is very remarkable that the Holy Scripture gives to the whole Church as united with its Head The Name of Christ Thus 1 Cor. 12.12 As the Body is one and hath many Members and all the Members of that one Body being many are one Body SO ALSO IS CHRIST Whence there may seem an holy Necessity that our Religious Friends should rise from the Dead They are parts of the Church and as the Church and Christ are one He could not be said to be wholly risen unless They likewise should rise from the Dead If there be no Resurrection of the Dead saith the Apostle then is Christ not risen which is true also in this sense His Resurrection would be incompleat and in effect no Resurrection should not his Church which is his Body rise after him What need is there then of so many Lamentations and of such Floods of Tears Why should we be dejected at the Graves of our Friends which we may look upon as the places from which they will arise rather than as the places wherein they are buried And what may yet further contribute to the appeasing of our Sorrow is their rising again never to be sick more Never any more to leave us but to enjoy us and to be enjoyed by us in an Eternity of Happiness For it cannot reasonably be thought that those particular Friendships which were founded in Virtue will not hereafter be continued in Heaven especially since a Religious Faithfulness and Constancy in Affection shall have a good share in the Everlasting Rewards which are there given So that we shall have our Friends again and much more ours than ever they were before Neither even at the present is our Communion with them dissolved by their Death For that Bond which unites us one to another and to our Head is Spiritual and so Death which only divides the Soul from the Body makes no real separation of the Christian who is dead from the Christians who are alive For they who still continue Members of the same Head do also continue Members one of another And the same good Will which our Friends as Christians had to us while they lived we may safely believe they have after they have left us Such as consisteth in the making Supplications unto God that it may be well with us both in Life and Death and in rejoycing at those Spiritual Blessings which are held out unto us for the obtaining that Happiness which they before us have reach'd unto Why then should we grieve as though they were quite lost unto us As though all our Interest in them were buried in their Graves and all that Virtuous Kindness they bore us were wholly extinct We rather may rejoyce that their Love towards us and other Christians is increased and more perfect as their own Happiness is increased and themselves are more perfect Theoph. What you say might administer unto Patience were it not that the Fears of an Hell and the Apprehensions that it may be worse with them now they are dead than it was when they were alive did not so often interpose Eubul But why should we suffer such Fears and Apprehensions to interpose in relation to those Friends who have loved Religion and Virtue and made them visible in their Lives Precious in the sight of God is the death of such And as for those daily Slips and Failures which proceed only from that Weakness which is common to all Mankind they from the Sincerity which hath been in the Heart shall be forgiven Indeed there are some Persons for whom our Hopes cannot be so great and we are not to be blamed if our Griefs be of a larger measure in the Deaths of these But yet we are by no means to pass sentence ourselves upon them but must leave them to stand or fall to their own Master And the same God that commands us to be charitable means that we should be so not only to the Living but the Dead also And if he so strictly enjoyns our Charity towards them we have some reason to hope he will not deny unto them his own Mercy This is certain that however the evil Lives of some Men may render the Thoughts of Death less comfortable to themselves and others yet through our dear Lord's Dying for us Death is in reality become an harmless thing to us as we are Christians and we may Triumphantly use the words of St. Paul O Death where is thy Sting O Grave where is thy Victory Thanks be unto God who hath given us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ Nay though Death to our Bodily Eyes hath Terrour in its Face and is attended with Worms and Corruption yet the same Apostle reckons it a part of the Church's Dowry 1 Cor. 3.22 Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or Life or DEATH or Things present or Things to come all are yours and the same we may esteem it to be in relation to our departed Friends You have seen Theophilus the excellent Motives for Patience on every Hand and for Obedience also to the other Laws that more nearly concern ourselves And truly the conceiving of a Man whose outward actions are all Clean and Chast whose inward Thoughts are Pure and Holy who can part with even Lawful Enjoyments rather than be insnared by them who is contented with his Lot not anxious for the years to come and cheerfully bearing up under present sufferings the conceiving I say of such an one so every way perfect is very pleasant to the thoughts and we cannot sooner think of him than we must Love him the Laws then that form the Man to be such must needs be no less fitted for our Love and Delight and these sure will much be heightned from such pleasing and weighty Inducements Theoph. I 'll confess to you Eubulus from this short account which you have given all my Affections are turn'd into a Love of these Sacred Laws except only that there is some room in my Soul left for Reverence and Admiration of them And I hope while I speak the same Words that the Pious Mr. Herbert did I speak to the utmost the same Truth also viz. That I would not part with one Leaf of these Holy Laws might I have the whole World in Exchange They are able to make would Men permit them an Heaven upon Earth while Peace and Joy and Love would be in the Community and an Holy Calmness and Inexpressible Pleasure in every private Breast Eubul And may such be
