in his dying Hour A sincere Life is attended with a happy Death and that is attended with a more happy Life God is the Rewarder of Moral Vertues with Temporal Blessings but he is the Eternal Reward of Godly Sincerity This is the first Notion of perfect Holiness in the present state 2. There is an Integral Perfection of Holiness that is an entire conjugation of all those Sanctifying Graces of which the Image of God Consists The New Creature in its forming is not like the effects of Art but the living productions of Nature A Sculptor in making a Statue of Marble finishes the Head when the other part is but rude stone But all the parts of a Child in the Womb are gradually form'd together till the Body is complete The Holy Spirit in renewing a Man infuses a universal habit of Holiness that is Comprehensive of all the variety of Graces to be Exercis'd in the Life of a Christian. As the Corrupt Nature stil'd the Old Man is complete in its Earthly Members all the Lusts of the Flesh both of the desiring and angry Appetite and disposes without the corrective of Restraining Grace the Natural Man to yield to all Temptations he will be Fierce with the Contentious Licentious with the Dissolute Intemperate with the Drunkard Lascivious with the Impure Impious with the Scorners of Religion Thus the Divine Nature stil'd the New Man is complete in all Spiritual Graces and inclines and enables the Sanctified to do every good Work The fruit of the Spirit is Love Joy Peace Long-suffering Gentleness Goodness Faith Meekness Temperance Although they are distinguisht in their Activity and particular Objects yet they always are joyn'd in the same Subject and Concentre in God who is Immutably Holy and One. They are mixt in their Exercise without Confusion As in a Chorus the variety of Voices is Harmonious and Conspiring Spiritual Graces according to the degrees of their Perfection such is the degree of their Union Every real Saint is conform'd to Christ of whom he receives grace for grace There are Spiritual Gifts of Arbitrary Dispensation the word of Wisdom the word of Knowledge the gifts of Healing the works of Miracles are separately given But when the Spirit prepares a Soul for his Habitation he purifies it from Sin and adorns it with every Grace if there be a defect of any Grace the opposite Sin in its power remains in the Soul and makes it impossible for the Holy Spirit to dwell there 'T is to be observed that when a Promise is made to any particular Grace in Scripture that Grace is to be considered in union with other Graces Our Saviour tells us Whoever believes shall be saved And St. Paul inspired by the Spirit of our Saviour saith That Faith separate from Charity is of no avail for Salvation Though I have all Faith so that I could remove mountains and have not Charity I am nothing A Faith that does not work by Love and is not productive of Obedience is of no saving efficacy St. James puts the Question What doth it profit my Brethren though a Man says he hath Faith and hath not Works Can Faith save him 'T is evident it does not For nothing asserts or denies more strongly than a Question He that does not by Faith in the Son of God live a holy Life must dye for ever St. John assures us That we are in a state of favour with God if we love the Brethren We know that we have passed from Death to Life because we love the Brethren But the sincerity of our Love to the Children of God is proved by our Love to God and keeping his Commandments and is inseparable from it Where-ever Salvation is promised to a particular Duty it must be understood in a collective sense We read Whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved But a prevailing Prayer must proceed from a holy Person that keeps the Commands of God and does those things that are pleasing in his sight The Prayer must be mix'd with Faith and Fervency The effectual fervent Prayer of a righteous Man avails much The connexion of saving Graces cannot be broken St. Peter excites us to give all diligence to add to our Faith in the Mysteries of Godliness Vertue an active power to render it lively and operative otherwise Faith is a mere speculative dead assent To Vertue Knowledge Prudence to direct its exercise in the seasons wherein and the manner how our Duties are to be performed To Knowledge Temperance to regulate our Appetites and Enjoyments in the use of things pleasing to the Senses To Temperance Patience to endure the Evils to which we are exposed in this lower state which is equally if not more necessary and excellent For Humane Nature is more affected and tempted by sharp Pains and Grief than delighted with Pleasure Without the exercise of these Graces our Religion will be by fits and flashes with interrupting intervals To Patience Godliness that is a respect to the Commands of God as our Rule and his Glory as our End that is distinguish'd from mere Morality that proceeds only from Humane Reason and respects the civil Happiness To Godliness Brotherly-kindness A sincere Love to all of the same Heavenly Extraction in whom the Image of God shines And to Brotherly-kindness Charity That extends to all the partakers of our common Nature All Spiritual Graces take their residence together in the Soul not one singly enters and keeps entire possession Our Saviour tells the young Man who had lived so regularly that he was lovely in his Eyes If thou wilt be perfect go and sell all and give to the Poor and come follow me He wanted Charity and Self-denyal to make his Obedience entire 3. There is a comparative Perfection This in Scripture is Intellectual or Moral 1. Intellectual Perfection The Apostle excites the Hebrews Wherefore leaving the Doctrine of the beginning of Christ let us go on to Perfection To more eminent degrees in the Knowledge of the Gospel both of the supernatural Doctrines of the Gospel or the Duties contained in it Of the first the Apostle is to be understood We speak Wisdom among those that are perfect That is declare Divine Mysteries to those who are prepared to receive them The Light of Nature declares the Being of God and his Essential Perfections Wisdom Power and Goodness shining in his Works but not his Counsels in order to our Salvation No Man hath seen God at any time The only begotten which is in the bosom of the Father he hath declared him There are some notices of Good and Evil of Vertue and Vice by the instructive Light of Reason but not sufficient to inform us of our full Duty The discovery of the purity and perfection of the Moral Law is from God The Gospel like a clear and equal Glass that discovers the beauties and blemishes of the Face makes known to us what defiles and
was by Seduction Eve being deceived was in the Transgression Our Liberty is restor'd by Light The Truth makes us free The necessity that proceeds from external Compulsion and from the indeliberate and strong sway of Nature that determines to one thing is inconsistent with Liberty The Understanding is a free Faculty in the apprehension of Objects the VVill free in the election of them But in the consequent choice of the VVill that infallibly proceeds from Light and Love the perfection of its freedom consists VVhen God and his Commands are duely represented in their amiable excellencies the Love of the Law-giver and his Laws certainly produces Obedience to it with Choice and Complacency David expresses his Affection to the Divine Law and the principal motive of it I love thy Law because 't is pure As the Hands are free when they are directed by the Eyes and VVill so a Saint that with understanding and voluntary veneration worships God and obeys his Precepts which is our reasonable Service exercises and enjoys the truest sweetest and most honourable Liberty If the Son make you free ye are free indeed Freedom and Felicity are inseparable Servitude is the fatal concomitant of Vice VVhen a Philosopher was ask'd what Advantage he had obtain'd by the Study of Philosoyhy he replyed This among others that if all the Laws were cancell'd a Philosopher would live as uniformly according to the Rules of Decency and Honesty as before A Christian that has an inward Principle of Divine Knowledge and Love without the constraint of Paenal Laws will from a clear Judgment and Election obey God with delight and constancy There is a servile Liberty There are three mistakes in the VVorld of eternal destructive consequence to the Souls of Men concerning VVisdom and Folly Happiness and Misery Liberty and Servitude Some are seeming wise whose Ignorance is esteemed Judgment Such are the worldly wise who contrive and labour to lay up treasures for themselves here but are not rich towards God Our Saviour gives them a true Character They are Fools Others are esteemed happy in enjoying what they love whereas if they set their Love upon those Objects that deserve not that principal Affection but are pernicious to their Souls they are truly miserable in the fruition of them 'T is the sign of God's severe displeasure to give Men up to satisfie their vile Affections Some are seeming free whose Bondage is esteem'd Liberty Carnal Men presume of their Liberty because they follow the swinge of their Appetites But they serve divers Lusts and Pleasures and are under the dominion of Satan taken captive by him at his Will As if a Horse that takes a career in a pleasant Plain were free when the Bridle is in his Mouth and he is carb'd by the Rider at his pleasure The Apostles say of Idolaters That what they sacrific'd to Idols they sacrific'd to Devils 'T is equally true that when Men serve their Lusts they serve the Devil constructively doing things pleasing to them VVhen Man turn'd Rebel against God he became an absolute Slave His Understanding is now in the Chains of Darkness under Ignorance and Errors his VVill is inflav'd by infamous Lusts his Affections are fetter'd by insnaring Objects If no Man can serve two Masters how wretched is their Condition whose numerous and fierce Passions exact things contrary and are their Tyrants and Tormenters continually St. Peter speaks of impure Persons Their Eyes are full of the Adulteress they cannot cease from Sin This is true of all Sinners whose Hearts are possess'd by any kind of Lusts. They are hurried by them against the Reason and Rest of their Minds to the commission of Sin which is the most cruel and contumelious Bondage and the more shameful because voluntary But they are insensible of those subtle Chains that bind the Soul and think themselves to be the only free Men As when the Angel awaken'd Peter to release him from Prison he thought he saw a Vision so when they are excited to go out of their dark Prison they think the freedom of Duty the gracious Liberty of the Sons of God to be a mere Imagination Like one in the Paroxism of a Fever who sings and talks high as if he were in perfect Health but after the remission of the Disease feels his Strength broken with Pains and himself near Deaths Thus within a little while when the furious precipitancy of their Passions is cool'd and check'd by Afflictions they will feel and sink under the weight of their woful Bondage Another Objection and pernicious Fallacy of the Tempter whereby he frights many young Persons from the strictness of a holy Life is That Religion is a sowre Severity they must renounce all Delights turn Capuchins if they seriously engage themselves in a Religious Course and resolve to strive after pure and perfect Holiness But there is neither Truth nor Terror in this Suggestion to the inlighten'd Mind 'T is impossible true Holiness should make Men joyless and in the least degree miserable which is in the highest Perfection in God who is infinitely joyful and blessed Religion does not extinguish the joyful Affections but transplant them from Egypt to Canaan The Pleasures of Sin which are only forbidden in the first taste ravish the Carnal Senses But like Jonathan's Honey they kill by tasting when the Sweetness is vanish'd the Sting remains Whereas the Joy that proceeds from the exercise and improvement of Divine Grace and the Love of God shed abroad in the Heart by the Holy Ghost the Eternal Comforter the present Reward of it is vital and reviving the foretaste of Eternal Life 'T is true Carnal Men are strangers to this Joy they cannot relish Divine Delights but the Spirit of God like a new Soul inspires the sanctified with new Thoughts new Inclinations new Resolutions and qualifies them that Spiritual Objects are infinitely pleasing to them And whereas Carnal Pleasures are but for a season and within a little while dye and end in bitter distaste Amnon's excessive Love was suddenly turned into more excessive Hatred Spiritual Joys are increasing and ever-satisfying Now 't is an infallible Rule to direct our choice that is true Happiness which the more we enjoy the more highly we value and love I thought it fit to shew the Unreasonableness of these Objections that are perverse and poysonous which if not remov'd would blast my Design and desir'd Success in the subsequent Discourses But 't is more easie to prove our Duty to follow Holiness than to perswade Men to practice it I shall only add that the Reward of Holiness being so Excellent and Eternal our Zeal should encounter and overcome all Difficulties that oppose our obtaining it The strongest and swiftest Wings are too slow to dispatch our way to Heaven The Lord give his Blessing to make Sacred Truths effectual upon the Souls of Men. ERRATA PAge 15. Line 13 14. for Love read Law p. 29. in the Margent for iras
what beautifies the Soul Now 't is our Duty to increase in Knowledge both in the extent and degrees and in the quality and efficacy of it 1. In the extent and degrees There is a mutual dependance of Divine Truths one illustrates and infers another There is an harmonious agreement between them one supports another and 't is our Duty to apply our Minds intensely to understand them How many that have the Revelation of the Gospel are mean proficients in the School of Heaven Of these the Apostle speaks with reprehension They needed to be taught again the first Principles of the Oracles of God and are become such that had need of milk and not of strong meat Whereas others were come to full age and had their senses exercised to discern more perfectly good and evil How many Professors need the first Principles of Religion to be planted in them They pretend to exempt their Ignorance from discredit that it only belongs to the Ministers of the Word to study the Mysteries of Religion But 't is of infinite consequence they should be wise to Salvation Our Saviour tells us This is Life Eternal to know thee to be the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent The dispensation of the Gospel is a state of Perfection 'T is the full and final declaration of God's Will in order to our future Blessedness 'T is not a provisional establishment as the Levitical Law There is no other alliance to be made between God and Men no other Sacrifice to be offered for Sin All the Types and Prophesies are compleatly fulfilled in Christ. Now some understand more clearly and distinctly the contrivance and parts of our mysterious Redemption and are comparatively perfect All the Treasures of the World are in real value infinitely inferiour to saving Truths There may be Knowledge without saving Grace but no saving Grace without Knowledge The Understanding is the leading Faculty Conversion begins in the renewed Mind Ye were darkness now ye are light in the Lord. The Gospel cannot be profitable for our Holiness and Comfort but by the intervening of the inlightned applicative Understanding the Conscience that discovers the Will of God to us from whence our immediate obligation arises to obey it 'T is true some Doctrines of the Gospel are fundamental and some are perfective Some are not of that consequence and clearness as others and the Ignorance of them is not damning not the Knowledge of them saving But every Divine Truth is worthy of our attentive Consideration according to our Capacity for they contribute to our Perfection We should strive to advance in Knowledge that as the Sun gradually ascends the Horizon till it gives Light to the Day and Day to the World so our knowledge of Christ should be more clear and extensive till we are compleatly transformed into his glorious Image When we shall see him as he is we shall be intirely like him 2. As our Knowledge is more vital affective and practical 't is more perfective of us Divine Truths have a Goodness in them and are not duely known without a stedfast belief of their Truth and a just valuation of their Goodness when the conviction of the Mind and the consent of the Will is influential upon our Lives The knowledge of some things is merely speculative One knows that the Eclipse of the Sun is from the interposing of the Moon between that globe of Light and our sight and the Mind acquiesces in the Theory for 't is of no practical use But the knowledge that Sin separates between God and us and intercepts the Light of his Countenance from shining upon us is infinitely profitable to make us fearful to offend him that we may not be deprived of the joyful sense of his Love Spiritual Knowledge includes a correspondent permanent impression upon the Heart and in the Life to the nature of sanctifying Truths In civil matters there is a knowledge of discourse and direction and a knowledge of performance And in holy things there is a knowledge of apprehension and in words and a knowledge that orders the Conversation aright The first is not onely fruitless but accidentally pernicious according to Solomon's Expression he that increases knowledge increases Sorrow A smaller degree of knowledge of God and Christ that is productive of Love and Obedience is far more valuable than a more large and accurate knowledge of the Divine Attributes of the union of the Natures and Offices of Christ that is not fruitful in Good Works as a spot of Ground Cultivated according to its quality is more profitable than a large Field that lies Waste 2. Moral Perfection is evident by a Threefold Comparison 1. Of the Saints with visible Sinners 2. Of the Saints among themselves 3. Of some eminent acts of Grace with lower acts in the same kind 1. The Comparison of Saints with visible Sinners makes them appear as perfect 'T is true there is a mixture of Principles in the best here of Flesh and Spirit inherent Corruption and infus'd Grace and the operations flowing from them accordingly are mixt But as one who has not the brightest Colours of white and red in the Complexion appears an Excellent Beauty set off by the presence of a Blackmoor so the Beauty of Holiness in a Saint though mixt with blemishes appears complete when compar'd with the foul deformity of Sinners Thus the opposition between them is express'd He destroys the perfect and the wicked 'T is Recorded of Noah that he was a just and perfect man in his generation in an Age when Wickedness reign'd when Chastity was expell'd from the number of Vertues and Modesty was censur'd as a Vice when Impiety was arriv'd at the highest pitch and the Deluge was necessary to purge the World from such Sinners then the sanctity and piety of Noah shin'd as brightness issues from the Stars He appear'd perfectly good compar'd with the prodigiously bad 2. In comparing the Saints among themselves some are stil'd perfect There are different degrees among Sinners some are so dispos'd to Wickedness that they may be denominated from as many Vices that possess their Souls as the Evil Spirit in the man spoken of in the Gospel answer'd his name was Legion from the number of Devils that possess'd him They drive through all the degrees of Sin so violently and furiously that compar'd to them other Sinners seem Innocent and are far less obnoxious to Judgment Thus there are singular Saints whose Graces are so Conspicuous and Convincing and a universal Holiness appears in their Conversation as makes them venerable among the vicious Their presence will restrain the dissolute from Excesses either in Words or Actions as effectually as a Magistrate by the terror of his Power Other Saints though sincere yet there is such a mixture of Shades and Lights in their actions that they are in low esteem Compare meek Moses with the passionate Prophet Jonas who justified his anger to the
