doth vindicate his own Soveraignty and Power which they as much as in them lieth have brought under and trampled upon And this he so doth as that they themselves may look upon it to be God's just Hand and that others also may acknowledge it his doing But then Communities of Men which by their publick Sins make the Almighty to serve are always when those Sins are ripe punished in this World for they cannot with any reason be thought punishable in the next because all Bonds of Civil Society are utterly broken and evacuated by the Death of the Whole Yea and those Private Men who have contributed their share to the Sins of a Nation as such are also oftentimes in some respect punished in this World even after Death by Publick Calamities reaching their Children or other Relations in whom themselves are in a manner still here continued Which to one who rightly considers it sheweth forth God's Righteous Judgments upon them But because it is not always safe to pronounce That the untimely Deaths or unexpected Miseries of some particular Persons are an immediate Stroke of God upon them for their Disobedience for our Christian Charity will not permit this when we know no signal Crimes by them And the great Afflictions of some who are not greater Sinners than other Men and of some whom we have reason to esteem as good Men may caution us in this point not to be over-forward to Judge And because also we see a great many wicked Men to live and become old to be in no Troubles as other Men to die in peace and leave the rest of their Substance for their Babes Therefore we may affirm it as a Truth Viz. That God seeth it fit generally not to cut off those Men nor yet to force them into Obedience who by their Disobedience do thus make him to serve He seeth it fit generally not to cut them off that they may have space for Repentance Thus did he to the Church of Thyatira I gave her saith he space to Repent of her Fornication And for this end may he spare these dealing with them as the Lord did with the Barren Fig-Tree hoping that though they be not fruitful this year they will grow better the next And this the rather because from the thoughts of this Goodness of God unto them they may the more effectually be prevail'd upon to repent Despisest thou saith the Apostle the Riches of his Goodness and Forbearance and Long-suffering not knowing that the Goodness of God in this his Forbearance and Long-suffering leadeth thee to Repentance A Sorrow for former Sins and an Acknowledgment of God's Soveraignty for the future in Mens giving themselves up to his Service may arise from other Considerations but from none more directly or more forcibly than from that of his sparing them and suffering them to live that they may Repent and Turn unto him Neither may it be a small Motive for his not generally Cutting them off that in case they do not Repent there may from their Freedom from Punishment in this Life be afforded unto us a strong Proof that there will be Another Life after This in which those Sins which are here spared and Unrepented of shall most surely be punished God is a Righteous God and he hath told us plainly by his Prophet Nahum Chap. 1.3 That he will not acquit the Wicked And it is not Unobservable that These Words are put thus to wit The Lord is slow to Anger and great in Power and will not acquit the Wicked As much as to say Though he forbear long yet it is not as if he could not punish yea if they shall go on in their Disobedience and not Repent them of their Misdeeds they most certainly shall have the Reward of their Doings Now in that These Wicked Men who to the utmost of their Power make God to Serve do often live and dye without Punishments they must necessarily be punished after Death or else God will contrary to his Word acquit the Wicked But the Judge of the Earth will do Right though all Men shall be Lyars yet God cannot but be True And therefore he will not Cut them off that he may make them a strong Argument that there will be a Day of Punishments when this World is at an End with them And Lastly Theophilus we may not amiss think he will suffer them to Live that if They Repent not here they themselves may hereafter in the Other World confess that they are justly punished Though Gods sparing their Lives in so much Mercy when they had deserved to be struck Dead or sent Living into Hell were little minded by them on Earth it yet shall at the Great Tribunal have this effect upon them viz. To make them acknowledge that their Damnation is Just because They had so much favour shew'd them and they shut their Eyes upon it And surely as Gods Gracious Designs of Mens Turning unto him and being happy do take off whatever can be Objected against his not presently destroying the Disobedient So the Reputation of his Justice which will by this means be Exalted even among Those that in Hell shall suffer it may abundantly Vindicate Gods Government of the World from being slack and remiss though he do not immediately Condemn unto Death those who make him to Serve by their Sins Theoph. You have throughly satisfied me why God doth not presently Cut those off who are Rebellious But since all Power is his and with a Word He can do it why doth he not Force them into Obedience that his Sovereignty may be acknowledg'd by all and not opposed so much as in appearance by any Eubul One Reason may be Because he would have their Obedience to be their Virtue and such as shall become Rational Creatures to give He as Elihu saith Teacheth Them more than the Beasts of the Earth and maketh Them Wiser than the Fowles of Heaven that they may know what Good and what Evil is and may be sensible of the Favours that are shew'd unto them He hath given them a Will to choose or refuse what things are before them And hath planted Affections in their Souls by which Love and Gratitude may be Exercised Now when they shall endeavour to Understand what is truly Good and also what Gods Loving-kindness to them is when they shall choose that which is best and shall willingly serve Him whom they know to be the Lord of the World and their Lord Loving him for his Goodness and striving to express Thankfulness to him so far as they are able when I say they shall do this they will be Virtuous and shew themselves such as their Nature and Make require they should be But how unagreeable would it be for these Men to be forced contrary to their Mind and Will Wherein would they be Commendable should they do that which they could not help And how unsutable to Love and Gratitude is Violence and Constraint It is Love that is
preserve our Lives by no means to lose them However let not this Command of our Lord which requires us to part with Estates and Lives rather than deny him be faulted as too rigid and hard while the Rewards are so much beyond the Pains and while so many of Those who have thus suffered have had such Assistances and Joys afforded them even in the midst of their Sufferings that a Man would almost wish for their Sorrows could he but have their Joys together with them From all which it may appear Theophilus that the Air as was objected is not too pure to be breath'd in and that they are not unreasonable Heights of Duty which are required of us Neither may it disturb us that this our Work is not without difficulty to be begun and in like manner for some time to be carried on by us For it is in a sort a Priviledge which Angels have not to testifie unto Pains yea even unto Death itself the Sincerity of Obedience Which Testification of Sincerity although it ariseth from an Imperfection of Human Nature will yet be very acceptable unto God possibly no less than that of the Holy Ones Above which is wholly free from all such Conflicts And while the chief Intent of our Lawgiver is to make us Pious towards God Composed in our own Breasts Loving unto others and Loved again by them Perfect as our Father in Heaven is