continually in yours without any ceasing or decay for the great Veneration and Love which you express to these Laws Theoph. Truly Eubulus it is impossible there should be any true Happiness without them Should not the Understanding be recovered from that Blindness and Errour which are in it should not the Will be reduced from its Pravity and Perverseness Should not the Affections be delivered from their Tumultuousness and Evil Excesses even Heaven would not be a place of Joy and Bliss For how unagreeable would Glorious Mansions be and an incorruptible Body were the Soul imperfect and vicious in all its Faculties unacquainted with Holiness secretly grudging at God's Will and openly disobeying it What would the Salvation be should Saint with Saint carry it ill-naturedly and enjoy their Immortality only for the Perpetuating of their Dissentions And if to them whose Natures are not fashioned by these Laws Heaven would not afford an Happiness we may be sure Earth will not Which makes me Eubulus to pity those Men as Enemies to their own Welfare who esteem Liberty and Greatness to be then alone truly perfect when they are attended with a Licentiousness doing whatever liketh them without any respect had to the Laws of God or Man. Whereas God himself who is infinite in Majesty and most absolute in Power acteth according to the Eternal Laws of Righteousness and Goodness And it is the perfection of his Greatness and Liberty so to do Eubul What you have said I cannot gainsay but do much approve And though I confess I could never think as some have done that the Scriptures bare saying that they are the Word of God is a sufficient Testimony that they are so yet from the inward Excellence of these Laws and those admirable Motives which are added to them for the securing of our Obedience there is methinks a substantial Proof of their Divinity and Truth Can it be thought that the Devil could ever prompt any Man to make Laws so righteous and good as these are Or that he would promote their Observance with such mighty Rewards such severe Threatnings and such sacred Considerations If so then surely our Saviour's Argument of Satans being divided against himself and his Kingdoms not being able thereby to stand might be altogether as valid in the present case as then it was when the Jews said that Devils were cast out by Beelzebub the Prince of the Devils Neither have we more reason to imagine That any Man out of his own falseness and deceit did make these Laws since they are so directly destructive of all falseness and deceit and may justly be supposed to be everlastingly so in that they are recommended to the World with Considerations so powerful and savoury From their own Purity therefore and Goodness they may well be own'd to be the same Divine Precepts which in reality they are Theoph. And let me add That no Man ever deserv'd to be so much honour'd among Men as He hath done who hath given these Laws and beyond all example hath encouraged their practice I cannot but think somtimes how highly the grave Lucretius hath extoll'd and is himself highly extoll'd by some for so doing his Epicurus who endeavour'd to Arm Men against all Fears by the beating down of all Religion and the excluding the Gods from the knowledge of every thing on Earth as being neither pleas'd with good Actions nor offended with evil ones And He so far well doth shew that all other Inventions however very much conducive to the Welfare of Men are yet nothing to be compared to That which will quiet tumultuous Passions and render the Mind well informed and steady Compare saith he with This the great things which others have found out Ceres and Bacchus are much honour'd She as having first taught the way of sowing Corn He as having first instructed Men in planting of Vines But yet without these things Mens Lives may be sustain'd and as report goes some Nations even now do live without them At bene non poterat sine puro pectore vivi but without a Breast well purged a Man can have no happy Life And then he goes on with the Praises of his Philosopher as being worthy a Place among the Gods. But if He had so much Honour who profanely taught Men not to fear what shall our Lord have who with sacred Religion directs Men in the pleasant and right Paths to Happiness Who gives them Laws which will render them easie to themselves and acceptable unto others Who in any Troubles that may befal them affords them the only Methods of Comfort by telling them that God is a Father unto Men in every thing taking care of them and ordering even Afflictions for the good of those who are pious Who makes known everlasting Joys after Death which are prepared for those that live holy Lives and renders the way thereunto not difficult by the help which he continually vouchsafes from above And all this in such a wonderful manner by having loved us even unto Death with a Love much stronger than Death itself Eubul Our Lord doth indeed in these things deserve Honour above all Men and we may often on his account sing that Anthem which at his Birth the Angels sung Glory be to God on high on Earth Peace Good-will towards Men. And I will further say That They who faithfully give up their Names unto him have the Precedency not only of all Those who among the Heathens pretended to the study of Wisdom but also of God's own People the Jews yea in a sort even of David himself who was so dear to him and whom in our Discourse we have had occasion so often to mention For though I cannot but yield that this King had a fair insight into the Kingdom of the Messias and the things belonging unto it there being in his Psalms so many undoubted Descriptions thereof yet it will not be an Untruth to affirm That the meanest Christian among us hath unless it be his own fault more clear Revelations of Christ of Life and Immortality and of the Assistances of the Holy Spirit than David had or any of the Prophets The words of our Lord tending to what I now say are very remarkable Verily I say unto you Among them that are born of Women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist Notwithstanding he that is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he Matth. 11.11 i. e. However a very great Prophet John was one that above all the rest had the Honour to see our Lord in the Flesh a thing which many Prophets and Kings had desired to see and had not seen it yet the least Disciple or Christian when Christ shall be set at the Right-Hand of God and shall raise up an Heavenly Kingdom upon Earth shall he greater than John. i. e. From the being Baptized with the Holy Ghost and having a larger knowledge of the Divine Will manifested being made acquainted with higher and
