and Blood can smite the Stream and turn those sweeter Waters into Blood which nothing will do more effectually than the aforesaid prospect 2. This embittering of sensual and carnal delights is a thing of the greatest concernment and therefore must be necessary and all must be concerned in the Vertuous enterprize the greatest blessings the want of which make a Man perfectly miserable depend upon it even God's love of complacency and the Application of Christ's Merits and the Benefits of his death and Passion these belong not to the Soul that is enamoured with sensual delights no more than they appertain to Dogs or Swine nay they are useless and insignificant to such a Soul as much as the Mathematicks are to an ass or idiot There is a perfect antipathy betwixt these and the comforts we speak of for they are intended only for humble broken contrite Hearts which temper a Person that 's fond of sensual delights is not capable of nor can such a man relish them they are as Hay and Straw and Stubble to him and like a Person whose Appetite hath been spoiled by a raging Feaver he looks upon them as unsavoury and insipid food and though he may talk of them yet it is only as blind men do of colours As it is in Nature the Meat we eat must be agreeable to our Stomachs so it is in Grace There must be a Holy Principle within that makes these Spiritual comforts agreeable to it but sensual delights destroy that Principle and as Darkness drives out Light so these two are incompatible and indeed our blessed Saviour is very peremptory in his Assertion That he who doth not deny himself cannot be his Disciple Matth. 16.24 And what self-denial can there be where we do not deny our selves in that which is most pernicious to our better part For so are these sensual delights Not to be Christ's Disciple is to have no part in him Not to have any part in him is to be none of his Sheep and not to be of his Sheep is to be placed with the Goats at the left hand in the last Day and what the consequence of that is you may read Matth. 25.41 It s true maugre all that we can say to the contrary men who are resolved to indulge themselves in their bruitish delights will notwithstanding the contradiction they must needs be guilty of believe that they are Christ's Disciples and Favourites of Heaven and that Christ hath purchased Eternal Life for them and that at last they shall enjoy it but alas they know not what Eternal Life nor what believing means as well may a Man in Bedlam fancy himself to be a King as such Persons that they are the beloved of God while they live in that which is most contrary to his Nature and like Enemies to the Cross of Christ like Persons that have nothing but Body nothing but flesh nothing but sense about them If men may be saved contrary to Christ's Word contrary to his Declaration contrary to all the most solemn Protestations he hath made in the Gospel then such men may be saved not else who can reflect upon these doings without indignation or grief or sorrow or wishing for Rivers of Tears That men should pretend to own the Gospel and yet live directly contrary to the Laws of it argues either malice or distraction or stupid ignorance yet with such men for the most part we have to deal which makes St. Paul's exhortation highly reasonable Finally Brethren pray for us that the Word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified and that we may deliver'd from unreasonable and wicked men for all men have not Faith 2 Thess. 3.1 2. 3. This embittering our carnal and sensual delights is that which men for certain shall wish they had done when they come to stand before the great Tribunal In that Day mens Eyes will be open'd and things will appear to them in other colours than now they do Their understandings will not be clogg'd with this World or divertisements They will have other apprehensions of the Nature of Vertue and Holiness and the Truth of what Christ hath deliver'd in the Gospel The reasonableness of his Precepts the Equity of his Commands the excellency of his Doctrine the Divinity of his Miracles the infallible certainty of his Promises and Threatnings will all shine bright in their Eyes of all these they will be throughly convinced and no doubt no scruple no ambiguity will remain as to any of these points the vileness of their pleasures the brutishness of their satisfactions the rashness of their delights the baseness of their enjoyments the brightness of those Vertues they have despised the Glory of that Grace which they might have had and would not and the trivialness of the things they preferr'd before these will then appear so plain so legible that there will be no room left for ignorance It 's true these things might be known here and would men take the right way they might come to be convinced and persuaded of them on this side Eternity for some we find are fully satisfied as to these particulars and walk suitably to them and therefore it cannot be impossible for others to attain to it but their insensibleness is rather an argument of stupid negligence and willful laziness and so it must be where People are not or pretend not to be satisfied in things of this nature It is therefore necessary there should a time come when they shall be able to make no excuse nor to evade the force of these Truths and when they shall behold how wise a choice the self-denying Soul hath made and what her mortifications and severities do end in what applauses they receive in Heaven what kind looks from the Everlasting Father what Honour what Dignity what preferment is designed and appointed for her how such a Soul Triumphs at this time over Hell and Devils dares all the Furies of the Burning-lake scorns those foes which led the sensual Sinner captive makes her Nest among the Stars of Heaven is placed in the Quire of Angels meets with all the Carresses of a Gracious God is encircled with Laurels and Crowns of Joy and all her misery and sorrows and fears are at an end Reason tells us that the sensual Sinner when he shall behold all this will wish he had follow'd her example for that 's the necessary and eternal Consequence of all imprudent actions especially those that are grosly so for after them men do as naturally wish that they had acted the part of wise men as Balaam that he might die the Death of the Righteous Thus men become wise after the Fact and when they find what Fools they have been would be content that they had foreseen the evil and hid themselves who would not wish in that Day he had embittered his sensual delights that finds he is undone by eating of those luscious Apples And I need not tell you that it is
Seraphim and Cherubim such a Perspicuity of sight do Tears give to a Holy Soul That which made these great Men weep so much was either a Sense of their own and other mens Offences or a lively Prospect of the Love of God or a glorious fore-sight of the Joys above But worldly Sorrow is no Virtue and he that weeps much either because he cannot have those Conveniences he would have or is cross'd and disappointed in his Designs or because he hath lost such a great Mans Favour or because some other Loss befalls him weeps in vain nay sins by his weeping and his Sin if he continue impenitent brings on Death 2 Cor. 7.10 Floods of Tears upon a mere temporal Account are insignificant in Heaven and no more than Water spilt upon the Ground such Tears God doth not put into his Bottle nor have the blessed Angels any Charge to number the drops that fall but where Religion and a mighty Sense of God and Tenderness of his Honour and Glory causes Rivers of Tears and where the Soul hath so delicate a Taste that it cannot think of God without weeping nor speak of him without weeping nor reflect upon his Goodness without weeping there the Man is come up to a Perfection which is the very Suburbs of Heaven It 's true all People cannot weep nor are they therefore in a damnable Condition for they may be sincere in Goodness and yet not be able to express their Sincerity in Tears tho I am apt to believe that it is for want of refining the Soul into a high Relish of Divine Objects that puts a stop to these sacred Floods in most Men yet where they can weep and something they see in God or in the Word of God or in the Providences of God is the true Cause of those Tears every drop is richer than a Diamond and such a Soul may vye Happiness with the greatest Monarchs They are inestimable Treasures and though Man knows not how to value them yet the Spirits above esteem them at a mighty rate and magnifie them in Gods Presence Luke 15.10 It 's a huge Mistake that Men cannot rejoyce except they laugh there are Tears of Joy as well as Tears of Grief and the very Heathen saw that true Joy was a very serious thing Hence it was that they confined true Joy to their Philosophers and left the louder Laughter to Slaves and Carters and Ploughmen and how often have I seen the richest Joys bubble forth from the largest Tears Nor would Men in those Circumstances change Condition with the most potent Prince in the World such Content such Satisfaction such Riches such Wealth appears in these Tears which Religion forces How much better is it to be afflicted where our Porsperity and a good Conscience are inconsistent than to enjoy Kingdoms and Principalities without the light of Gods Countenance This was the excellent choice of Moses and of all the Martyrs of old who were content to be sawn asunder to be stoned to be tormented to wander about in Caves and Dens weeping and destitute rather than defile their Souls with Sin which puts me in mind of the good Advice St. Jerom gave to his Friend Heliodorus Did the Babe thy Grandchild saith he hang about thy Neck should thy Mother that bare thee bid thee look upon the Breasts thou hast sucked should thine own Father lie prostrate at thy Feet and entreat thee to spare thy self and to forbear