perfect who makes his Sun to rise on the Evil and on the Good and meting only the same measure to others which hath first been meted by the Love and Compassion of our Lord unto us we must one would think use very much Violence to the better Inclinations of our Souls if we do not entirely love these Laws As for mine own part Theophilus will you give me leave to speak my Heart freely to you my Love is so great to them that methinks I would obey them all not so much because I am commanded to do it as because they are every way in themselves so worthy to be loved I could wish that they were even one with my Soul and that all my Thoughts and Actions might proceed not more from Life than from Them. And so far would I be from questioning the goodness of them that I would as soon doubt whether it were good to Live and be Happy So dear are they unto me yea so much better than Life itself Theoph. I am much prevail'd upon by the Reasons you have given and your last Affectionate Words add so much a further weight to those Reasons that they appear to me not to be more the Issues of your Brain than of your Heart And therefore you may on good Grounds presume that they will be convincing to others when they have first been so to yourself But though I acknowledge the Laws of our Lord to require most reasonable things of us and do find that they truly have an high place in my Esteem and Love yet I 'll confess to you Eubulus much dejected I am somtimes when I reflect upon my many Failures Resolve indeed I do for the greatest Care and Circumspection but yet my Sins do daily increase upon me and what will it boot me to love these Laws when every day I transgress them To own them so admirably fitted for the perfecting of our Nature and the refining of our Practise when I see mine own Nature so imperfect under them and my Practcie so impure in Comparison of them Eubul What you now say Theophilus makes way for and will best be answer'd by the Consideration of the Fourth thing viz. That from these Laws we have a fair way for the Pardon of all Sins Most perfect these Laws are as you have heard but by reason of that weakness which is within us and those many strong Temptations which are without they are not like to be perfectly obeyed All that we can do is as it were a great way off to behold and admire that perfection which we cannot of ourselves attain unto and to grieve that we daily and hourly some way or other have Sinn'd against it But yet there is hope in Israel concerning this thing Our Blessed Lord knowing our frame and make and seeing that our strength and abilities are but small hath added two other Laws of Faith and Repentance in which we may find some cheering in respect of those many Breaches of the Divine Laws which lie as a weight upon our Souls That of Faith requires thus much of us That we believe in Christ as a Saviour who by his precious Blood for us Shed hath appeased Gods Wrath and obtain'd Remission for all the Sins of Men and for ours in that number And from the mighty importance of this Law and the infinite benefits it affordeth unto us the whole Gospel and all the Laws thereof are in a comprehensive Word called the Law of Faith. And in this respect it is much different from the Old Law. Perfect Obedience was required by That and because perfection of Obedience is necessarily grounded upon a perfection of Nature the Law seemeth therefore to have been the Rule not of our Works only but of our Nature also which at the Creation was committed pure into our Hands But this Law of Faith by reason of Human Natures having been perfect in Christ and having Done also without the least failure whatsoever was Incumbent on the Representative of Mankind to do and as united with the Divine Nature having suffered likewise what Punishment was Due to the Sins of Men this Law I say of Faith doth Command that we should not rely upon any Righteousness of our own not yet Despair for any Sin whether belonging to our Nature or more particularly to our own Persons but should have our Eyes upon Him who alone by his Merits hath purchased Salvation for us The Law of Repentance is this viz. That we truly be sorry for what Sins soever we commit and do heartily endeavour an amendment of Life And this shall be available through the Death of Christ for our Pardon Repentance shall not Theophilus be unto Sins after the same manner as Sacrifices in Moses Law were Not the small Sins only shall be done away but the great ones also shall no less For he who hath called us unto Repentance hath been a propitiation for all the Sins of Mankind alike for those of a deeper Dye as well as those of a lighter Stain And his Blood is against the greatest Offences and the smallest Infirmities equally Efficacious Of Old if a Man had unwillingly Kill'd his Brother and was truly sorry for it the avenger of Blood was notwithstanding allowed to Slay him if he could overtake him before he reach'd to the City of Refuge The Sin here if it were not rather an unhappiness was so far imputed as That he must dye for it if another could run faster than he which might happen to be a thing beyond his power to prevent And though this might
them If we look upon the Apostle's Words from which the former Opinion is taken to wit All things are yours there are these things indeed which much make for the Honour as well as the Benefit of Pious Men. All things are theirs so as that with a Christian Liberty they may use them without esteeming any of them unclean All things are theirs after such a manner as that if they should absolutely stand in need of them God would order them by his Almighty Power for their Service Lastly all things are so theirs that in probability God would not suffer his Sun to shine nor his Rain to fall on the Evil were there not Good Men in the World to value his Providence and Love. But then this is the whole that those Words will bear To say that God hath given the Saints the Right of Possession and authorized them to Ingross all the World to themselves is notoriously false For as the Oeconomy of the World now stands God doth dispose of the possession of things in those ways which all Civil Nations do give consent unto or the particular Laws of Nations allow of whether they be Inheritances by Descent or the Gift of others to us or Purchased by our Money or Acquired by our Labour Where any of these are there is a Right as being God's Gifts to us by those Methods and the depriving us of them by Fraud or Force would be down-right Injustice Add to this that the Right of Possession in these ways is discernable and certain while the founding it in Grace and Holiness gives no sure Light unto us at all For how shall we know who are the Good We see Impiety can wear as good a Face somtimes as the truest Virtue and Mens Hypocrisie may cheat not only others by a specious shew but even themselves too There is nothing I may say more in the dark than true Goodness we cannot be infallible in pronouncing it in another because his Heart and Thoughts in which it peculiarly resides cannot be seen by us And our own Hearts are so deceitful that they oftentimes no less lie hid to ourselves than they do to others And therefore if Grace and Holiness which they will have to be the Ground of Dominion and Possession is so uncertain That Right which from those is so much talk'd of must needs be as uncertain But suppose that such and such should be known undoubtedly to be Religious and Gratious Persons I would ask Have they all the same Right to enjoy every thing or have they not If they have there will this absurdity follow viz. That every one cannot at the same time use what every one hath a Right unto and Quarrels may arise who shall have the Precedence in them If they have not all the same Right how comes equal Grace in many to give an unequal Title A narrower to one than to another Or if it shall evidently prove as it