foregoing the terrible day of the Lord when mens hearts shall fail and melt away for very anguish and Death it self the terrour of men in prosperity shall be wish'd for in that excessive misery as a comfortable deliverance from the horrible Plagues then poured forth And yet all this put together is as nothing compared to those everlasting flames wherein both Bodies and Souls shall be tormented for ever and ever Reason and Experience both teach us that the anguish of the Soul must needs exceed the sufferings of the body by many degrees for you know 't is the Soul that gives sense unto the body the body without the Soul feels neither lancing nor burning If then the Soul be the fountain of sense and isso powerful as to infuse into a stupid dead lump of earth such smart and nimble feeling you cannot but conclude that the original sense of the Soul is capable of feeling far greater torment than the body We see daily Men in Duels tormented with anger and revenge in their Soul throw their bodies upon the point of their hated Enemies sword and receive deadly wounds one after another without any smaying as if they felt them not the greater torment of the mind making that of the body not sensible nor Death considerable but continue their fury to the last gasp All which plainly shews the anguish of the Soul far exceeds any pain of the body Beloved no man can express no nor fully conceive that horrour and raging madness of a Soul in Hell considering how that instead of that excessive and everlasting pain she might have enjoyed the everlasting glory of Heaven and the incomprehensible felicity the Saints possess in contemplation of God's infinite goodness and love to Man and then to remember how this endless felicity was cast away and endless torment incurred for the enjoyment of most silly momentary joys and base bestial delights This is that torment of torments that never dying Worm of Conscience which eternally gnaws and feeds upon the soul. What man with sensible ears eyes and heart hearing or reading and considering these things with a lively apprehension of that Supream Judge of quick and dead coming in the Clouds with all the Host of Heaven and carrying in one hand that glittering two-edged Sword which wounds to eternal death and in the other that just poising Ballance wherein shall be exactly weighed not only the grievous sins of Murther Adultery Perjury c. but every idle word and every idle thought which alone will make up a Mountain of Sands to weigh us down to the pit of darkness besides a vast number of foul and heavy Crimes to precipitate our guilty souls below the very center of Hell into some unknown gulf as bottomless as our sins are numberless What man I say not wholly petrified and become a very Statue but having a sensible heart in some measure to comprehend the terrour of this severe Judgment-day but will humble himself in Sackcloath and Ashes Yea Beloved had we but a lively full apprehension of it our very heart would be shivered into dust and ashes But yet our Humiliation must not end here in this servile slavish fear we must proceed on farther For though the fear of the Lord be the beginning of Wisdom yet love is the consummation of wisdom The Devils believe and tremble but Christians must believe and love Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy soul. Love is the fulfilling of the Law And certainly there cannot be any man so extream Ill-natur'd but if he firmly believe what Christ hath done for him must needs love him 't is impossible it should be otherwise What man guilty of Treason Condemned to be hang'd drawn and quarter'd and going to Execution should see the Kings only Son run after him with a Pardon from his Father the Son having undertaken to suffer that cruel death for the condemned person that so satisfaction might be made to Justice for the Treason committed Is it possible this condemned person should not love this wonderful loving Prince No 't is not possible yea so love him as to refuse the Pardon and rather chuse to die himself than suffer so noble so innocent and so loving a hearted Prince to die for his Crime And yet beloved this is much short of our case for this is but one mans dying for another both by nature of equal condition But we have the All-glorious Son of the Almighty God dying for us sinful Worms of the Earth yea and he knew full well when he suffered that shameful cruel Death for us how shamefully and cruelly we would requite this his infinite Love by doing many sinful things as hateful to him as death and so as much as in us lies Crucifie the Lord of glory afresh and put him to an open shame And do we now believe all this to be a real truth and yet go on day by day to do these sinful deeds so hateful to him that hath shewed such infinite love to us Beloved let us not delude our selves 't is impossible any man should be so barbarously ungrateful as to believe this and do thus Wherefore most assuredly we do not believe it And why do we not believe