venturing on the Strictness and Severities of Religion get away from them my Friend and with dry Eyes fly unto the Banner of Christ Jesus in this case to be cruel is the greatest Piety This was the Case of the Primitive Believers who preferred their Distresses before Nero's Chair of State and took greater Pleasure in their seemingly forlorn Condition than Claudius or Caligula in their Affluence In the midst of their Tears they were greater men than their Persecutors and though they wanted all things and their Enemies had all that Heart could wish yet they justly believed themselves happier in their Funeral Dress than the other in their Triumphs The Man that roars in a Tavern or sings in an Ale-house or rejoyces in his Sin had more need to wish that his head were water and his eyes a Fountain of Tears were he in his Wits he would do so But his Reason is distorted his Understanding darkned his Eyes blinded his Mind unhing'd his Desires perverted his Affections led astray and like a distracted Creature he rejoyces in his Nakedness Ah brutish and inconsiderate Soul Thou weepest to see a Child or a near Relation dye and canst thou see thy Soul die and be robb'd of that Goodness which must give her Life and be unconcerned Thou weepest at the loss of a thousand Pounds and canst thou remember how thou losest God's Favour and all Right and Interest in the Merits of a crucified Saviour and keep thine Eyes dry Thou weepest to see a Friend drowning or burning in a merciless Fire and canst thou think how thou flingest thy self into the Furnace of God's Wrath makest his Anger kindle and wax hot against thee and dost what thou canst to turn it into a Fire which no Man no Angel can quench and will no Tears flow into thine Eyes How barbarous how inhumane is thy Joy What doest thou rejoyce in That Sin which makes thee merry that Folly that cheers thy Spirit what is it but Ingratitude to thy kindest Benefactor What is it but requiting the greatest Good with the greatest Evil What is it but contempt of him who keeps thy Soul in Life What is it but bidding defiance to him who carries thee on his Wings and out-does the tenderness of a Mother the care of a Father and doth all that 's fitting to guard thy Soul from Ruine And are these fit things to rejoyce in Are these fit Objects for thy Mirth Are these Divertisements for a Creature that holds his very Being of God and is beholding to him for all the Blessings he enjoys What wonder if after all this Impiety and Stubborness God rejoyces too rejoyces in thy Groans rejoyces in thy Anguish rejoyces in thy Agonies rejoyces in thy Sense of his Justice rejoyces in thy Howlings This he must do at last to secure his Honour This he will be obliged to do in the end to vindicate the Veracity of his Threatings This he will be constrained to do after all that Devils may not mock his Holiness nor deride his Thunders nor upbraid him with Partiality At that time this will appear very good Divinity no Fable no Romance no Trade of Priests no Invention of Politicians no old Wifes Tale no idle Story and if thou could'st exhaust the Sea in that day and weep it out again to testifie thy unfeigned Sorrow thou would'st do it Happy the Soul that thinks of this Happy the Man that believes these Terrors before he feels them How much wiser are those tender Hearts that do little else but weep and
go out in a snuff and himself the object of Gods wrath and indignation and that makes him impart this sad memento to the Man who hath Blood and Youth and Strength enough to be vain and foolish Rejoyce O young Man in thy Youth and let thy Heart cheer thee in the days of thy Youth c. By way of Explication I must take notice of these few things 1. That the words young Man and Youth in Scripture especially in this Book are not only meant of that time we commonly allow to Youth which is from Ten or Fourteen to Twenty or Five and Twenty but include all that Age which is fit for action and the Hebrew words import so much being derived from a Root implying choice and election so that the time here aimed at is the chiefest time of our life or that time which any Man of sense would chuse for action 2. That those sentences which sound like exhortations are perfectly Ironical or spoke by way of derision as if we should say to a Man Go play the Fool burn thy Finger in the Candle and see what thou wilt get by it whereby we do not mean that he should do so but do rather express the silliness and simplicity of the thing to make him avoid it and such Ironical expressions or mocking exhortations are very frequent in Scripture as 1 Reg. 18.27 Cry aloud for he is asleep which is a kind of mocking the stupid Priests of Baal that called on a Stock or Stone so Jer. 49.11 Leave thy Fatherless Children and let thy Widows trust in me i. e. Ay go comfort thy self with this that I will take care of thy Fatherless Children and provide for thy Widows but thou shalt find thy self egregiously mistaken so here Rejoyce O young Man c. i. e. go play the Mad-man let thy sensual Appetite rove gratifie thy Flesh please thy besotted Heart fix thine Eyes on what Beauty thou thinkest fit sing care and reason and thy wits away and see what the Issue of all will be and so much is evident from the following words which are a bridle to all these extravagancies and the gall that embitters all these sweets and therefore the Chaldew Paraphrase justly turns these mock-exhortations into a serious Admonition walk in humility let not thine Eyes gaze upon that which is evil but be exceeding cautious and so the Septuagint walk spotless in the ways of thy Heart and not in the lust of thine Eyes 3. God brings a Man into Judgment two ways either by causing his Conscience to awake with horrour in this life and laying some other heavy affliction upon him and there is mercy in this process for this may yet lead the forlorn Soul to serious thoughts of repentance bring the pangs and throws of the New Birth upon her and deliver her into a New Creature Or where God intends a higher degree of wrath and indignation he lets the jovial sinner alone on this side Hell and the burthen shall not fall on him till he comes to look the angry Judg in the Face at which time as the Surprize will be greater so the horrour and anguish of mind which will seize on the sinner will like Nebuchadnezzars Furnace prove seven times hotter than ordinary upon which follows eternal despair and endless howling and gnashing of Teeth The result of all is this Proposition That the prospect of a future Judgment is enough to embitter all the sensual and carnal delights of Men particularly of young Men and to bring a damp upon the most Youthful and most jovial temper imaginable Not only the sense of the Text I have already laid down imports so much but there is this farther in it that the wise Man seems to couch his argument plainly thus do but take a view of that dreadful Judgment God is resolved to bring thy guilty Soul to and thou wilt not dare to indulge thy self in the mad rejoycings of thy Youth nor walk in the ways and after the fancies of thy corrupted Heart nor suffer thy wanton Eyes to fix on those objects from which God hath bid thee turn thy Face away You know the story of the Young Gallant who riding by a lonely Hermits Cell and finding the solitary Man very devout and fervent in Prayer and looking with a severe and mortified countenance called to him Father Father what a fool are you to debar your self of the charming refreshments and pleasures of this life and live here immured within Walls of Mud and Clay What if there should be no other World to what purpose is all this rigour and mortification The Hermit heard him and replyed Ay but Friend What if there should be one Where are you then What a Fool will you be then How will you wish that you had been in my condition The youngster startled at these words went home left his Women and his Swine his Lusts and dry Husks of bruitish delights and like the Prodigal became another Man The truth is we have seen this prospect of a future judgment have very strange effects upon a Man who was not apt to be frighted with sad Prognostications and that was Felix a Person who had drunk as deep of the stolen Waters of sensuality as any Man then living for he lay in the embraces of Drusilla who was another Mans Wife and enjoy'd that Beauty which his lustful appetite desired without lett or controul yet behold when St. Paul reasoned of temperance righteousness and judgment to come the Text saith Felix trembled The Sermon awakened the notions of Divine justice that were engraven on the Tables of his Heart made him uneasie put him into consternation and for the present forced him to loath the Bed where his abomination was wrought We are told of a custom in some Kingdom that the night before a Condemned Malefactor is to die a very shrill Trumpet sounds before the Prison Door which is a certain sign that he is to die next day and before whose Door soever the fatal Trumpet sounds over night no Prayers no Tears whatever condition he is of or whatever Figure he makes in the World can save him from being Executed It happen'd in process of time that the King who had made this Law after he had streamed out a considerable part of his life in extravagant actions on a sudden became serious was often seen to retire into his Closet gave strict order for extermination of all vices and though before he had doated on Mirth and Jests and sensual Satisfactions yet these were now all abandon'd and turn'd into a scene of gravity and sobriety such an alteration we must think must be a very strange surprize to Courtiers who impatient of this change and supposing it to be a fit of Melancholy took the freedom to ask him what the reason of this Reformation was The Kings Brother especially none of the most Religious sought often to divert him tempting him to see Shows and Plays and Women
