other satisfactions that we were not Born into the World together and therefore it must be expected that one must go before Have we lost a Good and Dutiful Child the comfort of our Lifes and the Hopes of our Family We are not overmuch to bewail our Misfortune because it has happened for his Good God himself has Adopted him into a better Inheritance than we could have provided for him and has adorned him with one of the Virgin Crowns of Heaven as a Reward of his early Piety Rev. 14.4 Were not our Hearts whilst he lived too much set upon him And did we not too much love and admire the Creature to the neglect of the Creator Was it not necessary to have this Bar removed to have our love return into its true Chanel Had not God before tried many ineffectual Scourges and Corrections to bring us to Repentance till at last he was forced to rouze up our sleeping Consciences like the Aegyptians by such an amazing Judgment as the smiting our first born So that all this may be the effect of Gods Love and Tenderness for the Salvation of our Souls and therefore ought to be repaid by a thankfulness and an acknowledgment of his Mercy and not by a Repining at his Providence Have we a Dear Friend snatched away from us by unexpected Death whose love like Jonathans was very pleasant unto us wonderful and passing the love of Women Yet God our best Friend will remain with us his Friendship can be ended by no Period of Time nor can be equalled by any Mortal Affection for he so loved the World that he gave his only begotton Son to Die for us Shall we bemoan and hunker after the senseless Ashes of a departed Friend and neglect to repay our Love to the ever blessed Jesus that Miracle of Love and Friendship who so loved us as to lay down his Life for us Have we lost a bountiful Benefactor who has hitherto liberally rewarded our Industry and upon whose Munificence we still depended for further Advantage It is true we can never pay acknowledgment enough to the Memory of so Noble a Friend and we must Write the sense of his Kindnesses upon our Hearts in indelible Characters but we ought not by that to distrust Gods Providence and to let our Gratitude run over the great Original Cause of our Happiness only by fixing our Eyes upon the blessed Instrument of his Goodness We should consider that it was a Signal Token of Gods Kindness to us that our Benefactor made such early Provision for us and that he remembred us before he went to the Grave where all things are forgotten Under Slander 3. Not to be Impatient or Dejected for the loss of our good Name It is perhaps one of the Killingest Griefs which can befal a Man to lose his Reputation in the World to have all peoples Tongues sounding in his Reproach which he has not in the least merited and to be laying to his charge things which he never did But then he must consider that this is the common fate of many Innocent Men nay the greater part of them that are of the most shining Piety for their Goodness exposes them to the Envy of those malicious Tongues whose wickedness does reproach them whilst the Vertues of the other shines forth with such brightness Our Blessed Saviour himself that inimitable Example of a spotless Integrity had all the blackness of Guilt thrown upon him which the malice of Devils and Devilish men could invent After all his Sobriety and Temperance after all his Mortifications his long and unparalleled Fasting he was reproached as a Glutton and a Wine bibber a friend of Publicans and Sinners Tho' he spake such things as never man spake tho' he so frequently confuted the Jewish Doctors Vindicated Moses from the wicked Glosses they had drest him up in tho' he over and over made it appear to them that he did not come to destroy the Law but to fulfil yet he was reproached as a Preacher of strange Doctrines as a Seditious Person that set up for a Temporal Kingdom in opposition to Caesar that he had no Commission and Authority for his Preaching that he had a Devil and came to destroy Moses and the Prophets Altho' he produced Miracles in confirmation of his Doctrines to the astonishment of the Beholders more and greater than all the Prophets down from Moses to Malachy yet they attributed all the efficacy of his Almighty Spirit to the power of Satan and would have him to cast out Devils by Belzebub the Prince of the Devils When therefore we have so great an Example before us of reproached Innocence we ought to account it matter of great Joy to be thought fit to tread in the steps of our blessed Master We fall infinitely short in Dignity to our Glorious Redeemer and therefore any Disgrace which we can suffer must be inconsiderable to that which he underwent who yet notwithstanding this despised the shame Whatever Infamy we undergo yet if we have a good Conscience to bear up our Spirits we may defy all the Censure of the ill-natur'd World when we have his Sun-shine within our own Breasts we need not value all the gloomy Clouds which hang hovering without us 'T is to the Judgment of God that we are to stand or fall and not to that of peevish men and if we can keep a Conscience void of offence in his sight who knows our Innocency we need not much matter how we appear in the vitiated