that is the effect of it is the whole Duty of Man founded on his Power and Wisdom ratio rei or reason it self the ground of such things as are of natural right Gods soveraignty the ground of such things as are of positive right I Shall begin with the Equity of Gods commands and shew how reasonably he requires the observance of them his nature most justly challenging and the excellency of his attributes really meriting whatsoever his Law exacts as our duty Man hath as the Moralists observe but a Political Dominion over his affections not such a despotical and absolute power as over his locomotive faculty and so over his outward actions so that he cannot love and hate and fear and desire as he list The Soul being a rational Agent moveth it self in respect of all Objects according to what it sees there of good or evil which begets liking or aversion Wherefore arrogancy is one of the most contemptible vanities amongst the Sons of men it being the most ridiculous thing in the World for men to require of others that Honour esteem reverence which they have no real worth in themselves to be a foundation of And it is worse tyranny than that of the Egyptian task-Masters who required brick without giving straw They say indeed honor est in honorante depending on the will of the giver yet it must be radically in him that is honoured there must be a Foundation laid by him whereon others must raise their esteem of him Wherefore the charge is given to Timothy and Titus that none should despise them that is they were to carry themselves with that gravity prudence integrity that none might have occasion to think meanly and contemptibly of them Now there is in God a real foundation for all those affections which he requires of us as the principles of all our outward actions whereby they are formed and fashioned First God requires that we should love him with all our might with all our strength with our whole Soul and this is in effect the keeping of his commands the fulfilling of his Law Love being the Queen-regent the commanding affection of the Soul the first mover that sets all on work as Austin saith Love is the byass which turns us where ever we go We may judge of the power of this affection by observing the effects of it in our selves where we do truly love how careful are we to please how fearful to offend how desirous to enjoy how ambitious to serve how unwearyed in serving how ready to run hazards to undergo difficulties what sympathy is there of all affections what jealousie So that God needs require no more of us for if he have our Love the rest will follow Now it were not beseeming the Majesty of God to require this of us were there not that in his nature and in his works that did justly deserve it but there is nothing in the creature attractive of our Love which is not eminently in him how great is his goodness how great is his beauty Zach. 9.17 that is those perfections of his nature which being found in the Creature infinitely below what they are in him make it amiable to us Goodness and greatnesse where they meet in Man are very desirable and lovely but God is Optimus Maximus as he is wont to be called the greatest and the best not exceeding us more in his greatnesse than in his goodnesse in his Glory than in his Grace Mich. 7.18 What narrow bounds did Peter set to his forbearance when he asked if he should forgive his brother seven times what would soon become of us if the forbearance of God were confined within such narrow limits we indeed pass by many offences in others because we know not how to revenge them but God could every moment by a word of his mouth an act of his will let us know what it is to contemn his authority And let us but consider the disproportion between God and Man how infinitely he is above him and the nature of God how holy and contrary to whatsoever is evil and we shall much more admire his patience and goodnesse We can do good to our Friends we who are evil but to do good to Enemies whom we have daily in our power and who still continue their enmity against us is too hard for us God is good to Angels that never sinned patient only to sinners Let us but recount the various acts of his Providence towards us consider the daily care which he hath of us the mercies which we daily receive from him the evil he preserveth us from what offers he makes to us of an eternal Glory with himself what means he affords for obtaining it how long space of repentance he gives us and we shall find our obligations to him to be infinitely beyond what they are to Parents Princes Friends disloyalty and ingratitude to whom is condemned abhorred of all Further the Fear of God is the whole Duty of Man Eccl. 12.13 that is efficienter though not formaliter for where ever it is it doth bind the Soul to its duty Job 28.28 Prov. 1.7 and I may say as much for this as for the Love of God Methinks it is a condescension in him to argue the matter as he doth with sinners Jer. 5.22 Mat. 10.28 when he might let them run upon their own ruine and know by experience the danger that they despise We should deride the threatnings of some vain boaster that should go about to affright us with such things as it were far above his power to effect but the frown of a Caesar an Alexander might make us tremble it is the most astonishing madnesse and folly in the World for men to account it generosity braveness of spirit not to be awed by the great words of Scripture to dare to sin to take courage against God like the Philistins 1 Sam. 4.9 and to account it meanness of spirit to be affrighted with the threatnings of an invisible God whose greatnesse we neither see nor feel though it is our own fault we seeing it in its effects every day It is he that hangs the Earth on nothing and when he pleaseth makes it tremble sends the Sun on his errand every day orders the host of Heaven making every Star keep its place thundring with his voice so as he can make the Emperors of the World run to hide themselves setting bounds to the raging waves of the Sea which they dare not passe and though he doth not every day reveal his wrath from Heaven against sinners yet he hath told us it is not because he approves of their ways or knows not how to right himself he only stays till the time of the Revelation of his righteous judgment and then he will pour out his wrath like fire and make the stoutest sinners run if it were possible for them under the Rocks and Mountains to hide themselves from his presence David and Solomon were both feared for