and such baits as served either to plant or cherish vanity in his mind and affections but all in vain One Night the King desirous to bring his Brother to a better sense of Spiritual things bids the fatal Trumpet to be sounded before the jolly Princes house who sensible of the meaning of that noise that he was to die next morning starts out of his Bed throws by his stately Robes puts on a ragged Garment weeps Rivers of Tears and a mighty horror seizes his mind and assoon as it was day comes to the King in this posture and intercedes for his Life to whom the King said O Brother are you frighted with the sound of this Trumpet which foretells my Subjects approaching and inevitable Death and doth this noise force you into Tears and Sackcloath and humble supplications and can you blame me for being serious who know not how soon the Archangels Trumpet of far greater consequence and importance than this will sound in mine ears and summon me and you and all my Subjects to the Judgment seat of God and perhaps to eternal despair and agonies Go home said he and by my example learn to despise the World and prepare for that Day But this subject will invite us to a larger discourse and therefore it will be necessary to enquire 1. What reason we have to believe that there is a Day of Judgment 2. What there is in that future Judgment that 's able to cast a damp on the Mirth and Jollities of Men especially the younger sort 3. How the prospect of that Judgment must be managed that it may actually damp and put a stop to these carnal delights 4. Whether every Man is bound to embitter his carnal delights with this prospect 5. Whether upon this account a Man be obliged to mind nothing that savours of Worldly delight and sensual satisfaction 1. What reason have we to believe that there is a day of Judgment Having to deal with Christians at least with Men that profess themselves such this query seems needless for the Scripture which the Christian World pretends to believe to be derived from God is full of passages of this Nature and assures us that this belief of a future Judgment is as ancient as the Creation of the World For Enoch the seventh from Adam who in all probability had it from his ancestors Prophesied of these saying Behold the Lord cometh with Ten thousand of his Saints to Execute Judgment upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodlily committed and of their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him Jude v. 14 15. And this Faith hath been followed by all the succeeding Saints Patriarchs Prophets and judicious Men was confirmed by the great Messiah the Lord Jesus and his Apostles who gave us a more lively description of it and hath since been entertained by all the Christian World at least in profession though there are but few that act and live like persons influenced or overaw'd by that belief so that if Christians keep close to their principles it can be no difficult thing to perswade them to believe that which they imbibe with their Mothers-Milk and education advances into an open profession and daily declaration But we have seen and do see a strange degenerateness in most Christians and not a few that go under that name though they do not openly question this truth yet they either live as if they did or infidelity reigns secretly in their Hearts and it 's to be feared that whatever their Tongues may speak in their minds they are not fully perswaded of it And were such Men willing to be perswaded it should be no contemptible argument to convince them one would think that the greatest part of the World is of that belief not only Christians but Jews Mahometans and the Heathens themselves that it is a grand Article of the Jewish Faith none can deny that ever conversed with them that the Mahometans are stedfast and sincere in their assertion and clear in this point any one may see that hath read their Alcoran and that the Heathen World is no stranger to it appears from what their Sybilline Oracles their Philosophers and Poets have professed The Sybilline Oracles indeed are suspected by learned Men and look'd upon as Pious frauds used by the Fathers thereby to convince the Heathens the better of the Mysteries of Christianity though it will not enter into my head how the Fathers could have confirmed any of their Doctrines from these Oracles if the Heathens they had to deal withal either were not satisfied that those things had been spoken by their Prophetesses or had believed that the Fathers had foisted those Oracles into the Sybils writings which either were not or had never been there for this would have been so far from being an Argument against the Pagans that the Chrisitans would have laid themselves open in nothing so much as in these Quotations had they been false or supposititious However Plato's writings have been convey'd to us without any signal corruption and he gives us a very accurate account of this great Day as Hydaspes an Ancient King of the Medes had done before him and the Heathen Poets though indulging their fancies in somethings yet have delivered many excellent truths to us whereof this future Judgment is not the least we need go no farther then the Sixth Book of Virgils Aeneis where the Opinions of the Ancient Heathen Sages are collected and expressed in Verse and it 's worth observing that he makes his Judge Rhadamantus inflict particular punishments on those Souls that have differred their Repentance to thier Death-Beds And how can we imagine that the whole World at least the wiser part of it should so unanimously believe a future Judgment after this Life if either there had not been a great propensity in their Nature to believe the notion or reason had not convinced them of the certainty and reality of the thing If we grant that God hath given a Law to Man we must necessarily grant that there must be a Judge to call those to an account who have violated and broke those Laws Man we see is capable of being govern'd by a Law and without a Law to govern him would run wild and become a meer bruit we must therefore necessarily believe that God hath given us a Law and what Law more sutable to his Nature or the principle of reason than what we have in the Bible which is indeed the Law of Nature expressed in livelier and more legible characters it's fit therefore there should a time come when the Obedience and Disobedience of Men may be taken notice of and the Obedient rewarded and the Disobedient punished God hath made Man his Viceroy here on Earth to which purpose David said Thou hast set him over the Works of thy Hands and hast put all things under his Feet and experience shews
in Darkness and after all to share in the boundless Inheritance with the Children of Light How unlike thy self wilt thou appear before God if thou come without these qualifications Thou art a Christian but where is the Life of Christ that should be in thee Will the Judge ever take thee for his Sheep when it 's evident thou do'st not hear his Voice How ridiculous is that Man that hangs out a Bush and yet hath no Wine to sell And how foolish is that Apothecary that writes glorious Names upon his Pots when the rich drugs that are named have no being in his Shop And will it not tend to thy everlasting confusion that thou hast had the Name of a Christian and done nothing like a Christian Thus the particular proceedings of that future judgment must be applied to our selves if we resolve that the prospect of a future Judgment shall damp our carnal delights and satisfactions and without using this method we do but trifle and talk of breeding Mountains and bring forth ridiculous Mice play with Religion and are not in good earnest when we say we believe a future account 3. But neither the Reflections aforesaid nor the Application we have spoken of will make any deep impression except all be seconded with earnest Prayer that God by his holy Spirit working in our Minds would make the attempt effectual this must set to its Seal drive in the Nail and clench it The Eternal Spirit must give success to these enterprizes and in vain do we plant or water except he gives the increase He is that anointing which must supple the Soul and Crown all with Laurels and Victory By strength of thought and application the Fort of sin may be assaulted but without this Spirit lends his helping Hand it will never be taken or subdued His Power must overcome the Oppositions our Flesh and the World will certainly make in this case and if he blows upon our Hearts the strong Holds of Iniquity like the Walls of Jericho will fall and nothing can stand before him and he will certainly come in to our assistance if our Prayer and Addresses be fervent and importunate Upon such Devotions the frequent Discourses of this Day of Judgment we read or hear will be so far from bringing the thing into contempt with our Souls that our Hearts will be awaken'd more and it 's impossible we can miscarry in the pious design if with strong cries we apply our selves to him who hath appointed a Day in the which he will judge the World in Righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordain'd whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the Dead Act. 17.31 That which we are chiefly to insist upon in these Addresses is that we may get lively apprehensions of that Day and such apprehensions as no pleasure no folly no temptation of the World may darken or destroy and here let the Soul break forth into such Ejaculations O God Great and Glorious make me deeply sensible of that Day and of that Hour when the Son of Man will come when the Goats shall be separated from the Sheep the Tares from the Wheat the Good from the Bad when neither Prayers nor Tears shall be able to deliver the guilty and polluted Soul from the impendent danger when it shall be said to the humble Friend sit up higher to the proud Fool