void of understanding and lo it was all grown over with Thorns and Nettles had covered the face thereof and the stone wall thereof was broken down this is one plain Cause and commonly the First of our halting between God and Baal namely our Idleness and Sloth in Religion joyned with Pusillanimity and Cowardise which moves us to decline all Difficulties and disables us to make a bold Resistance against Temptations how criminal and guilty this must render us in the sight of God 't is no difficulty to guess Is this the Zeal the Revenge of an humble and active Penitent Is this to redeem the Time and efface the Memory of our past Sins and Provocations Is this the Conversation that becomes the Children of the Light and of the Day Is this our hunger and thirst after Righteousness is this our Ambition our Passion for an Heaven Finally is it thus we requite the Mercies and Obligations of God and the Love of Jesus that passeth Knowledge shall such halting trimming Christians as these think ye ever be judg'd endued with a true and living Faith who express it the whole Tenour of their Lives so much Coldness and Indifference for that Salvation which the Son of God thought worth the purchasing by so much Travel and so much Sorrow so much Shame and so much Blood 3. A Third Cause of our Halting between God and Baal is some Degree of Infidelity This was the Case of Israel too They were ever prone to Idolatry partly train'd up to it in Egypt and elsewhere partly being more capable of forming an Idea of a Finite and Topical God than of an Infinite and Universal one Jer. 23.23 Partly being fond of following the Fashions of other Nations And lastly mov'd partly by that great and long Prosperity which Egypt and other Idolatrous Nations enjoy'd and no doubt comparing it too with the Variety and Uncertainty of their own Fortune and the frequent Disappointment of their Expectations Hose 2. never laying it to Heart all the while that the way to secure their Prosperity was to change not their God but their Manners I would to God this were not too lively a Description of the State of too many Christians and that we could not trace our Lukewarmness and Fickleness in Religion too plainly back to the same Source or Origine namely some Degrees of Infidelity I wish the Prosperity of the wicked do not somewhat undermine the Belief of a Providence I wish whatever we talk of a Treasure in another World we do not now and then think it wisest to have our Portion in this I am afraid that the Decays and Dissolutions of our Nature in Death the Rottenness and Corruption of the Grave and the Variety of Changes and Fortunes our very Dust undergoes may tempt us to some Scruples and Jealousies about a post-humous Life But however it be in these points I am too too well assur'd that we do often doubt whether Vertue be the true Blessedness of Life whether there be that Pleasure in Righteousness the Scripture affirms there is I am confident the Notions of Righteousness and Holiness with which the Scripture furnishes us are often blur'd and blotted by the Maxims and Customs of the World and perswade my self that there is scarcely one of those that are Laodiceans and Trimmers in Religion that do not flatter themselves that God will not be as severe as his Threats and that he will receive them into Heaven upon milder and softer terms than the Gospel proposes Some such kind of Infidelity as this must possess the Heart where-ever the Life is so infinitely below our Profession When the Word preached doth not profit it is because it is not mingled with a due Measure of Faith in those that hear it If we did truly believe the Revelations of God if we did see the Promises of God as evident and present by Faith though distant in themselves 't were impossible but they must move but they must take us 't were impossible but they must enkindle in us another sort of Desire and this Desire would soon produce another sort of Endeavours another sort of Life When Moses beheld Canaan from Pisga how passionately did he desire to enter into that good Land When the Disciples had seen Jesus Ascend up into Heaven how were they transported with a Desire of following him how unspeakable was their Joy how fervent their Prayers how lasting and enlarged their Gratitude they returned to Jerusalem with great Joy and were continually in the Temple praising and blessing God How does a Prospect of Gain captivate the Covetous How does the Fancy or Expectation of Pleasure enflame the Voluptuary how does the Sight of Vanity and Grandure infect the proud and the Hope of Glory fire the Ambitious What hath the Beauty and Pleasures of Holiness no Attraction has Heaven no Charms in it has the Favour and Love of God and of Jesus no Force no Power in them Surely we have not the face to deny but that the Promises of God are great and precious one and if they raise no Passion in us it must not be through want of Excellent and Loveliness in them but want