the honey comb the joy and rejoycing of his Soul He is glad when he can steal an opportunity to pray he finds so much comfort in communion with God therein and can say with Christ it is his meat to do the will of his Heavenly Father and the testimony of his Conscience is to him as a continual feast and makes the practice of holinesse more pleasant to him than all the delights of sin are to a wicked man And as it is in trading he that doth not throughly understand his Trade cannot make his best advantage of it to thrive by it and so grows weary of it or turns bankrupt when he that is well seen in the mystery of it and knows how to improve every opportunity of gain and so finds the benefit of it makes a pleasure of his businesse and will not be perswaded to leave it off So he that is but a Christian in shew and finds not that real advantage which others do of a strict walking with God nor any return of their formal heartlesse prayers grow weary of Religion and at length it may be cast it off while the real serious Christian by the Rich returns of his sincere and fervent prayers and the benefit which he finds by a close walking with God is so confirmed in his holy profession that nothing shall make him cast it off or think it a burden SECT XI The misery of wicked Men after this life demonstrated from Scriptures from the sufferings of Godly Men here in this World from terrors of conscience in good and bad from the Devils trembling at the thoughts of it which they have not so much reason for as Man The punishment of losse with the aggravations of it The punishment of sense exquisite without allay or intermission without end I Shall now proceed to that other consideration which will make the happinesse of Heaven much greater yea which considered apart doth much commend the excellency of Holinesse and clearly demonstrate how much it is the interest of mankind to follow after it damnum emergens is as much to be considered as lucrum cessans We should not only consider the reward of Holinesse but the wages of sin if a sinner could cease to be or might be annihilated when he dyes or if there were any state between Heaven and Hell our plea would have less force but there will be but two ranks of Men at the lâ—st judgment whereof one shall go into eternal life the other into everlasting punishment Mat. 25.46 Now I shall use the same method in considering this state of ungodly men after the end of the World which I followed in considering the state of holy men First giving some general demonstrations of the misery of it then some particular reasons why it will be so intollerable As first the Glory of Heaven may be imagined to be exceeding great by the preparations which God is said to have made for it so by the same Anthropopathy we may conceive of the misery of Hell God being said to prepare the punishment of the damned Mat. 25.41 It is said indeed it is prepared for the Devil and his Angels but wicked men shall be co-heirs with them of the same misery He is laying up his pile of Fire and Wood. Isa 30.33 and laying sinners as stubble in the Sun to dry that the eternal flames may prey more furiously upon them Nahum 1.10 suffering them to fill up the measure of their iniquity and so to treasure up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath that they may be fit for destruction Let us in the next place consider what Godly men have suffered in this Life read but the Marryrologies and see the dreadful torments that the Martyrs have suffered enough to make one tremble at the reading of them and if these things be done to the green tree those who are the objects of Gods love and dear unto him as the apple of his eye such on whom he hath determined to shew the Riches of his mercy what will be done to the dry with whom he is angry every day and on whom he will shew the power of his wrath if judgment begin at the house of God what will be the end of those that obey not the Gospel Further let us consider the terrors of Conscience which Godly men have suffered in this World when they have had lively apprehensions of the displeasure of God against them If his rebukes have made them consume as a moth fretting a garment if his frowns have distracted them and made them roar through the disquietnesse of their spirit What will it be for his jealousie to smoak and his wrath to burn like fire for ever Again let us consider what horrors wicked men have felt in their consciences in this life which are but the foretasts of that misery which they shall endure for ever Read but the stories of Vaninus Spira c. who have dyed in despair if such drops of wrath let fall like scalding Lead upon the Soul have so hideously amazed and terrified surely it is dreadful and astonishing to be cast into the lake that burns with fire and brimstone for ever And though there be many now can harden themselves against God and think by a stoical apathy to bear whatever God can inflict yet some have found the beginnings of Hell in their Consciences worse a thousand times than all the torments which the cruelty of Tyrants or incarnate furies could ever invent And whereas some may think with Spira that the expectation of future misery is worse than the suffering of it it is a wide mistake for according as Mâ—n feareth so is his anger Psal 90.11 ordinary calamities indeed are for the most part worse feared than felt but when a man hath raised his mind to the most dreadful and amazing apprehemions of the displeasure of God and the severity of his vengeance he cannot reach the vastnesse of it there is yet à plus ultra somewhat further as it is in our apprehensions of the Glory and happinesse of Heaven and at the last day the great and mighty men of the World who have set the judgements of God far above out of their sight and scorned his threats as a meer brutum fulmen or a Mormo to fright Chrildren and superstitious fools would be glad if they knew how to run under the Rocks and Mountains to hide themselves from the terrible Majesty of their Judge and to allude to the words of S. Paul 2 Cor. 10.11 Let such think that as God is now in his word when he seems to be absent from them such will he be also indeed when he shall manifest his presence and his righteous judgment We begin to think meanly of all whom we can see through or go about it is incomprehensibleness that commands a veneration that we shall alwayes find in God both as to the Glory of his Grace and as to the greatnesse of his Power and wrath Let