Give place to him that 's more Honourable than thou art when the Book of Conscience shall be open'd and the Dead Judged by the contents of that Book when the Sinner will not know where to flee and his Spirits will fail him for fear of him that sits upon the Throne O God! Fix these considerations in my Soul strengthen my Faith that I may believe these things unseen without wavering How apt is the World to get between this tremendous Day and my sight Quicken thou mine Eyes that I may see through all impediments into that process and reflect what manner of Person I ought to be in all Holy conversation and Godliness Lord Jesu Great Judge of the World Let the Lines of that Judgment be written so legibly in my Mind that my Soul may delight to read them that nothing may divert me from studying and considering them let this be my chief study and let me feel the same effect that those men did who were converted at thy Apostles Sermon let me be prickt at the Heart and cry out What must I do to be saved Let the thoughts of this Day make a Reformation in my outward and inward Man that it may appear that thou hast touch'd me with a Coal from the altar O God to whom Vengeance belongs shew thy self and disperse my foolish desires Let my Soul feel the transactions of that day as well as believe them Clear my Understanding and enlighten my Mind that I may have a livelier prospect of it I will not let thee go except thou bless me Look down from the Habitation of thy Holiness and visit my Soul Expel the prejudices I have against severity of Life and with the Thoughts of this Day destroy them utterly Let the consideration of this Day so work upon me that my Ambition Covetousness Pride and Anger may tremble at the sight and leave their Habitation and may be ever afraid of returning Oh tell me that this Day will certainly come and that the Day of my Death will be the Emblem of it Oh assure me of the Terrour of that Day that shall burn like an Oven wherein all that do wickedly shall be Stubble and the Fire shall burn them up that it shall leave them neither Root nor Branch let me not take example by the careless World that put this evil Day far from them Let it be always before me Let my Mind be never free from the contemplations of it Let it mingle with my Business with my Meals with my Converse with my Sleep and with all my Undertakings In every sin I am tempted to let it frighten me in my going out and in my coming in let it continually beat upon my Mind Oh my Lord let me muse upon this Day of Retribution this Day of Recompence this Day of Trouble this Day of Terrour this Day of Joy this Day of Comfort this Day wherein thy Promises and Threatnings will be fulfill'd this Day which must decide the controversy of my Life and Death this Day which will bring to light all hidden things this Day which will revive the good and confound the bad this Day of Consolation this Day of Consternation let me ruminate upon it till thoughts of this Judgment prevail with me to become a new Creature thy Grace must melt my stubborn Heart without thee I can do nothing O relieve me O come in with the light of thy Countenance Stir up my Soul and rouze it from its carelesness Call to me as thou didst to thy People of Old let that Voice sound in my Ears
The great Day of the Lord is near it is near hasteth greatly even the Voice of the Day of the Lord the mighty Man shall cry bitterly that Day is a Day of Wrath a Day of Trouble and Distress a Day of Wastness and Desolation a Day of Darkness and Gloominess a Day of Clouds and thick Darkness a Day of the Trumpet and Alarm against the fenced Cities and against the high Towers and I will bring Distress upon men that they shall walk like Blind Men because they have sinned against the Lord and their Blood shall be poured out as Dust and their Flesh as the Dung neither their Silver nor their Gold shall be able to deliver them in the Day of the Lord 's Wrath. O let me not lose the sense of this Day Oh let me consider how much better it is to be humble and contemptible and to hunger and thirst and to suffer here and afterwards to enter into my Great Masters Joy than to be a Slave to my Lusts and Pleasures here and to be bound at last with everlasting Chains of Darkness Chains which never wear out Chains which always bind are always grievous always painful Oh let me consider how much better it is to Mourn here and to Water my Couch with my Tears and to Afflict my Soul and after this to triumph with the Spirits of men made Perfect than to feed upon Pleasures which at the best are but like the crackling of Thorns under a Pot and then to be sent away to howl with Devils Help Lord help that my Soul may be concern'd at her danger and despise the World and prepare against that Day and encounter with Powers and Principalities and Spiritual wickednesses in High-places if by any means I might attain unto the Resurrection of the Dead Such Prayers offered from a Heart that hath no reserves from a Heart resolved to do any thing rather than miss of Salvation such Prayers I say if they express the very desires of our Souls will certainly put Death and Paleness into our sensual Pleasures and oblige us to entertain other Thoughts of the Gauds and Gaieties of the World than now we have and make us sensible that this casting such a damp on the foolish satisfactions of the Flesh with a prospect of that Day is not only a task fit for Hermits and Melancholick Scholars and contemplative men but a duty incumbent on all that carry immortal Souls in their Breasts which calls me to the fourth Point 4. Whether every Man is bound to embitter his Carnal delights with this prospect To this I must answer in the Affirmative For though the young Man be particularly mention'd here yet since the expression in the Text reaches all men who are fit for action all such must necessarily fall under the Obligation of this duty and all that are capable of such delights are bound to make use of the aforesaid consideration in order to this self-denial if the young Man is obliged to this seriousness much more Older men if God will not allow of these delights in Youth they must necessarily be intolerable in Years of greater Maturity and if the tender Age be concerned to embitter them with this prospect when it meets with any temptation to them without all peradventure the stronger cannot be excused And the Reasons are these following 1. If they be not embitter'd with such Thoughts as these they will infallibly lead the Soul into innumerable dangers there is no Man but is obliged to preserve his Soul from danger It is said of the Prodigal Luk. 15.13 That he took his Journey into a far Countrey these sensual Pleasures alienated his Soul from God drove it away far from him made him travel as far as Hell the Truth is the Soul is lost in such sensual Pleasures they wear out the bright Notions the Soul had of God and Religion as it is said of the Sicilian Dogs that running through the sweet and floury Fields they lose their Scent in huntting so the Soul where these pleasures these white Devils become her Familiars loses the Noble apprehensions it once had of God's Omniscience and Omnipresence of his Holiness and Goodness and of the Truth of his Promises and Threatnings and these Characters like Letters written with bad Ink vanish and consequently the Life of the Soul for which reason the Prodigal who drowned himself in these delights is said to be dead v. 32. These choak the good Seed that 's sown in the noble Ground and as you have seen a Field of Wheat where the red Poppies spring up as fast as the richer Grain though the proud Flowers are pleasing to the Eye yet they retard and hinder the growth of the more useful Blade and suck away the moisture that should have fed the other so sensual delights where they are taken in as Partners and suffered to grow in the Soul in which some Fruits of the Spirit do appear in a short time blast those excellent Fruits the Effects of the Holy Ghost or Education or the Ministry of the Word and prove Bryars and Thorns which will not suffer any of the better Corn to grow under them Man's Soul and Body are like two Buckets while the one comes up full the other goes down empty Carnal delights advance the bruitish or fleshly part make it grow strong lusty and vigorous whereby it wrests the Scepter out of the Hand of Reason and the Soul looses her strength and power and Sagacity in Spiritual things grows weak and faint and at last expires and dies I mean the vertuous Principles which either kind Nature or kinder Grace or Afflictions or some other means and Instruments have incorporated with the Soul which indeed are the life of that excellent Creature and the Soul being thus dead it falls a Prey to Devils who rejoice over so great a Prey and lead it in Triumph take it Prisoner and make it draw in their Victorious Chariot and now all the Curses of the Law are in force against it the threatnings of the Gospel become her Portion and there is nothing left to stand betwixt her and Eternal grief and anguish but the slender Thred of this Mortal Life which if it chance to break or tear the Soul sinks irrecoverably into the Gulph of Perdition from whence there is no returning so fatal is the influence of these flattering Guests which in time starve their Keeper and finding the House empty swept and garnish'd like the Evil Spirit spoken of Matt. 12.45 go and take with them Seven other Spirits more wicked than themselves and they enter in and dwell there and the last state of that Man is worse than the first and thus they plunder and boldly rob the Soul of her Riches and hinder her from that Holiness which is her Food her Cordial and her greatest support and without which no Man can see the Lord they had need therefore be embittered with something that 's sour and unpleasant to Flesh