from the Curse of the Law he intercepted the heavy stroke of Vengeance that had sunk us into the Centre of Sorrows and restor'd us to the Favour and Fruition of God Our Misery was extreme and without End if Misery though intolerable has a determin'd issue the passing of every day lessens it but if it be above all Patience to endure and without Hope of Remission or Release this thought strikes deadly inward A Brute has some Memory of past pains and a feeling of present but no apprehension of future pains 't is the woful Prerogative of the Reasonable Nature to exasperate the sense of Misery by the foresight of its continuance and to feel the weight of Eternity every Moment Lost Souls are dead to all the vital sweetness of Being to all sense of Happiness and live to the quickest feeling of Misery for ever Our Rescue from this Misery is more affecting if we consider that without our Saviour's interposing our state was desperate to pass from death to life is a double life We are translated from the guilty wretched state of Rebels into the blessed state of the Children of God and are Heirs of Eternal Glory The duration is as valuable as the Felicity and doubles the Gift Immortality and Immutability are inseparable in Heaven God has made all his Goodness to pass before us in our Salvation Goodness how amiable how attractive and endearing To dye for another is the most noble kind of Love but there are degrees in that kind to die for an Enemy for a Rebel is the highest degree of that Love Now the Son of God assum'd to the Supreme Excellencies of the Divine Nature the tender Infirmities of the Humane Nature that he might be a propitiatory Sacrifice for our Sins In this God commended his love to us that when we were Sinners he gave his Son to die for us Astonishing Love it passes all understanding The Jews askt our Saviour with wonder how is it that thou being a Man makest thy self God We may imagine with equal wonder how being the Son of God he descended from the Throne of Majesty in heaven and stoop'd so low as to become Man St. Peter illuminated by divine Revelation Confest Thou art the Christ the Son of the living God But presently after when our Saviour foretold that he must go to Jerusalem and be kill'd there Peter began to rebuke him saying Be it far from thee this shall not come unto thee He could not conceive how such distant and discordant extremes as the Son of the Living God and Death could meet in Christ but his love to us united them A Love above all comparison but with the love of his Father to us In the Sacrifice of Isaac there was a faint resemblance of this Abraham carried the Knife and the Fire and Isaac carried the Wood and himself the Sacrifice and with equal steps they ascended the Mount A Type of the concurrent Love of the Divine Persons to us in the process of Christ's Sufferings The Father laid upon him the iniquity of us all surely he has born our griefs and endur'd our sorrows Admirable Excess of Love The Father gave up his innocent and only Son the bright Image of his Glory to Cruel Sufferings This Immaculate Lilly was pierced with Thorns The Son gave such Life for us as no Creature can give and suffer'd such a Death for us as no Creature can suffer He descended to our lowest Misery to raise us to the highest degrees of Happiness Who can resist the force of these Reflections It may seem that only the Reprobates in Hell that have sinn'd beyond the intended vertue and application of his Sufferings can be unaffected with them From hence this Corollary regularly follows that 't is our Duty to consecrate our highest Esteem and Love to our Redeemer Supreme Love is due to Supreme Excellencies and for the greatest Benefits In our Saviour all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge are hid and all the Treasures of Grace and Mercy are open'd to inrich us What Indignity what Ingratitude is it to be coldly affected to him who by the dearest Titles infinitely deserves our love How unreasonable and unnatural is it to look upon him with an indifferent Eye who died for us and whom the Angels continually behold in a double extasie of Admiration and Joy 'T is most just that our Love should ascend to him in thankfulness as his descended to us in benefits But our Poverty must excuse the not entire payment of our Immense Debt and our fervent desires to love him better If we content our selves with luke-warm Affections 't is most dishonourable to him the coldness of Love as well as the heat of Enmity is very provoking to our Saviour It should be our constant practise by discursive and reflexive Meditation to increase the holy heat of our Affections to Christ. He requires a love of Judgment and Choice The love of Natural Inclination is indeliberate without Counsel and needs no Excitations the stream runs downward freely But love to Christ is Supernatural both with respect to the Object and the quality of the Affection The Love of God is the principal obligation of the Law and the principal Duty of the reasonable and renewed Creature the most just and amiable Duty yet so monstrous is the depravation of the humane Nature that Divine Grace is requisite to recover its Life and Liberty The preventing pleasures of Sin possess the Soul We must therefore earnestly Pray that the Holy Spirit would illuminate our Minds and direct us in the Love of God that he will purifie our Affections and raise them to Heaven The Exercise of our Thoughts is too weak and faint to make indelible impression of Love in our Hearts Love is an eminent Fruit of the Spirit The love of God is shed abroad in the heart by the holy Spirit given to us There is a strong tide of Sensual Desires that carries us downward which we cannot stem without the gales of the Spirit to make our way to Christ. But 't is inconsistent with the Wisdom and Will of God for Men to expect an Inspiration from Heaven and neglect the proper means the considering the powerful Incentives of Love to our Redeemer his alluring Excellency and unvaluable Benefits St. Paul declares The Love of Christ constrains us for we thus judge if one dyed for all then wereall dead and that he died for all that they might live to him If all be not cold and dead within this will increase the sacred Fire and inflame the Affections But as the light of the Sun diffus'd in the Air fires nothing but the Beams contracted in a Glass kindle proper Matter so the considering of the common Salvation will not be so affecting nor so warm and soften the Heart as the serious applicative Thoughts of it to our selves the Apostle expresses it Who loved me and gave himself for me The appropriating by a clear Faith
and serious Thoughts his Dying Love to the Soul will cause an irresistible Affection to him stronger than Death We must learn of Christ how to love him His Love was express'd in the most real Actions and convincing Evidence it was an incarnate Love a beneficent Love productive of our Salvation our love must be productive of Obedience This is the surest Trial of it If ye love me you will keep my words saith our Saviour The Frost of Fear will hinder the breaking forth of Carnal Lusts into notorious Acts as the Cold of Winter binds the Earth that noxious Weeds cannot spring up but the heat of Love is productive of all the Fruits of Righteousness Love to Christ will make every Command pleasant and the exactest Obedience to be voluntary liberal and ingenuous Fear may enforce Constancy for a time but Love is a Vital Principle continually operative in all the Transitions of this Life This secures Obedience Christ has fasten'd us to his Service by a Chain compos'd of his most precious Benefits by the pardon of our innumerable sins and to whom much is forgiven they love much Fear tries in vain to make an alliance between the Flesh and Spirit obeys some Commands and transgresses others but Love respects all Fear induces a desertion of our Duty when Evils nearly threaten us but Love encounters them with such a Character of Assurance as becomes those who esteem it a Favour and Honour to Suffer for Christ. Some are harden'd against Afflictions and endure with Courage Persecutions for the Cause of Christ but yield to pleasant Temptations like the Manna that would endure the Fire but melted in the heat of the Sun but Love to Christ by an overcoming delight renders the pleasures of Sin nauseous and insipid In short the properties of natural Love are united in the Love of Christ. Love will transport us to Heaven and transform us into his likeness Love will make us Zealous in constant and excellent Endeavours to be compleatly conform'd to him Resemblance is the common Principle of all unions in Nature 't is preparative to Love and the effect of it Experience is a sensible demonstration of this For the love of Friends if in a degree of Eminence Causes a perfect sympathy an exact correspondence in their Tempers The exercise of Love in the most precious Esteem of him in burning desires after a Propriety in him in the sweetest complacency in Communion with him are intimate and inseparable Qualities in all the Lovers of Christ. Love to him is always joyn'd with an irreconcileable hatred of Sin that cost him so dear to expiate its guilt Our love intirely and intensely is due to him and no lower degree is accepted For 't is a disparagement and infinitely unworthy of him To content our selves with a less Affection is not only far distant from Perfection but from the first disposition of a Saint The tenderest and strongest Affections in Nature must be regulated and subordinate to the Love of Christ. Our Love to him must be Singular and Supreme Briefly his Love to us is Beneficent ours is Obedient He values no Love without Obedience and no Obedience without Love 2. Love must descend from God to our Neighbour This Duty is so often Commanded and Commended in the Gospel that we may from thence understand its Excellency The beloved Disciple that lay in the Bosom of Christ from that Spring of Love derived the Streams that flow in his Writings He declares that God is Love and he that loves dwells in God and God in him 1 Joh. 4. 11. He makes it an Evidence that we are born of God of our renewed state and that we are past from death to life Our Saviour injoyns it with a note of Eminency as his new Command as the distinctive Character of his Disciples as the special Qualification of those at his right hand in the Day of Judgment to recommend it to our Love and Obedience He tells us that to love our neighbour as our selves is like the most divine Precept of loving the Lord our God We read in that Solemn Proclamation of God's Name when his Glory past before Moses that to the Title of Lord God there was immediately annext Merciful and Gracious abundant in Goodness to signifie that Goodness is his dearest Glory and in the Divine Law next to Piety to God Charity to our Neighbour is Commanded to signifie how pleasing it is to him The Gospel Eclipses all other Institutions by the Precept of Universal Love and inspiring a delightful disposition in Christians to exercise it This adorns the Gospel and recommends it to the Esteem and Affections of Men. A Person innocent and pure but of a severe and harsh Temper condemns by his Holy Conversation the Profane and Scandalous but a Good Man charms and captivates the Hearts of others that one would dare to dye for him This Duty is prescrib'd in the Extent and Qualifications of it 1. In the Extent it reaches to all within the compass of Humanity to Strangers and Enemies in all our dealings Let all things be done with Charity The Relation of Consanguinity is the Natural Cause of a Benevolent Affection to all Men. The likeness of kind prevents mischief between the most fierce and hurtful Creatures We never heard that Lyons devour Lyons or Vipers bite Vipers and unless we add Beneficence to Innocence we are but in the rank of Brutes The Love of good Will is express'd by promoting their Good and preventing Evils by rejoycing in their Prosperity and relieving them in their Afflictions This Love is more radicated in the breasts of Men by considering the condition of Nature wherein they are equal whether the original happy state of their Creation or their miserable wretched state since their Fall Similitude either in Happiness or Misery unites Mens Affections How low and despicable so great a part of Mankind is at present yet the remembrance that all Men were equal in their first honourable and happy Condition Inhabitants of Paradise and by deputation Lords of the World will raise our esteem and be an incentive of kind Affections to them And since the Fall the calamitous Condition of Mankind is a proper motive of mutual assistance to one another Society in Miseries endears the Sufferers and produces a tender sympathy between them None are so merciful as those who by Experience know what it is to be miserable The Consideration of the common Evils to which all are exposed in the present state induces a strong obligation to the offices of Love and Kindness But the principal and divine cause of Love is the Law of Christ that enjoyns us to do good to all but especially to the houshold of Faith for the spiritual Relation is more intimate and excellent than the natural That we are the off-spring of the same Heavenly Father united as Members to the same glorious Head renewed to a Divine Life by the same Holy Spirit incorporated into
guilt Now the more we are conform'd to our meek and forgiving Saviour the more we approach to Perfection And the more the Corrupt Nature in us is provokt and fierce upon Revenge the doing Good for Evil is the more sure proof of excellent Vertue and clear Victory over our selves 8. The more receptive persons are of Spiritual Counsel and Admonition for the preventing or recovery from Sin they are the more Holy 'T is David's desire Let the righteous smite me it shall be a kindness and let him reprove me it shall be an excellent oil which shall not break my head There is no Counsel so truly valuable as that which proceeds from Wisdom and Love in matters of Importance If a Friend discovers by indications and symptoms a disease that insensibly has seiz'd on us does not his compassionate Advice endear him to us How much rather should we meekly and thankfully receive a prudent and seasonable reproof of a Spiritual Friend for the healing our Souls whose Diseases are far more dangerous and less discernable than those of the Body 'T is the most sacred and beneficial Office of Friendship and like the Compassionate Love of the Angel to Lot in leading him out of Sodom And as the most Excellent Metal Gold is most pliant and easily wrought on so the most Excellent Tempers are most receptive of holy Counsels Yet the Natural Man is very averse from a meek submission to reproof for Sin A vicious Self-love of which Pride is the production makes us to overvalue our Reputation now to reprove implies a Superiority which occasions Impatience and Disdain Though the Duty be perform'd with Prudence and Tenderness and respective Modesty yet 't is usually very unacceptable Men will excuse and extenuate and sometimes defend their Sins nay sometimes recoil with Indignation upon a faithful Reprover 'T is as dangerous to give an Admonition to some proud Spirits as 't is to take a Thorn out of a Lions Foot 'T is therefore evident that when a just Reproof is receiv'd with Meekness and Acceptance there is a great Love of Holiness as when one takes a very unpleasant Medicine it argues an earnest desire of Health He is an Excellent Saint that when Conscience has not by its directive Office prevented his Falling into Sin and a sincere Friend endeavors to restore him is not angry at the Reproof but sorry he deserves it Lastly The deliberate desire of Death that we may arrive at the state of perfect Holiness is the effect of excellent Grace There is no desire more natural and strong than of the enjoyment and continuance of Life There is no fear more insuperable than of certain and inevitable Death Those who do not fear it at a distance are struck with Terrors at the aspect and approaches of it Carnal Men whose Heaven is here at the fearful apprehensions and foresight of it are ready to sink into Despair Nay holy Men who have the prospect of Coelestial Happiness beyond Death and believe that the pangs of Death are throws for their deliverance to Eternal Life are apt to shrink at the thoughts of their Dissolution If the change from an earthly to a heavenly state were not by our being uncloth'd but to be cloth'd upon with Glory which St. Paul declares to be the desire of Nature the hopes of seeing Christ in his Glory and being transformed into his Likeness would so inflame their Affections that they would be impatient of being absent from him But the necessity of dying that we may ascend into his reviving presence is so bitter that Divine Grace is requisite to induce us to consent to it St. Peter was an ardent lover of Christ and appeals to our Saviour's omnisciency for a testimony of it Lord thou that knowest all things knowest that I love thee yet our Saviour immediately tells him When thou shalt be old thou shalt stretch out thy hands and another shall carry thee where thou wouldst not signifying his Death The circumstance when thou arâ— old implies an unwillingness to dye when the natural term of Life was near expiring Yet Peter had been a spectator of our Saviour's glorious Transfiguration and of his triumphant Ascent to Heaven from Mount Olivet The best of us have reason to joyn in the language and desire of the Spouse Draw us to thy blessed presence and we will run after thee So strong is the band of natural Love that fastens the Soul and Body and such a reluctancy there is against a Dissolution But St. Paul declares I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is far better He was contented to live for the Service of Christ but desirous to dye to enjoy his Presence in the Sanctuary of Life above This was his fixed and unsatisfied desire How few are arriv'd to such a heigth of Spirituality This desire is the fruit of Faith with respect to the Reality and Glory of the Eternal State and our interest in it According as the revelation of the invisible Kingdom is in our Minds such is its attractive power in our Hearts 'T is the effect of Divine Love in a degree of eminence To vanquish the Terrors of Death that are insuperable to Humane Resolutions and with a clear and chearful Spirit to leave the Body in the Grave that we may for ever be freed from Sin and made like to Christ in Purity and Glory is the effect of Love stronger than Death 2. Use is to excite us to follow Holiness to make it the great design study and endeavour of our Lives to grow in Grace 'T is true the beginning the prosecution and perfection of Holiness is from God but 't is by the subordinate concurrence of the renewed Mind and Will the leading Faculties that we are advancing towards Perfection God gives Vertue to the Seeds Temper to the Seasons and Form to the Fruits but Men are to plant and water the Fruits of the Earth Without God our Endeavours are weak and ineffectual but by his Blessing are successful I will first set down Directions how we should follow Holiness Secondly Answer the Carnal Allegations against our striving after Perfection Thirdly Proceed to add other Motives to enforce the Duty Fourthly Propound the Means that may be effectual for this excellent End 1. We must in our early Age follow Holiness Men commonly deceive Conscience and elude their Duty by delays They are unwilling to be holy too soon and in an excellent degree They presume there will be time enough hereafter for to reform themselves after their Voluptuous Affections are satisfied after their Worldly Acquisitions they will forsake their Sins and become holy But this is unaccountable Folly rather a Delirium than Discourse There are innumerable Contradictions of which the Lives of Men are compounded they complain as if Time were intolerably short and waste it as if it were intolerably long They use all Arts that Months may seem as Hours and Years pass as Days But in no