their causes that were holy men and such as could not be imagined to have a design to deceive especially the things which they delivered being such as exposed them to danger and trouble and were not likely to bring them any advantage in the World Or should Moses or one of the Prophets or Apostles arise from the dead tell us they did indeed live here upon the earth in such times and preach such Doctrine and work such miracles yea and they have found since their Death that those things which they Prophecyed or Preached are true they see those who obeyed their word triumphing in Heaven and those who contemned it tormented in Hell might we not as easily suspect that this might be some Spirit which appeared in their shape to delude us as that the Jews who are Enemies to the Christian Religion should devise a writing and disperse it abroad in the World which should so plainly confirm the Christian Religion as the Old Testament doth which is at this day owned among the Jews or that those Antient Writers should conspire together to deceive the World in recording the same things which we find in Scripture or that the Scriptures should be translated into so many languages and dispersed all the World over so soon after the Apostles times and none be so false to the divulgers of it or so true to the World as to give notice of it if it were a forgery or that these things should be recorded in the Roman Registers and the acts of their Senate to which Tertullian durst appeal if there had been no such thing This one thing would I learn should one come to us as from the dead in the likenesse of Alexander Caesar William the Conqueror Wickliff Luther Calvin and tell us in sober sadnesse that they were such a one that lived in such a time did such things Preached such Doctrine whether should we believe such a Testimony sooner than the unanimous consent of History concerning them and those Books and Writings which are generally received as the works of such Men If any shall say that Turks and Heathens are as confident of the truth of that Religion which they were brought up in as we are of the truth of ours I answer they have not like ground for their confidence as for the Heathens what became of their Gods their Oracles when the Hebrew Child was born and when the Gospel began to spread in the World Compare the miracles wherewith other Religions have been confirmed with those wherewith the Gospel hath been confirmed and see whether they be so many so confessedly above the power of Nature or Art so evidently wrought in the sight of all as those whereby the Christian Religion hath been confirmed What is the reason that the Turks admit no enquiry or dispute about matters of Religion but require an implicite Faith Truth seeks no corners error shuns the light Examine the Laws of Turks and Pagans whether there be that Purity Equity Wisdom consonancy to right reason and the light of Nature in them which is to be found in the Scriptures Examine the ways and means by which they have been propagated whether they have reached any further than their Swords have made way for them whether the Weapons of their warfare were spiritual or carnal whereas the Gospel prevailed through the evidence and power of the Spirit against the pretended authority of the Jews the Wisdom and learning of the Grecians the power and force of the Romans and Fishermen were too hard for Rabbies Philosophers Judges Generals Armies If any object the improbability of some things delivered in Scripture I shall only propound whether there be not some things which we are fully assured of either by experiments or Mathematical demonstration which to others seem as improbable as any thing in the Scripture seems to us and shall we not grant God to be as much wiser than our selves as we are wiser than other Men and suppose he could as easily convince us of those things which now seem impossible to us as we can convince others of those things which they cannot at present believe And if the seeming contradictions that are in Scripture be urged to weaken the authority of them they are rather an argument of the integrity and sincerity of the Penmen and their leaving things so securely which do not at first sight seem to accord with other Scriptures shews clearly they had no Plot to deceive the World otherwise they would have conspired to make their testimonies agree in words more exactly yet upon examination of the matter and considering the several circumstances of time place Persons scope occasion the several uses of the same word and phrase the latitude which all Authors use in their writings the several places and Persons of the same name the several names given to the same place or Person the shortnesse of Scripture History and supplying in one place what is wanting in another the attending rather to sence and substance than to words and phrases in citing Scripture we shall find that there is a very fair accord between those places which seem to be at the greatest variance and if we cannot reconcile all places yet if we consider that we have by attending to such things as I have mentioned already composed so many seeming differences we may conclude it is from our own ignorance that we cannot compose the rest and that there is yet somewhat else that we are ignorant of which if we could find out we might as easily reconcile the rest which at present seem most irreconcilable and it is obvious to every one how many difficulties and contradictions seem to be in every Science while Men are but smatterers in it which presently vanish as soon as they come more perfectly to understand it But now if this objection be framed against the differences which are among Christians which professe the Gospel I will by the way observe this that differences do most abound where men upon serious apprehensions of the weight and importance of the matters of faith do diligently apply themselves to understand themselves the mysteries of the Gospel and to see with their own eyes being affraid to be deceived in matters of such moment by depending upon the testimony of others and unwilling to lose their Souls and Heaven and God to save the labour of searching after truth and in those Nations where I have had opportunity to be conversant I have found most differences amongst them which have been most addicted to Religion and most sollicitous about the condition of their souls and most agreement amongst them which have contented themselves to follow others by an implicit faith without troubling themselves much to search after truth and where there hath been such a coldnesse and indifferency in matters of Religion that all have quietly accorded together as the Philosophers observe that cold doth congregate Heterogeneal things or such things as are of different kinds making them all