evidently will that Human Laws or Customs and not Grace do make a Distinction of Property why should some others whom those Laws or Customs have by no means condemned be denied the benefit of Property from them Further yet God may possibly bestow these outward good things upon a wicked Man as Encouragements to a better course of Life Somtimes he may throw them upon him as a Scourge and somtimes he may think good to reward with the Blessings of the Earth some good Actions in him when yet his Crimes will not suffer him to have hereafter a place in Heaven And in which of all these cases have not wicked Men a Right to their Estates from God as well as from Men Will any good Man think that he hath any Title to those outward Possessions which God hath conferr'd to draw Men unto Virtue Or will he arrogate to himself as Blessings what God hath made Curses to others Or lastly shall the good things which God hath given as Rewards for some commendable Actions be thought much of envied and claimed when it may be they are all the Recompences which ever shall be given And what wicked Man is there to whom his Estate may not belong in one of these ways And surely to deprive him of it upon the account of Grace in ourselves or Corrupt Nature in him would be Impiety and Presumption towards God and Injustice and Dishonesty towards Man. So unreasonable and contrary to the Law of Righteousness is this first Opinion And is it Theophilus any otherwise with the second I do not know any Laws in the New Testament that are more express and direct than those against the Resisting of Sovereign Princes Let every Soul be subject to the Higher Powers for there is no Power but of God Whosoever resisteth the Power resisteth the Ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves Damnation Rom. 13. And were it that upon the account of Religion we might resist why should the Holy Ghost so peremptorily forbid Resistence under an Emperour who he certainly knew would be a grievous Persecutor of the Gospel But if we look at the first progress of Christianity into the World the case will be evident The Gospel was not forcibly to enter the Territories of any Prince but by its own Excellence accompanied with cogent Arguments and humble Persuasions was to have admittance For indeed it was against the Nature of that which consisteth chiefly in Love to thrust itself upon the World by Acts of Hostility and Violence And if so can we reasonably think that when it is admitted it is to maintain itself by the Sword against those through whose Favour and Kindness it was first received This would be to make it by continuance to put on quite a different Nature from what it primarily had And were it to be such Princes could the less be blamed if they should be scrupulous in giving within their Dominions a place to that which at last might not allow a place to themselves there But surely Christ's Kingdom in its proper Nature is as little of this World as ever it was and so his Servants are as little to fight now as they were when He was upon the Earth It is a very remarkable place in St. Peter 2 Epist 2.10 11. where it is said That God will chiefly reserve those unto the Day of Judgment who are not afraid to speak evil of Dignities And that the holy Angels which are greater in Power and Might bring not railing Accusations against them which must needs be understood of evil Princes For what occasion may there seem for railing Accusations against those Princes that are Pious and Good Now if the blessed Angels with respect to God's Ordinance in them will speak with a kind of Heavenly Modesty and Deference concerning them is it lawful for us think we not only to let loose our Tongues in a bitter and inveighing manner but to lift up our Hands in Treasons and Rebellions against them And if those shall be reserved
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
And some of these Enemies from the expressness of those Prophecies which respect our Saviours sufferings have been forced to say that there is to be a Suffering Messias as well as a Glorious one though they will not allow the True Messias who is both the One and the Other to be either Theoph. I could desire to be continually fixed on the thoughts of the Prophetick part of Scripture so divinely pleasant is it from the lively Representation of great and sacred things in after-times revealed I doubt not but there will be a true Beauty in that other part of holy Scripture which you termed the ADHORTATIVE Eubul If great Love intermingled with great Art in the enforcing of it can give a Beauty and what can give a greater Beauty than these it is truly amiable And indeed God who knoweth our Frame and Make and can tell what Words will most Sway the Affections of Men hath seemed to let go none that may prevail with them to be such as they ought to be Somtimes enforcing his Exhortations from the Greatness of his Favours the Excellences of his Laws the Natural Desires and Aversations of Men their Forgetfulness and such like I almost wonder how any of the Jews of Old could be Disobedient when they read such Words as these Ask now of the Days that are past since the Day that God Created Man upon the Earth and ask from the One side of Heaven unto the Other whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is or hath been heard like it Did ever People hear the Voice of God speaking out of the mid'st of the Fire as Thou hast heard and Live Or hath God assayed to go and take him a Nation from the midst of another Nation by Signs and Wonders and a Mighty Hand Thou shalt therefore keep his Statutes He led thee through the great and terrible Wilderness where there was no Water and he brought thee forth Water out of the Rock of Flint He fed thee there with Manna which thy Fathers knew not Thy Raiment waxed not Old upon thee neither did thy Foot swell these Forty years Therefore shalt thou keep the Commandments of the Lord thy God. And where an Exhortation is set home by the recounting of such mighty Favours it cannot sure but prevail There is nothing usually will take more with a Man than the Reputation of being Wise and Vnderstanding The Excellency of Man consisting in nothing more than in a Power of Discerning and Acting what is good On this ground therefore it is that God builds his Exhortation Keep saith he and do these Statutes and Judgments for this is your Wisdom and Vnderstanding in the sight of the Nations Deut. â— 6 And since a Man will bear any thing better than the Name of Fool and accounteth it a great Discredit to act weakly and below a Man Therefore God so often in Scripture termeth Disobedience Folly and speaketh thus to Transgressors O ye Fools when will you learn Wisdom How long ye simple Ones will ye love Simplicity and Fools hate Knowledge Turn you at my Reproof I look upon Peace and Plenty to be as it were a visible Exhortation and a Persuasive that is palpable and may be felt But because these do somtimes steal away the Heart and are apt to render the Man forgetful of his Gracious Benefactor God in infinite Goodness is pleased to strengthen this Exhortation by Cautioning us when we have eaten and are full not to forget Him to take heed to ourselves and to keep our Souls diligently lest we forget the things which our Eyes have seen and lest we depart from the Lord our God all the days of our Life But should any be so heedless or perverse as not to be prevail'd upon by such Exhortations as these how can they hold out against God's pathetical Pleading with them Thus Ezek. 18 Ye say The Way of the Lord is not equal O House of Israel is not my Way equal are not your Ways unequal If ye offer the Lame and the Sick is it not evil Offer it now unto thy Governour will He be pleased with thee or accept thy Person saith the Lord of Hosts A Son honoureth his Father and a Servant his Master If I then be a Father where is mine Honour If a Master where is my Fear Malac. 