pardon externally the most provoking Injuries but internally quench all inclinations to revenge now it will require our Noblest Care and most Excellent Endeavours to practice these high Rules If there were an extract of the Corrupt Morals in the Philosophy of the Heathens it would be visible how defective it is to restore Man to his primitive Holiness They were Idolaters not merely by Temptation but by Principle and Resolution it was their Maxim that a Wise Man should Conform to the Worship practis'd in the places where they lived Their Moral Philosophy ascended no higher than to instruct us how to act as Men for it considers in them only Humane Qualities and directs their Actions in a respective order to Natural Felicity To do justly to dye generously to allay the fiery agitations of the Passions that make Men miserable in themselves and vexatious to others is the highest pitch to which this Heathen Philosophy pretends They had some glimmering confus'd Notions of their Duty towards God but like the thin appearance of some Stars in a dark Night without Efficacy But the Gospel reveals our Duty so as it may be clearly known and strongly imprest on us There are various Duties in the compass of a Christians practise and 't is an advantage to have them reduc'd to some comprehensive Heads that may bring them often to our Minds The Apostle gives us the bright sum of our Duty The grace of God that brings salvation hath â—ppâ—â—â—'d unto all â—â—n teaching us thâ—â— dâ—nying ungodliness and worldly lusts 〈◊〉 should liâ—â— godly righteously â—nd soberly in the prâ—â—â—â—t world There is no Rule more eâ—â—â—â—â—â—ve and influential into the Life of a Christian thâ—â— to walâ— worthy of God becoming our Relation to him 〈◊〉 ouâ— Heavenly Father and our Union with his Son as our Spiritual Head and the Supernatural Happiness reveal'd in his Word We are commanded to â—â—lâ— ciâ—â—â—mspectly and â—â—â—ctly not as fools bâ—◠〈◊〉 wiâ—â— Sometimeâ— there is a particular eâ—umeration of our Duties Finally brethren whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are jâ—sâ— whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good râ—port if therâ— be any vertue any praise think on these things From what has been said of the Obligation of the Evangelical Rule 't is evident how destructive the Doctrine of the Church of Rome is that many things prescribed in the Gospel are Counsels of Perfection not Universal Laws A Doctrine fatally fruitful of many pernicious Consequences of Spiritual Pride the poison of the Soul They depress the Divine Law while they Assert a more Excellent Holiness in uncommanded Works and they exceed the rule in matters of Supererogation It induces slothfulness for they securely allow themselves in the neglect of their duty and not only contradict the Gospel in their Practises but supplant it in their Principles And as they relax our obligation to the Precepts of the Law so by other Doctrines they release Men from the fear of the Sanction and Penalty for the Doctrine of Purgatory takes away the fear of Hell and the Doctrine of Indulgences the fear of Purgatory 2. The Gospel propounds to us Examples of Perfection to raise us to the best heighth 1. We are Commanded to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect There are some Attributes of God that are not the Object of our Desires and Imitation but of our highest Reverence and Veneration Such are his Eternity Immensity Omnipotence Immutability There are other Attributes his Moral Perfections that are imitable Holiness Goodness Justice Truth which are purely and fully declar'd in his Law and visibly in the Works of Providence This Command as was before explain'd is to be understood not of an equality but resemblance He is Essentially Transcendently and Unchangeably Holy the Original of Holiness in understanding Creatures There is a greater disproportion between the Holiness of God and the unspotted Holiness of the Angels than between the Celerity of the motion of the Sun in the Heavens and the slow motion of the shadow upon the Dial that is regulated by it It should be our utmost Aim our most earnest Endeavour to imitate the Divine Perfection As Wax is to the Sâ—al so is the Spirit of Man to his End the same Characters are ingraved in it The Soul is God-like when the principal leading Powers the Understanding and Will are influenc'd by him The Heathen Deities were distinguished by their Vices Intemperance Impurity and Cruelty and their Idolaters sinâ—d boldly under their Patronage The true God commands us to be holy as God is holy to be followers of him as dear Children For Love produces desires and endeavours of likeness 2. The Life of Christ is a Globe of Precepts a Model of Perfection set before us for our imitation This in some respect is more proportionable to us for in him were united the Perfections of God with the Infirmities of a Man He was hâ—ly harmless undâ—filed and separate from Sinners His Purity was absolute and every Graoe in the most Divine degree was express'd in his Actions His Life and Death were a compounded Miracle of Obedience to God and Love to Men. Whatever his Father order'd him to undertake or undergo he entirely consented to He willingly took on him the form of a Servant 't was not put upon him by compulsion In his Life Humility towards Men infinite descenâ—s below him Self-denial Zeal for the Honour of God ardent Desires for the Salvation and Welfare of Men were as visible as the Flame discovers Fire In his Sufferings Obedience and Sacrifice were united The willingness of his Spirit was victorious over the repugnance of the Natural Will in the Garden Not my Will but thine be done was his unâ—lterable choice His Patience was iâ—â—â—perable to all Injuries He was betrayed by a Disciple for a vile Price and a Muâ—therer was preferr'd before him He was scorn'd as a false Prophet as a feigned King and deceitful Sâ—viour He was spit on scourg'd crown'd with Thorns and crucified and in the heigth of his Sufferings never express'd a spark of Anger against his Enemies nor the least degree of Impatience that might lessen the value of his Obedience Now consider it was one principal Reason of his Obedience to instruct and oblige us to conform to his Pattern the certain and constant Rule of our Duty We may not securely follow the best Saints who sometimes through Ignorance and Infirmity deviate from the narrow way but our Saviour is the Way the Truth and the Life What he said after his waâ—hing the Disciples Feet an Action wherein there was such an admirable mixture of Humility and Love that 't is not possible to conceive which excell'd for they were both in the highest Perfection I have given you an Example that what I have done to you so do you is applicable to all the kinds of Vertues and Graces exhibited in his Practice He instructs us to do by his Doings and to suffer by
them from the power of Sin The wise observer tells us I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets and her hands are as bands whoso pleases God shall escape from her but the sinner shall be taken by her Behold this have I found saith the preacher counting one by one to find out the account but I find not one man of a thousand have I found but a woman among all these have I not found 'T is astonishing that for a short dream of pleasure men should despise Heaven and Hell what is most desireable and most fearful How just is the reproach mixt with Compassion and Indignation How long ye simple ones will you love simplicity and fools hate knowledge 'T is worth the inquiry how men are sottishly seduced to live unchastly and intemperately against the reason and rest of their Minds 1. The great Temptation to Sin is the love of Pleasure accordingly the degrees of sensual Pleasure being more intense in those carnal Faculties that are for the preserving and propagating Life especially when heightned by the carnal Fancy the love of the Members prevails against the love of the Mind 'T is said of unclean persons whose Eyes are full of the Adulteress they cannot cease from Sin they cannot dis-entangle themselves from the embraces of the circling Serpent 2. Carnal pretences are made use of to defend or at least excuse the sin of Intemperance which makes it more easily indulg'd and pernicious in effect Men if it were possible would sin without sin without discovering the guilt and turpitude of it that they may enjoy their pleasures without accusing recoiling thoughts which will turn the sweetest Wine into Vinegar Now since Meats and Drinks are necessary for our vital support and the measure is uncertain and various according to the dispositions and capacities of mens bodies Intemperate persons feed high and drink deep without reflection or remorse and pretend 't is for the Refreshment of Nature 3. Fleshly Lusts steal into the Throne by degrees An Excess of Wickedness strikes at first sight with Horror No Prodigal design'd to waste a great Estate in a day yet many from immense Riches have fall'n into extream Poverty This Expence is for his Pleasure this for his Honour this will not be ruinous thus proceeding by degrees till all be squander'd away he becomes voluntarily poor An Intemperate Person begins with lesser measures and is not frequently overtaken Conscience for a time resists and suspends the entireness of his consent to the Temptation He drinks too much for his Time for his Health and Estate but he will not totally quench his Reason Yet by degrees he becomes hardned and freely indulges his Appetite till he is drown'd in Perdition A Lascivious person begins with impure Glances tempting Words and Actions and proceeds to unclean mixtures 4. Sensual Lusts stupify Conscience they kill the Soul in the Eye and extinguish the directive and reflexing Powers Wine and Women take away the Heart that 't is neither vigilant nor tender Chastity and Temperance joined with Prayer to the Father of Lights clarifie and brighten the Mind and make it receptive of sanctifying Truths but carnal predominant Passions sully and stain the Understanding by a natural Efficiency and by a moral and meritorious Efficiency When the Spirits that are requisite for intellectual operations are wasted for the use of the Body the Mind is indisposed for the severe exercise of Reason Although the dispositions of the Body are not directly operative upon the Spirit yet in their present state of union there is a strange simpathy between the Constitution of the one and the Conceptions and Inclinations of the other Luxury and Lust fasten a rust and foulness on the Mind that it cannot see Sin in its odious Deformity nor Vertue in its unattaintable Beauty They raise a thick mist that darkens Reason that it cannot discern approaching dangers The Judicative Faculty is by the righteous Judgment of God impaired and corrupted that it does not seriously consider the descent and worth of the Soul its duty and accounts for all things done in the Body but as if the Spirit in Man were for no other use but to animate the organs of Intemperance and Lust they follow their Pleasures with greediness 'T is said of the young Man enticed by the flatteries of the Harlot that he goes after her like an Ox crown'd with Garlands that insensibly goes to be sacrific'd He looks to the present Pleasure without considering the Infamy the Poverty the Diseases the Death and Damnation that are the just consequents of his Sin The sensual are secure The effects of Carnal Lusts were visible in the darkness of Heathenism Lusts alienates the thoughts and desires of the Soul from Converse with God His Justice makes him terrible to the Conscience and Holiness distastful to the Affections of the unclean We read of the Israelites they were so greedy of the Onions and Garlick and Flesh-pots of Egypt that they despised the Food of Angels the Manna that drop'd from Heaven Till the Soul be defecate from the dregs of Sense and refin'd to an Angelick Temper it can never taste how good the Lord is and will not forsake sensual Enjoyments The conversion of the Soul proceeds from the inlightened Mind and the renewed Will ravish'd with Divine Delights that overcome all the Pleasures of Sin There are for our caution recorded in Scripture two fearful Examples of the inchanting Power of Lust. Sampson inticed by his Lust became a voluntary slave to a wretched Harlot that first quench'd the Light of his Mind and then the Light of his Body and expos'd him to the cruel scorn of his Enemies Solomon by indulging his sensual Appetite lost his Wisdom and was induced by his Idolatrous Concubines to adore Stocks and Stones and became as very an Idol as those he worship'd that have Eyes and see not Ears and hear not He rebell'd against God who had made him the richest and wisest King in the World and miraculously revealed his Goodness to him Dreadful Consequence of Sensuality 5. There is a special Reason that makes the recovery of the sensual to Sobriety and Purity to be almost impossible The internal Principle of Repentance is the inlightened Conscience reflecting upon past Sins with heart-breaking sorrow and detestation This is declared by God concerning Israel Then shall ye remember your evil ways and your doings not good and shall loath your selves in your own sight for your iniquities and your abominations The bitter remembrance of Sin is the first step to reformation Now there are no Sinners more averse and uncapable of such reflections than those who have been immerst in the Delights of Sense The unclean wretch remembers the charming Objects and exercise of his Lusts with Pleasure and when his instrumental Faculties are disabled by Sickness or Age for the gross acts he repeats them in his Fancy renews his Guilt and the Sin
Mercy He that sows bountifully shall reap bountifully Charity is a productive Grace that enriches the giver more than the receiver Honour the Lord with thy substance and the first fruits of thy increase so shall thy Barns be filled with plenty and thy Presses burst out with new Wine He that gives to the Poor lends to the Lord He signs himself our Debtor for what is laid out for him and he will pay it with Interest not only with Eternal Treasures hereafter but in outward Blessings here Riches obtain'd by regular means are the effects and effusions of his Bounty but sometimes by admirable ways he gives a present Reward as by his own Hand As there are numerous Examples of God's blasting the Covetous either by a gangrene in their Estates that consumes them before their Eyes or by the Luxury and Profuseness of their Children so 't is as visible he prospers the Merciful sometimes by a secret Blessing dispensed by an invisible Hand and sometimes in succeeding their diligent Endeavours in their Callings But 't is objected the Liberal are not always prosperous To this a clear Answer may be given 1. External Acts of Charity may be performed from vicious motives without a mixture of internal Affections which make them accepted of God 2. Supposing a Christian abounds in Works of Charity and is not rewarded here this special Case does not infringe the truth of God's Promise for Temporal Promises are to be interpreted with an exception unless the Wisdom and Love of God sees it better not to bestow them But he always rewards them in kind or eminently in giving more excellent Blessings The Crown of Life is a reward more worthy the desires of a Christian than the things of this World Our Saviour assures the young Man Sell all and give to the Poor and thou shalt have Treasure in Heaven Eternal Hopes are infinitely more desirable than Temporal Possessions The Apostle charges the Rich to do good to be rich in good works ready to distribute willing to communicate laying up for themselves a good foundation not of merit but assurance against the time to come laying hold of Eternal Life If I could direct the Covetous how to exchange a weight of Silver for an equal weight of Gold or a weight of Gold for an equal weight of Diamonds how attentively would they hear and earnestly follow such profitable Counsel But what comparison is there between Earthly and Heavenly Treasures Godliness of which the Grace of Charity is an excellent part is profitable for all things it makes our Profit eternally profitable 'T is the Wisdom as well as Duty of Believers to lay up Treasures not on Earth the Land of their Banishment but in the Coelestial Country the Place of their Nativity CHAP. III. Pride considered in its nature kinds and degrees It consists in an immoderate Appetite of Superiority 'T is Moral or Spiritual Arrogance Vain-glory and Ambition are branches of it A secret undue conceit of our own Excellencies the inordinate desire of Praise the aspiring after high Places and Titles of Honour are the effects of Pride Spiritual Pride considered A presuming upon self-fufficiency to obtain Mens Ends A relyance upon their own direction and ability to accomplish their Designs Sins committed with design and deliberation are from Insolence A vain Presumption of the goodness of Mens Spiritual Estates Pride is in the front of those Sins that God hates Pride is odious in the sight of Men. The difficulty of the Cure apparent from many Considerations The proper means to allay the Tumour of Pride 4. PRide of Life is join'd with the Lusts of the Flesh and the Lust of the Eyes Pride destroyed both Worlds it transformed Angels into Devils and expelled them from Heaven it degraded Man from the honour of his Creation into the condition of the Beasts that perish and expell'd him from Paradise I will consider the nature several kinds and degrees