Box of Ointment on the Head of our Lord That wheresoever the Gospel should be preached in the whole World there also should this that this woman hath done be told for a memorial of her Mat. 26.13 In the same manner are the good Actions of Holy Men preserved in the Scripture that they may be told as a Memorial of them wheresoever these Sacred Writings shall come and so long as they shall last which shall be to the End of the World. Moses shall for ever be celebrated who refused to be called the Son of Pharaoh 's Daughter choosing rather to suffer Afflictions with the People of God than to enjoy the Pleasures of Sin for a Season Abraham's Faith shall never cease to be praised till Faith itself shall cease and be turned into Vision Gideon Barak Sampson Jephtha David also and Samuel and all the Prophets and Apostles shall for their faithful Deeds be had in Everlasting Remembrance Such Honour have all God's Saints And though they be happy in the enjoyment of the Recompence of Reward and may seem not to need any of that praise which Earth can give yet surely it cannot but be esteemed an high Favor from God unto them while they are Blessed in Heaven to be Honourable on Earth and Celebrated themselves here while they are praising God there Had we ourselves Theophilus no use and benefit from these examples yet their being Registred as an Honour to the Persons that lived so well is sufficient reason for their being written Though truly in this their Honour we may reap a great deal of satisfaction For those Righteous Actions which God hath so much honoured Them for we may justly conclude He will be well pleased with in Vs Since He is no Respecter of Persons in every Nation he that feareth Him and worketh Righteousness being accepted with him 'T is true indeed we cannot expect that God will give Divine Authority to any more Books than the Bible and write our Names in them But He hath other ways of Rewarding Holy Livers on Earth besides enrolling them in a Sacred Volume that shall last as long as the World. He can give us Honour and Prosperity while we Live and can Embalm us also in a lasting Name when we are dead And though he should not do this yet we read of another Book of God in which the Names and all the good Actions of Faithful Men are recorded and which at the last day will be opened when every man shall receive according to his works The Righteous Deeds of Holy Men being preserved in the Books of Scripture may put us in mind of this other Book And the Honour which they have of being never forgotten in this world encourageth us to the like Holy and Just Actions that we may be remembred in the world to come Theoph. God grant we may at last be remembred there and then I shall little care though the same Earth that covers my Body bury my Memory also Though yet the Honour of Living in Sacred Writings after Death and of being made instrumental to other Mens virtuous Deeds and to the more comely performing of them I acknowledge to be very great And since God is pleased to make a Good Name and the Being for Ages Exemplary to be a Reward of a well-led Life I will not blame Those why by rightly ordering their Lives have an Eye to such a Reward Eubul I am sure we have a great deal of Reason to account it a Blessing that we have had so many patterns of Virtue set us by which we are the better capacitated for being Happy ourselves and being also Examples unto others The Faith indeed of Abraham is thought by some to have been the more excellent and even to have given him the Name of the Father of the Faithful upon the account that he had no precedent Example of any ones Believing in God He dwelling in Vr of the Chaldees where they were all Idolaters But supposing this were so and that therefore our Faith cannot have the accomplishment of Father Abrahams because we have Him and many Others our Examples Yet our Condition in our Faith is much the more sure unto us than it would have been if we had had none in whose steps we might tread For who of us would have done as Abraham did We may therefore praise God in that he hath caused us to be Born into the World after so many excellent Persons whose Examples may direct us further than of our Selves we could have gone And albeit we shall not have the Honour to receive others into our Bosome when in Heaven as Abraham doth yet if we can the more easily have a place in his and be our Selves in some measure Leaders of other Men thither we shall have no reason to complain of any want of Happiness but a great deal of cause to rejoyce that the way to Heaven was made so plain and that we had so many encouragements in it not to faint And with reference unto this The Church hath piously ordered that we should bless Gods H. Name for all his Servants departed this Life in his Faith and Fear Beseeching him to give us Grace so to follow their Examples that with Them we may be partakers of his Heavenly Kingdom Theoph. A great Esteem and Love Eubulus we may have for the Examples of Holy Men but it must at last End in the Esteem and Love of the Laws of Christ which include in them all the Good that the best Examples of Men ever have shewn or can shew Eubulus It must so Theophilus For all those actions of Men and Women famous in their Generations The Practice of Righteousness and Mercy of Munificence and Liberality of Temperance and Sobriety of unfeigned Devotion and Piety towards God all of which every Man hath a Tongue to praise are but imperfect draughts of these Holy Laws I say imperfect Draughts Because no Man our Blessed Lord alone excepted hath ever yet risen to that height of Excellence which they require Very pleasing they are as they are represented in the Lives of Good Men though they there are not unlike a Beautiful Face drawn to great disadvantage and with many unbecoming Shades But could we see them without failure exprest in the demeanor of any Man and had Eyes clear enough to behold them we should confess that they were a Sight too good for Earth However in the commendable actions of Men with the imperfections of Mortality if we would but reflect thus to wit The Constancy of that Man is a pleasant thing to behold The Righteousness of this Man is truely Comely Mercy and Goodness here is a real Ornament to the Actor Friendship and Kindness there How amiable are they The Flourishing of Society in Peace and Industry and all publick Virtues The Affections and Tenderness of Parents The Submission and Dutifulness of Children The Dwelling of Brethren together in Unity And the Affability and Usefulness of Neighbors to each