not but that excesses may be committed in this delight as the best and most harmless things may be abused yet where we delight in them as they are the gifts of God more than as they are satisfactions to the Flesh and build not upon them rest not in them but still look upon them as things volatile and transitory and are ready to part with them whenever providence shall think fit to remove them without grumbling or murmuring and do let the World see that in these delights we forget not the rules of gravity modesty decency and charity they may lawfully be called inoffensive and as a Snake whose Teeth are pulled out handled without danger And though Solomon calls these delights Vanity yet that which made them so was the immoderateness of his love toward them and his setting his heart and doating upon them and placing felicity in them making them his mark which should have been only a passage to nobler enjoyments and fixing there where he should have lodged only as in an Inn and so march'd on to the City which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God Delight in things of this nature may soon run beyond its bounds if either too much cost be spent upon them whereby the poor are rob'd of their due or Men forget to imploy their thoughts upon sublimer objects 4. The same may be said of delight in Musick whether Vocal or Instrumental a delight harmless enough if used as Salt not as Meat as Sauce not as Food as a bit on the By not as a standing Diet and though the Men the Prophet speaks of Es. 5.12 are severely checked for the Harp and the Viol the Tabret and Pipe in their Feasts yet it was because they made their Musick an Appendix to their Drunkenness and as it is said in the same verse regarded not the work of the Lord neither considered the operation of his hands David's playing upon the Harp was no sin while it was not to encourage wantonness but with an intent either to Praise God or to divert Sauls Melancholy nor can I discommend the Pythagoreans who before they went to sleep composed their minds with Musick We read in Gellius Aelian and others how men have been cured not only of irregular passions but of very strange distempers of the body by Musick and what is signally conducing to the good and benefit of Mankind we must suppose is allowed by that God who himself consults the health and welfare of his Creatures and this made Jubals profession lawful who was the inventer of Musical instruments and therefore call'd the Father of all such as handle the Harp and Organ The end for which such delights are used makes them either tolerable or impertinent and as he that designs them to refresh either his own or other Mens weary Spirits and to Glorifie God by them deserves commendation so he that makes them instrumental to feed Mens Lusts or to promote Lasciviousness and lightness in conversation renders himself unworthy of the name of a Christian and therefore those Fidlers and Musicians who shew themselves at merry meetings or Promiscuous Dancings which serve only to pamper the Flesh and to encourage extravagance and luxury will be able to give but a very sad account of their profession and if ever they come to take a serious view of their past lives will have reason to wish that they had spent that time in Mourning for their sins Christianity which allows us moderate recreation bids us abhor all delights which serve to render the mind vain and foolish and alienate the Soul from her true centre or tempts us to mispend the precious hours the Almighty hath lent us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling 5. Delight in Books and natural Sciences such as Astronomy Physick Philosophy Mathematicks Histories of all sorts and in searching into the Nature of Plants Stones Minerals Fruits Juices Herbs Gums Birds Fishes Beasts c. as it is a thing useful so it cannot be contrary to the rules of Christianity and though Astrology as it is abused into telling of Fortunes and good or ill success in businesses discovering of thefts and stolen goods and knowing future events is no proper object of this delight partly because the rules are uncertain and imaginary partly because it tempts people to unlawful curiosities partly because the Scripture forbids these fears and hopes which are grounded upon the aspect of the Signs of Heaven and looks upon them as mistrusts of the Divine Providence yet that 's no Argument but that a Man may lawfully with some delight inquire into the nature and influences of the Stars to see whether what the World hath talked of them is grounded upon any scientifick principles I need not say here that delight in Magick or the Black-art as they call it is as great abomination in the sight of God as the sin it self nor can I give any favourable judgment of delight in Palmestry because that art seems to interfere with that self Resignation and dependance upon the wisdom and goodness of God which is required of us and even delight in lawful Arts Books and Sciences must have its rules whereby it must steer its course for the affections may stick too close to delights of this nature and the delight justle out our warmer desires after that knowledge wherein consists Eternal life An inordinate delight in knowledg was the cause of our first Apostasie and it 's too often seen that our ambition to know slackens our endeavours after a practical love of God and while we doat upon speculation we forget to do that which would make us like our Father which is in Heaven 6. Delight in Drinking and Tipling must needs be as odious to God as delight in Wantonness or Uncleanness or Lasciviousness or Lechery or impure Kisses Touches Glances Passions Desires Thoughts Gestures Postures and Imaginations or Feeding our Eyes with obscene sights and spectacles or Filthy Smutty and lewd communications discourses jests and expressions c. For this is to delight in things God hath forbidden and to take pleasure in that to which he hath threatned the burning lake and the Worm that dies not and though custom hath made delight in drinking fashionable and he that doth so is not at all reproached or thought the worse man for it yet who knows not that Gods thoughts are not as our thoughts nor will the Almighty make the Customs of this World his rule in passing sentence in the last day Not but that a Man may delight in a Cup of Drink as it is the gift of God when he is dry and nature requires it and necessity calls for it but there is a vast difference betwixt satisfying the meer necessities of Nature and gratifying the desires of voluptuousness and idleness to delight in the former is to preserve but to delight in the other is to weaken and destroy Nature and where Men are at a loss how to spend
not by our example either draw people into errors or confirm them in their sins it bids us take heed of discouraging our neighbours from goodness and of laying a stumbling-block in the way of weaker Christians it bids us exhort one another daily and beware lest any of us be hardned through the deceitfulness of sin these are some of its principal rules and I need not add what our great Master hath told us ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you Joh. 15.14 how these rules can be observed by persons that delight in these shews I cannot apprehend is it modesty to be a hearer of that ribaldry and filthy communication which some Plays are stuffed with Or to be a spectator of so many undecent and wanton gestures postures and actions which in some Comedies make up the greatest part of the shew Is this sobriety to stand by and hear men curse and swear and talk of things which should not be so much as named among Christians Is this decency to afford your presence in a place where the most debauched persons assemble themselves for ill ends and purposes Is this your fear of God to go and hear the most solemn ordinances of God railled and undervalued such as marriage and living up to the strict rules of reason and conscience Is this your watchfulness over your thoughts and words and actions to go and expose your selves to temptations to run into the Devils arms and give him an opportunity to incline your heart to sinful delights and being pleased with things which God abhors Is this that Godly simplicity the Gospel presses to pay for your being affected with the vain shews of this sinful World and to take liberty to hear and see what men of little or no Religion shall think fit to represent to you Is this redeeming of your time to throw away so many hours upon fooling and seeing mens ridiculous postures gestures and behaviours Is not this making war against your soul Is not this fighting against your happiness Is this the way to grow in grace and to advance in goodness and to abound more and more in the love of God which your Christianity obliges you to Is not this to clogg your soul Is not this to throw impediments in her way to felicity Is not this the way to make her inamour'd with the World from which a Christian is to run away as much as he can By your Saviours rule though you are in the World yet you are not to be of the World These shows alienate other mens affections from the best of objects and what security have you that they will not alienate yours Or have you a peculiar exemption from that danger If you have shew us your warrant let 's see your parent if you take the same way that profane persons take to dull their Religious desires how can it be otherwise but it will have the same effect in you if you use the same means why should not you fear the same unhappy influence Why should you shut your eyes against a thing as clear as the Sun Do not you see do not you perceive how sin grows upon you by frequenting these places Do not you find how under these shows the brutish part in you grows strong and vigorous how the Flesh distends its plumes grows easie and pleased and in time engrosses all the nobler faculties of your Soul As you