Eyes of others 'T is but the ill Opinion which some good men have of us that need to disturb us and they will shortly be undeceived either by our vindicated Integrity in this World or in the great Judgment of the other when all hidden things shall be revealed but as for the Evil ones we could never expect to have their good word unless we would agree to be as wicked as they It is but a little time in comparison of the duration of our Being before our Innocence will be compleatly cleared and why should we be more hasty than God is who defers the vindicating of his Providence to that great time of Retribution altho' he sees his Being Disputed his Providence Denied his holy Name and Word every day Blasphemed by Insolent and Daring Sinners 4. Loss of Preferments To bear patiently the loss of any Honour or Preferment we expected If we would contemn the World as we ought to do we ought not so to set our Hearts upon any thing we have a mind to here but that we bear the disappointment of it with a great deal of Temper and Indifferency for we ought to consider that this is a World of Contingencies which no one can expect a constant run of Fortune in that there are so many unexpected hits which turn the Scales in every Design we embark in that there are so many cross Rubs which lie in the way that we can never be positively
Rock without any Inhabitants upon it from the Air every Such of which impregnates our Blood with new Vivacity and sets this Machine of our Body a moving from the Water the continual Rarefaction and Condensation of which into Mists and Rains keeps up the Course of Life and Generation in all Vegetables and Animals from the Fire which dresses our Food and comforts our Bodies without which a considerable part of the World would for a long time in the Year lie torpid and benumbed Every Man in the Creation either by his Labor or Counsel or Company does some way contribute to the Happiness of our Lives for though we should possess all the World yet how uncomfortable would it be to be forced to do every thing we have occasion for our selves and to walk a whole Life out mopingly alone without Conversation What a signal Mark of his Bounty is this Body we carry about us the Contrivance of which is so wonderful and beauteous What admirable Motions and Secretions are there of the Blood What wonderful Offices of Veins and Arteries Nerves and Muscles that sometimes move on regularly for fourscore Years together without Check or Intermission How is it owing to him that the Body is provided with the useful Organs for Seeing Speaking Hearing Walking and a thousand other Conveniencies the loss of which would render our Lives strangely uncomfortable What a multitudinous Production is there every where by his Bounty of Trees and Plants Fish and Fowl Reptils and Cattle which are all so beautiful to our Prospect and so subservient to our Use and which God has wholly subjected to our Dominion What an unspeakable Token of his Goodness is it that he has bestowed upon us the Faculty of Reasoning That enables us to deduce Consequences to project Designs to understand and conjecture Mens Thoughts to treasure up things past and to provide for the future when so great a part of God's Creation want these admirable Blessings which he has so graciously bestowed upon us But then farther What an immense largeness of his Almighty Bounty was it in redeeming us from a Condition worse than nothing which our Sins had plunged us into by sending the Son of his Bosome to die for us and to make a Propitiation for our Sins to free us from those Miseries to which the Lapse of our first Parents and our own Transgressions had fatally doomed us and to entitle us to the Rewards of a blissful Eternity This is such a stupendious Instance of the Divine Beneficence as makes the Angels not only desire to pry into but causes them to stand amazed and transported when they think that God should redeem the forfeited Souls of Rebellious Man with a Ransome of that infinite Value Add to this the continual Influxes of God's Holy Spirit how he moves inclines perswades intreats and oftentimes overpowers us into Repentance Add further the kind Assistances and Deliverances which we every day experience from his particular Providence how he keeps us from Temptations that lie ensnaring us and from Perils and Dangers that are threatning us how he contrives Methods for our Advantage beyond the reach of our Wisdom and brings about our Happiness in such degrees as are above our Hopes and Expectations Now how can any one but love so good and gracious a God as this If we find within our selves such passionate Tendencies of our Souls towards the earthly Objects of our Affections if we bear so much Love to a Father that begat us or a Mother that nourished us if we feel within us such a powerful Bent of our Passions and such an Yearning of our Souls towards our Children which are only the Off-spring of our Bodies and the Continuers of our Name and Family to what measure and height should our Love of God arrive who is the Author to us of a thousand times more and greater Benefits and to whom we owe all those other Benefits which they only as his Instruments convey to us O