of Faith in us And then judge you how acceptable this kind of Infidelity must render us to God what Value can God have for a People whom no kindness can oblige no Arguments convince with whom no Miracles can gain Belief no Assurances or Promises find Credit Hell is the portion of the fearful and unbeliever Rev. 21.8 And what dreadful Judgments did overwhelm Israel as often as they thus halted between God and Idols It did not excuse them that they had some sort of Veneration for the Memory of Moses and his Miracles since this was not able to over-rule their Prejudice and Superstition that they retain some Honour for Abraham Isaac and Jacob and that God which was the Fear of their Fathers since they had as much or more for the Nations round about them and their Gods too And whatever Power they did acknowledge in the God of Heaven or whatever Benefit they did own themselves to have deriv'd from him as I can hardly think the Memory of either was utterly extinguish'd amongst them all this avail'd them nothing while they made their Court to other Gods too and put their Trust in their Patronage and Protection Though this be sufficient to make us sensible of the Guilt of a Laodicean Vertue and an uncertain halting Faith yet I must advance on and observe unto you a worse Principle if worse can be of this Deportment yet which is 4. The Fourth Fountain of this Unsteadiness and Remisness in Religion is some Remains of Corruption the Prevalency of some vicious Passion or other Mens Actions are the plainest Indications of their Affections If the Life looks two ways we need not doubt but that the Heart does so too This was that made the young Man in the Gospel fluctuate so between Christ and Mammon this was the
the Grace that is infus'd so far master our corruption and dilate and diffuse it self through our whole Nature as that we may justly be denominated Holy and Righteous from the prevalence of this Holy Principle So by a necessary consequence our Justification must commence later But after all I know not why we should be so inquisitive after the time of our Justification by God The Comfort of a Christian does not result immediately from God's Justifying him but from his knowing that he does so And if this be the thing we are now searching after namely what rational Assurance we can have of our Justification and when as indeed it is then though I do not pretend to determine that Man is not or may not be Justifi'd or accounted righteous by God upon a thorough change of Mind or Soul before this change discovers it self in a Series of Victories over those Temptations by which he was led Captive before Yet I assert First That the true and solid proof of the Sanctification of the Heart is Sanctity of Life Next when I talk of Victory I suppose Man engag'd I suppose him encountred by Temptations and Enemies and then I affirm that the Faith which is not strong enough to Conquer is not strong enough to Justifie if any Man demand may not that Faith which is Foil'd to day Conquer to morrow I answer I must leave this to God I can pronounce nothing of the Sincerity of the Heart but by the outward Deportment and Success And if this be the proper way of judging of a Man's Sincerity I am sure I may with much more confidence affirm that nothing less then Victory can be a clear Argument of Perfection My business therefore shall ever be to be Holy and then I 'm sure I shall be Justified If I be Holy God who cannot err will certainly account me so and if I cease to be so God must cease to account me so And this is all which I design by this long Paragraph That is to render Men more careful and diligent in making their Calling and Election sure and to prevent Presumption and groundless Confidence And that nothing that I have here said may be perverted to a contrary purpose that no Man from some passionate resolutions or sudden changes of his own Mind may be tempted to conclude too hastily of his being Justified as if the change wrought in him were equal to that commonly effected in the first Converts of Christianity I think it not amiss to put such a one in mind that even These were not Justified unless they did profess Christ with the Mouth as well as Believe in him with the Heart and that this publick Profession of Christianity in those days was equivalent to many Good Works in These 2dly He that feels in himself little or no Fervency of Spirit little or no Hunger and Thirst after Righteousness has reason to suspect that his Regularity is little more then common Decency and Civility and to doubt lest his Religion be nothing else but Custom or common Prudence I see not how so much Indifference and Sluggishness can consist with a firm Belief and Expectation of a Crown with a sincere Love of God and Righteousness But if we may suppose such a one restrained from Evil and preserved in the way of Duty after a sort by the Fear of God and a Desire of Heaven yet certainly this can be but the Infancy