of it and the means to purge us from it The nature of this Vice consists in an irregular and immoderate appetite of Superiority and has two parts The one is the affectation of Honour Dignity and Power beyond their true value and worth the other is the arrogating them as due to a person beyond his just desert The kinds of it are Moral and Spiritual which are sometimes concealed in the Mind and Will but often declar'd in the Aspect and Actions Accordingly 't is either Arrogance that attributes an undue preheminence to a Mans self and exacts undue respects from others or Vain-glory that affects and is fed with Praise or Ambition that hotly aspires after high Places and Titles of Precedency and Power All which are comprised in the universal name of Pride 1. Pride includes a secret conceit of our own Excellencies which is the root of all its branches Self love is so natural and deeply impress'd in the Heart that there is no Flatterer more subtle and conceal'd more easily and willingly believ'd than this Affection Love is blind towards others and more towards ones self Nothing can be so intimate and dear as when the Lover and the Person beloved are the same This is the Principle of the high Opinion and secret Sentiments Men entertain of their own special worth The Heart is deceitful above all things and above all things deceitful to it self Men look into the inchanting glass of their own Fancies and are vainly enamour'd with the false reflection of their excellencies Self love hinders the sight of those Imperfections which discovered would lessen the liberal esteem of themselves The Soul is a more obscure Object to its Eye than the most distant Stars in the Heavens Seneca tells of some that had a strange Infirmity in their Eyes that where-ever they turn'd they encountered the visible moving image of themselves Of which he gives this Reason It proceeds from the weakness of the visive Faculty that for want of Spirits derived from the Brain cannot penetrate through the diaphonous Air to see Objects but every part of the Air is a reflecting glass of themselves That which he conjectured to be the cause of the Natural Infirmity is most true of the Moral the Subject of our Discourse 'T is from the weakness of the Mind that the judicative Faculty does not discover the worth of others but sees only a Man's self as singular in Perfections and none superiour or equal or near to him A proud Man will take a rise from any advantage to foment Pride Some from the perfections of the Body Beauty or Strength some from the circumstance of their Condition Riches or Honour and every one thinks himself sufficiently furnish'd with Understanding For Reason being the distinguishing excellency of a Man from the Brutes a defectiveness in that is very disgraceful and the title of Fool the most stinging reproach as is evident by our Saviour's gradation Whoever is angry with his Brother without a cause is liable to Judgment whoever says racha
Face of God himself I do well to be angry even unto death We read of Moses that he was the meekest man upon the face of the earth Of this there is recorded a very Eminent Effect and Evidence When Aaron and Miriam had contumeliously and seditiously spoke against him as if he had Usurp'd undue Authority Hath the Lord onely spoken by Moses hath he not also spoken by us He might by a sharp reply have confounded them but he was silent Several Circumstances concur to heighten the value of his Victory over himself There was a double offence and violation of the respects due to the dignity of his Person and the nearness of the Relation This Accusation was publick before the Congregation of Israel in the heat of the Contention when there is a great disposition to be fir'd by Anger when the silent and patient bearing the Indignity might be interpreted as a Conviction of his Guilt yet he calmly endur'd their false Charge How great is the disparity between Moses and Jonah 3. In comparing some raised acts of Grace with lower in the same kind there is a perfection attributed to them As 't is in Diamonds many small ones are not of equal value with one great one though of equal weight with it so one act of Piety of Faith of Charity of Self-denial may for its rareness exemplariness and efficacy have such a Divine degree of worth in it that it far excells many less illustrious effects of those Graces As a single act of Wickedness may be so extremely evil so enormously vicious as to exceed many Crimes in its pollution and guilt of the same kind There are some instances of this in Scripture Ahaz in the time of his distress did yet trespass more against the Lord. Judgments in their nature and Gods design are fit means to soften the obdurate as Iron is made malleable by the Fire but to kick against the pricks to be more stubborn by the infliction of Wrath that should Correct Men into their Duty is a wickedness so unnatural and prodigious that it has left a brand of Infamy on him for ever This is that King Ahaz that desperate Rebel against God The Idolatry of Manasses was aggravated with such open Contempt of God that made it infinitely more provoking than the secret Idolatry of others 'T is related he set a carved image that he had made in the house of God of which God had said to David and to Solomon his Son in this house will I put my name for ever He deposed God and with the boldest Defiance set an Idol in his Throne before his Face I will produce some Instances of the Exercise of Grace in its Radiancy and Power both in Doing and Suffering Abraham received a Command Take now thy Son thy only Son Isaac whom thou lovest and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there for a burnt-offering How many Circumstances with respect to Nature and Grace increass'd the difficulty of his Obedience The Command was so hard God would not permit the fulfilling it Isaac was the Object of his most ardent desires in whom he lived more dearly than in himself When his own Life was almost expir'd and was Miraculously renewed in his Son the Heir of the Promise in whose seed all the nations of the world were to be blessed how grievous to Humane Affections not only to be a Spectator but Actor the Priest to offer the Sacrifice Yet he rose early and went to the place of which God had told him He applied himself without relenting or delay that would have argu'd unwillingness in such a severe Tryal He built an Altar bound Isaac and laid him on the Altar and stretcht out his hand to slay him if he had not been countermanded by a Call from Heaven In this Work was his Faith made perfect and appears in its exaltation This was an Act so pleasing to God that he declar'd his approving and accepting it by a Voice from Heaven His Obedience to the Divine Command to leave his Countrey and go into a strange Land was the excellent effect of his Faith in the Promise of God but less Illustrious than the Offering of his Son The Self-denial of Moses was as perfect and admirable in its kind When he was come to years he refused to be call'd the son of Pharoahs daughter When he understood the value of a Crown with the Honours and Riches annext to iâ— in the Age of Youth and strength whâ—n the Carnal Appetites are vehemently inclin'd to Pleasures and there was an opportunity of the freest fruition then he chose to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season 'T is prudent advice not to choose when the Passions are in a ferment and disorder 't is like eating Meat in a Fever that increases the feverish heat and destroys the Vital A terrible Temptation hinders deliberation and a free judgment of what is our Duty to choose a pleasant Temptation Corrupts the Mind that we do not discern the true from the false Good Yet Moses in that time of his Life when the sensual Passions are most inflam'd and urgent had his Mind so clear and calm that he deliberately and with a full choice preferr'd Disgrace Poverty and Persecution before the variety of attractive Delights that ravish the Carnal Senses Such was the Soveraignty of his Faith that it Compos'd the unruly passions and kept them in Obedience The Patience of Job is as rare an Instance who was expos'd to all the Cruelty and Arts of the Tempter to overcome him If we consider the nature of his Afflictions and their immediate succession like Waves of the Sea that he was suddenly and unexpectedly strip't of his Estate depriv'd of his Children and his Body was cover'd with loathsom and painful Ulcers that Satan was Confident his Misery would so exasperate his Spirit that he would blaspheme God to his Face yet he blest him with the most humble Reverence and resign'd Submission to his Soveraign Will Add another Consideration when his Wife that should have been a Comforter insulted over him and became a Tempter he repell'd her with a Holy Zeal and Constancy The Tempter neither by Assaults on his Body nor by Treachery in his Wise could prevail In him Patience had its perfect work 'T is recorded as the most celebrated Instance in that kind you have heard of the patience of Job and seen the end of the Lord. I shall only add the Example of the three Hebrew Martyrs who when the proud and cruel King commanded them to bow to the Golden Idol or threatned to cast them into the burning Furnace with unshaken Courage expos'd themselves to his Fury to preserve their Integrity In them perfect Love cast out Fear 4. There is a relative Perfection of Holiness according to the several Conditions of the Saints in this Life As in a Garden there are Trees that produce different Fruits
our judgment for that which has least Now 't is certainly much more suitable to the reasonable Mind to acknowledge that things may be true which we are not able to conceive and comprehend than to deny the natural and proper sense of many clear and express texts of Scripture that declare those things And by this we may judge of the Glosses of Socinus and his followers who without reverence of the Majesty of God and the sincerity of his Word rack the Scriptures to make them speak what they do not and use all Arts to silence them in what they do reveal Unhappy men 〈◊〉 that affect to be esteem'd Ingenious and Subtil to the extreme hazard of their own Salvation How much safer and more easie is it to believe the plain sense of the Scriptures than the turns and shifts that are invented to elude it and extricate Heretical Persons out of the difficulties that attend their Opinions I shall add the Doctrine of the Trinity is so expressly set down in the Gospel of Christ that 't is impossible the Son of God who is Infinite and Eternal Love who gave himself for our Redemption should have declar'd it and engag'd his Disciples in all Ages and Places in an Error of such dreadful Consequence as the Worshipping those who are not God 2. 'T is alledged that if a Person sincerely searches into the Scripture and cannot be convinc'd that the supernatural Doctrines of the Trinity and others depending upon it are contain'd in them he shall not be Condemn'd by the Righteous Judge of the World for involuntary and speculative Errors To this I answer 1. This pretence has deceiv'd many who were guilty of damnable Heresies and there is great reason to fear deceives men still The heart is deceitful above all things and most deceitful to it self Who can say that neither Interest nor Passion neither Hope nor Fear neither Anger nor Ambition have interven'd in his Inquiry after Truth but he has preferr'd the knowledge of Divine Truths before all Temporal Respects and yet he cannot believe what the Scripture reveals of the Nature of God and the oeconomy of our Salvation let this Imaginary Man produce his Plea for I believe there was never any such There are many that make reason the Soveraign Rule of Faith and determine such things cannot be true because they cannot understand how they can be true Prodigious Inference the most absurd of all Errors that makes the narrow Mind of Man the measure of all things This is the proper Principle of that horrible Compofition of Heresies and execrable Impieties which so many that are Christians in Profession but Antichristians in Belief boldly Publish They will choose to Err in matters of Infinite Importance rather than Confess their Ignorance And which is astonishing they will readily acknowledge the defectiveness of Reason with respect to the understanding of themselves but insolently arrogate a right to determine things in the Nature of God 'T is true Ignorance the more invincible is the more excusable but when the Error of the Mind is from a vicious Will both the Error and the Cause of it are sinful and inexcusable When the corrupt Will has an Influence upon the Understanding and the Mind is stain'd with some Carnal Lust when a Temptation diverts it from a serious and sincere considering the Reasons that should induce us to believe Divine Doctrines their Unbelief will be justly punish'd The Scripture declares That an evil heart is the cause of unbelief Pride and obstinacy of Mind and Carnal Lusts are the Cause that so many renounce those Eternal Truths by which they should be saved 2. 'T is alleged That speculative Errors cannot be Damnable To this I answer 1. The Understanding of Man in his Original State was Light in the Lord and regular in its directions now 't is dark and disorder'd and in the points of Religion that are reveal'd any Error induces guilt and if obstinately defended exposes to Judgment Some Truths are written because necessary to be believed others are to be believed because written 2. According to the quality of the Truths reveal'd in Scripture such is the hurtfulness of the Errors that are opposite to them Some Truths are necessary others profitable some Errors are directly opposite to the Saving Truths of the Gospel others by Consequence undermine them Those who deny the Lord that bought them are guilty of damnable Heresies capital Errors not holding the head 3. The Doctrine of the Trinity is not a mere speculative Truth nor the denial of it a speculative Error the Trinity is not only an Object of Faith but of Worship In Baptism we are dedicated to the Sacred Trinity in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost which clearly proves they are of the same Authority and Power and consequently of the same Nature for 't is impossible to Conceive of three Infinite Beings for by necessity one would limit another The Apostle declares without Controversie great is the mystery of Godliness God manifest in the flesh The Nature and End of this Divine Mystery is to form the spirits of Man to believe and love and obey God For in it there is the clearest Revelation of God's admirable Love to Men of his unspotted Holiness his incorruptible Justice the great Motives of Religion In that Divine Doctrine we have the most ravishing Image of Piety and Vertue the most becoming the Nature of God to give and of Man to receive Briefly God Commands us to believe in his Son without Faith in him we are uncapable of Redemption by him When Christ perform'd Miraculous Cures he requir'd of the Persons whether they did believe in his Divine Power and what he declar'd himself to be Electing Mercy ordains the Means and the End The Apostle gives thanks to God because he has chosen the Thessalonians to Salvation through Sanctification of the Spirit and the belief of the Truth Holiness and Faith in the Doctrine of the Gospel are indispensable qualifications in the Learn'd and Ignorant that would be saved by the Son of God 'T is a high Contempt of the Truth and Goodness of God not to yield a firm Assent to what he has reveal'd concerning our Salvation by his Incarnate Son He that believes not the Record that God hath given of his Son makes God a Liar This infinitely provokes him and inflames his Indignation To dis-believe the Testimony that Jesus Christ has given of the Divinity of his Person and Doctrine is to despise him it robs him of his Essential and his acquir'd Glory by the work of our Redemption There can be no true Love of God without the true knowledge of him as he is reveal'd not onely in his Works but in his Word Our Saviour who is the Way the Truth and the Life has declar'd when he gave Commission to his Apostles to preach the Gospel to the World whoever believes and is baptised shall be saved whoever believes not shall
Contemplation of its Goodness and Equity constrains the Mind to assent to it From hence we may infallibly inferr that the radical difference and distinguishing character between a Saint and one in the state of polluted Nature is the affection of Love with respect to its objects and degrees Love to God as our sovereign Happiness is the immediate Cause of our Conversion and Re-union with him Love to vicious Objects or when with an intemperate current it descends to things not deserving its ardent degrees alienates the Heart from God Holiness is the order of Love The excellency of holy Love will appear in the following Considerations 1. Love has the supremacy among all the Graces of the Spirit This in the most proper sense is the Fire our Saviour came to kindle on the Earth The Apostle declares that Charity is greater than Faith and Hope which are Evangelical Graces of eminent usefulness For 1. 