thou Great and Bountiful Being who art therefore the more Great because the more Bountiful Thou mightest to all Eternity have lain wrapt up within thy self and for ever enjoyed thy own Happiness infolded within thy own Nature thou mightest always have delighted thy self with the Prospect of thy own Glory and happy by thy self alone have trodden round the endless Tracts of Eternity But O thou kind and beneficent Nature Thy Goodness was so diffusive as to communicate it self to a World of Beings to raise out of nothing so many innumerable Creatures to drink in the Gleams and Rays of thy overflowing Happiness to create so many immortal Substances after thy own Image to make them as far as their Nature will permit to partake of thy own Happiness and to insure them a Duration of it co-extended with thy own Being Praise the Lord O my Soul and forget not all his Benefits Praise the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me praise his holy name Secondly By shewing all the Signs and making all suitable Returns we can of a hearty Love and a sincere Gratitude We must not love so great a Benefactor at a mean and a common Rate we must not suffer our Affections towards him to be cold and flat and lifeless but they must be full of life and vigor warmth and alacrity our Love must not only just keep in but it must burn and flame before him it must exert it self in Triumphs and Exaltations of Mind in Cordial Thanksgivings and Ardent Devotions We must not let our Affections be possessed by any thing else but must be indifferent to Honors and Riches and all the Glories of this World when they come in competition with him for he must never be Rivalled by such sordid Objects as these but we must cry out with the Psalmist there is nothing that I desire in comparison of thee We must be cautious of giving him any offence or displeasure but should endeavor to render our selves as acceptable to him as ever we can to take advantage of all opportunities to approve our selves to his liking to suffer no one if possibly to stand more in his favor than we but to do every thing that we can to gain his Love and Approbation We should desire to converse with him as frequently as we can we should improve all opportunities to gain time to pray to him and praise him to be diligent in Studying his Law and Reading his holy Word to be constant in the Publick Offices and in Private Exercises and Devotions to take pleasure in Pious Reflections and Meditations and in Religious Discourse These are the only ways now we can converse with God in and if we truly love him we shall take as much delight in this Conversation as we do in the company of those we have the greatest kindness for We must long to enjoy him more fully than now we do for Love is a desire of Union it never rests till it has attained the
Centre it tends to every thing that keeps it off from that offers violence to it and therefore we ought to wish that this dark Curtain of Life were drawn up which hinders us from looking into the Intellectual World that this Gross Medium of Flesh and Blood through which our Souls now look were changed for the Spiritual Body and that we were let into that State where we shall no longer see through a Glass darkly but shall see God face to face we should long till these days of our Pilgrimage are over and desire with St. Paul to be dissolved and to be with Christ. So likewise to love him is readily to obey his commands for when we have a hearty kindness for him we can never trample upon those Sacred Laws which he has given us we can never refuse to comply with those Precepts which he has commanded us we can never complain of the hardship of those injunctions he has laid upon us or do them sluggishly and unwillingly but shall strive with all alacrity to be the forwardest to fulfil his Pleasure we should be proud of the opportunity we have of doing any thing for him we should take it as a mighty favour that he would be pleased to Honour us so far as to lay his Commands upon us and should most willingly obey him altho' we expected no other Reward but only the Honour of his having employed us After this manner we act in our Demeanor to them whom we sincerely love and we are apt to suspect the Love of any one whom we find deficient in any of these particulars and therefore we can never arrive to the true excellency of the Spiritual and Divine Love unless we perform all that is before prescribed Objection But you will say that you think you other ways lead a Godly and a Christian Life that you do all the Good and avoid all the Evil you can but you cannot find that you Love God with that earnestness and feelingness that some do that you never Experience that Rapturousness in Devotion such heated Passions and such an exundant Zeal which animate others to do things in a manner extraordinary for the Glory of God Answer To this I answer 1st That those who obey all Gods Commands do love him as they ought because the loving him is one of his Commands and because the love of God does in great measure consist in keeping his Commands He that hath my commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me Joh. 14.21 This is the love of God that we keep his