of the New Creature at most And the best advice that can be given such a one is surely that of St. Peter that by adding one degree of Vertue to another he would use all diligence to make his Calling and Election sure 2 Pet. 1.10 3dly If a Man's Religion produce very few Good Works or such only as put him to little travel or expence we may conclude that this Man is not Perfect his Charity is too weak too narrow to be that of an exalted Christian The best that we can think of such a one is That he is yet taken up in the Discipline of Mortification that he is contending with his Lusts and Passions which are not yet so far reduc'd so far subdu'd and brought under as to leave him in a State of Liberty and Peace and in a capacity of extending and enlarging his Charity This Remark that the Inconsiderableness of our Good Works is reason enough to question not only one 's Perfection but Sincerity holds good in such Cases only where neither the Opportunity nor Capacity of higher and nobler Performances is wanting I dare not pronounce that no Man can be a Christian unless he be fit to be a Martyr 'T is true the lowest degree of Sincerity must imply a purpose and Resolution of Universal Obedience in Defiance of all Temptations but yet That Grace for ought I can prove to the contrary may be sufficient to Save a Man that is sufficient to master the Difficulties he is to encounter with although he should not be to grapple with the Distempers and Tryals to which the Body and the State of another Man may be subject Surely the Wisdom and the Faithfulness of God can be no further concern'd then to qualifie any one for the discharge of those duties which he thinks fit to call him to And if the discharge of such duties be not a sufficient Proof of our Sincerity we can never have any but must be always held in suspence and torture about our future State I see no reason to question but that the Disciples of our Lord were in a State of Grace before the Resurrection and the following Pentecost And yet I think I have plain Reason to believe that they were not fit to be Martyrs and Confessors till then the Grace they had before might I doubt it not have enabled them to live Virtuously amidst Common and Ordinary Temptations But it was necessary that they should be endow'd with Power from on High before they could be fit to encounter those fiery Tryals to which the Preaching of the Gospel was to expose them To this surely our Master refers when he tells the Pharisees That the Children of the Bride-Chamber were not to fast while the Bride-groom was with them when he tells his Disciples I have many things to say but you cannot bear them yet when he asked the Sons of Zebedee Are ye able to drink of the Cup that I shall drink of and to be baptized with the Baptism that I am baptized with Matth. 20.21 If this be true Divinity as I am I had almost said confident it is then I am confident that which requires very unaccountable Tests of a Man's Sincerity is very extravagant For example when Men talk at this rate that a Sincere Christian should have such an Abhorrence for Sin as to fear Guilt more then its Punishment Such a Love of God as rather then offend Him to be content to Precipitate and Plunge himself into the Jaws not of Death like the Martyrs but of Hell it self
Anchorite or Hermite was at first little better then a Pious Extravagant I will not say how much worse he is now Meditation and Prayer are excellent Duties but Meekness and Charity Mercy and Zeal are not one jot inferiour to them The World is an excellent School to a good Christian the Follies and the Miseries the Tryals and Temptations of it do not only exercise and employ our Vertue but cultivate and improve it They afford us both Instruction and Discipline and naturally Advance us on towards a solid Wisdom and a well-setled Power over our selves 'T is our own fault if every Accident that befalls us and every one whom we converse with do not teach us somewhat occasion some wise Reflection or enkindle some Pious Affection in us We do not reflect on our Words and Actions we do not observe the motions of our own Hearts as diligently as we ought we make little or no Application of what we see or hear nor learn any thing from the Wisdom and the Vertue the Folly and the Madness of Man and the consequences of both And so we neither improve our Knowledge nor our Vertue but are the same to day we were yesterday and Life wastes away in common Accidents and customary Actions with as little alteration in us as in our Affairs Whereas were we mindful as we ought of our true Interest and desirous to reap some spiritual Benefit from every thing the Vertues of Good Men would enkindle our Emulation and the Folly and Madness of Sinners would confirm our abhorrence for Sin from one we should learn Content from another Industry here we should see a Charm in Meekness and Charity there in Humility in this Man we should see Reason to admire Discretion