'T is the brightest part of the Divine Image in us God is Love 'T is the most adequate Notion of the Deity and more significant of his blessed Nature than any other single Attribute The most proper and honourable Conception we can form of the Deity is Love directed by infinite Wisdom and exercised by infinite Power Faith and Hope cannot be ascribed to God they imply imperfection in their Nature and necessarily respect an absent Object Now all things are present to the Knowledge of God and in his Power and Possession But Love is his Essential Perfection the productive Principle of all Good Love transforms us into his likeness and infuses the divinest temper into the Soul In the acts of other Graces we obey God in the acts of Love we imitate him This may be illustrated by its contrary There are Sins of various kinds and degrees Spiritual and Carnal Spiritual such are Pride malignant Envy irreconcilable Enmity delight in Mischief which are the proper Characters of the Devil and denominate Men his natural Sons Carnal Sins which the Soul immerst in Flesh indulges all riotous Excesses Intemperance Incontinence and the like of which a meer Spirit is not capable denominates Men the Captives and Slaves of Satan Now Spiritual Sins induce a greater guilt and deeper pollution than Carnal The exacter resemblance of the evil one makes sinful Men more odious to God 2. Love is more extensive in its influence than Faith and Hope their operations are confin'd to the Person in whom they are The Just lives by his own Faith and is saved by his own Hope without communicating Life and Salvation to others But 't is the spirit and perfection of Love to be beneficial to all Love comforts the afflicted relieves the indigent directs those who want Counsel 'T is the vital cement of Mankind In the Universe Conversation and reciprocal Kindness is the Blood and Spirits of Society and Love makes the circulation 3. Love gives value and acceptance to all other Gifts and Graces and their operations The Apostle tells us Though I have the gift of Prophestes and understand all Mysteries and all Knowledge though I have all Faith and could remove mountains and have not Charity I am nothing And though I bestow all my Goods to feâ—d the Poor and though I give my Body to be burned and have not Charity it profiteth me nothing Without Charity Faith is but a dead assent Hope is like a Tympany the bigger it grows the more dangerous it proves The most diffusive Beneficence without Love is but a sacrifice to Vanity 'T is not the richness of the Gift but the love of the giver that makes it accepted and rewarded in Heaven The Widows two Mites cast into the Treasury of the Temple were of more value in our Saviour's account than the rich Offerings of others For she gave her Heart the most precious and comprehensive Gift with them The giving our Bodies to be burned for the truth and glory of the Gospel is the highest expression of Obedience which the Angels are not capable of performing yet without Charity Martyrdom is but a vain-glorious blaze and the sealing the Truth with our Blood is to seal our Shame and Folly Sincere Love when it cannot express it self in suitable effects has this priviledge to be accepted in God's sight as if it were exuberant and evident in outward actions for God accepts the Will for the Deed If there be first a willing mind it is accepted according to what a Man hath and not according to that he hath not 4. Love is the perfection of the Law the sum and substance of every Precept All particular Duties though distinguished in the matter are united in Love as their principle and centre St. Austin observes That all other Vertues Piety Prudence Humility Chastity Temperance Fortitude are Love diversified by other names Liberal Love gives supplies to the Poor patient Love forgives Injuries Love is the end and perfection of the Gospel Now the end of the Commandment is Charity out of a pure Heart and a good Conscience and Faith unfeigned Some restrain the word Commandment to the Law thinking that the Gospel is only compounded of Promises But they misunderstand the difference between the two Covenants 'T is not in that the one commands and the other does not command but in the nature of the Duties commanded The Law commands to do for the obtaining of Life the Gospel commands to believe for Salvation This is the command of God that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ. The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is by the Apostle used for the Doctrine of the Gospel As the end of a Science or Art is the perfection of the Understanding in those things which are the proper subject of the Science The end of Philosophy is Knowledge and Moral Vertue the end of Rhetorick is Eloquence Thus the end of the Gospel the Divine Doctrine of our Salvation is Love a Coelestial Perfection Faith in the redeeming Mercy of God is the product of the Gospel not of the Law and Love is the end of Faith Now the end is more excellent than the means to obtain it In this respect Love is greater than Faith Briefly Love is stil'd the Bond of Perfection as it unites and consummates other Graces comprehends and fastens them Love to God draws forth all the active powers of the Soul in Obedience He that with a full and fervent Will applyes himself to his Duty will more easily pleasantly and exactly perform it The Love of God will form the Soul into a more entire conformity to his Nature and obedience to his Law and raise it to a greater eminency of Holiness than the clearest knowledge of all Precepts and Rules can do 4. Love never fails The Gifts and Graces of the Spirit are dispensed and continued according to our different states Some are necessary in the present state of the Church with respect to our Sins and Troubles from which there is no perfect freedom here Repentance is
a Duty of constant revolution for while we are cloathed with frail Flesh in many things we offend all He is the best Saint who seldom falls and speedily rises What Tertullian said of himself is applicable to all We are born for Repentance What is more becoming a Christian while so many defects and defilements cleave to him than a mournful sense of them This in our dying Hours will make our Redeemer more precious to us and our relyance upon his Merits and Mediation more comfortable Repentance should accompany us to the Gates of Heaven But Repentance ceases for ever when there is entire Innocence Faith is as necessary as Life for we are justified by it from the Condemnation of the Law But in the future state there is no use of it for in Heaven all Sins are pardoned and in Hell no Sins are forgiven Faith gives us the prospect of Heaven Hope waits for it but Love alone takes the possession Faith reslgns to fruition Hope vanishes in the Enjoyment of our desir'd Happiness but Love is in its Exaltation The Graces requisite for our Militant State are Spiritual Armour the Shield of Faith the Helmet of Hope and when our Warfare is ended they are useless But Love and Peace and Joy are Robes suitable to our Triumphant State 'T is true there are some acts of Love that suppose Want and Misery as acts of Bounty and Compassion for there are no Objects in Heaven to whom they may be express'd Perfect Happiness excludes all Evil. But Love in its Nature implies no Imperfection and is Eternal as the Soul the Subject in whom it Reigns and as God and the Blessed Spirits the Objects upon whom 't is Conversant In Heaven 't is more pure and refin'd Here the Love of God takes its rise from the Love of our selves there 't is principally for the amiable Excellencies inherent in himself Here the Love of the Saints is not absolutely pure but in Heaven whatever is desireable in Love is continued and what is Carnal and defiling is purg'd away The smoaky Fire is chang'd into a Spiritual Flame The Acts of it are more intense and the Exercise is without interruption In Heaven the Saints are enlightned with Knowledge from the Father of Lights and inflam'd with Love from God who is Love the more fully he is enjoy'd the more fervently he is loved Without Love there can be no Felicity in Heaven for as Desire without Fruition is a Torment so Possession without Delight is Stupidity The Joy of Heaven arises either from the direct Fruition of God or from the reflection upon the Happiness communicated to the Saints and Love is the Cause of that Joy Love to Corporeal things often declines in our possessing them for Curiosity is soon cloyed and Experience discovers the Imperfections that were conceal'd and according to the cooling of Love is the lessening of Joy From hence proceeds distasts and a sickle slight from one thing to another without ever receiving any Satisfaction But the amiable Perfections of God are truly Infinite and the more clear the Vision the more satisfying the Fruition is The Brightness and Influence of the Divine Presence maintains equal Love and Joy in the Blessed According to the degrees of Excellency in the Object and the vigorous Exercise of the comprehensive Faculties the Understanding and Will upon it such is our Felicity When the Beams of God's Face are received into the prepar'd Soul 't is ravished with unspeakable Sweetness and Security in his ever-satisfying Goodness and Beauty The perfect and mutual Love of the Saints causes a full overflowing Joy in Heaven Sincere Love is always Benevolent and according to its Ardency is the desire of the Happiness of those who are the Objects of it From hence the delight of the Saints above is redoubled by the sense of their Personal Happiness and the reflexion upon the happiness of all that blessed Society who are cemented by that dear Affection Sorrow is allayed by the Sympathy of our Friends but Joy is heightned by Communication Sorrow like a Stream divided in many Channels runs more Shallow but Joy like a Sun-beam reflects with more intense Heat from the Breast of one endear'd to us by Love In Heaven there is an Eternal Extasie of Love and Joy I shall now proceed to Consider our Love to God which is the First and Great Command in Order and Dignity 'T is the universal Command that binds all Persons and in all times Some precepts are particular and respect the several Relations of men either Natural Civil or Spiritual Other Commands though General yet are to be perform'd in special Seasons Prayer is a universal Duty for all are in a state of dependance upon God and 't is the appointed means to obtain his Favour and Benefits 't is a Duty of daily Revolution for we continually stand in need of his tender and powerful Providence to bestow good things and avert evil but this not to be our perpetual Exercise For there are other Duties to which we must attend that require a great part of our time If there be a disposition in the Heart an aptness for that Holy Duty though the Season be distant 't is sufficient for our Acceptance with God But Love in all periods of Time must be in Act for Obedience must ever be practis'd and that is animated by the Love of God the Spring and Soul of it The Life of a Christian is a continual Exercise of humble grateful and dutiful Love I will consider the Causes and Properties of this Sanctified Affection Love is an Affection drawn forth by Desire in the absence of its Object resting in Complacency when the Object is present The attractive of it is Goodness which implies a convenience and agreement between the Object and the Faculty The Appetite is excited by the apprehension In the Sensitive Nature without Perception and Agreement there can be no desire and delight The Eye is not pleas'd with the most exquisite Musick being undiscernible and unsuitable to it The Ear though exactly temper'd is not affected with Light the first and fairest of Sensitive Beauties for every sense has its proper Object to which 't is Confin'd and cannot perceive or taste any pleasure in another And such is the frame of the Humane Soul the inlightened Understanding instructs and excites the Will to esteem and love choose and embrace God as the Supreme Good for his absolute inherent Perfections and his Relative Attributes whereby he is infinitely the best and most aimiable Being in himself and the most beneficial to us The internal Perfections of the Deity though they are all the same Divine Nature for otherwise they could not be truly Infinite yet we may conceive as distinguisht in a threefold order either as Natural or Intellectual or Moral Natural Perfections Self-Existence Eternity Immensity Omnipotence Intellectual Perfections Knowledge comprehensive of all things that are and all things within the possibility of Being Wisdom sufficient
his actual concurrence For every Creature is maintain'd by a successive continual production To affect us consider the preserver of Men brought us safely into the World through the dark Valley of Death where thousands are strangled in the birth We are born by him from the belly and carried from the womb How compassionate was his Goodness to us in our Infancy the state of wants and weakness when we were absolutely incapable of procuring supplies or securing our selves from many dangers surrounding us The preparing the Milk for our Nourishment is the work of the God of Nature The Blood of the Mother by the secret channels of the Veins is transfused into the Breasts and is a living Spring there They are but two because 't is the ordinary Law of Nature to have but two Children at a Birth They are planted near the Heart which is the Forge of Natural Heat and transforms the Blood collected in the Breasts into Milk And there is a mystery of Love in it for the Mother in the same time nourishes her Child with delight regards and embraces it From Infancy his Mercy grows up with us and never forsakes us He is the God of our Lives He draws a Curtain of Protection and Rest about us in the Night and repairs our faint Faculties otherwise our Bodies would soon decay into a dissolution He spreads our Table and fills our Cup. He is the length of our days There is such a composition of Contrarieties in the Humours of the Body so many Veins and Arteries and Nerves that derive the vital and animal Spirits from the Heart and Head to all the parts we are exposed to so many destructive accidents that were not the tender Providence of our true Father always watchful over us we should presently fail and dye The Lord is a Sun and a Shield As the Sun is a universal Principle of Life and Motion and pours forth his treasures of Light and Heat without any loss and impoverishing Thus God communicates his Blessings to all the progeny of Men. He is a Shield protecting us from innumerable Evils unforeseen and inevitable without his preventing Goodness Were we only kept alive and sighed out our days in Grief and Pain were our passage to the next State through a barren Wilderness without any refreshing Springs and Showers this were infinite Mercy For if we duely consider his Greatness and our Meanness his Holiness and Justice and our Sinfulness it would cause us to look up to God with admiration and down to our selves with confusion that our Lives so frail and so often forfeited are preserved The Church in a desolate state acknowledges 'T is the Lord's Mercy that we are not consumed because his Mercies are renewed every morning 'T is Mercy upon Mercy all is Mercy Our Saviour with respect to his humble state says I am a Worm and no Man but we are Serpents and no Worms And as 't is usual to destroy venomous Creatures in the egg before they have done actual mischief we that are Children of Wrath by Nature whose Constitution is Poyson might have been justly destroyed in the Conception This ravish'd the Psalmist into an extasie of Wonder whilst he contemplated the glorious Lights of Heaven What is Man that thou art mindful of him or the Son of Man that thou shouldst regard and relieve him He bestows innumerable and inestimable Benefits upon a race of Rebels that boldly break his Laws and abuse his Favours He not only suspends his Judgments but dispenses his Blessings to those that infinitely provoke him Now can we be unaffected with his indulgent Clemency his immense Bounty his condescending and compassionate Goodness Why does he load us with his Benefits every day but for his Goodness sake and to endear himself to us For he is always ready to open his bountiful Hand if we do not shut our Breasts and harden our Hearts not to receive his Gifts His Mercy is like the Widows miraculous Oyl that never ceas'd in pouring out while there was any Vessel to receive it Then the flowing Vein was stop'd How is it possible such rich and continued Goodness should not insinuate it self into our Souls and engage our Love to our blessed Benefactor Can we degenerate so far from Humane Nature nay below the Sensitive for the dull Ox and stupid Ass serve those that feed them as to be Enemies to God How prodigious and astonishing is this degeneracy 3. The Love of God appears in its full Force and Glory in our Redemption The Eloquence of an Angel would be very dis-proportion'd to the dignity and greatness of this Argument much more the weak Expressions of Men. That we may the more distinctly conceive it I will briefly consider the greatness of the benefit and the means of obtaining it Man in his state of unstain'd Innocence was furnisht with power to persevere but left in the hand of his own Counsel He was drawn by a soft Seducer to eat of the forbidden Tree and in that single Instance was guilty of universal Dis-obedience He was ingaged in a deep Revolture with the Apostate Spirits and incurr'd the Sentence of a double Death both of the Body and of the Soul Now where was the Miraculous Physician to be found that could save us from Eternal Death Who could Appease God and Abolish Sin God was affected with tender pity at the sight of our Misery and though the morning Stars that fell from heaven are now wandring Stars for whom the blackness of darkness is reserv'd for ever yet he was pleased to recover Man from that desperate state in a way becoming his Perfections This was the Product of his most free Love God's Will and Christ's Willingness were the Springs of our Redemption for he might have pari jure with the same just Severity have dealt with us as with the Rebellious Angels There was no legal constraint upon our Saviour to dye for us for he was holy harmless undefiled and separate from Sinners There was no violent Constraint for he could with one Word have destroy'd his Enemies The depth of his Wisdom the strength of his Power the Glory of his Holiness and Justice were illustriously reveal'd in this great work but Love was the Regent Attribute that call'd forth the other into their distinct Exercise and acts Most Wise Omnipotent and Holy Love saved us What the Psalmist speaks of the Divine Perfections in making us I am fearfully and wonderfully made is in a nobler Sense verified in our Salvation we are fearfully and wonderfully Redeem'd by the Concord of those seeming irreconcileable Attributes Vindictive Justice and Saving Mercy Our Rebellion was to be expiated by the highest perfection of Obedience and thereby the honour of God's Moral Government to be repair'd For this end the Son of God dis-rob'd himself of his Glory and put on the Livery of our frail Flesh and in the form of a Servant became obedient to the Death of the Cross to rescue us