think I might periturae parcere chartae or rather better in ploy precious irrevocable hours than in Apologizing for that which needs no defence and which there is such a reverence of so deeply implanted in every Mans nature but upon a nearer approach and exact survey of things we shall find there is nothing in the World doth either need or deserve a more serions consideration and just defence The Speculative Atheist is such a Monster that many will hardly admit of such a thing in nature And it seems incredible to them that any should doubt of a Deity yet daily experience and observation refutes our more rational and retired Speculations and hath put many Learned Men to the labour of proving that there is a God this being the utmost we are able in the Theory to make good That there are none think that there is no God but such as for whom it were well if there were none and these being judicially given up to be seduced by their own lusts first think it would be well for them if there were no God finding his commands crossing their Carnal interests and corrupt desires thence they proceed to wish there were no God and by degrees arrive at flat Atheism inordinate passions converting Desire into Opinion as we easily believe that which we earnestly desire that so having baffled their Judgments and drawn them into the same confederacy with their Lusts they may sin without their control or contradiction and avoid the reproofs of their Consciences while they give up themselves freely to satisfie their vile affections His gradibus itur I affirm the Practical Atheist is yet a greater wonder and a more horrid Monster than the Speculative Atheist As Mirandula hath well observed it is a wonder that any should doubt of the truth of the Gospel after so many evident proofs of it but a greater wonder that any should believe it and yet live as if it were not true But Affrica hath not so many monsters in nature as Europe hath in Religion How many thousands of Zealots have we that professe the name of Christ and presume violently that they shall be saved by him yet look into their conversations and you would not believe their own mouths or imagine that they are seriously perswaded that there is a God an Heaven an Hell a Judgment to come wherein they shall be sentenced to their everlasting home Nay hear O Heavens and be astonished O Earth hath any people dealt so with their Gods which are yet no Gods as Christians deal with Christ Do Turks deal so with their Mahomet Do they scorn those that are most careful to observe the Rules of his Alcoran Are they ashamed to be seen to have any respect to his Laws Yet I call Heaven and Earth to record against Christians that he that turns from his wickednesse makes himself a prey yea as Salvian complained of old Mali esse coguntur ne viles habeantur Men are fain to turn Rebels against Christ and cast off the fear of his commands to free themselves from the scorn and hatred of Christians amongst whom he must go for a Melancholick dull sot or sneaking fool and one that hath nothing of generosity that dare not set his mouth against Heaven or defie the authority of his Maker insomuch that he that cannot harden himself against scorn shall be jeared out of Heaven he shall forfeit the reputation of his breeding that shall speak a word of the Scriptures he shall passe for a silly fellow that will abandon the pleasures of Sin in hopes of an unseen-Glory and he shall be accounted importunate or uncivil that shall interrupt Mens carnal mirth by casting in the ingrateful mention of God or his commands and be thought unsit for the company of Persons of quality and breeding Of old they accounted it the sum and substance of Religion to imitate him whom they worshipped Those that adored mortal Deities such as Alexander and Caesar were ambitious to imitate their Vertues yea some Emperors have been imitated by their flattering Courtiers in their Defects and Deformities The holinesse of God is his Glory and of all his attributes propounded to us for our imitation see 1 Pet. 1.15 Exod. 15.17 and compare Isa 16.3 with John 12.40 and yet how do men glory in their shame while they are ashamed of their glory Phil. 3.29 Jer. 2.36 but that some are wiser than to be so befooled out of Heaven holynesse would be hissed out of the World How many think it a greater reproach to call one a Saint than a Drunkard a Whoremongen or whatever is evil When the Scripture makes this a title of honor and that from whence they are so denominated absolutely necessary to Salvation O let not these things be told in Gath or published in Ashkelon Let not Turks and Heathens hear such things of Christians What God dowe worship What Saviour do we own Are they like the Idols of the Heathens who as Tertullian said of old are worshipped in vain and may be abused at our pleasure Quit your selves like Men awake your reason and consider what I shall say for God and for his holy Laws which are as the Apostle saith not only boly but just and good Rom. 7.12 So that as hath been well observed by Learned Men if God had never commanded what he hath done nor made any transcript of the Eternal Law out of the Idea of his holy nature yet what he hath commanded would have been best for Mankind to observe There is not only an equity in them but they are good naturally as well as morally conducing to the welfare of Mankind the good of the Universe insomuch that if we had stood on even ground with our Maker and capitulated with him on what terms we would submit our selves to him and what Laws we would be obliged to observe we could not have made conditions more for our own advantage or if Christ should wave his authority which he hath over us to command us though the authority of the superior is more to be regarded than the advantage of the inferior he might justly counsel us as Rev. 3.18 to observe his precepts as that which would be best for our selves and if we had no respect to his soveraignty yet regard to our own welfare and happinesse might oblige us thereto And having evinced the equity of the wayes of God and the benefit Men have thereby I shall endeavour to discover and remove the causes of this Practical Atheism that reigns so much in the World and though I know after all I can say the Disease will despise any remedy yet let me tell all the prophane scorners of Godlinesse till they can deprive themselves of reason that is become beasts God and his Saints shall have a witnesse in their breasts against their own souls SECT II. The equity of Gods commands Love which is the fulfilling of the Law founded on Gods goodness Patience Bounty Fear which with that observance