and Command of himself in that Courage and Constancy Assiduity and Perseverance Nor would it be less useful to us to observe how Vanity exposes one and Peevishness torments another how Pride and Ambition embroil a third and how hateful and contemptible Avarice renders a fourth and to trace all that variety of ruin which Lust and Prodigality Disorder and Sloth leave behind them And as this kind of Observations will fill us with solid and useful Knowledge so will a diligent attention to the Rules of Righteousness and discretion in all the common and daily actions of Life enrich us with true Vertue Religion is not to be confin'd to the Church and to the Closet nor to be exercised only in Prayers and Sacraments Meditation and Alms but every where we are in the Presence of God and every Word every Action is capable of Morality Our Defects and Infirmities betray themselves in the daily Accidents and the common Conversation of Life and here they draw after them very important Consequences and therefore here they are to be watched over regulated and govern'd as well as in our more solemn Actions 'T is to the Vertues or the Errors of our common Conversation and ordinary Deportment that we owe both our Friends and Enemies our good or bad Character abroad our Domestick Peace or Troubles and in a high degree the improvement or depravation of our Minds Let no Man then that will be Perfect or Happy abandon himself to his Humours or Inclinations in his Carriage towards his Acquaintance his Children his Servants Let no Man that will be Perfect or Happy follow Prejudice or Fashion in the common and customary Actions of Life But let him assure himself that by a daily endeavour to conform these more and more to the excellent Rules of the Gospel he is to train up himself by degrees to the most absolute Wisdom and the most Perfect Vertue he is capable of And to this end he must first know himself and those he has to do with he must discern the proper Season and the just Occasion of every Vertue and then he must apply himself to the acquiring the Perfection of it by the daily Exercise of it even in those things which for want of due Reflection do not commonly seem of any great Importance To one that is thus dispos'd the dulness or the carelesness of a Servant the stubbornness of a Child the soureness of a Parent the Inconstancy of Friends the Coldness of Relations the Neglect or Ingratitude of the World will all prove extreamly useful and beneficial every thing will instruct him every thing will afford an opportunity of exercising some Vertue or another so that such a one shall be daily learning daily growing better and wiser § 2. The two great Instruments not of Regeneration only but also of Perseverance and Perfection are the Word and the Spirit of God This no Man doubts that is a Christian And therefore I will not go about to prove it Nor will I at present discourse of the Energy and Operation of the one and the other or examine what each is in its self or wherein the one differs from the other 'T is abundantly enough if we be assured that the Gospel and the Spirit are proper and sufficient Means to attain the great Ends I have mentioned namely our Converversion and Perfection And that they are so is very plain from those Texts which do expresly assert That the Gospel contains all those Truths that are necessary to the clear Exposition of our Duty or to the moving and obliging us to the Practice of it And that the Spirit implies a supply of all that supernatural strength be it what it will that is necessary to enable us not only to will but to do that which the Gospel convinces us to be our Duty Such are Rom. 8.2 For the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of Sin and Death 2 Tim. 3.16 17. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for Instruction in Righteousness That the Man of God may be Perfect thoroughly furnished unto all good works 2 Cor. 12.9 And he said unto me my Grace is sufficient for thee for my Strength is made perfect in weakness Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my Infirmities that the Power of Christ may rest upon me 1 Pet. 1.5 Who are kept by the Power of God through Faith unto Salvation ready to be revealed in the last time 'T is needless to multiply Texts on this occasion otherwise 't were very easie to shew That all things necessary to Life and Godliness are contain'd in the Word and Spirit that what ever is necessarily to be wrought in us to prepare us for or entitle us to Eternal Salvation is ascribed to the Gospel and the Spirit This truth then being unquestionable that the Gospel and the Spirit are the two great Instruments of Perfection we may from hence infer two Rules which are of the most Universal use and of the most powerful efficacy in the pursuit of Perfection 1. We cannot have too great a Value too great a Passion for the Book of God nor fix