the same Spiritual Family This Affection proceeds from the upper springs of Grace the exercise of it is immediately terminated on Men but ultimately respects the Glory of God for whose sake 't is performed To do good and distribute forget not for with such Sacrifice God is well-pleased In short our Love to God must be supream and for himself our Love to Men and other things only in the degrees he allows and not for themselves but for God who commands to love them as they bear his Image or are instrumental in the performance of our Duty Otherwise we are in danger of being alienated from the Love of God when any person or thing becomes a Temptation to us to do any thing either to obtain or preserve them against his Will But if we love them only for his sake we shall readily part with them as a Snare or offer them as a Sacrifice if his Will requires it As if we love some particular Meat because 't is healthful and not because 't is pleasant upon the first discovery that 't is hurtful we shall reject it The properties of this Love are specified in the Command 1. It must be sincere The Apostle directs Let Love be without dissimulation Love is essentially sincere 't is seated in the Heart and express'd in real actions 't is cordial and operative There is an empty noise of Love and Respects that proceeds from a double Heart not entire and ingenuous Some by fair Promises work and wind Men to obtain their Ends and then slip through them How often are the sincere deceiv'd by the liberal expressions of Love untryed and untrue mistaking a shining Counterfeit for a real Ruby But though the Humane Eye cannot see through the disguise he that commands sincere Love pierces into the Heart and if it be wanting there his Anger burns against the vain pretenders to it Some will seem to grace others with a flourish of words that they may tax them more freely and without suspicion To praise without a ground of real worth is sordid Flattery but to commend with a mischievous intent is the worst Treachery Some will assist the Sick day and night and seem to sympathize with them in their Pains and Sorrows but their design is to obtain a rich Legacy They appear like mourning Doves but are real Vulturs that smell a Carcass to feed on There are others less guilty who esteem empty Complements to be Courtly Decencies and though 't is not their design to be injurious to those whom they caress yet their Love is only from the Tongue which in the Apostle's expression is but a tinkling Cymbal Their pretended Friendship is like Leaf-Gold very extensive but soon worn off for want of depth Others are Mercenaries that like the Heathens do Good to those from whom they receive Good their Love degenerates into Traffick and does not proceed from a Divine Principle Ingenuous and Christian Spirits have not such crooked Inclinations always reflecting upon their own Interest 'T is true Christian Love declares it self in alternate acts of Kindness but is also exercised where there are no such inducements This is to imitate our Heavenly Father who does good to all without any desert in the receivers and beyond all requital Affliction is the Furnace wherein sincere Friends are tryed and discern'd from the deceitful their Afflictions are common their Compassions and cordial assistance are common This is the most certain and significant Character of unfeigned Love not to fail in a calamitous season Job aggravates his Sorrows by this reflection that his Friends dealt deceitfully as Brooks that run in a full stream in Winter when Snow falls and there is no want of refreshing Waters but when 't is hot they are dryed up and vanish We may securely rely on their Friendship who afford us undesir'd supplies in time of trouble The Observation of the wise Philosopher is verified in every Age That Men in a flourishing condition are surrounded with Friends but in an afflicted are forsaken This Consideration should inflame us with a holy ambition of the friendship of God for his sincere Love is most tenderly express'd in our distress The Psalmist enforces his Request by this motive Be not far off for trouble is near 'T is often seen that Men fly from their Acquaintance when the clearest tryal is to be made of their Affection but then the blessed God draws nearest to us and affords Relief and Comfort 2. Our Love must be pure Seeing you have purified your Souls in obeying the Truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the Brethren see that ye love one another with a pure Heart fervently The purity of Love either respects the cause of it or the exercise and effects of it The cause of pure Love is the Divine Command and the Divine Pattern set before us The Love of God to Men is a leading Rule to us He loves them according to the resemblance of his imitable Perfections in them and consequently the more holy and heavenly the more righteous and gracious Men are the more they should be endear'd to our Affections This is to love God in them and according to their true lovelyness This is to love them by the impression of that Love wherewith God loves himself Our Saviour tells us They that do his Father's Will are his Brothers Sisters and Mothers There is an impure Love that proceeds from the similitude of vicious Affections and is entertain'd by sinful Society that is fatally contagious The Tempter most forcibly allures when he is least suspected He conceals the Serpents Sting in the Tongue of a Friend The Friendship of the World is contracted and cemented by sensual Lusts and the end of it will be the tormenting the Corrupters and the Corrupted together for ever The exercise and effects of pure Love principally respect the Soul the more excellent and immortal part of our Friends We are commanded to exhort one another while 't is called to day and to provoke one another to love and good works Exhortation includes Instruction and Admonition The giving Counsel how to preserve the Purity and secure the Salvation of the Soul how to prevent Sin or to cure it by the conviction of Conscience when ignorant of its Duty by the excitation of the Affections when cold and sluggish and direction to order the Conversation aright The performance of this Duty is inseparable from pure and unfeigned Love and the neglect of it is an argument of deadly Hatred Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thy Heart nor suffer Sin to lye upon him If you discover any prognostick or symptom of a Disease growing in a Friend that threatened his Life what a cruel neglect were it not to advise and urge him to apply the best means for his preservation Much more are we obliged to rectifie the Errors in Judgment and Miscarriages in Conversation which they are guilty of especially since Spiritual
the dear Memorial of his purchasing blessedness for us His precious Blood appeas'd the just Anger of God and shall it not Cool and Calm our Inflam'd Passions In imitation of God and Christ we must abstain from all Revenge of the greatest Evils suffered by us We must extinguish any inclination to Revenge Sin begins in the Desire and ends in the Action We must not take the least pleasure that Evil befalls one that has been injurious to us for the root of it is Devilish Though the reparation of an Injury may in some cases be necessary yet Revenge is absolutely forbidden To retaliate an Evil without any reparation of our Losses is to do Mischief for Mischiefs sake which is the property of Satan As on the contrary to do Good for Evil is such a Divine Perfection that the Devil does not assume the resemblance of it 't is so contrary to his cursed Disposition Some will conceal their Anger for a time waiting for an Opportunity to take Revenge without the appearance of Passion Their Malice like slow Poyson does not cause violent Symptoms but destroys Life insensibly Some have such fierce Passions that strike Fire out of the least Provocation their Breasts are changed into a Tophet Some inflame their Resentments by considering every Circumstance that will exasperate their Spirits But the Command is Be not overcome with evil but overcome evil with good The Duty is so pleasant in its exercise and attended with such comfortable Consequences that 't is recommended to our Reason and our Affections Love suffers long Love bears all things endures all things And what is more ingaging than the delightful disposition of Love The doing Good for Evil often gains the Heart of an Enemy If there be any vital spark of Humanity it cannot be resisted There is an Instance of it recorded in Scripture Saul the unrighteous and implacable Enemy of David yet being spar'd when he was entirely at his Mercy was moved and melted into tenderness Is this thy voice my Son David Before he in Contempt called him the Son of Jesse Thou art more righteous than I I will do thee no more evil How will some of the Heathens condemn Christians both as to the Rule and Practice of this Duty for whereas 't is esteem'd to be the Character of Pusillanimity or Stupidity to bear frequent and great Injuries unrevenged One of their Poets mixed this Counsel among other excellent Rules of Morality That Man is arrived at an heroick degree of Goodness who is instructed in a dispassionate manner to bear great Injuries And when Phocion who had deserved so highly of the Athenians was condemned unjustly to dye his Son attending him to receive his last Commands immediately before his Death he charged him never to revenge it on the Athenians CHAP. IX Divine Hope has an eminent Causality in the Life of a Christian. The nature of Christian Hope 'T is the Character of a Saint 'T is natural congruous and necessary to a Saint in the present state 'T is distinguish'd from carnal Presumption by its purifying Vertue Fear considered in its nature and cleansing Vertue The Attributes of God the motives of holy Fear There is a Fear of Reverence and of Caution 'T is consistent with Faith and the affections of Love Hope and Joy 'T is the fountain of Fortitude 3. DIvine Hope has an eminent Causality and Influence in the Life of a Christian. St. John speaking of the glorious likeness of the Saints to Christ in the Divine World inferrs from it Every Man that has this hope in him purifies himself even as he is pure Three things are observable in the words 1. The Character of a Christian by his Hope Every Man that has this hope in him 2. The distinction of this Hope from its counterfeit by its inseparable effect Purifies himself 3. The regulating of the effect by its Pattern Even as he is pure 1. Christian Hope is a firm expectation of future Happiness 'T is distinguish'd from Worldly Hopes by the excellency of the Object and the stability of its Foundation The Object is an eternal state of Glory and Joy wherein we shall be conform'd to the Son of God Worldly Hopes are terminated on empty vanishing things gilded over with the thin appearance of Good The foundation of Divine Hope are the unchangable Truth of God and his Almighty Power that always seconds his Word God cannot lye and consequently neither deceive our Faith nor disappoint our Hopes and he can do all things The Apostle declares the ground of his Confidence I know in whom I have believed and I am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that day All the Persons in the Deity are ingaged for our assurance and comfort Sometimes 't is said That our hope may be in God and Our Lord Jesus Christ our hope and That we may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost Worldly Hopes are always uncertain in this sphere of mutability There is so much of impotence or deceit in all the means used to obtain Humane Desires that the success is doubtful Fear mixes with the Desires and often Despair with Fear Young Men are flush with Hopes and of bolder Expectations than ancient Men who from Experience of many unforeseen and inevitable Difficulties that have travers'd their Hopes are inclin'd to Fear But Experience incourages and fortifies the Hopes of Christians which are attended with Patience and Joy If we hope we with patience wait for it Notwithstanding the distance of time and intervening difficulties before the accomplishment of what we expected no undiscernable Accidents can blast their assurance The interval of a thousand Years did not weaken Abraham's Hope of the promised Messiah Comfort is mix'd with the patience of Hope The Apostle saith That we through patience and comfort of the Scripture might have hope The final security of the Blessedness promised is very joyful in an afflicted Condition This Hope is the Character by which a sincere Christian is denominated and distinguish'd from Heathens who are without God without Christ and without hope For God is the Object of it as our soveraign Good and Christ is the Means whereby we obtain and enjoy him This Grace is most natural congruous and necessary to a Christian in the present state 1. Natural Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who according to his abundant Mercy hath begotten us to a lively hope by the Resurrection of Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible undefiled and that fades not away reserved in heaven for you The supernatural Birth entitles to the supernatural Inheritance if Sons then heirs and the hope of Heaven is a consequent Affection As in the Natural Life the most early exercise of Reason excites desires and hopes to obtain what may supply the wants of it So in the Spiritual Life when Faith discovers to us Coelestial Blessendness revealed in
Flesh is like the flower of the Grass so despicably mean and fading A Family that is distinguish'd by an illustrious Lineage if not qualified with internal vertuous Dispositions becoming their Extraction is of no value but in the vain fancies of Men But the Relation to God as our Father confers an Honour substantial and durable in comparison whereof all the magnificent Titles in this World are but Shadows and Smoak and Dreams We are in a state of Union with the incarnate Son of God and in that respect dignified above the Angles for their Lord is our Brother We are made partakers of the Life and Likeness of God and Heirs of his Kingdom This Dignity is truly divine and of more value than Soveraignty over the Principalities and Powers of Darkness Our Saviour speaks to his Disciples In this rejoice not that Spirits are subject to you but rather rejoice that your names are written in Heaven 2. The Happiness of this Relation will appear in the Priviledges that are consequent and comprehensive of all Blessings 1. The title of a Son has annex'd to it the promise of the Pardon of Sin This is declar'd by God himself I will spare them as a Father spares his Son that serves him There are spots in the best of God's Children 'T is equally impossible there should be absolutely pure Vertues in the state of Grace as unmixed Elements in the state of Nature But our Frailties lamented and striven against rather move his Compassion than severe Displeasure Sins of a heinous Nature presumptuously committed retracted by Repentance are not excepted from his pardoning Mercy Of this there is the most comfortable assurance in David's case For after his complicated Sin when he was melted in Tears of Contrition God sealed his Pardon and sent the notice of it by Nathan the Prophet God was so entirely reconcil'd to him that after his Death he gave this Testimony of him That David did that which was right in the sight of the Lord and turned not from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his Life except in the matter of Uriah He would not name that Sin of so high a Provocation The Pardon of Sin is attended with all the most excellent Blessings the testimonies of his Favour Guilt seals the fountain and stops the current of Mercies it exposes us to the Terrors of the Lord. If Sin be pardon'd Peace of Conscience is a Rain-bow of Tranquility in the storms of outward Evils If Guilt be not abolish'd a Sinner in the most shining Prosperity has fearful darkness within 2. This Relation gives us an adoptive freedom and joyful access to God in Prayer God upon his Throne of Glory or his Throne of Judgment strikes us with Terror but upon the Throne of Grace as our Father invites our Addresses The Apostle incourages us to come with boldness to the Throne of Grace or Grace upon the Throne dispensing Grace and Mercy in time of need We stand in need of Mercy to pardon and Grace to preserve us from Sin of Counsel and Comfort in our various Exigencies and our Heavenly Father is able and ready to grant our Requests 'T is the Law of Heaven that Blessings are to be obtained by Prayer for that is the homage due to God's eternal Greatness 't is the acknowledgment of his All-sufficiency that he can supply all our Wants satisfie our Desires allay our Sorrows subdue our Fears 't is the glorifying his Mercy that inclines him to relieve the miserable and unworthy of his Benefits The whole Trinity affords incouragement to our Faith in humble Prayer The Mercy of the Father who receives them the Merits of the Son who presents them and the assistance of the Holy Spirit who indites them If we come jealous as Strangers or fearful as Slaves and not with a Filial freedom and relyance we disparage his Love and Power A regular trust of Benignity in the giver and distant from all presumption of Merits in the receiver is very honourable to God and beneficial to us Our Saviour confirms our Hope by a powerful Argument If you that are evil know how to give good gifts to your Children how much more shall your heavenly Father give good things to them that ask him The deduction is with convincing force and evidence If the Natural Love of a Father be so deeply planted in his Heart that 't is prodigious if any deny necessary support to their Children can you suspect that God will not supply the wants of his Children An Earthly Parent may be unnatural or unable to relieve a Child but in our Heavenly Father Love and Power are truly infinite The stedfast belief of this is the soveraign Cure of piercing Cares the great Composer of our distracted Passions 'T is the Apostle's Counsel Be in nothing careful but let your requests be made known with thanksgiving and the Peace of God that passes understanding shall keep your hearts There is no Blessing so great no Evil so small but we may pray in Faith to God to bestow the one and remove the other Unvaluable Priviledge He protects them from Dangers relieves them in their Troubles and releases them out of Troubles His Eye is intent upon the Righteous his Ear is open and inclined to hear their cry his Hand is as ready as powerful to deliver them from Death David saith I have set the Lord always before me He is at my right-hand I shall not be moved In all his Combats God appear'd as his second When his Dangers were extream the sorrows of Death incompassed him he dispatches a Prayer to Heaven for speedy relief and God appear'd in Arms for his defence I shall add for our Direction and Comfort that the Love and Providence of God is often as visible to the inlightned Mind in denying some Petitions of his Children as in granting others Sometimes they play for temporal things unbecoming their alliance with God and their interest in his special Favour 'T is recorded of that Wise Theban Epaminondas that when a Friend greatly in his Esteem requested his Favour to release a mean Fellow imprisoned for a Crime he denyed him and afterward released him at the desire of a despicable Person and gave this Reason That was not a Favour in proportion to the Dignity of Pelopidas but suitable to the Quality of the other Petitioner Thus the Children of this World who believe no other Happiness but the enjoyment of temporal things sometimes obtain their Desires but the Children of Light are not heard in their Prayers for them they being unsuitable to their Heavenly Dignity and not the sure signs of God's Favour Sometimes by mistakes they pray for things prejudicial to their Salvation and it would be a severe Judgment if God should bestow them We read of the possess'd Person in the Gospel that the evil Spirit made use of his Tongue to request our Saviour that he would not torment him that is not expel him