are a Christian you are to bring your Flesh into subjection and to keep under your Body and do not these shews signally help towards its power and dominion over the nobler part and promote its Soveranity and triumph over the reasonable appetite What pampers it more then such sights What feeds its preposterous longings more then these Do not these evidently make this slave usurp Authority over her Mistress And is this fit to be done by Christians who are to crucifie the Flesh with its lusts and affections Who sees not that these sights are meer incentives to lust and fewel to feed the impurer fire in our breasts And is this to walk after the Spirit as we are commanded If they that walk afer the Flesh cannot please God how can you hope to please him while you allow your self in this work of the Flesh Is this to promote a lively sense of God Is the Stage likely to produce vigorous apprehensions of Gods grace and favour you know it damps and obscures them you know it is an Enemy to them you know it is the worm that hinders your Spiritual growth and yet will you fancy a necessity to frequent it Men may count it necessary to be drunk and to kill a person they do hate but will this necessity hold water when the great Judge comes to examine it The Flesh may count that necessary which reason apprehends to be absurd and impious and he that hearkens to the dictates of the brute within him will call any thing necessary though never so contradictory to the Oracles of Heaven and the lessons of our great Master Jesus Is this to have the same mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus I hope you do not question the duty and if you believe it incumbent upon you can you imagin that in frequenting the Stage you imitate his example Did he ever encourage such empty things Is there any thing in all the History of his life that may be said to countenance such doings Could he applaud these follies do you think whose life was a perfect pattern of holiness nay are not all his precepts levell'd against these scurrilities Is it possible to live up to his precepts and feed our eyes with these Shews Is it possible to be his friend and a friend to these vanities He whose life was a perpetual selfdenial in the pleasures of this life could he give the least colour or shadow of approbation of them He who preached up the Doctrine of the Cross could he have any liking to that which is directly contrary to that Doctrine Would any man that looks upon the jolly assembly in a Play-house think that these are Disciples of the crucified God Do they not look liker Mahomets Votaries or Epicurus his Followers Would not one think that they had never heard of the Cross and that whoever their Master was they were disciplined only to live merrily Would not one think that these persons are very different in their tempers from those Christians the primitive Fathers do describe who trampled on the World and were afraid of any thing that savoured of its satisfactions Would not one think that they are rather disciples of some Heathen Jupiter or Venus or Flora or some such wanton Minion then of the grave the austere and the serious Jesus for such he would have his followers to be these he would have tread in his steps these he would have known by actions and a behaviour like his own and is a Play likely to plant this noble temper in you Is the
have not you seen how they are become strangers to that life which must adorn it to that contemplation of good things they formerly delighted in to that strictness they once professed Have not you seen how they have remitted in their warmth and how the holy fire that once burn'd in their breasts is gone out And is your Christianity so fierce and violent that it needs a bridle Is it so hot that it must have an extinguisher Is it so flaming that it wants this stolen water to quench it With what face dare you approach the Table of your Lord who have been a spectator of such shews but a little before With what eyes can you appear in the presence of that King of Kings who have but a little before prostituted your Soul to the Devil With what conscience can you promise the Lord Jesus to follow him when you intend to expose your self again to these temptations Do not you blush to think how you serve both God and Mammon Christ and the World contrary to your Redeemers protestation that you cannot serve two Masters If you come to the Lords Table one day and run to a Play-house another do not you destroy all that you built the day before If you come to the Supper of the Lord there to profess your sorrow for loving the World are you in good earnest sorry for it or are you not If not why do you play the hypocrite or do you think to put a cheat upon the Almighty as if he did not see your heart or would be taken with shew and pomp If you are how can you run into the same temptation again or go to a place where you will infallibly be tempted to the love of the World Is not this to shut the gates of mercy against you Is not this to make your self odious to that God whose favour you expect in the last day Is not this to live in contradictions In this Sacrament you profess to imitate your Lord in despising the World and is this imitation to go one day into the house of God and the next into a den of Thieves for so the Stage may justly be called where men are robb'd of their rellish of spiritual objects Whence hath come that Atheism that looseness that indifferency in things Divine that low esteem of the tremendous mysteries of Christianity which of late like a Land-flood hath over-run us Have they not deriv'd their boldness from these places Have not the vices represented there in jest been practised by the forward youth at home in good earnest And can a Christian have a good opinion of these houses where so many have lost their vertue Can any man of reason think that after all this mischief they may be safely hugg'd and applauded Those many notorious Fornications and Adulteries we have heard and know of those bare-faced cheats mens boastings of their sins and glorying in their shame their impudence their courage to do evil their daring to do things which sober Heathens have detested whence have they come in a great measure but from these poison'd fountains Why should we be afraid to call a spade a spade Do not even wicked men confess so much men who have been guilty of such crimes Shall men of no great sense of Religion complain of it and shall a Christian do any thing that may contribute toward the holding of them up If wanton lustful and obscene jests are expresly forbid by the great Apostle nay are not so much as to be named among Christians how can a man that makes profession of that Religion hear them or be taken with them when Gods name is profaned in such houses when Religion is mock'd when vertue is rendred odious how can you hear it without reproving the men that do it how can you have patience to let them talk at this rate you are bound by your profession to rebuke your neighbour for notorious sins and not to suffer iniquity upon him can you hear these things and see men affront their maker and be possess'd with a dumb Devil How can you discharge your conscience to let your neighbour do evil without giving him an Item of Gods displeasure If we are to exhort one another to take heed lest any of us be harden'd through the deceitfulness of sin how can you see men harden themselves in their sins on the Stage without a fraternal admonition If you have no courage to admonish them what makes you appear there where you must be silent under the indignities offered to your Master Had you a Friend whom you loved and saw his concerns in danger his reputation attack'd his credit torn his good name wounded would not you stand up in his vindication You own Christ for your Friend and profess you love him and can you see his laws trampled on and his blood and wounds made a complement of Speech and not be moved at it or if you have some little regret upon your spirits where is your tongue to speak for your friend Do you think such men are like to be his favorites and is not this to fall under the lash of that threating Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my Gospel in this adulterous and sinful Generation of him shall the son of man be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father since you have not spirit enough to reprove such sinners why do not you stay away why do not you keep out of their company you are obliged to do either one or the other if you cherish any hopes of salvation and since to reprove them you are ashamed staying away must necessarily be your duty Do you ever examine your self at night about the actions of the day and if you do doth not your presence at such shews and your being pleased with them fly into your face Do not you think what have I done to day how did I spend my time might not I have spent it better then at a Play-house How many persons have I harden'd and confirm'd in their sins by my example How much lightness and vanity have I encouraged by my presence hath not such a sin been pleasing to me Have not I been delighted with seeing my neighbour abus'd have not I been tickled with mens speaking ill of him had God struck me dead in that place how sad would my condition have been how many vain and foolish thoughts have these sights sent into my mind If you examine your self in this manner and find these effects have not you reason to ask God forgiveness and if you ask him forgiveness how dare you run upon the same rock again will you sin willfully after this will you sin against your knowledge will you do that again which will require a new repentance what is this but a mock-repentance to go on in a circle of confessing and sinning of sinning and confessing But I doubt this self-examination is a thing you do not trouble your head with and