answer the hopes which God himself hath drawn us into And we may be most secure that he will not give such advantage to any Creature to enter into judgment with him Now let us consider what some of us have seen in the interviews perhaps of Princes the Coronation or marriage of Kings or on other occasions yet we have heard of more than we have seen We have heard of the Glory of Solomon and many other great Princes exceeding what our times have to boast of and yet we can enlarge our thoughts to something above these and let our minds wander into the four corners of the earth to fetch in the Glory and splendor of the World to make up to our selves an Idea of happinesse and yet when we have framed such an Vtopia such an imaginary Glory God who is too great and too good to deceive poor mortals hath given us to understand that his preparations for his Saints are somewhat above all this and that eye hath not seen nor ear heard non the heart of Man conceived what he hath laid up for those that love him In the next place let us consider that it is the blessed state of Angels which are first of more enlarged capacities than Men and yet they find a perfect felicity therein We should not make a judgment of the state and magnificence of a Princes Court by the reports of some poor Peasant who we might easily imagine would be ready to admire any thing which he should see above the pomp of his Landlords house where he used perhaps to labour or go sometimes to pay some poor rent but we should more easily believe some noble Courtier of a more raised mind or some Ambassador that hath seen the pomp of several Princes Courts and knows what belongs to State and greatnesse It had been no great matter to have heard Paul boast of what he saw in Paradise who was carryed from these poor Cottages of clay to the Court of Heaven like David from the Sheepfold to Sauls Court But the Angels continually adoring the Glory of their King and singing perpetual Hallelujahs to him doth easily perswade that the Glory of the Coelestial Court is far above what mortal eyes ever saw And besides the enlarged capacities of Angels we may consider that they are incorporeal so that these corporeal delights and pleasures which we have the most clear and lively apprehension of make up none of their happinesse but besides such delights which its likely we shall not want in Heaven there are more pure and spiritual delights enough to make an Angel happy which we can scarce conceive any thing of A further consideration which may argue the happinesse of that future state is the greatness and Glory of many wicked men here in this World Let us but consider how the great ones of the Earth many of which have been wicked men do bash themselves continually in Rivers of pleasure and enjoy for many years together whatever their hearts can wish and what we ordinarily see great ones now enjoy is little to the Glory of a Belshazzer a Darius an Alexander a Nerâ— the Grand Signior the Kings of China and yet all this is but as the crumbs that fall from the Childrens table What then can we imagine them to be fed with these are but the spillings or the overflowings of his bounty to his very Enemies how great then is that which he hath reserved for those to whom he hath purposed to shew the exceeding Riches of his Grace to give the World a proof of his bounty and Glory as a Prince that would make an entertainment for ostentation and shew his great respect to some of his special and most beloved friends We read often in Scripture of the preparations that God hath made for his Saints which is but a metaphorical expression of the greatnesse of that glory which he hath ordained them to as those entertainments which Men do long prepare for do far exceed what they on a sudden make being unawares surprized by the coming of their friends I will yet add another proof of the greatnesse of that Glory which we hope for taken from the fore-tasts which many have of it here which hath made them Glory in tribulations triumph in the flames and not only abated but wholly taken away the sense of the most exquisite torments that some Martyrs have felt no more in the fire than if they had been in a bed of Roses Some after long conflicts and terrors have had such ravishing joys that they have cryed to God to hold they could bear no more If such glimpses have so ravished them what is the full view and clear vision Let us imagine a confection the least drop of which distilled into a draught of Gall or Wormwood or whatever can be supposed to be more bitter and distastful should wholly alter the tast of it making it most pleasing and delicious how sweet would a full draught of it be without the least mixture of any thing distastful and unpleasing so if such drops of spiritual joys are able to sweeten the bitterest cup of afflictions what shall we think of bathing our selves and drinking our fill in those Rivers of pleasure at Gods right hand for evermore without the least mixture of any sorrow or trouble to allay the sweetnesse thereof I have hitherto in general shewed that the Glory of Heaven is like to be very great and inconceivable much more inexpressible but I have not yet attempted to shew what it is or wherein it consists and while I say it is not to be expressed if I should go about to set it forth fully there would be contradictio in terminis so that all I dare pretend to is some rude delineation of that state of happinesse Man is made up of two essential parts Soul and Body now though the Soul be the more noble part yet doubtlesse the body shall have its share in this felicity If God hath so far honoured them as to make them the Temples of the Holy Ghost and given Christ a charge that he should lose nothing of what he hath given him but raise up our scattered dust at the last day Job 6.39 he hath certainly reserved a reward for that which hath had so great a share in our sufferings here and he hath told us in general that he will by his Divine power change our vile bodies and make them like his glorious body but sure as we approach nearer to the nature of God in our souls so they shall have the greatest share of future Glory and in general it shall be with the Glory wherewith Christ was glorified from Eternity and after his suffering and this shall be by the enjoyment of God which is the acting of the perfected faculties and affections of our Souls upon him Every sense hath its proper object in the enjoyment of which it takes complacency according to the suitablenesse of the object thereto and according to