from his habitation Thus the Carnal part incens'd by the Tempter is often clamorous to obtain as a Benefit that which would be hurtful to the Soul and God is merciful in the denyal We know not what to ask but our Heavenly Father knows what to give Sometimes God bestows equivalent or better Blessings than what his Children pray for If God gives Contentment with Poverty 't is equivalent to Riches if Patience with Sickness 't is better than Health if eternal Life in Heaven 't is infinitely better than a long Life on Earth He did not preserve the Martyrs from the Flames nor forsake them in the Flames but in those fiery Chariots convey'd them to Heaven Briefly God never denies or delays to grant the Petitions of his Children but for a greater Good to them He always hears their main Desires that is bestows such Blessings as are most conducive for his Glory and their Good This is the principal Petition of the Saints in conformity to Christ in his exigency he prayed to be saved from the approaching hour of his terrible sufferings but subordinately to a higher request Father glorify thy name Lastly The Relation of Children to God is not an Empty Title but includes an Interest in the Eternal Inheritance The Apostle infers If sons then heirs heirs of God co-heirs with Christ. The Sons of Earthly Parents cannot all inherit the Eldest is the Heir to maintain the Splendour and State of the Family and the Younger have often but thin Provision If a Kingdom be the Inheritance 't is appropriated to one the Throne is incommunicable When Pharaoh made Joseph Viceroy of Egypt he reserv'd the Throne to himself In the throne I will be greater than thou But all the Saints are Kings Our Saviour comforts his Disciples fear not little flock 't is your Fathers good pleasure to give you the Kingdom and his Power is equal to his Pleasure They are the Children of the King and Kingdom of Heaven The Kingdom with a Note of Excellency in Comparison of it all the Kingdoms of this World in their blazing Glory are but a faint Figure and a Foil Transcendent Priviledge Infinite Bounty All the Conceptions we can form of Happiness are eminently in God He is the Glory the Joy the Perfection the Satisfaction of Intelligent Creatures He alone can fill the Capacity of Comprehensive Immortal Spirits He is their Eternal and Entire Inheritance possess'd equally by all without diminution to any As the Light of the World is enjoyed by all without prejudice to any according to the Apostles Expression The Inheritance of the Saints in Light The Eternal Enjoyment of God excludes all Fears of losing it there is a perpetual security from all change and separation and excludes all possible desires of a better State Without Divine Revelation we could never have had any discovery of this Super-natural Blessedness The Apostle prays for the Ephesians that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Glory would give unto them the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the knowledge of him the eyes of their understanding being inlightned that they may know what is the hope of his calling and what is the riches of the glory of his Inheritance in the Saints God is infinitely Rich in his Perfections in Mercy in Wisdom and Power and as the Father said to his Son in the Gospel Son all that I have is thine so all his Attributes are exercis'd for the happiness of his Children The difference is observable between an Earthly Inheritance and the Heavenly For Estates and Honours conveyed by Descent are not possess'd till the death of the Fathers but we partake of the heavenly Inheritance because our Father lives and we must dye that we may enjoy it for flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of Heaven What manner of love is it that we should be the Sons of God When Pharaoh's Daughter compassionately preserved Moses an expos'd Infant and adopted him to be her Son 't was rare and wonderful Goodness The Priviledge was so high that the Self-denial of Moses is Recorded with this Illustrious proof of it that he refus'd to be call'd the son of Pharaohs daughter But she had no Son of her own Adoption is a Legal Supply for the want of Natural Progeny But God had an Eternal Son the Heir of his Love and Glory the adequate Object of his Complacency yet he raised us to so near an Alliance Men adopt Sons for their Support and Comfort and usually those in whom some praise-worthy qualities appear God did not want a Son but we wanted a Father in thee the fatherless find mercy There was nothing in us but Sin and Misery an occasion of his Mercy 'T is added by the Apostle we are coheirs with Christ. This may seem to be a Usurpation upon his Prerogative who is invested with the Supremacy of Heaven But this is easily clear'd by considering that Christ has a double Title to the Inheritance 1. A Natural Title as the Son of God in a transcendent and peculiar manner From Eternity there was a mutual Possession of the Father and the Son wherein their Blessedness consists This Title is singular and incommunicable 2. An acquir'd Title by his Meritorious Obedience and Sufferings Therefore God has exalted him above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is nam'd not only in this world but in that to come And such is his astonishing Love he associates us with him in this Title he communicates a right to us in his Kingdom by the Merits of his Death and introduces us into Possession by his Mediation His Glory is consistent with ours and inseparable from ours for when the Head is Crown'd the Members Reign The Saints sit down with him in his throne as he is set down on his Fathers Throne 2. Let us now consider how influential this Priviledge is to make us intirely Holy 1. 'T is most worthy of observation that God who might by meer Empire and Authority command us to do our Duty is pleased by gracious inducements to endear our Duty to us He might by Dominion and Power Constrain us but he is pleased by the sweetest Affections to allure us A wise Prince according to the Rules of true Policy will rather govern by Love than Fear for his Safety and Tranquility is more preserv'd by it Fear may secure him from open Rebellions and Assaults but Love from secret Underminings from Treachery and Poison 'T is true there is no such Motive inclines God to allure our Love but his design is to gain our hearts to Obey him that he may Crown our Obedience Fear restrains us from provoking him but Love makes us Active and Chearful to please him Now what can be a more powerful Obligation to Love him than the receiving us into the high and dear Relation of his Children If we look up to God and down upon our selves we shall be struck with
equal Admiration and Confusion There is a rare and most affecting Example of humble Thankfulness Recorded in Scripture when David said to Mephibosheth Fear not I will surely shew thee kindness for Jonathan thy fathers sake and will restore thee the land of Saul thy father and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually he bowed himself and said What is thy Servant that thou shouldst look on such a dead Dog as I am Mephibosheth was of Royal Extraction and the Son of Jonathan who infinitely deserv'd of David yet how does he vilifie himself to magnifie the King's Favour What an extream disparity is there between the Kindness of David and the condescending compassionate Love of God He is the High and Holy One we were Enemies to him and had our Portion with Dragons yet he has received us into his Family and adopted us into the Line of Heaven 2. Consider the Promises so exceeding great and precious so stable and sure are conditional and not to be obtain'd without consent to the terms specified in them The Promises of the Gospel are most free in their original and rise the Love of God but their performance is suspended upon such terms as the bountiful God requires of us 'T is true his Grace assists us to perform them and the performance is for the full and final Glory of his Grace But the Conditions are indispensably requir'd The terms of the Gospel are as strictly enjoyn'd to our obtaining Salvation as the terms of the Law were to preserve the happy Life of Man in Paradise 'T is not within the compass of Omnipotence to admit us to partake of Adoption and Communion with God without our being cleansed from Sin and being changed into the Image of God It would disparage the unspotted Holiness of God to take one into Sonship and to manifest his complacential Love in him that continues in the state of polluted Nature While Men are alienated from the Life of God they cannot have a Filial Relation to him For God cannot deny himself neither can there be Communion with him We are directed to draw near to God and he will draw near to us but we must cleanse our hands and purifie our hearts St. John declares the Heavenly Priviledge of Christians Truly our Communion is with the Father and with Jesus Christ and he declares the terms of it If we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another Communion implies freedom and fruition a mutual intercourse of Mercies and Duties the Soul ascends to God by acts of Faith and Love and God descends into the Soul by excitations of Grace and influences of Joy There can be no Love without Likeness nor Fellowship without Love According to the degrees of our Holiness the more exact is our resemblance of God and the more clear and comfortable is the evidence of our Filial Relation to him Fire is more clearly discovered by Flame than by a little Heat so Grace is most conspicuous in the view of Conscience by its radiant Operations The Spirit of Adoption is the Spirit of Regeneration 'T is from his testimony with our Spirits that we have the comfortable assurance that we are the Children of God The Spirit first works before he witnesses and his testimony is always in conformity to the Rule of the Word wherein the infallible Characters of the Children of God are laid down The testimony is argumentative and declarative from those divine Dispositions that constitute the Children of God God is terrible to the Conscience and distastful to the Affections of the unholy The bright and serene face of the Heavens is pleasant to the sight but a black Cloud charg'd with Thunder-bolts and that threatens Storms is look'd on with fear The Countenance of God is a refreshing Light to his obedient Children but is a tormenting Fire to the unsanctified They are averse from the society of the Saints in the Ordinances because God is peculiarly present with them They are unwilling to retire from the Vanities and Business of the World lest Conscience God's Deputy should remember them of their neglected Duties to God and above all things they are afraid to dye because then the Spirit returns to God that gave it Now if the Paternal Relation of God be the ground of his most dear and beneficent Affection to us shall it not be the motive of our dutiful Affection to him If I be a Father where is my honour We are commanded to follow God as dear Children The obligation is clearly Natural from our Heavenly Original and End We are excited by our Relation As obedient Children not fashioning our selves according to the former Lusts in your ignorance but as he who has called us is holy so be ye holy in all manner of Conversation And we are exhorted to be blameless and harmless the Sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation shining as Lights in the World If we are cold and careless in our Duty how justly may we be upbraided with that Question of Confusion Do you thus requite the Lord O foolish People and unwise Is he not thy Father that bought thee and made thee Is any thing more contrary to natural Conscience and supernatural Grace than for those who are in title and relation the Children of God to renounce that Relation by a course of Life directly opposite to it To be called a Child of God is a title of the highest Honour and what a vile degeneracy is it what a stain and infamy is it for such to mind earthly things to set their Affections on perishing Vanities that defile and debase them 'T is a title of the most perfect Liberty If the Son make you free you are free indeed What a disparagement is it to Believers to be fastened by the Chains and Charms of their Lusts in a most ignominious slavish bondage 'T is a title of Consecration Holiness to the Lord is ingraven in their foreheads the visible profession of Christians Now can they conform themselves according to the custom of this World which lyes in wickedness unless all Filial Affections to God be dead or very languishing in their Breasts A sacred Ambition an active Zeal to adorn the Gospel to live becoming the dignity and purity of our Divine Relation is the great Duty incumbent on us To conclude this part there may be sincere Grace in a Person but through neglect of improving it to degrees of eminence a Child of Light may walk in Darkness and be deprived of the Sense of God's present Love and the joyful Hope of future Happiness He may fear that in every Affliction here there is Anger without any mixture of Favour and in the approaches to Eternity be in distracting Doubts about his Future State and an anxious Expectation of an uncertain Sentence 'T is our Interest as well as Duty to strive to excel in Holiness I shall now apply this Doctrine 1.
Saints that eminently distinguish them from others and these we should especially regard Enoch walked with God His Life was a continual regard of God therefore he was translated into his glorious Presence Abraham's Faith was illustrious in that without reluctancy he address'd himself to offer up his beloved Son a Command so heavy that God would not permit his performing it Moses Self-denial was truly admirable in choosing to live in a solitary naked Desert rather than in the Egyptian Court wherein was the heigth of Pomp and the centre of Pleasure Job's Patience was unparallel'd when encompass'd with the sharpest Affliction Daniel prefer'd a Den of Lyons to Darius's Palace rather than neglect one day his desired Duty of Prayer to God Whom would it not inflame to read the Narrative of the Tryals of the excellent Saints recorded in the 11th to the Hebrews They were persecuted and patient afflicted and resign'd they were victorious over the blandishments of the alluring World and the terrors of the enraged World From those Instances the Apostle exhorts us to run our race with Patience looking to Jesus the author and finisher of our Faith The Knowledge that is in our view from the practice of others will make Obedience more easie and best lead us to practice These excellent Examples should make us blush with Shame and bleed with Grief that notwithstanding there is a more copious communication of Grace by the Gospel than under the Law and a more clear revelation of the glorious Reward we are so many degrees below them Nothing will convince us more of our Negligence than comparative and exemplary Instruction There is an envious Emulation among those that are in Publick Places 't is not so pleasing to see many below them as 't is uneasie and grievous to see any above them This seems to be one of those Plants that in its native Soil is poisonous but transplanted into another Climate and under another Heaven is not only innocent but healthful 'T is a noble Emulation worthy the breast of a Saint to strive to excel others in Holiness 5. Our present Joy and future Glory are improved according as we rise to Perfection here The Life of a Saint may be compar'd to the Labour of the Bees who all the day either fly from their Hives to the Flowers or from the Flowers to their Hives and all their art and exercise is where there is fragrancy or sweetness In divine Worship the Soul ascends to God by holy thoughts and ardent desires and God descends into the Soul by the communication of Grace and Comfort 'T is true the Carnal Man cannot see nor taste the divine delight that a Saint has real Experience of for a lower Nature is incapable of the perceptions and enjoyments of an higher A Plant cannot apprehend the pleasure of Sense nor a Beast the pleasures of Reason and Reason must be prepared and elevated to enjoy the pleasures of Holiness which makes all the charming Contents of this World insipid and nauseous For according to the excellency of the Objects and the capacity and vigour of the Faculties exercised upon them such is the delight that results from their union The holy Soul is a Heaven inlightened with the Beams of the Sun of Righteousness a Paradise planted with immortal Fruits the Graces of the sanctifying Spirit and God walks in it communicating the sense of his Love Are not Life and Light and Liberty productive and preservative of Joy And consequently as the natural Life the more lively and vigorous the more pleasant it is so the spiritual The more we are like God the more we are loved of him and the more clear revelations of his Love are communicated to us The more we are freed from the chains of Sin and bondage of Satan the more joyful and glorious is our Liberty Indeed the Saints are sometimes in darkness but their Sorrows are from their defects in Holiness from their not improving the means of Grace whereby they might rise to Perfection For as when Sadness oppresses us the vital Spirits retire to the Heart and are shut up in their springs that Nature does not perform its operations with delight so when the Holy Spirit the Eternal Comforter is grieved by our quenching his pure Motions he withdraws his comforting Influences and the Soul is left desolate The Experience of all the Saints is a demonstration that Religion the more it fastens us to our Duty and to God by the bands of Love the happier we are and that the state of a renewed Christian is so far from being gloomy and melancholy that 't is the joyful beginning of Heaven By excelling in Holiness our future Glory will be increas'd The life and order of Government consists in the dispensing Rewards and Punishments God will recompence the wicked according to the Rule of Justice and their Desert and the future Happiness of the Saints will be in degrees according to the degrees of their Holiness Not as if there were any Merit in our Works to procure the Eternal Reward which is the Gift of his most free Love but his Love rewards us according to his Promise that they who sow bountifully shall reap bountifully and in proportion as the Graces of the Saints are exercised here their Glory will be in Heaven In this the Goodness of God is admirable he works all in us and rewards his own work His Service is the best for he that commands works and he that obeys reigns If we respect the Glory of God and our own let us endeavour to be compleat in Holiness 'T is true God bestows his Favours as a free Lord and liberal Benefactor variously but he distributes Rewards in the next Life as a Governour according to the inviolate Rule establish'd by his Wisdom in his Word As the quality of the Reward is according to the kind of our Works so the degrees are according to the measure of them To imagine that a Carnal Man may be saved without Holiness is as unreasonable as to think that a Man may be made miserable without Sin It is to attribute an irregular Clemency to him We must distinguish between the desert of the Reward and the order of dispensing it There is no possibility or shadow of Merit for the Grace of Obedience is antecedent to the Grace of the Reward CHAP. XII The effectual means to rise to Perfection in Holiness Unfeigned Faith in our Saviour who is the efficient and exemplary cause of inherent Holiness Prayer a means to obtain an increase of Holiness Frequent and attentive hearing reading and meditation of the Word a means of growth in Grace The Word must be mix'd with Faith and an earnest desire to improve Grace by it It must be laid up in the Mind and Memory It must be sincerely received The Religious Use of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper an excellent means to increase Grace Repentance Faith and Love are improved by it The renewing our