1. I will plead with you saith the Lord and with your Childrens Children will I plead For pass over the Isles of Chittim and see and send unto Kedar and consider diligently and see if there be any such thing Hath a Nation changed their Gods which yet are no Gods But my People have changed their Glory for that which profiteth not Be astonished O ye Heavens at this and be horribly afraid be ye very desolate saith the Lord of Hosts For my People have committed two Evils They have forsaken me the Fountain of Living Waters and hewed them out Cisterns broken Cisterns that can hold no Water Jer. 2. Theoph. These are highly moving And in my Opinion no less is that of quickning Mens Obedience even by the better Carriage of Beasts and Fowls I have nourished and brought up Children and they have rebelled against me The Ox knoweth his Owner and the Ass his Masters Crib But Israel doth not know my People doth not consider Isai 1. I hearkned and heard but thy spake not aright no Man repented him of his Wickedness saying What have I done Yea the Stork in the Heavens knoweth her appointed times and the Turtle and the Crane and the Swallow observe the time of their coming but my People know not the Judgment of the Lord Jer. 8. He will be yet much lower than the Beasts and Fowls who seeing himself out-gone by them will not be ashamed and quicken his pace Eubul There are innumerable other Schemes of Speech which God Almighty useth as if he would not omit so much as one Figure or Topick of sacred Oratory by which the wicked Hearts of Men might be bent to their good And truly all the gracious Methods which under the Legal Dispensation he hath chosen for Persuasives are in force now under the Gospel for the engaging us to Obedience it being through the Blood of Christ that so much Care and Love was then shewed Only what were made Excitements to the Jews are now with the change of some Circumstances enlarged and do belong to the whole World. As for those Exhortations which are more strictly comprized in the Gospel what may we say of them or rather what may we not The New Covenant is so wholly in itself a Persuasive set off with the highest Expressions of Divine Wisdom and Love that where IT alone will not prevail all other Arguments may seem fruitless But that there may nothing be wanting which may work upon the Soul of Man what affectionate Beseechings are there added What earnest Invitations given How are pure Minds stirred up by way of Remembrance What fervent Prayers are made for
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
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
therefore in the beginning of his Sermon upon the Mount He endeavours rightly to instruct the Heart and Soul by acquainting those who are his Followers That They are blessed who are poor in Spirit who are meek who hunger and thirst after righteousness who are pure in Heart c. Which Expressions denote that the Mind should be rightly framed and that They who give up their Names unto him must have their Souls brought into order and adorned He tells them that They are the Salt of the Earth and will be good for nothing unless they endeavour to season others by their exemplary Conversation Matth. 5.13 They are the Light of the World and so they must shine before others that their good Works may be seen and God glorified V. 16. He extends the Commandment of doing no Murther even to the not being angry with another without a cause V. 22. The Precept of not committing Adultery he makes reach even to the forbidding of Lustful Looks and Desires V. 28. He forbids all Divorces unless in the case of Fornication V. 32. He restored Marriage to its Primitive Perfection by prohibiting Polygamy Matth. 19.5 They Two shall be one Flesh Emphatically They Two as exclusive of more which we learn from V. 9. of the same Chapter Whosoever shall put away his Wife except it be for Fornication and shall marry another committeth Adultery For how weak would it have been to pronounce it Adultery for a Man to marry after a Divorce if the adding one Wife to another before a Divorce should be no Adultery And if it shall be said that our Lord orders it as a punishment to him who puts away his Wife not to marry another but permits those to marry more than one who put away none it may be replyed That surely the Punishment might little be feared because it might be so easily avoided For who need care whether he married or not after the putting away a Wife if he might marry as many as he would before And we cannot think that He who is the Wisdom of God should ground any Law upon so sandy a Foundation He disallows of Swearing how true soever in ordinary Conversation Vers 34. He prohibits all Revenge in that we are not to resist an Adversary so as to pay an Injury for an Injury V. 39. He commands Love to be shewed even to Enemies Blessings to be given to those that curse us V. 44. And truly this Command and the foregoing one may seem to be added by our Saviour as not having the Law of Nature for its Foundation according to which the Decalogue was framed but being built upon that Love which our Saviour afterwards did shew when he died for his Enemies For the Law of Nature may seem to allow of this Vt no cui quis noceat nisi lacessitus injuriâ Cic. But when injured he may requite it When we do Alms we must not have respect unto our own Glory but only to the Glory of God and the Good of the Miserable Chap. 6. V. 1. When we Pray and Fast both must be done with a devout secresie that God in both may be chiefly looked unto and the Eye of Men not cared for V. 16. We are commanded while on Earth to have our Hearts in Heaven To lay up Treasures there by laying them out here in Charitable and Virtuous Deeds V. 19. We are forbid to be anxiously concern'd for any things of this World though never so necessary but are with a devout submission to depend upon God and to lay all our cares upon him V. 25. We are commanded not to judge others nor to be Censorious towards them but are to think no evil of them to put the best Interpretation upon their Actions and to look with a strict Eye upon ourselves only Chap. 7.1 2. Yea in all our behaviour towards others to observe that excellent Rule of doing to Them whatsoever we would that They should do unto us What Precepts can there be more full and clear than these are Can the Decalogue be better interpreted than by them Is there not in them a more perfect and spiritual Sense than can be presently discern'd in the Old Law If as David saith Thy Law is pure therefore thy Servant loveth it what Heights of Love must the purity of these Laws raise up in us More largely and clearer by far are our Duties towards God and our Neighbours here delivered far more Reason then have we to love them If we consider the Laws which immediately respect a mans self we shall find that they are much more fully given unto us than under the Old Law they were It hath been observ'd by some that in Moses's Law strictly consider'd there are no Precepts to be found that immediately respect a Mans self And it may seem to be so far true viz. That there are hardly any there but what are included in and deducible from those that primarily look another way And therefore if we will rightly consider things the Laws that respect ourselves are more properly belonging to the New Testament at least are there more directly and openly enjoyn'd Such are the Precepts If our Right Hand offend us to cut it off If our Right Eye to pluck it out Such also are other Precepts tending towards Mortification The preserving not only our Bodies free from Intemperance but the keeping them under that we may be pure and clean both in Body and Soul. The bearing of Afflictions and Injuries with a patient and quiet Spirit and others not unlike unto these Whoever shall look into the Laws given us as we are Christians must needs confess