you shun it as men do their creditors that dun them you are afraid it will fill your head with scruples and therefore avoid it as those who are unwilling to look into their accounts that they may not be surpriz'd with the sum they owe if visiting the Stage makes you neglect this self-examination it makes you neglect a known duty and if so it must be sinful and if sinful how dare you meddle with it Do but take a view of the writings of the Primitive Fathers and you 'l find them unanimous in this assertion that in our Baptism when we renounce the Devil and his works and the pomp and glory of the World we do particularly renounce Stage-Plays and such ludicrous representations They that lived nearest to the Apostolical times in all probability knew what was meant by this rendunciation and this they profess to be the sense of it this they assure us is meant by those pomps and glories and why should we presume to put a new sense upon that vow They received this interpretation from the Apostles and propagated it to posterity and in their sense we make this Abjuration Sir have you abjured these things in your Baptism and dare you venter on them have you renounced them and dare you fall in love with them Have you protested in the presence of God and angels that you will not meddle with them and will you break your vow Have you solemnly professed before the Congregation that you will not have any affection for them and do you make nothing of persidiousness How darest thou O Christian run into a Play-house after Baptism saith Salvian when thou hast confessed those very Plays to be the works of the Devil Thou hast renounced the Devil and these Stage-Plays so that if thou willingly and wittingly frequentest them it 's evident that thou returnest to the Devil too for thou hast renounced both and hast professed both to be one so that if thou return to one thou returnest to both I know what is commonly objected that the reason why the Fathers are so much against Christians seeing of a Play was because the heathenish idolatries were acted to the life upon the Stage and that proselites might not be in danger of being enticed to idolatry was the great motive why they inveigh'd so much against sights of that nature but those that use this plea most certainly have not read the Fathers or if they have read them have not considered all their arguments for to go no farther then Tertullian after he had condemn'd these sights for the idolatries committed on the Stage he produces other reasons for which they are utterly unlawful as 1. Because the spirit of the Gospel is a spirit of gentleness but the actors are forced to put themselves into a posture of wrath and anger and fury and the spectators themselves cannot behold them without being put into a passion 2. Because vanity which is proper to the Stage is altogether forreign to Christianity 3. Because we are not to consent to peoples sins 4. Because men are abused in these places and neither Princes nor People spared and this being unlawful elsewhere must be unlawful too upon the Stage 5. Because all immodesty and scurrility is forbid by the Law of the Gospel not only acting of it but seeing and hearing it Acted 6. Because all Players are hypocrites seem to be what they are not and all hypocrisy is condemn'd by the Gospel 7. Because the Actors very often belie their Sex and put on womens apparel which is forbid by the law of God 8. Because these plays dull and damp devotion and seriousness which is and ought to be the indeleble character of Christians 9. Because it is a disparagement to God to lift up those hands to applaud a Player which we use to lift up to the Throne of grace 10. Because experience shews how the Devil hath sometimes possess'd Christians in a Play-house and being afterwards cast out confest that he had reason to enter into them because he found them in his own place 11. Because no man can serve two Masters God and the World as those Christians pretend to do that frequent both the Church and the Stage 12. Because though some speeches in a Play are witty and ingenious yet there is poison at the bottom and vice is only coloured and guilded with fine language and curious emblems that it may go down more glib and ruin the soul more artificially These are some of Tertullians Arguments and he that shall attentively consider them will easily find that they are not only applicable to such Comedies where idolatry is Acted but to those of this age where scurrility vanity and immodesty and other vices are incouraged and whereas some pretended that if they saw no Plays they should want sport and be without necessary recreation the learned Presbyter doth very handsomly reply Why art thou so abominably ungrateful to complain of want of recreation when God hath given thee such great variety of pleasures for what can be more pleasant then to be reconciled to God the Father and the knowledge of the truth our deliverance from darkness and error and a free pardon of all our sins what greater pleasure can there be then the loathing of carnal pleasure contempt of the World true Christian liberty a conscience void of offence a spotless life freedom from the fear of death trampling on the Heathen Gods expulsion of Devils the gift of healing prayer for illumination and living to Gods glory These are the pleasures these are the Plays of Christians holy free and perpetual in such things as these fancy thou seest a Play here see the course of the World behold the gliding time view the distance betwixt this life and eternity expect the consummation of all things defend the Church rouze thy self at Gods signal listen to the Arch-angels trumpet glory in the Martyrs laurells If learning and knowledge do delight thee behold in the Scripture there are verses enough witty sentences enough songs enough and voices enough no fables of Poets but solid truths no sophistry but majestick simplicity wouldst thou see Gladiators and wrestlers here thou hast them here thou mayst see lasciviousness overcome by chastity perjury by faithfulness cruelty by mercy wantonness by modesty and these are our Olympick games in which he is Crown'd that strives for mastery Dost thou love to see blood drawn in a pulblick shew Behold thou hast the blood of Jesus and what a noble sight will shortly appear to our eyes even the coming of our glorious Lord the exultation of Angels the Resurrection of his holy ones the stately Kingdom of believing Souls and the sight of the new Jerusalem There is a another shew behind even the last day of Judgment a day unlook'd for a day despised by fools a day wherein the old world will be swallowed up of fire How glorious a
sight will that be when I shall behold with astonishment and joy so many Kings whom their flatterers placed among the Stars sighing in outward darkness with Jupiter and their parasites So many Persecutors of the Christian name melting in insulting flames So many Philosophers with their Disciples who gave out that God was careless of the affairs of this lower World trembling before Christs Tribunal At that time I shall know Tragoedians by their loud cry in misery Stage-players by their being tormented by fire more than other men the Charioteers in the publick Games by their being red upon a flaming wheel and the Mimick by his being tossed in sheets of fire Thus far that excellent man whom St. Cyprian exactly imitates And certainly he that hath the same sense of Religion that he had cannot but be of the same opinion So that it is for want of searching and diving into the Nature of Christianity and what is more for want of feeling the power of Religion that makes men speak in vindication of Plays and interludes What a pittiful shift is it to say that great good may be gained by them when it is plain that the evil which ensues upon them doth signally preponderate and outweigh the pretended benefit What if a moral saying or a witty sentence or an ingenious Apophthegm lie scattered here and there among the rubbish will that grain of goodness counterballance a whole talent of ill that 's seen there or got by seeing it some have been so vain as to give out that they may learn as much by a Play as by a Sermon but not to mention that such persons spiritual appetite is extremely vitiated while they continue in this opinion they 'l never be much edified either by a Play or a Sermon and till they have a nobler opinion of Gods Ordinance it 's just with God to suffer the Devil to lead them Captive at his will And what are the mighty advantages men get by the representations of the Stage May be they learn to court a Mistress well or the vanities they see there serve them to maintain a loose discourse or it enables them to make the company merry but are these things that tend to reformation of life and manners Who ever learned to abandon a sin he is addicted to by seeing its punishment on the Stage Or who ever thought himself obliged to practise that vertue which he sees Acted on the Theater except it be to resent an affront that 's offer'd him and to know how to maintain the punctilio's of honour and bravery And are these Christian vertues Are these the graces that must make us glorious in the sight of God such arguments are signs of a desperate cause and tacit accusations of the illness of the thing since the aprons that cover it are made of Figg-leaves And what if some Plays be more innocent and not so profane as others if I go to one doth not my example encourage men to go and see those which are more loose and wanton If I mean to discourage sin in others by my actions I must not give them occasion to do that which is evil Sensual Men distinguish not betwixt the more harmless and the more hurtful and if I encourage the one by my presence I encourage the other too and if by my example I approve of the Players profession in one thing I approve of it in another too and harden them in