Law properly so called but in the Psalms And I doubt not but as the Psalms are called in a larger Sense Gods Law so our Psalmists in these words O how I love thy Law meaneth all that God by Divine Inspiration hath caused to be written as well as the Law taken in the strictest signification Theoph. Give me leave to tell you that I look not upon you to have done your task throughly unless you deal with the other Parts of Holy Scripture as you have done with that which is properly Preceptive Eubul There is the less need of this because if That be excellent and amiable in relation to us the rest of the Bible as being in order unto and promotive of the Precepts there for so in reality it is must be Excellent and Amiable likewise whether it be Historical or Prophetick Adhortative or Devotional and to one or other of these all except what we have already discours'd of or at least the most of what the Sacred Writings include is reducible Theoph. If you would be a little particular herein you would seem to me not to exceed the Bounds of your Discourse Good Eubulus begin with the Historical part of the Bible which for the great things it containeth and the Faithful account which it giveth doth when ever I read it afford me very great satisfaction Eubul That the accounts of things are Faithful and Written with a design of Truth the Holy Writers not sparing themselves but putting down their own faults as several of them in several places do is a very great Evidence Such an Integrity cannot but be Loved where from Historians having less respect to their own Reputation than to the verity of things a Man may be as well satisfied in his knowledge of the most Ancient Times as he is in those which he Lives in and sees with his Eyes Yea such History may much the more engage his Love when it gives him not merely the knowledge of the first Times but such a knowledge as to a good Man puts a Relish into All Times and will make the years pass more gratefully to the End of the World. Look we Theophilus upon the account of the Creation of the World which we may be certain was Written by Gods Immediate Appointment and Inspiration for the exciting a due Fear and Love of Him i. e. an Obedience to his Laws and what Delight may we not conceive therefrom While the Wise Men of the World have in vain sought how this goodly Fabrick of the Heaven and Earth came to be such as it is some of them affirming it to be from all Eternity the same which we now see it others determining it to be from a lucky hit of Matter casually coming together into this Beauteous Form We amidst their Errors can pity them and the more enjoy the Truth from the Ignorance and Darkness which these Searchers have been in But as the knowledge of a Truth which they could not reach unto may upon that score be prized by us so we may intermingle the greatest Love with our Esteem of it because it gives us such a firm support throughout our Lives God who Created the World did it not more to manifest his Power than to express his Goodness unto Men whom he made to enjoy it and to be served by all things in it And how Cold and Vnaffecting are the Other Opinions in respect of this Truth Were the World such as it now is from all Eternity altogether without a Deity or with no Relation unto one which is the opinion of some Atheistical Men it could not give us the pleasure of thinking that it was the effect of Divine Power and Love to us Nay were it Eternal by a necessary Efflux from the Goodness of a Deity which could not refrain from the thus exerting itself as the Platonists hold where would be the Favour For that which cannot possibly be otherwise layeth no Obligation upon us And should the World have risen merely by Chance as the Epicureans would have it there would this way also have been the Total absence of Kindness For what hath Chance to do with Kindness whose perfection it is to have the Understanding and Will along with it But now in the History of the Worlds Beginning we can behold the Love and Beneficence of the Great Creator and with Pleasure can Contemplate Him who makes his Goodness to be seen in every thing though Himself be Invisible So great a Priviledge is it to have the World founded in the Divine Power Wisdom and Love that one who knows those things and is a Virtuous Person would not for a World that the World should be without them The Light would be a less pleasant thing to behold should it not have been from Him who is the Fountain of Light. And what pleasure would the Heavenly Bodies whether those which we term fixed or those which as Cicero speaks are Vocabulo nonâ—e errantia Planets not in reality but word only afford by their Motion and Influence were it not from the Creators Order that they thus Move from his Care of us that they thus shed their Influence Could we not say also concerning these Earthly Things That Manifold are thy Works O Lord in Wisdom hast thou made them all the Earth is full of thy Riches And even concerning ourselves likewise that Man was first formed by God who breathed into him the Breath of Life that ever since we have been fearfully and wonderfully made and that in his Book are all our Members Written both We and They should lose all our Excellence For an Excellence wholly destitute of Wisdom wholly destitute of Love would be an empty thing yea a meer Contradiction Theoph. It must needs be yielded that such History is Worthy to be Loved on the Considerations you now mention'd and one Consideration more may be added viz. That though there be in some antient Authors some things not altogether unlike to this History they in probability having either seen Moses's Writings and so out of design mingled Fictions with them for the making an Opinion of their own or else heard an imperfect Relation of them and so given us only some faint resemblances of Truth though the best they could yet none of them all do give that satisfaction to a Religious Reader which Moses doth He having been throughly instructed by the Creator himself for what he hath Written and having given Confirmation also of its Truth by the Wonders which he wrought Eubul It is not difficult to conceive why though even by Natural Reason it may be inferred that the World owed its Form and Fashion to a Divine Power there yet is such a defective account of the Origen of the Universe from the Philosophers of Old. For they however otherwise of good Knowledge and great Industry relying altogether on the Experience of the Works of Nature in which they saw that somthing was requisite for the production of another thing could not