it Was there ever any truth so miraculously attested so convincingly proved by thousands of Witnesses both Christians and Jews Christians with love dying for the truth of it and Jews with hatred to this very day relating the fact Why then do we not believe it No other imaginable reason can be given but that the infinite greatness of such love as God to dye for sinful worms exceeds our belief had God done less for us we should have believed him sooner and served him better O the baseness of our corrupt hard-hearted Nature the more God doth for us the less we do for him who can sufficiently bewail this our miserable condition Such we are all by nature though blessed be God many by his grace are corrected and converted into a better state their hearts being purified by Faith and sanctified by Love humble themselves at our blessed Saviours Feet and there bitterly bewail their manifold transgressions and with all fervency of spirit praise glorifie his infinite love mercy This is true Christian Humiliation and Repentance when out of a due sense of Christs infinite love to us we heartily lament our sinful ingratitude towards such a gracious Saviour who laid down his life a Ransom for us The fear of Gods Judgments is good at first to strike us down to the Earth and make us enter into a serious consideration of our sinful ways and what we have justly deserved the everlasting flames of Hell But then to consider notwithstanding all our undutiful behaviour the infinite love mercy of God to lay on his beloved Son the Iniquities of us all that by his sufferings he might spare us and by his death restore us to everlasting life What heart can then chuse
vitia illas solas virtutes impetunt quibus ipsa destruuntur superbia verò contra omnes animi virtutes se erigit Other Vices assault and destroy only their opposite Vertues as Covetousness destroys Liberality Anger Patience Drunkenness Sobriety Lasciviousness Chastity c. but Pride is the total ruin of all Virtues it makes our Chastity our Sobriety our Alms yea our very devotions by Pride are made displeasing and hateful to God it gives an ugly black tincture to all the good we can possibly perform Had Pride entred the heart of the Blessed Virgin her self she would have been the Accursed of God whereas Humility made her the Blessed of God the Mother of God for which all Generations shall and do call her Blessed Yea Mary Magdalen the Sinner by her Humiliation at Christs Feet is made his Favourite And the lowly Publican not daring to lift up his eyes towards Heaven is by Humiliation justified and made an Heir of the Kingdom of Heaven but by Pride the most Beautiful the most Holy the most Glorious Angels of Heaven were converted into most deformed most wicked most horrid Devils From hence you may easily conceive what a mischievous ruining Vice Pride is which effected a change so incredible as it needed the Word of God to attest the truth of it And as this Vice is above all other mischievous to the soul so is it above all hateful to God as you see by the eternal punishment inflicted on the Angels without any redemption and the reason of it is because this is crimen laesae majestatis it directly opposes the Majesty of God and aims at being Rival with him in his Monarchical power So the Prince of Pride Lucifer exprest his design Ero similis altissimo I will be like the most High It is said therefore Jam. 4. 6. God resisteth the Proud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an expression of great weight as if God set himself in Battle-array with all his Power to oppose this Crime and avenge it to the uttermost God is displeased at all Sin yet pardons all upon Repentance but when he meets with this Luciferian Sin he looks upon it as a declared Rebel to be proceeded against with rigor and terror a Rebel not to be reclaimed for Pride and Humiliation are directly opposite no hope of submission there Certainly then all persons are deeply concerned to imploy their utmost endeavour to suppress this Vice And though it be so deeply rooted in our Nature as'tis impossible wholly to extirpate it yet we should daily pray for Gods gracious assistance and use all imaginable industry to abate it by frequent Humiliation for which I shall propose some rational motives First then I would gladly know what it is the proud mind of Man designs and aims at is it not to be esteemed and reverenced by all This is then the thing that I propose to take that course which will make all men reverence him and certainly this can never be effected by Pride but by Humility for in the first place all Proud men hate one auother So Cassander observes Omnis fere vitiosus diligit sibi similem solus superbus odit elatum All other Vitious men love one another Drunkards love Drunkards Thieves love Thieves lewd love lewd ones c. Proud men only hate one another and why Because they directly cross each others design and challenge that Reverence to themselves which others likewise require to themselves