whether they respect God our Neighbour or ourselves that they are at least much more fully and clearly given than before they were If yet some of the greatest purity and Excellence be not added and so we have a great Enducement on this Consideration also to Love them Theoph. By this their Clearness Fulness and Perfection they are fitted for the greatest extension of our Faculties and the most Heroick Endeavours both of our Souls and Bodies Yea could we rise to the highest pitch of Virtue that Mortality is capable of we should find room in them for even yet Nobler Attainments and those such as would require our still pressing forwards till the last Moment of our Lives Whence how answerable are they to that Sacred Infinity which is in God! To whom we can at no time say All these things have we done what lack we yet What Humility may they not nourish in us whose Perfection we still fall short of What Care and Watchfulness that our Obedience may be approved What Prayers to God that his Goodness may help us in our Perseverance and his Mercy pardon us in our Failures But yet Eubulus I wish that what you have said were owned by all as a Truth Some there are whose Auditor I much against my will have been who have said these following things which are direct objections against
how low is That in Comparison of This I am he that prepare Eternal Mansions for you in the Heavens That reserve for you an Inheritance incorruptible and undefiled which fadeth not away A Crown which withereth not And hence our Lord is called the Prince of Life Acts 3.10 Not only because he was dead and is alive and for ever will live but also because he was Author of Eternal Life and made it the Reward of Obedience to his Laws And when our Lord shall purchase our poor Obedience at so excessive a Value as the giving of Heaven and the Glory thereof when he might justly command more Rigorous Services without any Rewards further than merely our having of Life and being preserved while we do them what a mighty motive is it for Obedience to these Laws and for our Love to them also Mean is the being Blessed in the City and in the Field in respect of the Happiness that Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard and that hath not ent'red into the Heart of Man to conceive To have Life Eternal and all Joys attending it so that with Improved Souls and Spiritual Bodies we cannot wish them to be greater nor fear them to be less Joys must sutably following a Vertuous Life and so refin'd and sacred that they are worthy of an Immortality for the being possess'd how much doth it surpass a Life's being long in an Earthly Canaan and those more common and sensible Blessings that were given to it Though yet these Earthly Rewards are not wholly excluded by the Heavenly neither but when they shall be expedient for us we shall have them Eternal Blessings under the Gospel do assure us of Temporal so far forth as they shall be for our Good as Temporal under the Mosaick Law did presignifie Eternal ones that should follow For he that spared not his own Son but gave him for us all How shall be not in Him freely give us all things And herein upon much better ground are we placed than Those were who made Virtue to be its own Reward and would have Men even in the midst of Torments though there were no hope of an Alleviation to think that they had a sufficiency of Happiness from it alone This was high and magnificent Talk indeed and if secure from ever being put into Practice it might have rested in Speculation only Virtue would not have been discredited thereby But small Comfort it carried with it when Pains and Troubles were actually to be undergone And a Man on the Rack might almost be thought not un-wise if for the obtaining of ease he would let go such an Happiness For more commended surely is the observance of the Laws of Christ which includeth in it all sorts of Virtue Our Obedience is indeed to be maintain'd if occasion there were even to the loss of all Earthly Enjoyments but then it often in this World hath Plenty and Honour as its Attendants and Reward Or if it so shall be that God in his Wisdom shall suffer it on every Hand to be encompass'd with Afflictions it yet hath somthing to sustain it besides the meer reflecting upon itself to wit the assurance that however its condition at the present be strait and difficult it will not always be so God can and it may be he will give Relaxation and Ease here but if this he shall not do there shall certainly after Death be Joys sufficient when these short Troubles shall be abundantly made up by an Happiness which never shall have an end And this may afford a firm support to Virtue and Administer a Cheerfulness even in the Valley of the Shadow of Death Who is it then that can refuse Obedience to the Laws of our Lord when he thus brings Life and Immortality to Light and promiseth them as Rewards to our Obedience And if the Excellency of the Laws themselves will not prevail upon the Man for his Love how can he stand out against the Happiness that attendeth them Those Christians that endeavour to put far from them this Happiness by esteeming the Obedience to be Low and Mercenary which hath respect to a Reward I very much pity as being such who through sad error deny to themselves the greatest comfort of their Life but very much blame them also in that as much as in them lies they devest the Holy Laws of their Inestimable Ornament and would take from us the Joy that is set before us which was the great support to our Lord in his enduring the Cross and despising the Shame and so may justly be an Encouragement to Vs in the doing of his Will Especially since by reason of our Weakness and Imperfection we have little reason to let go what may so strongly excite us unto and so sweetly confirm us in our Duty But Theophilus for the further securing of Obedience to these Laws there are Eternal Punishments after Death threatned to the Disobedient It is better saith our Lord to enter into Life Maimed than having two Hands to go into Hell into the Fire that never shall be quenched Where their Worm dieth not and where their Fire is not quenched There being a Worm to Gnaw the Man declareth that there is Torment and there being a worm not failing nor dying declareth the perpetuity of the Torment there being a Fire to burn denoteth pain and there being a Fire not quenchable for so the Words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifie denoteth an Everlasting Duration of that pain In like manner are we to understand those Words of St. Matthew Chap. 25.46 They shall go into Everlasting Punishment i. e. They shall go into that which shall never cease nor have end The Law of Old did indeed in its strictest constitution affix a Curse to wit Death upon every one that continued not in all things Written therein to do them But yet that Rigour was so far Mitigated that when less Punishments were allowed for some Sins Lustings though still forbidden might seem to have no Penalty at all imposed or else were thought to be wip'd off in Course by the Daily Sacrifices Hereupon it was that the Jews if they could abstain from outward Miscarriages were little concerned for inward Rectitude a freedom from Punishment rendring the Law of no weight with them But it is not so in the Laws of our Lord. They cannot be esteem'd to lose their efficacy for want of Punishment annexed Whosoever shall break one of these least Commands and shall teach Men so shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven i. e. He shall have no place in it shall be despised and rejected by God in the Day of Judgment Even the Looking upon a Woman to lust after her and the being Angry with a Brother without a Cause are esteemed by our Lawgiver in the same rank with Adultery and Murder and shall be obnoxious to the same kind of Punishment with them Which is well signified by the words in St. Matth.