or very heedless if our Fear of God our Trust in him and other such like Graces be not stirred up and exercised within us It is impossible a good Man should be taken with any History so much as with this Since by being Conversant in it he doth not only as it were Live in those Times with those Persons who were dear unto God but doth likewise before hand become their Friend and Intimate with whom he hopes to Live for ever in that City which hath Foundations whose Builder and Maker is God. Theoph. I would not that the pleasure though great it be which you have excited in me from the History of the Old Testament should make me forget that of the New. Dear Eubulus let not that pass without some Remarks from you also Eubul There cannot be in the whole World what may more deservedly engage our Love than That And what we have hitherto been speaking though it be very taking is yet much the more so because a great deal of it hath a more Spiritual meaning and is in Order to the History of our Redemption The Genealogies in the Old Law were of Civil use to the Jews in more respects than one But they may chiefly seem by the Providence of God to be so exactly Registred and Preserved that the Race of the Messias when he should come should not be unknown and confused And yet who can declare his Generation So surpassing all others is it how Glorious soever The Chief Matter of the Gospel Story is the Redemption of the world by the Son of God's suffering in our stead undergoing his Fathers wrath that we might be partakers of his Love. And how delightful may such History be to us From the depth of Bondage and Misery to be asserted into the liberty of the Sons of God and made capable upon most excellent Terms of everlasting Happiness how may it affect us Our Redemption in itself is a thing Divinely Great But the Method of accomplishing it Who can sufficiently admire Though the Son of God who was to work this mighty Favour for us from all Eternity was and to all Eternity will be God the Blessed as far in his Godhead from being punishable for sinful Men as Men in their sins are from being acceptable to a Just and Holy God yet there is a way found out for him to undergo Pain and Punishment in our stead God the Father hath prepared for him a Body and by his own uniting it with the Divine Nature he can both Suffer and Dye And in his being capacitated thus to do Christ is by way of Eminence the Wisdom of God as exceeding the deepest Conceptions of Men or Angels Neither may his History in other Circumstances of his Coming into Continuance in and Leaving of the World less prevail upon us for an H ol Admiration and Delight Highly wonderful was his Conception within the Womb of a Pure Virgin by the Power of the Highest overshadowing her And his Birth from the multitude of the Heavenly Host praising God from the Star's being Created on purpose for the leading the wise Men from afar to worship him Shew forth an Holy Lamp and Splendor order'd by Wisdom from above as a Peculiar to Him alone of all that ever were born into the World. One thing more is very apposite to the History of his Birth That it was in a Time of Peace over all the World. The Temple of Janus at Rome was shut And no noise of War disturb'd the Nations This was the Hand of God that He who was styled the Prince of Peace should then be born when Peace was upon Earth Especially since the Laws he was to give were not to make their way by Force and Arms but were calmly to be weigh'd and for their Reasonableness and Excellence to find entertainment in the World. Theoph. But there were some Circumstances in his Birth which were as remarkable for their Meanness as these you have mention'd were for their Greatness Such were his Mothers being of Low Degree Her bringing forth her Son in a Stable And the First Message of his Birth being made known to Shepherds All of which may seem unworthy of his Person as they are much of a different piece from what you but now spake Eubul Yet in them all Theophilus there is no less Wisdom and Love seen than in those things which were Splendid and Glorious What if the Blessed Virgin was not great in the World She yet was of a very Creditable Stock of no meaner an one than that of David She yet was of Spotless Innocence and of Great Piety which are in his Eyes who seeth not as men see of the greatest Price and far beyond outward Grandeur Such Humble ones God will exalt while the mighty shall be put down from their Seat. And this was the Matter of the Blessed Virgins Praising of God and rejoycing in him and will be the Praise and Joy of the Meek and Lowly for ever His Birth was indeed at first made known unto Shepherds and they were directed to the place where the young Child was But had the Angels in Heaven and the Great ones on Earth been his only Attendants the meaner sort of Men might have been discourag'd as thinking that the Benefit of a Saviour was only or chiefly there where State and Greatness made way for it But now Meaner Persons so they be Harmless and Industrious as these Shepherds from their Calling and their keeping Watch with their Flocks by night appear to have been are shew'd to be no less dear unto God than those of higher Rank And Lastly his being Born in a Stable and laid in a Manger doth manifest also that He was truly Man Which would not have been so throughly discerned had all things been of the more splendid sort For where there is nothing but Grandeur and State Men seem to themselves to be and are permitted by God to be called more than Men I have said ye are Gods. But the being of Human Race is never question'd where the Condition and Circumstances are Low. The things then that are meanest in our Saviour's Birth afford us as much cause of Rejoycing as those that are highest Let a Jew call our Saviour Mean we will not account it our Reproach because he thereby acknowledgeth Him to be a Man which we shall always esteem our Honour We hereby are so pleased with the low Condition of his Mother the poor place of his Birth and the inferior Attendents about him that we praise his Name for them as being great assurances of our Interest in him If in his Life we read his Infant-Obedience to the Law in being Circumcised of his sitting in the Temple with the Doctors Hearing and asking them Questions If his Baptism and Solemn Vnction after it to his Office by the Holy Ghost's descent upon him like a Dove and the Voice from Heaven If his Temptation in the Wilderness and his Conquest over the Devil therein What