their folly not to mention that my seeing the more harmless as I call them will in time intice me to see the more profane for sin is catching and one vanity draws on another and from the lesser we run to greater and when the horrour of sin is once abated in our minds the things which are most contrary to Christianity begin to appear harmless and thus the Soul glides insensibly into darkness and eternal misery That which you use to pretend sometimes that there are Divines of the Church of England who approve of these shews hath nothing of validity in it for suppose there were some who allow of these vanities doth it therefore follow that the Church of England doth encourage them The opinions of some Divines are not the standard of our Church nor are the private sentiments of a few men prescriptions for her to go by The Church of England hath no where declared so much and as long as the Church is silent it 's presumption to interpret the fond opinions of some men as her Rule and Doctrine How can our Church countenance such things that professes strict adherence to the Word of God and looks upon the judgments of men that are contrary to it as Heterodox and Erroneous At this rate you might as well argue that because some Divines have been seen at a Play that therefore they have encouragement from the Doctrine of our Church The Doctrine of a Church is one thing and the practice of some of her pretended members is another The Churches case would be very hard if she were to answer for all the misdemeanours of her seeming Votaries and who knows not how in all Churches the professors generally deviate from the rules that are extant in their Books and Canons But after all it 's worth enquiring whether those Divines you speak of be of the graver or the younger sort that some young men who want experience and perhaps a lively sense of Religion should be taken with these shews I do not wonder but who takes raw youths and such as think any thing great and good that 's witty and serves to tickle the fancy who takes such men for judges in an affair of this importance As to the graver sort I doubt you 'l find none or but very few that are favourers of these spectacles or if they do declare at any time that if Plays were reduced to their true decorum they might be inoffensive from hence it will not follow that they countenance the common Tragedies and Comedies which so manifestly go beyond the limits of decency And what if you do go but now and then Doth your going but seldom justifie the action All that this excuse will amount to is only this that you do not sin so often as other men but doth this free you from the guilt or make you innocent in the sight of God How would you take it if a man should give you a box on the ear but now and then Or how would you resent it to have your good name taken away by a person not always but whenever his humour prompts him And from hence you may easily guess at the weakness of this exception and if you have that mean opinion of God that low esteem of his greatness as to think that to affront him but now then can do no harm you are unworthy to be his Disciple and judge your self unworthy of Eternal life But I am forced to go you say my Superiours command me to wait upon them to a Play and how
mourn and make their Life a Valley of Tears without a Metaphor whose Fear of offending God is so great that every little Defect and every accidental Miscarriage forces Tears from their Eyes Though there may be some Indiscretion in the Management of their Conscientiousness yet notwithstanding all this their Tears are the Wine of Angels these are the gaudy Dress of a holy Soul The Almighty that sees her adorned with these Pearls and glistering in these Pendants falls on her Neck and kisses her Fear not ye afflicted and toss'd with Tempests So the Lord Jesus wept though not for his own Sins yet for the Sins of others and was receiv'd into Glory so Mary Magdalen wept and on those Streams a gracious Pardon was convey'd into her Soul so the great St. Paul wept and found the Consolations of Christ abounding in him so the penitent Publican wept and went justified to his House They that sow in Tears shall reap in Joy Blessed are ye that weep now for ye shall laugh Luk. 6.21 There is a place high wondrous high above where all Tears shall be wiped away and no Sorrow no Grief no Anguish shall appear so we have heard so we shall see e're long in the City of our God Verily Verily I say unto you That ye shall weep and lament but the World shall rejoyce and ye shall be sorrowful but your Sorrow shall be turned into Joy A Woman when she is in Travel hath Sorrow because her Hour is come but as soon as she is deliver'd of the Child she remembers no more the Anguish for Joy that a Man is born into the World And ye now therefore have Sorrow but I will see you again and your Heart shall rejoyce and your Joy no Man takes from you Joh. 16.20 21 22. 2. See here how differently spiritual things affect Men as they either attentively or inattentively think upon them The process of the Day of Judgment to a Man that retires and through Desire separates himself to think of it as the Covetous doth of his Gold or as the Timorous doth of his Danger i. e. in good earnest it will prove an invincible motive to self-denial Another that looks upon it as a thing spoke of in course every Lords day thinks of the Words as he hears them but ruminates not upon the Sense is no more moved with it than the Carcasses that sleep in their Graves forbears not one Sin for it but doth still as he used to do mind his Body gratifie his Flesh pursue his temporal Interest comply with sinful Men please himself regard Religion on the By and set his Affections on things below And as it is in this so it is in other Truths for do but take a view of the Publick Assemblies here the glad Tidings of God's Mercy to penitent Sinners shall make an humble Spirit weep melt his Heart and force him into humble Thoughts and lively Admirations of God's Condescension there sits another and either sleeps all the while or continues in as even a Temper as he came What 's the Reason One weighs the Importance of this Truth considers the vast distance betwixt God and sinful Man thinks if these things be true how marvellous God's Love must be and that touches him to the Quick The other's Thoughts are unstable as Water uncertain and inconstant he saâ—isfies himself with this that he hath heard a Sermon performed his Complement to God and consequently finds no Alteration in his inward Man How have I seen sometimes a pious Soul transported with a lively Description of the unseen everlasting Glory while the greatest part of the Congregation have been no more concerned at it than if one had spoke of common Trees and Herbs and the Hysop on the Wall the Reason is plain The one thinks of it as a Believer the other as an Infidel The one reflects Lord what am I and what is my Father's house that thou intendest to advance me to this Dignity lift up a poor Worm from a Dunghil to a Throne and place him with Princes even with the Princes of thy People the innumerable Company of Angels The other pleases himself only with the Sound mingles the Thoughts of the World with his Devotion suffers not the glorious Object to lye long in his Mind and so it passes as it came without any Impression Here one rejoyces at the precious Promises of the Gospel his very Heart leaps at the joyful News and they come like Oyl into his Bones warm his very Soul and pierce even to the dividing asunder of Soul and Spirit there another sits like a Stook and wonders what ails his Neighbour to keep such a stir about a few empty Words But why should'st thou wonder at the Change thou see'st in thy Friend He thinks of the Veracity of God and how these Promises will most certainly be fulfilled he thinks how the Riches God promises exceed all the Treasures of this present World and what Satisfaction they afford to a hungry Soul how far they do transcend these earthly Glories and how to have a share in them is a far greater Priviledge than to be related to the greatest Monarchs and that raises his Soul into that secret Joy Thou thinkest no more than a Lyon or Elephant thinkest more of thy Profit and Gain than of these intellectual Treasures thy Thoughts are not busie about these Enjoyments thou thinkest it time lost to spend any serious Thoughts upon them and how should thy duller Soul be affected with them Here the Example of a valiant Saint that fought with his Lusts overcame his Desires stood stedfast in the hour of Temptation conquer'd the Devil vanquish'd all Oppositions kept the Faith finish'd his Course with joy draws an attentive Soul into Imitation of his Virtues There another that hears or reads the same Description feeds still on his Husks follows is careless Neighbour delights in vain Company continues in his Aversion from the stricter Lives of holy Men. The Reason is evident for the one thinks of the noble Attempts such Souls have made how they are applauded in Heaven how they have signaliz'd their Valour what Comforts they have prepared for and of the Reward they now enjoy the other looks upon them as melancholick Men thinks of his present Pleasure more than of a future Recompence dives not into the nature of these Conquests reflects not how agreeable they are to Reason or how necessary in order to a Crown but thinks he may have the Diadem spoken of with less Trouble and therefore he sits still upon his Dunghill Vain Sons of Men How long will ye turn your Glory into Shame Hath God bestowed upon you a Faculty which Beasts are Strangers to and for which Devils envy you even Reason and Understanding the true Image of your Maker and will you let it lye dormant in the Ashes and Rubbish of your sensual Inclinations When God hath distinguish'd you from the ignobler Brutes will ye be like the Horse and