our Thoughts and Hearts too earnestly upon the truths of it We must imitate the Thessalonians in behalf of whom St. Paul thanks God because when they received the Word of God which they heard of him they received it not as the Word of Men but as it is in Truth the Word of God 1 Thes 2.13 that is we must entertain the Gospel as that which has Infallible Truth in all its Doctrines uncontroulable Authority in all its Precepts a Divine Certainty in all its Promises and Threats and a Divine Wisdom in all its Counsels and Directions And he that thus believes will certainly find the Gospel to work effectually in him as it did in the Thessalonians What Light and Beauty will he discern in all its Descriptions of our Duty What force in all its perswasions what Majesty what Dignity what Life what Power what Consolation what Support In one word what Heavenly Vertue will he discern in each part of it and what vast and unfathomable Wisdom in the whole Composure and Contrivance of it How will he then admire it how will he love it how will he study it how will he delight in it How will he be transported by the Promises and awed by the Threats of it How will he be pierced and struck through by those Exaggerations of Sin and Captiv'd and Enamour'd by those lively and Divine Descriptions of Vertue he meets in it How will he adore the Goodness of God conspicuous in our Redemption How will he be inflam'd with the love of Jesus and be amaz'd at his Condescension and Humility This and much more is the natural effect of our receiving the Gospel as we ought and pondering the truths of it with devout and incessant Meditation This the Royal Psalmist was abundantly sensible of Thy word have I hid in my Heart that I might not sin against thee Psal 119.11 Thou through thy Commandments has made me wiser then mine Enemies for they are ever with me I have more understanding then all my teachers for thy Testimonies are my Meditation ver 98. To which I might add many other verses out of that Psalm containing the various and mighty Effects of the Word of God Nor will any one think that I attribute too much to the study of this Word of Life who shall consider that it is one of the great Works of the Holy Spirit to incline our Hearts to the Testimonies of God to write his Laws in our Hearts to dispose us to attend to revealed Truths and in one word to fix our Minds and Thoughts upon them 2. Since the Spirit together with the Gospel is a joynt Principle of Regeneration and Perfection 't is manifest That we ought to live in a continual dependance upon God He must be our Hope and Confidence in the Day of Tryal He must be our Praise and Boast in the Day of Victory and in the Day of Peace when we lie down and when we rise up we must say with the Psalmist 't is thou Lord that makest me dwell in safety Psal 1.4 We must look upon our selves as surrounded by Enemies and besieged by Spiritual Dangers as David was by Temporal And as he in the one so must we in the other expect Strength and Salvation from Him Through God we shall do valiantly for he it is that shall tread down our Enemies Psal 60.12 Many Nations compass me round about but in the name of the Lord I will destroy them And when we have conquer'd Temptations and routed the Powers of Darkness we must ascribe all not to our own strength nor to our own watchfulness but to the Grace and the Power of God If the Lord himself had not been on our side Now may Israel say if the Lord himself had not been on our side when the Legions of Hell combined with the World and Flesh against us they had swallowed us up alive Psal 124.1 2 3. Now many will be the happy effects of this dependance upon God we shall be passionately desirous of his Presence of his Grace and Favour we shall dress and prepare our Souls we shall awaken and dispose all our Faculties to receive him we shall ever do the things that may invite and prevail with him to abide with us we shall be apprehensive of his forsaking us as the greatest Evil that can befall us Lift up your Heads O ye Gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting Doors and the King of Glory shall come in awake O my Soul raise thy self above this World and Flesh that thou mayest be fit for the King of Glory to dwell in thee who is the King of Glory The Lord strong and mighty the Lord mighty in Battel that Holy Spirit that subdues our Enemies that strengthens us with might and fills us with Courage and Holy Alacrity Psal 24.7 8. Nor does the Psalmist prepare his Soul for God by Meditation only and Spiritual Recollection and Soliloquies but by a careful and circumspect Regulation of all his Actions Psal 101.2 3. I will behave my self wisely in a perfect way O when wilt thou come unto me I will walk within my House with a perfect Heart I will set no wicked thing before mine Eyes I hate the work of them that turn aside it shall not cleave to me And how earnestly does he pray against God's forsaking him Psal 51.11 Cast me not away from thy Presence and take not thy Holy Spirit from