Mens Constancy and Perseverance What Christian Sorrow expressed at the Defection of any What tender-heartedness shewed towards those who after a Fall are repentant And in them all what Attractives are there for our Love I have somtimes thought that should a Person to whom the True God is unknown read or hear the earnest Exhortations the many taking Suggestions which in Holy Scripture are used for the engaging Men to Obedience he would judge that surely God is much advantaged thereby or otherwise he would not be so very desirous of it This I am sure we may with Truth say that were it possible our Obedience could add to the Blessedness of the Almighty he could not use more winning Speeches for the obtaining of it than now he doth But therefore because we can no way profit Him by the Observance of his Laws and because it is our own very great advantage if we do observe them how sweetly prevalent may so many persuasives seem unto us And how with an holy Gratitude may we say Lord what is Man that thou hast such regard unto him That thou givest him Line upon Line Exhortation upon Exhortation and continuest an uncessant care over him for the securing him unto Happiness Theoph. It is fit indeed that such Exhortations should be followed with Devotions Praises unto God who is so Gracious unto Men and Prayers that we may never suffer such persuasives to be fruitless upon us And it may fairly lead you Eubulus to the Devotional Part of Holy Scripture in the last place to be spoken unto Eubul This we shall find to be truly excellent also For it consisted of such Services as in their intent were fit for Men to pay unto their God. None of their Holy Feasts was there but was in Memory of some Signal Favour And as it was their pleasure to rejoyce thus before their Lord and Holy Benefactor so it may likewise be our pleasure to read of their Religious doing it Had the Creation of the World been understood by the Heathens Juvenal would not have derided the Jews as such Queîs Septima quaeque fuit Lux Ignava vitae partem non attigit ullam Who lost the Seventh part of their Time and improved it to no End of Life And if Plutarch had known the design of their carrying Boughs of Trees in their Feast of Tabernacles he would not in a Scoffing Manner have called it the Jewish 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by an Odious comparing it with that intemperate Feast of Bacchus in which the Bacchides ran about with Javelins wrapped round with Ivy termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Their Sacrifices were Visible Prayers or Praises or Expiations in all of them the End was truly Excellent and no one of them had such Rites as required Secresie for a Shelter from an honest and Chast Eye And hence possibly it was that God forbad Groves to be near his Altar as having by their Shades and Recesses given occasion to those Uncleannesses which too frequently attended the Worship of the Heathens Neither ever did or durst any tacita libare acerra inaperto vivere voto ask those things which it were a shame Men should hear But the Scope of their Petitions was Gods Blessing in the way of Righteousness And as in these things their Religious Services were quite of a different Colour from those of the Nations and in every thing might have worn this Impress Holiness to the Lord so it is very remarkable what Humility and Submission of Spirit attended their Devotions when God laid Afflictions upon them It is the Lord let him do what pleaseth him saith Eli. I was Dumb I opened not my Mouth because Thou didst it saith David Though he kill yet will I put my Trust in Him saith Job Herein likewise very different from the Heathen who in their Sufferings were forward to accuse their Gods venting their Griefs in undecent Invectives against them But when we read of those sacred Heights of Devotion which some of their Holy Men rose unto how must we be affected how divided betwixt Love and Delight Our Souls are embruted if we be not almost transformed into the same Seraphick Temper with them who to use the words of one of them have thought One day in Gods Courts better than a Thousand Desiring nothing in Heaven but God nor any thing on Earth in Comparison of Him. And such Devotion how yet further is it improved by our Blessed Lord who hath continued all Night therein who hath Consecrated himself by Prayer a Sacrifice for the whole World and hath offered up upon his Cross Supplications with strong Cries and Tears hoth for Himself and Vs Who is it can avoid the being wholly possest with Love who contemplateth our Saviour at the Right Hand of God in a mighty way Mediating for us Though at a distance from us yet openly on our behalf urging his Merits Passion and Death and presenting our Prayers unto his Father Which that they may be the more acceptable he himself while on Earth hath given us a most perfect Prayer as a Patte n for our Imitation and a Form for our Use suitable to the greatest Ardour of Piety that Mortality is capable of Hath sent likewise from Heaven the Holy Spirit to make Intercessions for us with Groans that cannot be uttered joyning with us from within and giving our Prayers such a Fervour and Powerfulness as is not to be equall'd by Words Devotion raised to such Perfection as the having our Blessed Lord and the Holy Spirit so nearly concerned in it is so highly amiable that it requires only the being truly known for the being sincerely loved You have Theophilus in short measures an account of the Divine Law as the word Law may be taken in the wider sense Theoph. How acceptable the account you have given me is I cannot more truly say than by telling you I could have very willingly heard it much longer Yea so delightful are these other parts of Holy Writ that they afford a great pleasure even to some who are less Observers of the Preceptive Part than they ought to be I have known who have been very well versed in the Bible and could reherse if need were the chief things contain'd therein when yet their Practice hath been as lame as if they knew not a Letter there Eubul These Persons quite mistake what they read while they find a Pleasure therein without a respect to the Divine Law properly as such All the other parts of Scripture are as before was said some way or other in order to the Preceptive Part and if there be who understand them otherwise they go contrary to the Mind and Will of their Author But yet how can any one enjoy a Pleasure from that History which God hath caused to be written as an Encouragement to Obedience and not be encouraged at the same time to be Obedient himself Or how acknowledge the Divine Justice in the Punishment of Disobedience and