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
this your Thought But lest it should leave behind it some Scruples in you I think these things may with Innocence be replyed unto it Viz. That though there are many that refuse the great Love of our Lord in his Laws and the Happiness promised in the Gospel yet some there are who do entertain and embrace them and who always shall do so When Elijah thought that He even He alone was left a true Worshipper of the God of Israel there were Seven Thousand in Israel who had not bow'd their Knee to Baal 1 Kings 19.18 Our Lawgiver hath and for ever will have a flock of Obedient ones though a little flock it be And better it is sure that some through the Gospel should be Saved than that all without it should Perish What Numbers there are that shall be Saved there is none can tell for the Faithful here in the Visible Church are in a sort Invisible unto us But They will through the Divine Goodness be greater than some severe ones have been willing to think them With more Charity unto Men and more Reverence unto God's Mercy which is over all his Works we may trust that God will not permit the Work of his own Hands and the purchase of his Son's Blood to be so much destroy'd since he hath assured us he hath no delight in the Death of a Sinner But leaving the Number of Those who shall be Saved unto God and praying that he would every day increase his Kingdom we may affirm be the Number what it will That it is better for their Sakes who obey these Holy Laws that the Gospel hath been Reveal'd than it would have been for theirs who Disobey them that it should never have been made known And there is some Reason to think that the Happiness of Holy Men in Heaven how few soever they shall be who shall reach thereunto will in the whole be greater unto Them than all the Torments of Hell shall be to the Damned how numerous soever they are Because the Merits of our Lord which were truly infinite have obtain'd that Happiness which will be answerable unto them when the Sins of Men which though great must needs be acknowledged less than our Saviours Merits have deserved those Torments which shall not be greater than their Sins were But Theophilus what I would further reply to your Thought is this to wit that so dear unto God are his own Wisdom and Justice and Goodness and so much excelling all other things in the World that the exercise of them through the Laws of the Gospel be the Reception of those Laws among Men what it will is better than the not revealing the Gospel would have been God is the Supream Legislator and in the Gospel Dispensation he hath acted as it became Him who is every way perfect If Men do not generally admit of his Mercy in so much Righteousness and Wisdom shewn it is yet good that it hath been shewn Because he hath therein truly done the part of a Just and Gracious Lawgiver And it is not fit that Mens not doing what was their Duty should have hindred what was in all respects so beseeming Him. And if for their Disobedience to the Gospel-Laws they shall suffer Everlasting Punishments it is yet better that those Laws have been given because of the Glory of God's Justice which is of infinitely more Value than the freedom of such Rebellious Sinners from pains would have been Which pains albeit intense and endless they be These Men do fully deserve since they have refused Happiness no less if not more intense and altogether endless It would indeed have been better for these Mens Persons as they by Disobedience to the Laws of Christ have carried it that the Gospel should not have been made known Not unlike as it was with Judas of whom our Lord thus pronounced Good were it for that Man that he had never been Born Which is all one as if he had said Better it would have been for him that he had never been Born than by his Traiterous Infidelity it will be from my coming into the World. But though it would have been better for their Persons as the having no being is to be preferred before the being in Extremity of Torments yet considering the Whole of things together better it is that even to their Misery since their Misery is thus chosen by them the Gospel of Christ should have been Revealed than that it should not have been The Honour of God's Justice is hereby Magnified Saints and Angels who rightly see things will discern the Beauty of it and praise God for it and God himself will have Infinite Satisfaction from having done according to the Perfection of his Nature I thought it not amiss to say these things Theophilus They will not be your Injury though possibly not needful to be spoken unto you And if you 'll interpret them to that honest freedom I take with you you will do well Theoph. Such a Freedom I ought much to prize which affords me Satisfaction in a matter which I durst not suffer to rise unto a Doubt If it were ill suggested to my secret Thoughts I foster'd it not And I have the less reason to find fault with it from the occasion it hath given of my being satisfied by you against any such thought for the future It hath furnished me I am sure with that which directly meets with the impious Folly of some Men and those too too many who are willing to flatter themselves with God's being so much a God of Mercy as that he will not destroy them though they walk contrary to his Laws Esteeming Men to be more pleasing to him as they are his Creatures than displeasing as they are disobedient And because God's Mercy exceeds theirs and they could not find in their Hearts to condemn others to Eternal Punishments They therefore are forward to think that however he hath threatned he will not condemn them But the Glory of God's Justice being as you have said of infinitely more value with him than the freedom of such disobedient ones from Pains can be reasonably thought to be doth utterly dash such untoward Imaginations Eubul What hath been said doth indeed appositely strike at these Men. For though God's Mercy be infinite yet it is exercised with Holiness and Wisdom which are likewise infinite And He who is every way perfect will never lean to any one of his Glorious Attributes alone so as in the least to forsake the other His Mercy is infinitely shewn in accepting upon such gracious Terms Mens poor Obedience to his Laws But if they shall refuse to obey him preferring the Pleasures of Sin before his Righteous Commands Their being his Creatures and the Work of his Hands will so little prevail with him that though they were yet further commended by being the immediate Off-spring of Abraham he would sooner out of the Stones of the Street form Men whom he might save than shew
Epistles excepting those only to particular Persons are written to the Holy Brethren To the Churches of God that are sanctified in Jesus Christ And to all that call upon the Name of the Lord Jesus And hereupon we may discern as in a late Book hath been well discoursed that the Holy Scriptures are as it were a Trust committed to every Christian and he is to be so true to his charge as by no means to part with it Yea these Sacred Writings are our Lord's Will and Testament by which a Man becomes an Heir through Jesus Christ And if so then He that is Heir of an Estate hath surely no less right to the Conveyances that make over the Estate than he hath to the Estate itself And therefore if in common Estates upon Earth it will be every Man's Prudence to secure to himself the Deeds upon which the Estates depend In this Heavenly Inheritance it will be every Man 's not Prudence only but Duty to preserve to himself the Writings that conveigh it The reason is because though a Man may without blame somtimes part with an Inheritance on Earth yet with That in Heaven he cannot without the Imputation of Folly and Wickedness and even the exposing of his own Soul to Sale and Servitude The Pleadings of some Men viz. That the permitting the Scriptures to be in the Hands of the common People is the cause of Schisms and Heresies would have more weight with it if in the Ages most fruitful of Schisms and Heresies the Learned had not had therein as great a share as not to say a greater than any others and if where the Vulgar have of late in this matter seem'd most guilty we had not too much reason to believe That even Those who most complain of them have by their secret Emissaries seduced them on purpose into Errors and divided them into Parties when otherwise they would have walked in straiter Paths and been more at Unity amongst themselves But though there hath been by some an ill use made of the Scriptures yet God to whom These Things long before were not hid thought them not reason enough for hindring the Writing of his Will or for the withholding it when written from the Hands of any And his Goodness and Wisdom is herein manifested in that the ill effects which would have