commandments 1 Joh. 5.3 And besides the loving God with all our Hearts and above all things our constant Praying to him and Praising him which are the great parts of the Divine Love are Duties commanded us in Scripture and therefore we cannot keep his Commands without performing these But as for some elevated hights and raptures in Devotion some over boilings of Zeal for Gods Honour they are generally the effect of Mens bodily Constitutions and to make these absolutely necessary to Salvation is only to open Heaven Gates to People of just such a Complexion 2dly There are different degrees in the Spiritual Life there is a Salvable State and a State of Heroick Piety so that Men of the first Rank may be content only to go on in the Common high Road of Vertue which does not require any of the sublimated Love of the Heroick Soul but the other must screw up their Affections to a higher pitch must refine themselves more into the Angelick Nature and give themselves a fore-taste of the Joys of the other World in this And I doubt not but many good Men if they would endeavour to their utmost to make all the Advances they can in Piety they would soon discover that those heights and raptures which are so discoursed of in the Descriptions of the Spiritual Love have not so much of the Enthusiast in them as is pretended For I could never be brought over to that Opinion of the Remonstrants and Socinians That the loving God is only a bare keeping his Commands that God is to be loved only as a Legislator which is by obeying him that if we do but obey him 't is no matter tho' it be only the fear of his Punishments that drives us to it that our Obedience to him upon account only of fear is as Noble and as acceptable to him as that upon the score of Love because Fear forsooth is one of the two Principles of our Obedience which he has established But this is such a poor and a flat Notion of the Divine Love that I wonder any one who had read the Noble Writings of that Divinest of the Apostles St. John could ever entertain such mean and pitiful thoughts of that Heavenly Passion which he does so every where recommend For can we ever think that the love of Mary Magdalen which was so much applauded by our Saviour was only a bare cold Obedience to his Commands that that passionate Expostulation with St. Peter Simon Son of Jonas lovest thou me was nothing else but a commanding him to feed his Sheep and that perhaps out of fear only How should ever a Compliance with God's Will out of fear of his Punishments be as acceptable to him as an Obedience which proceeds from the generous Principle of Love For the Apostle tells us expresly that Perfect Love casteth out Fear because fear hath torment he that feareth is not made perfect in Love 1 Joh. 4.18 A Man may begin the Spiritual Life upon the Principle of Fear but to make it perfect he must be wrought upon by Love The Fears of everlasting Torments may scare a Man from going forwards to Hell but there must be some degree of Love to conduct him to the Gates of Heaven But to make an Obedience to the Divine Will from the Compulsion of Fear as noble and as well-pleasing to God as one that proceeds from a Love of his Goodness is as absurd as to say that the willing Obedience of a dutiful Son and the frank Services of a faithful Friend are not more generous and brave than the forced Cringes and Crouches of a Slave or a Spaniel Secondly To contemn the World as we should do We must place our Affections upon the Joys which God has promised us hereafter Which is to be done First In believing another State By heartily believing all that God has promised of them We can never set our Affections upon that which we do not stedfastly believe for neither the Will nor the Affections can tend to what is conceived impossible A Man may indeed give a random Wish for that which is never likely to come to pass but can never rationally and upon serious Thoughts be in love with such a Fancy Therefore before we can thoroughly place our Affections upon the Heavenly Joys we must fully believe the Reality of them and that they are of that Greatness and Duration as they are
AN ESSAY ON THE CONTEMPT OF THE WORLD By WILLIAM NICHOLLS B.D. late Fellow of Merton Colledge in Oxford now Rector of Selsey in Sussex and Chaplain to the Right Honourable Ralph Earl of Mountagu Sperne Voluptates nocet empta Dolore Voluptas Hor. Ep. 1. In the SAVOY Printed by E. Jones for Francis Saunders at the Blue Anchor on the Lower Walk of the New Exchange in the Strand 1694. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE Sir John Trevor Kt. Master of the Rolls Speaker to the House of Commons and One of Their Majesties most Honourable Privy-Council Most Honoured Sir IT is not that I conceive any Worth in this poor Treatise or that I desire to gain Reputation to it by prefixing so great a Name to so mean a Performance that makes me presume to lay such a Trifle as This at your Feet It is only the Effect of my Gratitude which must eternally stand obliged to you for your so great and undeserved Favors and to testifie to the World that whatever my weak Labors are able to produce are a Tribute due to you alone Who next under God have been the only Rewarder oâ— them It may seem I am afraid but an unlucky Undertaking to make you no better a Return for so good a Preferment you have been pleased to promote me to and that I have but ill rewarded my Patron 's Kindness by telling all the World upon how mean a Person his Bounty was bestowed But truly and sincerely Sir my Thankfulness is such that it could not but find a way to express it self in although it were at the Hazard of your Honor and my own Reputation and upon mature Consideration I thought it more adviseable rather to let People say you have preferred one who was little deserving of your Favors than one who was not enough sensible of them As to these Papers which I have thus ventured abroad Part of them were composed a considerable Time ago under an Indisposition of Body I then had when I found my self uncapable of severer Studies and when the Bent of my Thoughts was altogether this way The Rest were fitted up at my Leisure since If they shall be in any ways serviceable to the World which considering the Dissolutenss of the Age stands in need enough of such Treatises I shall praise God heartily for it or it will content me only to have used my Endeavors and to testifie the abundant Thankfulness of Your Honors most Humble most Obliged and most Dutiful Servant William Nicholls THE CONTENTS CHAP. I. WHat is meant by a Contempt of the World Pag. 1 It is not a Moral Vertue 3 The Scripture Notion of it 4 CHAP. II. Of the usual Mistakes concerning the Contempt of the World 6 That a Contempt of the World does not consist in calling things by odious names and giving them ill Representations 6 It doth not consist in Censoriousness 10 Nor in ill natured Reflexions 15 It is not the Peevishness of Old Age 18 It is not an Aversion occasioned by Sickness and Indisposition of Body 23 Nor by Discontent 25 CHAP. III. In what a True Contempt of the World doth Consist p. 30 SECT I. That a Contempt of the World doth consist in Christian Magnanimity or Greatness of Mind 30 The old Philosophical Magnanimity was nothing but Pride and Singularity 31 This Magnanimity is grounded 1. Upon the Dignity of our Calling 32 2. On the Honor of our Founder 34 3. Upon the excellent Rules of our Religion 36 4. Upon the Greatness of our Rewards 37 SECT II. That a Contempt of the World doth consist in being Content 40 The Notion of Contentedness 41 That we should not trust in Riches 42 That we should not fear the Loss of our Riches 45 That we should not grieve at the Loss of Riches 47 That we should not repine in low Circumstances 50 That we should not eagerly desire great Riches 54 Answer to the Miser's Apology 60 SECT III. That a Contempt of the World doth consist in being Temperate 62 Of Abstinence 64 Which consists in not eating over much of our ordinary Food 65 In not making our constant Food of the most delicious Meats 69 In not feeding upon things which supply extraordinary Nourishment 72 In observing the Duty of Fasting 73 Of Sobriety 75 That a man should not drink to Intemperance or to a Loss of his Reason 75 That he should not make others Drunk 77 That he should not spend too much time in Drinking 79 That he should not drink at unseasonable hours 80 Nor spend too much Money 81 Of Chastity 83 That we should avoid all unclean Actions whatsoever in an unmarried State ibid. Because they are to the Disparagement of our Nature 84 Contrary to the Design of Matrimony 85 And to God's Word â—â— Answer to the Libertines 〈…〉 Fornication â—â— That we should preserve the Marriag◠〈…〉 â—â—filed 90 The Wickedness of the Adulterer 92 Of the Adulterous Husband 93 Of the Adulterous Wife 95 That Chastity doth consist in a modest Behaviour 96 The Origin of Pudicity 97 Reflexions on the Immodesty of the Age. 99 SECT IV. That a Contempt of the World doth consist in being Humble 100 That we should retain the meanest thoughts we possibly can of our selves in respect of God 101 That we should not be proud of God's Gifts 106 That we should not seek after Punctilio's of Honor Titles Precedency c. 113 That we should not affect things above our Abilities and Circumstances 115 That we should diligently obey and respect our Superiors 119 That we should behave our selves obligingly to all our Inferiors of what Condition soever 122 SECT V. That a Contempt of the World doth consist in being Patient 127 1. Under the Loss of Goods as Our Estates 128 Our Relations and Friends 129 Our Good Name 132 Our Expectation of Preferment 135 Unsuccessfulness of our Children 138 2. Vnder the Presence of Evil as Labor and Difficulty 140 The Infirmities of other men 143 Injuries and Affronts 146 Pains and Diseases 148 Any Persecution which may befall us 151 SECT VI. The Contempt of the World consists in setting our Affections upon God and Heavenly Things 153 Which consists I. In an hearty Love of God 155 We must love God Because 1st He is the most perfect and admirable Being 157 1. Study and admire the Perfections of the Divine Nature ibid. The Eternity of God 158. His Omnipotence 159. Knowledge ibid. Holiness ibid. His Truth 160. His Justice 161. His Mercy 162 2. We must endeavor to our utmost to imitate God and act agreeably to his Nature 164 2ly Because he is our Benefactor 168 1. Consider the innumerable Benefits he bestows upon us ibid. 2. We must shew all the signs of a hearty Love and sincere Gratitude 172 Object We endeavor to live well but do not find such a passionate Love of God in us as others do 175 Answ 1. Those who obey all God's Commands do love him ibid. 2. There are different Degrees