thou wash thee with Nitre and take thee much Soap yet thy Iniquity is mark'd before me how canst thou say I am clean Jer. 2.23 And upon the account of the Filthiness of Sin God is said to be of purer Eyes than to behold Iniquity Hab. 2.13 Neither doth the New Testament speak otherwise of Disobedience Out of the Heart proceed evil Thoughts Murders Adulteries Fornications Thefts False-witnessings Blasphemies these are the Things which DEFILE the Man Matth. 15.19 And hence the Blood of Christ is said to cleanse us from all Sin. And Baptism is not only a Rite that doth initiate us into Christianity but is termed the Washing of Regeneration as purifying us from the Pollutions of our Natures And truly so odious and foul is Sin that when St. Paul would set it off most in its own Deformity he could find no worse word for it than itself for he calls it sinful Sin Rom. 7.13 The whole Nature of it being nothing else but Pollution Disobedient Persons may indeed in outward shape appear to us Comely and Beautiful And their Discourse and Deportment may in some things be taking enough But could we throughly discern a Soul Deform'd as to all its Faculties could we rightly see the Loathsomness of that Body whose every Member hath been made the Member of Vnrighteousness and wholly infected with the Poyson of Sin all the World could not afford so bad a sight as this Theoph. Nay Eubulus such a stain do vile Practices cast upon a Man that though perchance we never may have seen his Face or he himself may have lived many Ages since we yet shall have abject thoughts of him and a great Disrespect to his Memory And if he be of our own Age and Neigbourhood that our Eyes have somtimes a sight of him how do his Ill Morals infect even his outward Shape That whether we will or no we cannot but have some secret aversion from his Person though by reason of his Degree or Place we dare not always shew it Eubul It is even so as you say Theophilus But as Disobedience to the Divine Law throws a Pollution upon every Faculty of the Soul and Member of the Body so it also gives a further Deformity by bringing a Disorder into the Man and causing that which should be superiour and have chief command in him to be brought under and made to serve His sensitive Appetite getting above his Rational and his Body bearing sway over his Soul. Neither when such Disorder is at home and in his own Breast is it like to stay there alone but in all probability it will spread itself abroad and in the Community For the Discomposures which are there arise first from private Iregularities But not only doth Disobedience to the Divine Law overturn all order in the Man himself and breed Confusion in Kingdoms but what is abundantly worse it induceth a yet higher Disorder into the World Subjecting as it were the Great God of Heaven and Earth and making him to Minister unto his Creatures in the vilest Offices They are his own Words to his Disobedient People of Israel Isai 43.24 Thou hast made Me TO SERVE with thy Sins And what greater Deformity can there be thought of than such Disorder as this that shall reach not only so wide as the Earth but even unto Heaven And who would not hate Disobedience which is the Cause and Source of it Theoph. I can easily grant that from Disobedience to the Divine Laws there ariseth such Deformed Disorder as you speak of in Private Men and in Communities also on Earth But how can it extend itself unto Heaven for the bringing of God under It is his Name I am that I am which denotes the Immutability of his Being and such a Perfection as cannot any way be diminished As he is Omnipotent He cannot be over-power'd by any as He is the All-wise God there is none can Circumvent him As he is perfectly One in his Essence without any the least mixture He can no way be subject to any Alteration And as He is Eternal He not only can never cease to Be but also he cannot ever be less than infinitely perfect and infinitely Blessed Which is altogether inconsistent with serving for that supposeth Weakness and Deficiency Therefore Eubulus since I see you intend it as the chiefest Brand on Disobedience that it maketh the Almighty to be Inferiour and Servile I desire you would explain it to me For the Almighty's saying That by Mens Sins i. e. by the Breaches of his Laws he is made to â—â—â—e is the highest Infamy and Reproach to Disobedience and may render it loathsome to any considering Person And so is Worthy to be insisted on somthing largely by you Eubul In respect of his Nature and Person Theophilus God cannot for the reason you have given be made to serve Sin we with never so high an Hand we cannot put any restraints upon his Nature and be we never so Righteous we cannot render his Person more Blessed And to this Sense is that of Job 35.6 If thou be Righteous what givest thou Him Or what receiveth he of thine Hand If thou Sinnest what dost thou against Him Break his Laws thou mayst and provoke his Justice but thou canst never render Him less Perfect or less Blessed But then we must know that God is pleas'd in Holy Writ to speak after the way and fashion of Men not so as is perfectly agreeing with his own Nature but so as is most sutable to our Understandings and may most prevail with and move us Thus Eye Ear Mouth Arms Heart Feet and such like Members are in Sacred Scripture attributed unto God not that there are any such in reality in Him for He is a Spirit and altogether Incorporeal But that we might by these Sensible Things the better conceive those Perfections which are shadow'd out by them For it is not unworthy of Observation That there are no Members nor Parts of a Man ascribed unto God in Holy Scripture but what do betoken some Excellence or other in Him as his Power his Wisdom his Knowledge his Love and such like And none of those Parts that are as the Apostle terms them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more feeble less honourable or uncomely are any where attributed unto Him. The Jews have a Saying Lumen Supernum nunquam descendit sine Indumento Heavenly Light never descends without some Vail It otherwise would be too bright for our weak Eyes So these Members of the Body which God is pleased to admit of when he speaks of Himself unto Us are but as Coverings to those Excellencies which we could not so well understand should He have spoken sutably to Himself without any respect had unto us And as God doth condescend to our Vnderstandings by speaking unto us after an Human manner and in a way below Himself so in other things He speaks to move and excite our Affections when yet his