proceeded from the not writing his Laws or the denying them to the Eye of the Vulgar would in all probability have been far more and greater than from the contrary And the good effects of their being written and allow'd to the use of all Men are by the blessing of God much greater than the bad Consequences now are Theoph. Inferr'd also may be the Reasonableness that these Laws should endure without Abrogation or Change so long as the World shall stand The Gospel is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Everlasting Gospel Rev. 14.6 Such as never shall cease nor be as to the Laws of it in any case Repeal'd And upon this account it is that the Time from our Lord's Ascension to the End of the World or his Coming to Judgment is called the Last Days in Holy Writ A great many years indeed have passed since these Laws were given by our Lord and a great many more possibly may pass before the Dissolution of the World shall be but yet these are the Last Days because we are not to expect another Dispension nor another Lawgiver For it is He that will be with us in his Laws and by his Spirit unto the End of the World. Better Laws cannot be given None can Imagine how there should be any Other more sutable to Infinite Holiness Justice and Goodness in Him that gives them or more agreeable to the Nature and Soul of Men to whom they are given And so if the Gospel wherein these Laws are be called Everlasting if the Time that shall be to the End of the World together with that which hath already been since these Laws were given hath the Appellation of the Last Days upon the account that a further Declaration of God's Will is not to be expected we from our foregoing Discourse may easily perceive that abundant Reason there is why it so should be And whosoever they be that shall make the Breach of any of the Divine Laws either to be none or a less fault now than in former Ages it was under a Pretence that our Nature groweth weaker every Day than other and must therefore have its Allowances in Disobedience for so they seem too plainly to affirm who say Hodie pro fornicatione neminem esse deponendum quia fragiliora sunt nostra Corpora quà m olim erant Distinct 82 in Gloss do fouly reflect upon our Lawgivers perpetual institution and make those Sacred Precepts which should govern the evil Inclinations of Men to be in effect over-ruled by them which is a thing so extreamly ill that the World must be weak indeed when it is not odious to a Religious Ear. Eubul Your Inferences Theophilus are Right and I cannot at present think of another But that must not hinder your further going on with them Theoph. I have done what I promised following every one of yours with another But if you have made an end your ceasing is my excuse and may well be so Eubul To draw then to a Conclusion of this our Subject I hope in the Consideration of the Divine Laws we have not exceeded the bounds of our Duty by inquiring further than we ought to do Theoph. I think I justly may absolve you from any such fault now committed For though it be a fault over-curiously to pry into the Laws of our Lord as if all the Reasons of them were to be understood by us and though where we do not understand many things in Relation to them we are to acquiesce by persuading ourselves that they are in every respect Holy and Just yet where the reasons of them lie open to view or at least by an Humble and Devout search into them may easily be found out there it will be well-becoming us and no more than Duty to look into them That the Excellences of them may be discern'd by us and that our Love of them and Gods Glory from them may be the more raised and magnified And indeed Eubulus in all your words I have perceived nothing but what is agreeable to so humble a search and so pious an end And I acknowledge myself as much edified thereby so likewise much obliged to you Eubul The Design of our Discourse hath been good And that I trust will cast a Vail upon what Defects soever may have been in it And if it hath administred to your Satisfaction or in the Apostle's words but stirr'd up your pure Mind by way of Remembrance I shall account its doing so to be sufficiently my Reward A good Work it would be Theophilus if upon occasion we could prevail abroad for a due esteem and love of these sacred Laws Men are apt to
all Indignities without Endeavours of vindicating himself though he had the power of doing it small Encouragement there would have been for our complying with his Example had he not said Resist not Evil but whosoever shall smite thee on the Right Cheek turn to him the other also Love your Enemies Bless them them that curse you Do good to them that hate you And pray for them that despitefully use you that ye may be the Children of your Father who is in Heaven Certainly had there been only the Example of our Lord without any thing else we should not Theophilus have known how to interpret some Actions But if in the Example which he hath set his Will and Design should have been told the Matter of his Actions would have put on the Nature of a Law and so would have bound us to imitation not as Example so much as Law. Whence I suppose Theophilus it is plain that the Example of none no with Reverence I speak it not of our Blessed Lord himself do as of themselves lay any Obligations upon us and consequently our Imitation of Holy Men is to go no further than their Example hath the Divine Laws for its Rule and Warrant 2. The Perfection of the Laws of Christ which reacheth to all Moral Actions and even to the Thoughts of our Hearts sheweth us the same thing also Nothing is there that is just and good but the Precepts of the Gospel do enjoyn it Nothing that is unrighteous but is forbidden there And in this sense in is that the Law of God is said to be exceeding broad Psal 119. Now to say that there may be Examples of Goodness beyond what is included in the Laws of Christ is to make those Laws imperfect which pierce in every thing even to the dividing asunder of the Soul and Spirit and the Joynts and Marrow and which proceed from Him who is infinitely Wise and so cannot be thought to be any way deficient But to say that such or such an Example is good because it includeth in it that goodness which the Laws of our Lord do enjoyn is to grant that the Law is Superiour to the Example and though there should have been no such Example would have required the matter of it to have been done Theoph. But pray Eubulus what shall we think of the Example of the Church in some things which we account necessary to be done from her Practice when yet there is no Command in Holy Scripture for the doing them I will instance only in two things though I might in more to wit The Baptizing of Infants and the setting apart the First Day of the Week as Holy. It may seem that either we are mistaken when we press the necessity of these things or else that there are some things necessary which the Precepts of our Lord do not reach unto Eubul But yet Theophilus even in these things we are not swayed merely by the Example of the Church without great Reason moving Her to the constant Observance of them And though there be no direct Command for these things yet if they may with good probability be inferred from Holy Writ if there be a Congruity in them to some Laws given unto the Jews so far as Reason and Enquity enforced those Laws and if there be likewise some things in the New Testament that more than a little intimate the doing of them we may observe them upon the same Grounds that the Church observed them and not only from her Example Though truly her Example downwards even from her First Age may add Authority to the Considerations now mention'd in that she is a Society which above all others in the World hath the Aids and Direction of the Holy Spirit who is the Guide unto all Truth If we look upon your first Instance of Baptizing Infants there is a Command that all Nations should be Baptized God enlarging his Covenant to all Mankind which was confined to the Jews before Though truly even the Covenant which was made with Abraham of which Circumcision was the Seal was of an Evangelical Nature and belonged to him chiefly as he was the Father of the Faithful and to his Spiritual no less than to his Fleshly Race And if Children before and in the time of the Old Law were capable of the Covenant why not in the time of the Gospel where is much greater Love manifested unto Men than ever there was in the Jewish State And while Divine Love is more abundant to all Sorts and Conditions of Men shall poor and helpless Children suffer a Diminution in it Especially when our Blessed Lord was pleased to take them in his Arms to rebuke those that kept them from him and to pronounce that of such is the Kingdom of Heaven There is so much cause to think that the Priviledges of Children