me The Result of all this must needs be Steadfastness and Growth in Holiness and Goodness For first This is the natural influence of such a dependance upon God it places us as always before Him and makes us walk humbly and circumspectly as becomes those that are awed by the Presence of so Holy a Majesty I have set the Lord always before me because he is at my right-hand I shall not be moved Psal 16.1 Secondly we cannot doubt but that God will plentifully bestow his Grace on those who thus rely upon him For where can He bestow it with more Advantage to his Glory or to the Propagation of Holiness both which are so dear to him Who is a Subject more capable of it or who can be better entitled to it then he who thus depends upon God As he begs it Humbly and receives it Thankfully so he will Husband it Carefully and employ it Zealously § 3. In Prayer Meditation and other Instrumental duties of Religion we are to aim at one or all of these three things 1. The Quickning and Enlivening the Conscience 2. The Confirming and Strengthning our Resolutions of obedience 3. The Raising and Keeping up Holy and Devout Affections Great is the benefit of each of these Tenderness of Conscience will keep us not only from Evil but every appearance of it increase of Spiritual Strength will render us steadfast and unmoveable in all the Works of God and Holy Passion will make us abound in them To spiritual Passion we owe the Zeal and Pleasure to spiritual Strength or
so directly suited to a Devout Mind that it presently enters it moves and actuates it inspires and informs it with the very Passions it describes And though all good Men are not equally mov'd in this Duty yet all I believe are more or less mov'd It was very much the business of the Prophets and all of Prophetick Education our Lord and his Disciples practis'd it frequently it was ever a great part of Religious Joy and one of the greatest Pleasures of pious Retirement And I wish from my Heart the esteem of it were revived in our Days I perswade my self it would add much to the Warmth and Pleasure of Devotion it would contribute to introduce Religion into our Families and for ought I know into our very Recreations and Friendships And this minds me that as I have under every foregoing Head taken notice of the Advantages of Conversation so I should not forget it here This has a lively influence upon our Minds and always kindles in the Soul a gentle heat And did we but accustom our selves to entertain one another with Discourse about another World did we mingle the Praises of God with the Feasts and Joys of Life did we retire to our Country-Houses to contemplate the variety and riches of Divine Wisdom and Bounty in those natural Scenes of Pleasure which the Country affords and did we now and then invite our Friends to joyn with us in offering up Halelujahs to God on this account what Brightness and Serenity what Calm and Pleasure would this diffuse through all our Souls through all our Days To this that I have said touching the exciting Holy Passions I will only add one Observation formed upon those words of the Apostle Jam. 5.13 Is any among you afflicted Let him Pray is any merry Let him sing Psalms That Religion must be accommodated to Nature and that devout Passions will soon shoot up when they are engrafted upon a Natural Stock With which I will joyn this other That since we are most affected by such truths as are most particular circumstantiated and sensible and therefore imprint themselves more easily and deeply on our imagination for this Reason I should recommend the Reading the Lives of Saints and excellent Persons were they not generally writ so that we have reason to desire somewhat more of the Spirit of Piety in the Learned and more of Judgment in the Pious who have employed their Pens on this Argument § 4. The immediate Ends of Discipline are the subduing the Pride of the Heart and the reducing the Appetites of the Body By Discipline I here understand whatever voluntary Rigours we impose on our selves or whatever voluntary Restraints we lay upon our allowed Enjoyments And when I say that the Humiliation of the Heart and subjection of the Body are the immediate Ends of both I do not exclude any other which may be involved in these or result from them Now of what Importance these two things are I need not shew For since all Sin is distinguished in Scripture into the filthiness of the Spirit and the Flesh it is plain that the Pride of the Heart and the Lust of the Body are the two great causes of all Immorality and Uncleanness And therefore these are the two great Ends which the Wise and Good have ever had in their Eye in all their Acts of Self-denial and Mortification This is sufficiently attested by the Example of David Psal 131. Lord I am not high minded I have no proud looks I do not exercise my self in great matters which are too high for me But I refrain my Soul and keep it low like as a Child that is weaned from