So then by Pride he hath lost in the first place all proud men they are become his enemies Secondly Humble-minded men must needs prefer humility before pride and consequently they will be sure to pay the humble man all respect the proud none And thus 't is evident that by pride men gain the hate of proud men the undervalue of humble men and so lose the love and esteem of all But perchance all proud men are of the Tyrants mind who said Oderint dum timeant Let them fear me and worship me though they hate me that is I had rather have Jades and Asses fear me than Men to love and reverence me so irrational and absurd a speech as Balaam's Ass would never have uttered it and therefore I shall not think fit to answer it Let the second consideration be this What rational motive can any man have to exalt himself above another Let him answer me St. Paul's Question 1 Cor. iv 7. Who maketh thee to differ from another what hast thou that thou hast not received If excellency of Grace sure the gift of God for by Nature thou art of the same corrupt mass of earth that Judas was and 't is by God's special grace that thou art not as very a villain as he If excellency of Nature Wit Beauty Strength sure the gift of God it was not in thy father's power to beget a wise man or a fool a beautiful Alcibiades or a deformed Aesop. And for thy self thou canst not add one cubit to thy stature one little Finger to thy maimed Hand nay thou canst not make one hair white or black Hast thou the riches and glory of the World sure the gift of God for thou broughtest nothing into the World with thee and 't is certain thou canst carry nothing out Hast thou command over thousands sure the gift of God for why doth a single King command and thousands of Subjects obey seeing men by nature hate subjection therefore it must necessarily be from some power over-ruling their own wills which is of God disposing mens hearts to obey that power which he hath set over them and so all power is of God Let God withdraw his inward motion of obedience and reverence to Majesty a single base Ravillac spurred on by the Devil shall cut off a gallant King environed with all the power of France Or dost thou Philosopher-like glory in the riches of thy Soul thy great wisdom and knowledge in all things which none can take from thee Omnia tua tecum portas Silly man a small distemper growing into an high Fever shall confound and convert all thy wisdome into madness and make thee the laughing-stock of the World Is it not then most irrational to boast thy self for what is not thine own and most irreligious to rob God of what is his own ascribing to thy self the honour due unto him yea and to rob so gracious a God who for all the noble gifts he hath so freely conferred on us expects only the calves of our lips for tribute Let the third consideration be this The proud man robs not only God but himself of all the gifts and graces conferred upon him you may easily turn all these to his ruine and make him his own enemy to destroy himself and yet hug you as his dearest friend For by seeming kindness and flattery you may undermine and blow him up into the air immediately do but admire his abilities magnifie his greatness and extol him to the skies as a demy God presently he is puft up
swells with excessive pride and expects an universal homage to be paid by every one to his transcendent worth and then you may be sure that in this world of pride he meets with some other haughty person to confront affront him which like Wormwood mingled with his Wine imbitters all those things which otherwise might afford him great content And the greater his ability and excellency is the greater is his indignation and torment to have it slighted and thus his felicity becomes his misery Haman that great and proud favourite of King Ahasuerus who lorded it over the whole Kingdom having all at his command how did one affronting neglect of resolute Mordecay like the Mowers Sithe cut him down as a flower of the Field in the height of all his glory and cast him on the bed of sorrow as the most unfortunate wretch of the whole Land And mighty conquering Caesar when he had brought great Pompey level with the earth who could never endure parem in republica and when he had made Rome the commanding Empress of the World his Vassal entring now triumphantly her streets most gloriously adorned for his reception and filled with loud applauding Spectators one silent stiff-neck'd Pontius Aquila with a sullen look so pierc'd his swelling heart as to leave him little sense of that great felicity O unfortunate Pride which can never be happy in any condition high or low but is sure to meet with many a bitter Pill in both whereas the lowly-minded man is happy in all conditions he envies not the great ones exalted above him for he acknowledges God the supream Lord and free disposer of all lawful for him to do what he will with his own as our Saviour expresses He despises not those that are under him but according