Charms there should be in Drunkenness that should recommend it so much to the World When we consider what Fools and Sots it makes of Men to be the Sport of their own Company and the Diversion of the Children in the Streets that it makes them sick after every Debauch and breaks their Constitution after many that it discloses their Secrets and makes them often for ever repent of what they then discover that it animates Men into Quarrels arms them with Rage and Fury and oftentimes makes the dearest Friends Murtherers to one another that it foolishly squanders away a Man's Time makes him lose his Trade or neglect his Business that it oftentimes Beggars his Family stupifies his Senses and at last damns his Soul I say to consider all this a Man may be as soon in Love with Halters and Gibbets with Daggers and Poison as with so abominable and pestilential a Vice I know 't is usually said that good Company puts them upon it for no Man will own to be Drunk for the Pleasure of Drinking But why should Company make a Man Drink to excess more than to Eat to excess Why should not I be obliged to eat Slices of Beef with a Man of a bigger Stomach as well as to drink the same Quantity with a Man of a stronger Head Is a Man ever the better Company for being Drunk Nay generally does not one drunken Man spoil a great deal of good Company A Man indeed may talk with more Noise but never with more Wit for being Drunk and if ever a good Thing be said in a Company of Dunkards it is whilst they be yet Sober 'T is Nonsense to say we cannot be so Rude to part with our Company for it is time to part with them who have resolved to part with all Sobriety and good Sense Besides the Civility of the Age will hardly allow Men to lay too great a Restraint upon any one and let a Man but establish himself a Caracter of Sobriety and the very Awe of his Vertue will keep the most impudent Drunkard from being too pressing and importunate so that in short no Man can be obliged to be Drunk unless he has a Mind to be so and that is a thing so horrible scandalous that few Men will care to own and therefore I am sure no Man ought to practise Secondly Not to make others so That he should not encourage Drinking till others are Drunk though he be able to hold out longer A Man may be Sot and Drunkard enough of all Conscience and yet may possibly be never down right Drunk in all his Life His Head may be of that strength as to secure his Reason whilst that of all the Company lies drowned in their Liquor But certainly this victorious Drunkard is not one jot more innocent than the others The Scripture pronounces a Woe not only against those that are actually Drunk but against them that are mighty to drink Wine and men of strength to mingle strong Drink Isa 5.22 As for the Drunkards of the shallower Head by their Sickness after a Debauch and the Shame of it they are kept from Drinking altogether so often but the Triumphant Drunkard has no Restraint upon him for his constant Successes do animate and encourage him continually on to fresh Conquests Indeed Drunkards of all sorts are equal in their Crime as to their foolish lavishing away their Time and spoiling God's Creatures as to their wastfully spending their Money and neglecting their Business but the strongheaded Drunkard is generally the more Vicious because he has separated all Modesty from his Vice he glories in that which others are ashamed of and has taken up the Office of being the Devil 's Vice-Gerent by first tempting Men to sin and afterwards exposing them to shame Thirdly Not to spend too much Time That a Man should not spend too much Time in Drinking Whenever Drinking is allowable besides when we are adry it is only for an innocent Recreation or Refreshment when we are tired with Business or have not much Business to do And this cannot be for any long time for either our Devotion or Study or Business or Sleep or something else will call us from it But to turn this Recreation into an Employ to take up our Sitting in a Company as if we were to get our Livelihood in it is to contradict the standing Rules and Purposes of God's Providence 't is to set out our Time designedly for Drinking and to do our Business by the By. I confess I have often heartily pitied the Misfortune of some Gentlemen of an illiterate Education who can as soon spend an Afternoon without Breathing as without Drinking for that is the best Expedient they think they can find to help off with their Time which hangs so uncomfortably upon their Hands Indeed these poor Gentlemen have reason almost to curse their Parents that would give them no better an Education whereby they can find no Relish in those noble Arts and Sciences which makes the Lives of other Learned Gentlemen pass so pleasantly along But however no Gentleman can be so straitly put to it for Diversion as to be forced upon Drinking for it for