his Mother Yea my Soul is even as a weaned Child And from that other of St. Paul 1 Cor. 9.25 26 27. And every one that striveth for the Mastery is temperate in all things Now they do it to obtain a corruptible Crown but we an incorruptible I therefore so run not as uncertainly So fight I not as one that beateth the Air But I keep under my Body and bring it into subjection lest that by any means when I have preached to others I my self should be a cast-away Whoever thus mortifies the Pride of the Heart whoever thus brings under the Body will soon find himself truly set free and Master of himself and Fortune He will be able to run the way of God's Commandments and to advance on swiftly towards Perfection and the Pleasure and Happiness that attends it And to attain these blessed Ends I do not think that we need ensnare our Souls in the perpetual Bonds of Monastick Vows I do not think that we are to expose our selves by any Ridiculous or Fantastick observances There is I say no need of this for we may as oft as we shall see fit retrench our Pleasures abate of the Shew and figure of Life we may renounce our own Wills to comply with theirs who cannot so well pretend either to Authority or Discretion And if these things cannot be done in some circumstances without becoming Fools for Christ that is without that Tameness that Condescension that Diminution of our selves which will never comport with the Humours and the Fashions of the World here is still the more room for Mortification and for a nearer and more eminent Imitation of the Blessed Jesus Provided still we decline all Affectation of Singularity and when we Practise any extraordinary instance of Self-denial we be ever able to justifie it to Religious and Judicious Persons by the Proposal of some excellent End Fasting indeed is plainly prescribed in Scripture and though the Obligation to it with respect to its Frequency and Measure be not the same on all yet all should some time or other Practise it as far as the Rules of Christian Prudence will permit And I have often thought that Fasting should generally consist rather in Abstinence from pleasing Meats than from all not the Food which nourishes our strength but that which gratifies the Palate ministring most directly to Wantonness and Luxury For the better Regulation of Voluntary Discipline I propose by way of Advice three things 1. I do not think it best to bring our selves under any perpetual and unalterable ties in any instance of Self-denial There is a Vertue in Enjoying the World as well as in Renouncing it and 't is as great an Excellence of Religion to know how to abound as how to suffer want Nay what is more all voluntary Austerities are in order to give us a Power and Dominion over our selves in the general course of a prosperous Life and Lastly I very much doubt when once a Man has long and constantly accustomed himself to any Rigour whether it continue to have much of Mortification in it or whether it so effectually tend to promote our Spiritual Liberty as it would if we did return to it but now and then as we saw occasion 2. We must not multiply unnecessary Severities and that no Man may think
of Men who at the last Day will fall under the same Character and Condemnation not because they perform no Duties but because their Performance of them is depretiated by Coldness and Formality Men who make a fair Appearance of Religion and yet have no inward spiritual Life Men who do generally observe the external Duties of Religion but with so little Gust with such Indifference and Lukewarmness that they are neither acceptable to God nor useful to themselves This State of Deadness may be consider'd either more generally as it runs thorough the whole course of our Lives and Actions or more particularly in this or that Instance of Religion 1. When 't is so general that the Bent and Course of our Lives is for want of relish of the Things of God perverted and depraved when we have no Designs drive on no Ends that are suitable to the Excellency and Dignity of our Nature to the Holiness of our Profession and to the great and manifest Obligations of God when we have no Joys or Pleasures no Thirsts or Appetites that do truly become a Christian when we make no Progress no Advance towards our great End when our Discourses and Employments have no Tincture of the Spirit and no Tendency to Edification I think we may then boldly conclude that this is a state of Carnality and Death And that this want of Relish in the general Course of our Lives proceeds from a real want of a Sincere Faith and true Illumination For were the Mind once truly Enlighten'd were it once clearly convinc'd firmly and habitually perswaded of the Beauty and Excellence of the Things of God as we should have Notions different from those of worldly carnal Men so would there consequently be a Difference in the Nature of our Hopes and Fears of our Desires and Designs of our Joys and Sorrows and as