wise to do evil but he hath no knowledge to do good Now experience doth more confirm us in the belief of this than a thousand Arguments Again we oft read of the enmity of the Devil against Mankind and though his power be not much discerned by many yet it is like the influence of Coelestial Bodies Sun Moon and Stars upon these sublunary things powerful and effectual though not discerned but in the effects hence we read of his working effectually in the hearts of the Children of disobedience of men being taken captive of him at his pleasure of the strength of delusion of his going about like a roaring Lion of wrestling with principalities and powers and resisting the Devil stedfast in the Faith He that should have seen the Poor Man cured by Christ offering violence to himself and casting himself sometimes into the fire sometimes into the water would have easily concluded that he was acted by some evil spirit to such things as were destructive to his own nature so to see men sin against their own souls and run such desperate hazards against their own interest is a clear argument that they are acted by some other nature which seeks their ruine and destruction Now these may be remote causes of the prevalency of that Atheism which we see and lament in the World but yet there must be some nearer causes searched out for unlesse it be in some secret Sympathies and Antipathies Man doth ordinarily act according to reason that is what is either really so or seems so to him and there must be some ratio motiva to elicite or draw forth the acts of his will The Grace of God is powerful in good actions yet it works congruously to our natures moving by the means of some rational arguments and principles so the efficacy of the Devil is very great in evil actions yet he makes use for the most part of moral arguments though he had such a hand in Judas his Treason and Annanias his cosenage as that he is said to put these things into their hearts yet by the whole tenor of their story we find that there were some moral motives he made use of and that it was covetousness that did more immediately sway in these sins Now it seems one main reason of Mens Atheism which is more near and immediate is the prevalency of sense as there are some actions which do prevent the reasonings of the mind which we call actiones hominis but not humanae which indeed are actions of Men but not humane actions proceeding from the essential principle of man objects coming to the sense before they can have access to the understanding the spirits move disorderly till the understanding taking cognizance of the matter do rectifie such motions of the spirits as in a sudden noise or unexpected sight the senses as the Centinels take the first alarm but as soon as the news is carryed to the understanding as the main guard or principal officer and found to be of no dangerous consequence this sudden commotion is allayed so in more important passages of our lives sense makes many disorderly sallies and motions without taking counsel of the understanding and objects do make very deep impressions upon them and the Scripture doth take notice how much we are led by sense in this frail state wherein we are so as we may all say with the Propher Law 3.51 Our eye affects our heart this is the foundation of the Apostles argument 1 John 4.20 He that loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen We have a thousand times more reason to love God than to love our Brother considering the perfections and excellencies that are in God to render him amiable and the obligations which we are under to him who hath done more ten thousand times for us than all the friends which we have in the World but whatever reason there may be in the thing it self the Apostle argues according to our poor capacity the access that things have to us and doth clearly suppose that things which have accesse to out senses are more effectual for moving our affections than such things as are only the object of faith So though we hear of an infinite Majesty that created and sustains our selves and all other finite beings who seeth all our actions and will one day call us to an account for them and likewise of an eternal weight of glory made up of things which eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor ever entred into the heart of Man to conceive these things do not move us because they are far out of our sight and the things of the World which are nearer to our senses and are the immediate objects of them pleasing the tast delighting the smell tickling and flattering the Ear dazling the eyes have more prevalency upon us But yet upon examination we shall find this is not sufficient to prevail against those important considerations which I have already proposed nor to leave mankind excusable for abandoning himself to the pleasures of this life so as to neglect those better things which are propounded as the reward of holiness Let us but quit our selves like men and exercise those common principles of reason which we exercise in other affairs of our lives and though we cannot perhaps thereby silence the clamors of sence yet we may confute them and reject them Do we not ordinarily see men correct the errors of sense by reason Do we not see them part with their blood to prevent the inconveniency of a disease which for the most part they do believe or suspect not upon the evident demonstrations but probable conjectures of a Physician or at best by their own reason Do not men endure the cutting off of a member to save the body and lengthen out a miserable life for some days or years Do not men drink the most unpleasing potions for the recovery of their health or repairing their decayed strength Do not men cast their seed into the earth in hopes of receiving the increase of it Doth not the Merchant send away his goods in hope to receive others for them which may bring him some gain and advantage And what is all this to denying ungodliness and worldly lusts denying our selves the pleasure of sin for the pleasure of Heaven yea do we not see men ordinarily binding their Sons to some Apprenticeship for many years that so they may learn a Trade to maintain themselves in some repute in the world when they shall come to years rather than let them live in idlenesse and pleasure giving up themselves to childish sports and vanities when they are young which would afterwards expose them to poverty and contempt And he is accounted a cruel and unjust Father that will not thus love his Child with such a prudent severity rather than undo him by a foolish indulgence yet how wide a difference is there in these cases And how