when it is dry enough to be abroad the Sports in the Field will give him an Entertainment more delightful and more innocent and at other times we have Books enough in our own Tongue in Divinity and History Law and Morality to spend a Day with Delight and Improvement nay even to take up with the frothy Entertainments of Plays and Romances or every day to Card and Chat with the Ladies is time better spent than to be a Drinking Nor at ill Hours Fourthly That a Man should not be Drinking at unseasonable Hours The Night is a time which Nature has set aside for Rest and Sleep and when every thing about us in the dead of Night is husht and still methinks 't is extreamly unnatural to hear the Noise and Mirth of Jolly Companions In the day time Nature seems to rejoyce with us with a Face of Gaiety and Delight and the sight of People stirring about us seems to add something more of Life to our Pleasure but in the Night time Mens Voices seem to have a different Tone and Accent the Time of Night seems always to mix something of a Melancholiness with the Mirth as if one was hearing Stories among the Tombs Therefore I wonder how it should come in fashion in downright Despight to the Order of Nature to sit up Drinking so late a Nights when they may find so much more convenient and pleasanter a time for it in the Day Nay Drinking to Excess in the Day-time is not more Injurious to the Body than the bare sitting up long in the Night for the Want of Sleep only and the Chill of the Air are as mischievous as the Intemperance so that for this Reason those that are resolved to set up for Drinking should methinks take always their Dose in
Uncleanness are more diligently to be avoided when the very thoughts and desires of it are so abundantly sinful So the Apostle advises us That we should not fashion our selves according to our former Lusts but to be holy in all manner of conversation 1 Pet. 1.14 that we shâ—uld not make provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof Rom. 13.14 So St. Paul again 1 Thess 4.3 bids us abstain from Fornication that every one of us should know how to possess his Vessel i.e. his Body in Honour And he tells us further that Fornicators shall not inherit the Kingdom of God From all which we may conclude that whatever the Libertines may further object the Papists may as well make Murder or Incest to be venial Sins as Fornication and as for the Popes License and Indulgence for it it will stand us in little stead unless he could let a Man into Heaven for that for which God has plainly declared he will keep him out Obj. 1. But some object That simple Fornication is no sin because it is not forbid in the Ten Commandments for if it be a sin it is a sin against our Neighbour and so reducible to the second Table But this is the consent of two persons voluntarily to an act and then volenti non fit injuria they injure no body and so consequently this can be no sin against our Neighbour To this may be answered 1. That all Sins are not against God or our Neighbour for there are some against a Man's own self as are all such as are against the Dignity of our Nature and the design of our Creation as Drunkenness immoderate Anger c. and are reducible to the second Table either as the Causes Incentives or lesser Degrees of those grosser sins which are there specified So Anger is reducible to Murder because it is so frequently the Parent of it Drunkenness and other Intemperance to Adultery because it is an Incentive of it and so likewise Fornication and all other Uncleanness to the same Commandment because they are greater or lesser degrees of that Vice which is there prohibited 2. But This Sin is a Sin against a Mans Neighbour as well as against himself 't is an injury to the Relations and Families of the Persons thus abused 't is an injury to the Publick by despising Legal Matrimony and contributing to the Birth of Spurious Children 't is an injury to the Persons of each other by dishonouring their Bodies as the Apostle speaks and furthering them in the commission of a known Sin Obj. 2. Others say in favour of Fornication and other Uncleannesses that they are things they cannot help that their Temptations are so strong upon them that there is no resisting them and let them use all the Reasons and Arguments they can against them yet still they will prevail and therefore 't is as good they think to make no opposition at all as to be sure to be foiled in the Enterprise But to this I answer That I hope when they say they cannot help it they are not necessitated or forced to such an action for that is what we call a Rape or that they are necessitated to them as they are to Eat or to Drink All that they can mean by it is That they have strong inclinations to them which will cost them some trouble to Conquer But then what is this to a Necessity Is a Man necessitated to be starved because it will cost him some pains to get a Livelihood Is one forced to be a Slave to his Enemy because he must be at the Trouble of encountring him before he can get rid of him Why so it is in the case of our Lusts and Passions we must struggle and contend with them Master and Subdue them and not lazily suffer them to get the better of