are not only continued but increased under the Gospel that to make us to be of another Mind it may seem necessary that there should have been a Command on purpose not to Baptize them And what Prejudice think we would it not have wrought in the Jews towards Christianity if their Children who were taken into Covenant under Moses should have been excluded the Covenant under Christ Or should it be said that God hath Mercy in store for them as Infants why if the inward Grace be vouchsafed unto them should the outward Seal of such Grace be denied them who if they be fit for the Kingdom of Heaven are sure not unfit for the Font As for your other Instance of setting apart the First Day of the Week as Holy Natural Religion will tell us that some time is to be allowed to the Service of God And Revealed Religion hath acquainted us that God by a Command to the Jews the Reason of which is fetch'd from the very beginning of the World had determined the seventh part of Time to be continued as his own Peculiar The Equity of which Portion of Time in that it respected the Resting of Cattel as well as of Men the Church still owneth as not knowing a better than what God himself had appointed But the Day of Christs Resurrection by reason of the Exceeding Greatness of Gods Power and Love shewed in it surpassing that Day which immediately succeeded the Creation and having been signalized by the Apostles and other Believers meeting together upon it not once by Chance or another time as it happened but frequently by Choice Our Lord also honouring their coming together by his own Presence and by the wonderful Presence of the Holy Ghost sent upon them on that Day and its being probable likewise that the Observation thereof was by the Order of the Apostles or otherwise there would not have been such early Discipline as the Laying by in Store Collections for the Saints on that Day nor would the Day itself in so short a time have been established throughout the whole Church still every Hour encreasing and further it being no less
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
pleasurable Entertainment is there for Holy Thoughts And whether we find him Curing Diseases Casting out Devils Feeding Multitudes with a Miracle Laying Command on the Wind and Sea and Raising the Dead Or whether we read him publickly Teaching or privately Instructing Praying in Secret unto God or appearing Gloriously in his Transfiguration How diversly may we be affected yet every way with Delight Yea if we look towards his Leaving of the World when in the Garden he Sweat as it were great drops of Blood under those Sins which in a Garden first took Birth If we consider his bitter Cross and Passion the Reproaches amidst his Torments and the Death that followed them though we Sympathize with him we yet cannot but love the Story For herein the wonderful work of our Redemption is compleated Here we see a Sacrifice of more worth than a World propitiatory for the Sins of all Mankind Because as Manhood was intimately conjoyned with the Godhead and made one Person He was Infinite who suffer'd and so paid our Price in a short Time which we ourSelves could not have done but by an Eternity of Torments If we read on and accompany our Lord to his Grave we shall find him after a shameful Death to be Honourably Buried wrapped in fine Linnen with Spices and laid in a Sepulchre in which never any before was laid And it may affect us with a secret Pleasure to see Him who was Conceiv'd within a Virgin 's Womb where no one Conceiv'd in Sin had before lain to be Buried as it were in a Virgin Sepulchre where no sinful Man's Body had ever been laid But what Joy may his Resurrection stir up in us after such endeavours to secure his Body if possible from Rising and when Risen to stifle the Truth of its being so It cannot but delight us to read of Angels descending from Heaven to rowl away the Stone before the Sepulchre and to attend upon our Lord in his leaving his Grave And it may almost be a pleasant doubt whether cheereth us the more their so kindly speaking to our Lords Friends that These went away though with some fear yet with great Joy or their terrifying the insolent Keepers that through Fear Those shook and became as Dead Men. If we are taken with Splendor we have it in the Angels appearance in Raiment white as Snow And also in the Resurrection of many Saints who after their Saviour had left his Grave came out of theirs and went into the Holy City and appeared unto many If Love and Kindness please us we have our Lord 's frequent shewing himself to his Disciples after his Rising And though a Crown was ready for him in the Heavens He yet cannot quickly leave Those who once had left all and followed him but continues among them Forty days speaking of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God. These great and delightful things are succeeded by His Ascension into Heaven which is truly Great and highly pleasant to a Religious Soul Whether we consider the Cloud of Angels which received him The Powers of Darkness which he led Captive or the inestimable Gifts which he gave through the Holy Ghost Gifts which were worthy of him and such as no one else could bestow And what especially concerneth us Our Nature which was Created lower than the Angels is in Him Exalted far above them And to our Joy also we read That He is gone to prepare Mansions for us That where He is there we may be also This sure if any thing in the World can entitle History to the greatest Love may well entitle this to Ours Abundance more there is in the New Testament which I shall not now insist on though it be exceeding Delightful I thought good to recount that which more immediately related to our Redeemer because it is of such unspeakable Value unto us Theoph. In the particulars which you have given of it I have more than once thought of the words of Seneca Cum Sextium lego libet omnes casus provâ—care When I read Sextius 's Book I could even Challenge Fortune to do her Worst I have an Antidote there greater than all her Mischiefs What was height o Expression concerning Sextius's Philosophy is no more than Truth if applied to this History When Old Simeon had taken our Saviour into his Arms it was in good earnest that he said Lord now lettest thou thy Servant depart in Peace according to thy Word for mine Eyes have seen thy Salvation The World hath nothing worthy my Eye or Thought after such an inestimable Favour And truly when a Man with a right frame of Soul reads these things what can his Heart desire more How much may he be above all ordinary Joys How much above all ordinary Griefs And yet Eubulus how much soever these great things tend to the composing of all irregular Passions in me I cannot forbear the being very much disturbed when I consider there are some who look upon all these things as imposture and have endeavour'd to beat them d wn as such Surely were there no other Proofs the Sacredness and Love which all along breath in them might shew them to be of higher Original than what Deceit could reach unto And could an understanding Man be tempted to doubt of their Truth yet me thinks they should so far prevail upon him as the less to care whether any thing else were true or not Eubul But God be thanked Theophilus we have the greatest proofs of these Things for the Confirmation of our Faith and for its and our Defence against all the Oppositions of Unbelievers and the Carnal Reasonings of the World. Why should the Evangelists and Apostles go about to deceive the World in things of so great Importance Their whole design in making known the Gospel was so far as can be discerned none other than that Mankind should through it be happy And what injury had the whole World done them that they should in a matter which so highly concerned it impose thus upon it as they needs must have done had they not been absolutely sure of what they declared Untruths for the most part look at the interest of the spreaders of them and are always of a less extent confin'd to certain Persons or Places or Times and are not such as shall respect all Persons Places and Times so long as the World shall endure as these things manifestly do unless there shall be a most Envious and Evil Nature or an inordinate design of Praise or Profit in the Inventors But neither of these can be thought to have been in Those who first published these things Not an Envious and Evil Nature for who out of Envy would publish such things as all Wise and Serious Men would wish should be true if really they were not so Who out of Evil Nature would write and declare Laws to the World that should beget and propagate the greatest Sweetness of Temper An happy effect of Envy it would be to
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
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