far doth this fall short of expressing the unreasonableness of such as will rather enjoy present pleasures than prepare for future happinesse A Child is bound to an Apprenticeship and he perhaps dies before his time be out and so all his labour and charge is lost or he doth not live seven years a Freeman after he hath lived seven years in a hard service But he that gives up himself to the service of Christ let it be imagined to be as hard as some mens prejudice perswades them the sooner he dyes the sooner his service is ended and though he dye never so soon he loseth not his Freedom but is made a Citizen of Heaven and once entred there he never dyes but doth for ever reap the fruit of his labours Do we not give twenty times as much for the Fee-simple as they speak of an Estate as it will bring us in one year and according to the same rule were we sure to enjoy the pleasures of sin twenty years and could imagine them to be equal to the joyes of Heaven yet we should quit them for those everlasting pleasures which we should enjoy for ever our selves and not only for some Ages as we hope to do Estates on Earth not in our selves but only in our posterity Further yet we see it is in vain to lay a snare in the sight of any Bird. Prov. 1.17 they will not come into the Net to feed if they perceive it or swallow the bait when they see the hook yet foolish men do venture on Hell which they are told will certainly be the wages of sin and will enjoy the present pleasures of it though they have all the assurance that a man can have of any thing which he sees not with his eyes that it will cost him his life and that his Soul must rue for ever in Hell God indeed doth not manifest himself to us ordinarily here nor take us up as he did Paul into the third Heavens to shew us the Glory thereof but he will have us to exercise faith here and to take his word which he hath so fully confirmed to us that we may as certainly trust to it as if we had the clearest evidence in the world The Husband-man casts his seed into the ground without any fear or suspition of losing having been confirmed by many experiments in the hope of receiving it again with increase but a thousand experiments will not so fully perswade as a divine testimony confirmed by Covenants Oaths and Seals the ordinary wayes of confirmation amongst men so that a Divine faith founded upon the word of God is as the substance of things hoped for which are but future and makes them as it were really subsist and is the evidence of things not seen confirming them to us and as fully perswading us of them though they are not obvious to the sense as any Philosophical demonstration can confirm any truth so that notwithstanding the Apostle owns sence to be a great means to move affections in this frail state wherein we are yet faith serves believers for a sufficient foundation of love and delight Though they see not Jesus Christ they love him and rejoyce in him with joy unspeakable and full of Glory 1 Pet. 1.7 We are short sighted and cannot see a far off 2 Pet. 1.9 but faith as a perspective brings things nearer to us that we may judge of them as really present Let not our senses therefore usurp authority over Faith and Reason but lot Faith and Reason have their perfect work let not the Men of the World be wiser in their Generation than Children of light let us not be wiser in the things of the World than in the things of Heaven We chuse not the fairest of things for the most part but such as are more serviceable and durable nor the sweetest but that which is wholsom and nourishing we chuse not the cleanest or pleasantest way but that which leads to the place which we are going to So let us judge of things not according as they present themselves to our senses but as they have a real intrinsick worth to commend themselves to our judgments and let us not judge of things according to their suitablenesse to our present fancies but as they conduce to our abiding good measuring every thing not by Time but by Eternity SECT XV. Inconsideratenesse another great cause of Atheism against which the best remedies are a serious apprehension of the great moment and importance of spiritual things frequent reading and hearing the word of God Christian communion and conference about matters of Religion mutual admonition The prevalency of evil customs and habits the folly of deferring repentance ANother chief reason of that Atheism which abounds so much in the World is inconsideratenesse the most important truths do not affect us any longer than we consider them The Platonists observed this who made knowledge nothing but remembrance or an actual consideration of that which Man knows not reckoning that to be knowledge which lyes dead in the habit and doth not at all affect the Soul And we find that the Scripture layes much weight upon this consideration or remembrance yea as much as Mans salvation comes to We may observe Isa 1.3 There is an Epimone wherein the Prophet layes the sin of Israel upon this that they did not consider So 1 Kings 8.47 We may observe affliction brings men to bethink themselves that brings them to repentance and repentance is a means to obtain pardon and we find by experience that when Men are by sicknesse brought to a serious weighing of matters they are easily perswaded to make good promises and resolutions which when their minds are afterwards by the pleasures of the World diverted from the thoughts of they turn to their former course yea we see many times that Men are so ingenuous as to yield to reproofs and to condemn themselves and their own wayes when they are admonished of them as if they stood in need of no more but to be put in mind of such things as they have in their own hearts and only to have conscience awakened and we find Ezek 18.14.28 that the turning away of a wicked man from the evil of his wayes depends chiefly upon consideration I have already shewed that the Devil is the remote cause of that wickednesse and prophaneness which abounds in the World yet he useth this as the great means to draw Men from God to divert their minds from the thoughts of such things as may have an influence upon their affections and actions to make a change in them as we see plainly in the Parable of the Sower Luk. 8.12 Men hear the word then comes the Devil and takes it away out of their hearts lest they should believe and be saved First we find by experience that Mâ—n are oft seriously affected with those things that they hear while they are lively represented to their minds and pressed seriously upon their consciences