most reverent observance is due 'T is revocable in its Nature but not to cease without the Will of the Legislator either expresly declar'd or vertually by the ceasing of the end of it As the Ceremonial Law is abolish'd by the same Authority that ordain'd it the end of the Institution being obtain'd But this Ordinance is by our Saviour commanded to continue till his Second Coming in Glory the end of it being the revival of the memory of his Death I will not insist upon the several Conformities between the Natural Food and the Spiritual for the principal Comparison and resemblance is in the End for which food is necessary and appointed without which there can be no subsisting Life but consider how the Life of the Soul is strengthened in this Ordinance which is not a naked sign of his Sufferings for us but the seal of the Covenant of Grace and wherein our Saviour though his bodily Presence be confin'd to Heaven yet does really and spiritually exhibit himself with all his saving Benefits to sincere Believers Consider how Repentance Faith and Love are increas'd by this Ordinance 1. Repentance is a Vital Operative Grace not only in mortifying Sin but in bringing forth many excellent Fruits suitable to it All the Terrors at Mount Sinai in giving the Law cannot make such an impression on the Conscience of the righteous and fearful Anger of God for Sin as the infliction of Wrath upon our dying Saviour He receiv'd into his Breast the Arrows of the Almighty that drank up his Blood and Spirits though in himself he was perfectly Holy Surely he has born our griefs and carried our sorrows he was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are heal'd We read that Nathan was sent from God to David when insensible of his Guilt of Murder and Adultery to awaken him to review his Sin he for that end us'd a very moving Parable of a Rich Man that had many Flocks yet to entertain a Stranger rob'd a Poor Man of his only Lamb and drest it for him This David so resented that he threatned the severest Revenge for such an unrighteous and unmerciful action And when Nathan turned the point of the Parable against his Breast charging him Thou art the man in what Agonies and Confusion was he surpriz'd as his mournful Complaint declares When we read in the Narrative of our Saviour's Sufferings of the Treachery of Judas the Malice of the Priests the Fury of the People the Cowardise of Pilate and the Cruelty of the Soldiers how apt are we to conceive Indignation against his Murderers but when Conscience like the true Prophet shall with a piercing Reproach charge us that our Sins Condemn'd and Crucified him how will this open the Springs of Godly Sorrow and looking on him whom we have pierced cause us to Mourn as those that mourn for a first-born How will the Contemplation of him in his Sufferings excite Indignation with Zeal and Revenge against our selves for our choosing and committing those Sins that were the meritorious Cause of his Sufferings Since he bore our Sins 't is just we should simpathize in his Sorrows How instructive and exemplary was insensible Nature as if capable of Knowledge and Affection in the time of his Sufferings It was disorder'd in the Heavens and simpathiz'd in the Elements The Sun was obscur'd against all possibility of Nature for the Moon was opposite and in the Full and in the twinkling of an Eye past half the Circle of the Heavens and being empty of Light towards the Earth by its interposition hid the body of the Sun behind it The Air was as dark at mid-day as at mid-night The Earth trembled the Rocks rent Have the Rocks softer Bowels than obdurate Sinners 'T is a greater prodigy that those whose Sins made his Death necessary are unaffected with it than that Nature seemed to have changed its Principles and Properties to signifie its resentment of it God's Anger darkens the Sun and shakes the Earth and shall sinful Men be unrelenting If by Faith and Consideration we transport our selves to Mount Calvary and with the blessed Virgin stand at the foot of the Cross when our Saviour was dying we shall feel the working of her Affections when a Sword pâ—erc'd through her Soul Now in the Sacrament there is a representation of Christ Crucified before our Eyes which is the most powerful motive of Godly Sorrow and the inseparable consequent of it the destructive hatred of Sin and of holy Resolutions that as he dyed for Sin we will dye to it 2. Faith that is the Root from whence other Graces spring and flourish is increas'd and confirm'd by the use of this Ordinance As by the looking on the mysterious Brazen Serpent there was an Antidote conveyed to heal the Israelites stung by the Fiery Serpents so by the looking on Jesus in his Sufferings our wounded Spirits are healed The dignity of his Person the depth of his Sufferings and his voluntary yielding of himself to them are the supports of Faith The Sin-Offerings under the Law were entirely consumed in their Consecration to Divine Justice and no part was reserved to be eaten by the Offerers To signifie their Imperfection and Inefficacy to reconcile God to Sinners and to pacifie their accusing Consciences The Beasts by substitution suffer'd Death for those who offer'd them but could not purchase Life for them Our Saviour is as truly given to us to communicate Life as he was given for us in his Death When he offer'd himself the most solemn Sacrifice on the Cross he was not consum'd His Body and Blood are the Feast of Love upon his Sacrifice the clearest assuring sign of God's being reconcil'd to us The Blood of the Lamb the true Winâ— has rejoic'd the Heare of God and Man Our High Priest continually presents his Father in the Coelestial Sanctuary his bloody Sacrifice of which there is a Commemoration on the Holy Table If God remember our Sins we remember his anointed Priest to expiate them If the timerous Conscience be in anxiety for the number and heinousness of Sins and the number of Sinnerâ— who must perish for ever without this Miracle of Mercy as if one Sacrifice were not sufficient to abolish their Guiâ—â— let it be consider'd that his Death is of infinite value and what is infinite cannot be divided he was intirely offer'd for every penitent unfeigned Believer The weakest has as full an Interest and Benefit in it as if it had been offer'd solely for him and may apply and appropriate it to himself with as true solid Comfort as if he had been present at our Saviour's Crucifixion and heard him speaking the words of Life I give my self for thee His Blood cleanses from all Sin and is a propitiation for the Sins of the world These are no fictions of Fancy but the real operations of the Holy Spirit who
brings to our remembrance the Death of Christ in that lively Sacramental Representation and seals the pardoning Mercy of God to our Souls and conveys all the precious Fruits of it to us A lively Faith on our suffering Saviour makes him ours by an intimate and inseparable union and fruition We dwell in him and he in us How many drooping Souls have been raised how many wounded Spirits have been healed how many cloudy Souls have been inlightened in that Ordinance Here the comforting Spirit breaths our Saviour shews his reviving Countenance God speaks Peace to his People A Believer tasts the hidden Manna and the Love of Christ that is sweeter than Wine The bruised Reed becomes a strong Pillar in the Temple of God the smoaking Flax is cherish'd into a purer and more pleasant Light than springs from the Sun in its brightness 3. Love to Christ is increas'd by partaking of this Ordinance wherein his bloody Death is represented Greater Love could not be express'd than in his dying for us and lesser Love could not have saved us from perishing for ever He dyed not only to satisfie his Father's Justice but his own Love to us 'T is said by the Prophet He shall see of the travel of his Soul and be satisfied The travel of his Soul implies his Affection and Affliction the strength of his Love and his immense Sorrows Now nothing is more repugnant to the Principle so deeply engraven in Humane Nature than not to return Love for Love Our Saviour by the dearest titles deserves our Love not only for his high Perfections but his deep Sufferings He was without Form and Comeliness in the Eyes of the Carnal VVorld when disfigured by his Sufferings But can he be less lovely in his Sufferings wherein he declar'd his dearest Love Astonishing Love appeared in his dying Countenance flam'd in his quenched Eyes flowed from his pierced Side To a spiritual Eye he is as amiable with his Crown of Thorns as with his Crown of Glory Our Love to Christ like Fire out of its sphere must be preserved by renewing its Fewel or it will decline Now there is nothing more proper to feed it than Christ's Love to us and in this Ordinance the sacred Fire is maintained The Eye affects the Heart The mournings the longings and delights of Love are most sensible in spiritual Communion with our Saviour at this Feast The inflamed Spouse in a Rapture of Admiration and Complacency breaks forth I am my beloved's and he is mine St. Paul who was rap'd up to the third Heavens and heard unspeakable things declares Christ crucified to be the most excellent Object of his Knowledge his most precious Treasure and dearest Joy 'T is true the carnal receiver of the Elements is a stranger to this Love and Joy that is only felt by Faith and Experience There are many Christians in title that never felt any vital emanations from Christ in this Ordinance The most content themselves with Sacramental Communion without Spiritual and feel no correspondent Affections to his extream Sufferings for us But if there be a spark of Life in the Soul if all be not cold and dead within the remembrance of Christ's bleeding and dying Love will inexpressibly endear him to us Now our Sanctification was a principal end of his Death The Apostle declares that Christ loved his Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it by the washing of the water and by the word That he might present to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish Can we allow any Sin in our Hearts and Lives and defeat the design of his Love and disparage the vertue of his Sufferings Can we endure any Sin to reign in us that was the cause of his Death so full of Ignominy and Torment He has declared how precious our Sanctification is in his esteem 't is one of the richest Veins in the whole Mine of Grace and can we slight it Can we imagine that his Death obtain'd for us an impure Indulgence for our Lusts when the end of it was our absolute Purity Can we content our selves with low degrees of Holiness when he paid so dear a Price for our Perfection The comfortable assurance that he was crucified for us arises from our being crucified with him to all the Vanities of the world Indeed the external receiving this Ordinance is not beneficial to an Unbelieveâ— no more than that the setting a Feast before a dead Body that is uncapable of feeding and nourishment Men must believe before they can receive spiritual nourishment by it and have the Life of Grace before they can feed on the Bread of Life But the unfeigned Believer finds his inward Man renewed by it I will add to what has been said that in this Ordinance the Covenant of the Gospel is sealed by the contracting Parties God ratifies his Promise of Grace and we seal our Duty of Obedience 'T is true we are bound by an antecedent right and higher obligation than our own consent the Command of God binds us to take this Covenant and to keep it We are bought with a price and are not our own Now if the Blood of the Son of God be our Ransom from the bondage of Sin and Death and we in the Sacrament partake of his Blood and by that solemn Right dedicate our selves to him That whether we live we live to the Lord or whether we dye we dye to him how constraining is this to make us diligent in accomplishing the sacred ends of Christ's Institution How just is it that since he dyed for our Salvation we should live to his Glory and when we renew our Right in the Blessings of the Covenant we should sincerely renew our Obligations to the Duties of it If after our holy Engagement we renounce our Allegiance to our Prince and Saviour by entertaining his Enemies the Lusts of the Flesh we incur a double Guilt not only by transgressing the Law of God but by violating our Oath of Fidelity and double Guilt will bring double Damnation That the renewing our Coâ—â—â—ant aâ— the Lord's Supper may be more effectual let us consider 1. That holy Resolutions and Engagements are the immediate Principle of Obedience Till the Convictions of our Duty are wrought into Resolutionâ— they are of no efficacy 2. They must proceed from the dâ—liberate Judgment and determin'd Will. The Apostle declares The love of Chriâ—â— constrains us we thus judge if one dyed for all then were all dead and the consequence is strong that we should live 〈◊〉 him who dyed for us Empty valleitâ—â—â— are no volitions faint and waveâ—â—â—â— Purposes have no force Believers aâ—â— exhorted with full purpose of Hâ—art 〈◊〉 â—leave to the Lord. 3. The renewing our holy Engaâ—â—ments are very necessary for perseveraâ—â—â— in our Duty Our Hearts are false 〈◊〉 foolish and apt to fly from God thâ—â— are as changable
as the Weather and 〈◊〉 Temptations are presented apt to 〈◊〉 fir'd with Carnal Desires or frozen wâ—â—â— Carnal Fears and to desert our Dutâ— Therefore 't is necessary to fix them by repeated Vows of Obedience We 〈◊〉 directed to arm our selves with the same Minds that is with firm Resolutions to cease from Sin The girdle of Truth is a principal part of our spiritual Armour that fastens it upon us Stedfast Engagements to obey God are powerful to excite every Grace in its season to rise up in defiance against our spiritual Enemies David says I have sworn and will perform it that I will keep thy Precepts By the solemn and frequent renewing our Vows of Obedience the Tempter is discourag'd and flyes from us Let us every Morning next our Hearts resolve to walk with God all the day 4. God is well pleased with our sincere Resolutions to keep close to him Who is this that engages his Heart to close with Men He is the Inspector and Judge of our Hearts and notwithstanding ouâ— Infirmities accepts our sincerity 5. There are peculiar Circumstances that enforce the inviolable observation of our Sacramental Vows Our original and permanent Obligation that we contracted in our Baptism in the presence of the Church when we were listed under our Redeemer's Colours to oppose his Enemies and ours Satan in combination with the Flesh and the World should have a strong and constant influence into our Lives Our understanding and voluntary renewings of this at the Lord's Supper makes it more binding 'T is mentioned before that God is pleased by an admirable Condescension to be a party in the Covenant and binds himself to bestow his most free Favours and takes pleasure in performing what is promised 'T is becoming his Wisdom to glorifie his Moral Perfections in his Transactions with Man not only his Mercy but his Truth in saving us The Lord thy God he is God the faithful God which keepeth Covenant and Mercy with them that love him and keep his Commandments The Attribute of Faithfulness is set next the Deity as very dear and pleasing to him He engages himself partly for our Comfort to dispel the Clouds of Fear that are apt to rise in our Bosoms from the sense of our many and mighty Sins therefore his Mercy is secur'd to us by a Covenant and that Covenant establish'd by an Oath the sure evidence 't is irrevocable and seal'd by the Blood of the Mediator and partly to instruct us by his Example to maintain our Integrity which we engage in sealing our part of the Covenant 'T is said of God that he cannot Lye from the Veracity of his Nature and the unchangeableness of his Will and he reckons of his People they will not Lye from that Divine Disposition that is proper to them Now that God is pleased in that Ordinance to give us the clearest and strongest Assurance of his Pardoning Mercy should make us very observant and exact in performing the Condition of it What our Saviour said to the Man heal'd Miraculously of his Lameness is vertually signified in every Pardon we receive Go away sin no more lest a worse thing befal you Sin is extremely aggravated when Perfidiousness and Ingratitude are mix'd with Disobedience Our Resolutions against Sin are preventing Physick but in breaking them the Remedy increases the Disease and accelerates Death more painfully and suddenly I will hear what God the Lord will speak he will speak peace to his people but let them not return to folly To sin against the Law is a high provocation but to sin against special Love grieves the Holy Spirit and deeply wounds our Spirits Now since our hearts are deceitful above all things and since our Resolutions are fleet and fading let us earnestly pray for Divine Grace to Establish them and entirely depend upon it 'T is more easie to raise a Fortification in time of Peace than to defend it in time of War In the absence of a Temptation we readily purpose to abstain from Sin but when they assault us how often are we surpriz'd and vanquish'd David resolves I will keep thy Statutes but to keep his Resolution inviolate he prays O forsake me not utterly He Promises I will take heed to my ways that I sin not with my tongue I will keep my mouth as with a bridle but he Addresses himself to God for assistance Set a watch before my mouth and keep the door of my lips Our Resolutions are Light and Feathery soon scatter'd by a storm of Fear 't is as dangerous to trust in a Heart of Flesh as in an Arm of Flesh. Nothing is more unstable than Water but when pour'd into a strong Cistern 't is as sure as that that contains it Thus Divine Grace preserves our unstable Heart from slipping 4. The Religious observation of the Lords Day is an Excellent means for the increase of Holiness 'T is worthy of our serious Observing that the Fourth Commandment is enforc'd with a Note of Excitation Remember thou keep holy the Sabbath day to impress the sense of our Duty upon Conscience and to coâ—fine our transgressing Nature that is so apt to alienate that time that is Sacred to God and the Interest of our Souls to Carnal and Profane Uses 'T is sanctified and set apart by the Lord of our Persons and Time for the celebrating the most Excellent Works of his Power and Goodness in Creation and Redemption He that gave us our Beings and rais'd us from the Dust to an Honour little lower than the Angels those Heavenly Spirits and has ransom'd us from our woful Bondage he that dignified us with the Impression of his own Image and the Assumption of ours The Morality of the Command is perpetual that one day of seven be Consecrated and Separated for Divine Worship but the designation of the Day to the Jewes was in remembrance of their Deliverance from Egypt and to Christians in remembrance of our Deliverance from the Tyranny of the spiritual Pharaoh Satan and his infernal Army Benefits exceeding those of Creation and rescuing from the Bondage of Egypt Indeed every Day we should Redeem Time from business and pleasures for the immediate Service of God but on the Lord's Day we must be entirely Conversant in Holy Duties Publick and Private and abstain from Common Works unless of Necessity and Mercy The Religious Rest of the Fourth Commandment is to be observed by Christians so far as 't is requisite for our attendance on the Service of God 'T is not only our Duty but our heavenly Priviledge that being tir'd in the dust and toil of the World we have a freedom and are call'd to draw near to God with the promise that he will draw near to us that when we pay our Homage we shall receive infinite Blessings for then in the Communion of Saints we present our requests with a filial freedom to God and we receive his Precepts for the ordering our Lives to please him