necessarily in the main Scope and Tendency of of our Conversation Whoever therefore finds this general Stupidity in the Course of his Life let him not flatter himself in the Performance of any of the Duties of Religion he has a corrupt carnal and blind Heart his Performances proceed not from true Principles and have not that Life and Vigour in them that they ought they are as different from the Performances of a Man truly regenerate and sanctified as the Civilities and Complements of a well-bred Acquaintance from the substantial Offices of a Sincere and affectionate Friend Nor can any Man who will take the least pains to examin himself be ignorant of or mistaken in the Condition of his Soul if this be it For whoever will act honestly and impartially ought not to pass a Sentence of Absolution on himself upon the bare Performance of some relative or instrumental Duties of Religion but he ought to Inquire First What Vertues he Practises which put him upon Expence Hazard or Travel what Works of Piety or Charity he performs and what Proportion they bear to his Ability Next he ought to consider the Design and End he proposes to himself in all his Religious Performances whether he seek the Honour of God the Welfare of Man and his own Improvement and Growth in Goodness or whether he does this meerly to acquit himself of a task and discharge himself of what he takes for granted as a Duty though he finds no pleasure no advantage in it Thirdly he must reflect upon the Frame and Temper of his Mind in reference to these Duties what hunger and thirst he has for Righteousness what Warmth Ardor Elevation or Earnestness of Mind accompanies his Performances what Peace and Pleasure his Reflection on them or whether Religion be not a burthen to him or something to which Custom only reconciles him Lastly he ought to examine what Operation what Influence his Religious Performances have upon him Prayer Hearing Reading and such-like Duties do naturally tend to enlighten the Mind purifie the Heart increase our Love strengthen our Faith and confirm our Hope and therefore where this is not the Effect of them we may conclude that they are not discharg'd in that manner and with that Sincerity they ought He therefore that will examin himself aright must not ask himself how often he reads how often he hears c. and then rest there but must ask himself what Effect these Performances have had upon his Mind which he will soon discern if he demand of himself what the bent and scope of his Life is how much he advances and improves in the Conquest of any Vice and the Attainment of any Vertue what he loves or what he hates what Esteem he has for the Things of God and what for the things of Men. And in a word how he follows after Universal Righteousness and how he encreases in Purity of Heart and Poverty of Spirit 2. Lukewarmness or Coldness may be consider'd more particularly as it discovers it self in the Performance of this or that Duty in Hearing Reading Prayer and Participation of the Lord's Supper Now 't is certain that there is a Deadness in these Duties which proceeds from a carnal and unsanctified Heart and is a plain Symptom of a State of Sin And yet it is too common that they who are subject to it make little Reflection upon it and are little concerned for it On the other hand many complain of Lifelessness in Duty where there is no just ground for this Complaint And this is no small Evil to such for it disturbs the Peace of their Minds damps the Chearfulness and Alacrity of their Service and clogs and encumbers their Religion with needless doubts and Scruples Some have gone about to set this matter right very unskilfully and whilst they have as they thought shun'd Enthusiastick Raptures and irregular Heate have really betray'd the Cause of true and solid Fervency of Spirit and talked of Prayer and such other Duties in such a manner as cannot but reflect disadvantagiously on themselves amongst such as are moderately vers'd in the Scriptures and have any Experience of the Power of God's Word and Spirit upon their Souls But what surprises me most is that some of very deserved Repute have taught That the seeking spiritual Pleasure in Prayer is an Enemy to Perfection That Heat and Ardor of Spirit in Prayer does often happen to the weakest Christians and very seldom to the Perfect But my business not being to combat the Opinions of Men but to advance Truths in the most charitable and in the most effectual manner that I can Therefore without taking Notice of the Motives or Reasons which have byass'd any on this Subject I will lay down two or three Propositions which will I hope clear this Matter and promote the Design I am now carrying on 1. Then Lifelessness or Lukewarmness in these Duties must never be constant There is a vast Difference between habitual and accidental Coldness in Duty the Former is the Symptom of worldly carnal and unregenerate Minds but not the Latter Many are the Accidents which