Men and also the ill Inferences which these Men are apt to make from them we say Theophilus 1. That those Sins though great they were were yet rather single Acts than Habits of Sin. They were not approved of nor contrived for every day of their Lives nor did they last for Years Now single Acts are rightly esteemed not to carry so much Pollution as Habits do Because an Habit is acquired by Actions often repeated and so includeth the Defilements of many single Acts put together If it shall be said that the single Acts of some heinous Sins may possibly carry a stain with them as great as some Habits of lesser Sins and that the Sins of David and Peter were gravioris Notae of a deeper Dye it cannot yet but be granted that a single Act of a grievous Sin is less polluting than the Habit of the same Sin. But then Secondly Those Sins though very great they were had Repentance following them 〈◊〉 was truly great Look we upon David and we shall find him grieving in earnest and heartily affected with his Misdeeds Psal 38.2 Thine Arrows stick fast in me and thine Hand presseth me sore There is no soundness in my Flesh by reason of thine Anger neither is there any rest in my Bones because of my Sin. For mine Iniquities are gone over mine Head as an heavy Burden they are too heavy for me I am feeble and sore broken I have roared by reason of the Disquietness of mine Heart And in Psal 51. which Psalm he made as the Title hath it when Nathan the Prophet came unto him after he had gone in to Bathsheba he mourns thus Wash me throughly from mine Iniquity and cleanse me from my Sin For I acknowledge mine Iniquity and my Sin is ever before me Deliver me from Blood-guiltiness O Lord Thou desirest not Sacrifice else would I give it The Sacrifices of God are a broken Spirit a broken and contrite Heart O God thou wilt not despise I have the more largely spoken David's words that you may thereby see how great his Grief was how earnest his Prayers for pardon and how deep an Anxiety had seized him lest God's Favour should for ever have been with-held from him Nor was St. Peter's Sin without a remarkable Repentance It is said Matth. 26.75 Peter remembred the words of Jesus who said unto him Before the Cock crow thou shalt deny me thrice And he went out and WEPT BITTERLY It was not a light grief and a Tear or two that were quickly dryed up but a Bitter Weeping which words certainly do denote a very great and deep Sorrow Now those that think so well of their own Sins from the thoughts of David's and Peter's Sins being so much greater than theirs are they as ready to consider these good Mens Repentance Do they grieve for their own as these did for theirs Is the Burden of them heavy Are they earnest in the begging pardon for them If not the greatness of some good Mens Sins in Holy Scripture will be a mean Argument for the concluding their own not to be the Deformities of wicked Men. I may truly say that the great Sins of David and Peter if considered with their Repentance are much less than those Sins which in themselves are not so great without Repentance And so there is small reason for any Person from the Failures of these Holy Men to infer his own Spots to be none other than those of Gods Children Thirdly There are more Ends than one for which God hath caused those Sins of his Children to be registred in Sacred Story I cannot say but one End might be that those who in the like manner have grievously fallen may through the Exercise of a like Repentance have hope that they also shall not be refused Thus Rom. 15.4 What things were written afore-time were written for our Learning that we through Comfort of the Scripture might have hope But then a no less End is this viz. That those who now live and those who shall live in the Generations to come may from the Falls of others take the more heed that they fall not also And if they shall fall they may well think that their case is not so good because they have had such warning before and yet have not been prevail'd upon by it for the being more careful And then yet further Another End altogether as great as the other Two why the Sins of good Men have been recorded in Scripture is this to wit The shewing how God hates Sin even in those whom he loves and how he will punish it not only in their Persons while they live but in their Names and Memories when they are dead even to the End of the World. Some other things besides those that have been well pleasing unto God as Mary's Ointment was unto Christ shall wheresoever the Gospel is Preach'd throughout the World be spoken of also for a Memorial To make it known that Sins of a deep Die are in his Children altogether as Odious to his Purity and Holiness as their Pious Actions are acceptable to his Love and Goodness And now who is it that can have favourable Thoughts of Sin when God hath put so many Examples in Holy Writ as Warnings against Sin on purpose that we should have the more care to avoid it Who is it that may flatter himself in his Iniquities who shall rightly consider how God punisheth the Memory of his own Children and setteth a Mark of Disgrace upon them which shall last till Heaven and Earth do pass away He surely very slightly or very partially looks into the Bible who from the Sins of Good Men there can encourage himself in his own Sin and think that its Pollution is small to Him when it hath laid such a Blot upon their Names as must not as cannot be rased out by any Rather let him Hear and Fear and do himself neither in the same nor any other kind so wickedly As knowing that though none need now to Fear that their Misdeeds shall be Registred in Books which shall be of equal Authority with and shall last as long as the Bible for God therein hath wholly declared his will and so Divine Writings are not further to be expected yet the All-powerful and infinitely just Lord hath other ways of punishing them and of manifesting the Pollution of their Sin both to themselves and others to be very great how small soever they at present think it But Fourthly Theophilus we may truly affirm that God will not esteem the Sins of his Children which are in themselves as great as and the same with the Sins of Others to be therefore the less because they are committed by those who are his Children That is if any who are his shall be unjust in their Actions False in these Words Intemperate Unchast or any other ways vitious their Injustice Falseness Intemperance Unchastity and whatever other Crimes they shall commit shall be esteemed as carrying the same