to St. Paul 1 Cor. xii looks on all as his fellow-members neither the Head nor the Hand doth say unto the Foot I have no need of thee and therefore though he be adorned with any special gift of Nature or exalted to any degree of splendor wealth or authority he doth not thereby challenge any homage to himself from his fellow-members he knows he can as little subsist without them as they without him but ought mutually to serve one another and all join to give glory to God the Creator and giver of all from whom the lowly-minded man receives every grace and gift as an undeserved and unexpected favour which gives a high and pleasing rellish to it And when he meets with the cup of assliction the bitterness is very much abated by the sweet composure of his mind arising from his own demerits which in his humble ballancing thoughts still seem to out-weigh the calamity and so retains a joyful and thankful remembrance of God's goodness who lays so light a burthen on his shoulders for such heavy sins Humble then your selves under the mighty hand of God Secondly As thoughts of Humiliation are useful for all persons so are they seasonable at all times in prosperity or in adversity In prosperity men are apt to be puffed up and insolent even so far as to forget God that gives it A strange corruption in our nature that favours and blessings which should make us remember and love God the more are apt to make us love him the less and forget him As wholesom meat that increases the strength of a healthy person received into a foul stomach oppresses and decays the spirits of the sick the same effect have the good things of this World in a foul sinful Soul This our provident God foreseeing in the Israelites when they drew near to the land of promise as a careful father gives them timely warning of Dent. vi 10 11 12. And it shall be when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land which be sware unto thy fathers to Abrabam to Isaac and to Jacob to give thee great and goodly Cities which thou buildedst not and houses full of all good things which thou filledst not and wells digged which thou diggedst not vineyards and olive-trees which thou plamedst not when thou shalt have eaten and be full then beware lest thou forget the Lord which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt from the bouse of bondage By this beloved you see how necessary it is in prosperity to busie our thoughts in humbling our selves under God's gracious Hand and to consider our own unworthiness and Gods infinite goodness in conferring daily favours on us who justly deserve punishment for our daily sins and thereupon implore his Divine grace to rectifie and purifie our carnal hearts and dispose them to employ his blessings to his glory and not to the encreasing of our own Lusts which provoke us to sin more against his Divine goodness St. Austin on the 7th Psalm lays before us another very pious consideration telling us that such worldly things as we commonly esteem and call Blessings may proceed from God's Anger and not from his Favour Irritavit Dominum peccator ut ista patiatur id est ut correctionis flagella non patiatur It may be that God provoked by our sins instead of a careful Fatherly correction gives us those things as an Enemy to our hurt just as a cunning Neighbour who intends to supplant some Prodigal person and work him out of his Estate in great appearing kindness supplies him plentifully with money day by day which helps forward the spending of his Estate and hastens his ruin Wherefore all Godly persons upon any great access of prosperity with much cautionary fear examine themselves whether any sin lies concealed in some corner of their heart and if so they then conclude this Prosperity cannot be a favour from God for God cannot have a love and favour for Sinners and therefore they fear this may be a giving them up to greater opportunities of sinning leaving them to their own Lusts and so to fill up the measure of their Iniquities according to that Rev. xxii 11. He that is unjust let him be unjust still and he which is filthy let him be filthy still Whereby you see thoughts of Humiliation are very necessary in times of Prosperity lest we be exalted too much by it or cousened with a belief of Gods favour in it for which diligent search ought to be made Secondly In time of Adversity no man can doubt but that Humiliation is very requisite Nature it self teaches this to lament and bewail our miseries we commonly over-act that part And yet there is a perverse Generation amongst us so irreligious and so head-strong as that nothing can take them off their mad-brain'd mirth but when God by his chastising Hand calls to weeping and mourning to baldness and girding with Sackcloath as it is Isa. xxii 12 13. They as it were in defiance of his Almighty Hand call to joy and gladness slaying Oxen and killing Sheep eating Flesh and drinking Wine let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall die Desperate wretches