differences in Religion answered though we could not be fully assured that the Christian Religion is true yet it would be our wisdom to observe the Rules and Precepts of it The proofs which some have of the truth of Christian Religion clearer than those which some desire to have clearer than any produced for the truth of any other Religion Objections from the improbability and seeming contradiction of many things in Scripture answered Notwithstanding the difference amongst Christians all of them are agreed in so much as may serve for the well ordering of our conversations THere are some yet that being willing to find any pretence for palliating their sin will ask how we shall find out the true Religion amidst so many differences as there are amongst men about it When we see men agreed and come to some accord about matters of Religion we will consider of the whole businesse Now to such I answer that if their doubt be concerning the Christian Religion whether that be the only true amongst those which are professed in the world First the esteem which it hath obtained in the World and the reverence wherewith it hath been received in all places to which the knowledge of it hath come may challenge from any wise man the most serious weighing of what is offered for the proof of it which I will not here stand to sum up but will only say and that with much confidence that whosoever shall but seriously peruse what hath been written in several Ages for evincing the truth of it will see at least so much probability for the truth of it and so much reasonablenesse and equity in the precepts of it that they will account it madnesse in any to run the hazard of losing that reward which it propounds or suffering the punishment which it threatens to the despisers of it rather than submit to a Law so holy so just so good Let us suppose it many prove false yet what would Men lose thereby indeed they would lose their future reward but they would have the present advantage of it for as Chrysostom truly says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Scil. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The way of sin is more difficult than the way of holinesse And I cannot but here subjoyn the saying of a Learned Man on Mat. 11.29 Precepta Christi talia sunt ut si par ponatur consuetudo unius hominis ad reciè vivendum alterius ad flagitia non dubie multo dulcior sit futura vita quaesecundum virtutem est gravissima enim tributa pendunt qui ambitioni qui avaritiae qui libidini serviunt that is Suppose several Men equally accustomed to a sinful and a Holy life and the way of Vertue and Piety shall be found to be much more pleasant and those that are Vassals to ambition Covetousness sensuality will find the tribute heavy which they pay to such Tyrants So that as those who search into the secrets of nature to find out the Philosophers Stone though they attain not their end yet find out many secrets and experiments which may be pleasing and useful in like manner those who seek eternal happiness in the Gospel though it should be supposed that they may miss of it yet they shall find such real advantage by the observation of those precepts that are there given that their labour would not be in vain but they would be sufficiently recompenced for it But now suppose the things therein delivered should prove true what a woful case would those be in which should be found to be neglecters of it what a dreadful thing would it be for them to fall into the hands of the living God and you that think good to suspend your belief of the truth of the Gospel that so you may without disturbance enjoy the pleasures of sin and prevent the clamors of an unquiet accusing Conscience Gird up your loyns like Men and tell me I beseech you do the arguments which you have against the truth of Christian Religion as far exceed in probability those which are alledged for the proof of it as the Glory which it propounds as the reward of holinesse exceeds the pleasures of sin supposing that pleasure in it which you imagine or as far as the torments threatned as the wages of sin exceed the utmost severity that men can be imagined to submit themselves to in obedience to the Gospel yea let men but act congruously and allow as much in matters of Religion as in other instances of their lives and we shall find that as the Christians of old argued against the Heathens that they believed many things in Philosophy and humane learning upon lesse evidence than what was offered for the proof of Christianity so men do make much greater adventures upon more improbable grounds than any they can be imagined to make by conforming themselves to the Rules of the Gospel upon the grounds laid down for confirmation of it And if men were as suspicious and wary in other things as these Scepticks in matters of Religion they must not eat lest through the malice or negligence of some there should be poyson mingled with their meat they must not go into an house lest it should fall upon their heads they must not obey any commands of their Princes unless they should come and deliver them in expresse words to themselves because some might possibly counterfeit their hands and seals yea it is most evident that they must forbear so many things that they would not be sit for converse with men but would quite overthrow human Society Let me go a little further I desire in good earnest to know of Men what evidence they require to perswade them of the truth of Christian Religion and it may be what they have already will be found more convincing Some may fancy a voice from Heaven would satisfie them I answer they have already a more sure word of Prophecy 2 Pet. 1.19 They think perhaps if one should come from the other World of their former acquaintance and tell them what is done there they should believe but he that doth not believe the Scriptures will not believe though one should arise from the dead Luk. 16.31 Neither do I beg the question in alledging these things from Scripture grounding them wholly on its authority but assert them boldly as theorems which are demonstrable by reason being assured that there might be more objected against such kind of evidence than is to be objected against that which is brought in the Scriptures For tell me I beseech you in case there should be such a voice from Heaven might we not as easily suspect that our senses might be deceived or that it might be formed in the air by some spirit as suspect that we should be imposed upon by the Prophets who wrought so many miracles for the confirmation of their mission from God which so plainly fore-told many things to be accomplished after many Ages which could not be foreseen in