us when with a little striving we might get the better of them 'T is in vain to say we must as well submit to these Appetites as to those other Desires of Meat and Drink for the fulfilling of those is necessary to the subsistence of Nature and without which a Man can hardly live a Day but I dare say no Man was ever starved by Chastity Yet after all if the Man's Inclinations are so untameable as to render his Life uneasie by the impulse of continual Temptations by the weakness of his Resolutions and the wearisom employ of constant Watching and Observance then God himself has provided a Remedy for this the Holy State of Matrimony and if he refuses to make use of this means when he falls into Sin 't is at his own Peril I have been something long in answering these two Objections because they are the topping ones of the Debauchees by which they would excuse their own Crimes and betray others into the like 2. To be Chaste is to preserve the Marriage Bed undefiled This is a Duty which has been accounted most Sacred and Inviolable in all Ages and Nations and the breach of it was never accounted a matter of Mirth and Drollery but amongst us Christians who nevertheless to our shames profess a Religion which establishes Matrimony upon a firmer Foundation than any Disagreement and inequality of Temper or Age are in other Religions causes sufficient for Divorce but our Saviour saith Whosoever putteth away his Wife saving for the cause of Fornication causes her to commit Adultery and he that marrieth her committeth Adultery Mat 5.32 Nay the New Testament is full of Exhortations for the making the Marriage State comfortable and happy It engages us to Conjugal Chastity by the Honour of the Duty and the Wickedness of the violation of it Marriage is honourable in all and the Bed Undefiled but Whoremongers and Adulterers God will judge Heb. 13.4 It enjoyns a most particular Love and Affection to each St. Paul commands the Ancient Women to Instruct the Younger ones to be sober and to love their Husbands as if none but who did so could be Sober Tit. 2.4 And in many other places the Husband is obliged to love his Wife as Christ loved the Church to love his Wife even as himself which imply the highest and most ardent degree of Love and Kindness Therefore they that do any ways contribute to the breach of this Love and Fidelity have a better pretence to be Turks or Heathens or any thing than Christians But to make an Estimate of the Wickedness of the violation of Conjugal Chastity be pleased to take a view of Adultery in its threefold Aspect 1. Of the Adulterer of any sort whatsoever that shall Defile his Neighbours Bed This besides the Uncleanness common to all Sins of this Nature and the violation of Gods express Commands is an injury so great and intolerable as none but the Injured Party can make a Just estimate of How impatiently do we bear the loss of some small part of our Estates the being over-reached in our Dealings and the ill return of our Adventures and yet as these are
thought worthy to suffer for the sake of Christ For it shews but a pitiful zeal for our Religion to stand up for it only when we prosper and flourish under it to follow Christ only whilst he feeds us with the Loaves and to forsake him in the Garden and at Mount Calvary This indeed is the hardest Lesson which Christianity teaches but then it is encouraged with the most glorious Rewards Mat. 5.12 2 Tim. 4.8 Rev. 2.10 The Hopes of this made the Primitive Professors of our Religion with the greatest Earnestness even to desire and pray for Martyrdom and to wish for the greatest of Sufferings to the end that they might enjoy the greater Reward The Hopes of this inspired those noble Armies of Martyrs with that brave Spirit and Resolution as made them outface Death in his grimest Aspect that made tender Virgins to leave the Nuptial Garlands for the Crown of Martyrdom that enabled others to go singing to the Racks and the Lyons to smile upon the Gridirons and in the midst of the Chaldrons that did invigorate them with that invincible Patience whereby they wearied out not only the Cruelty but even the Invention of the Tormentors SECT VI. That a Contempt of the World doth consist in setting our Affections upon God and Heavenly Things HItherto Morality has shewed us the way to Contemn the World and the dusky Lamp of Nature has gone before us and afforded us Light enough to discover the Vanities thereof and how unreasonable and dishonourable it is for a Rational Creature to be defiled by those Pleasures or overcome by those Passions which betray him into Covetousness and Excess Pride and Impatience For many of the Heathen World have been eminent in those Vertues we have hitherto been describing or at least they have pretended to them as much as the devoutest Christian They have been so magnanimously Brave as to scorn to do a base thing for the sake of the Honourableness of Vertue and the Turpitude of Vice They have despised all the Riches of the World with the most fastidious Contempt they have been Temperate to admiration have been Modest as the Reclusest Vestal and Chast as the Flamen's Bed they have neglected all proffered Honour and affected the meanest Obscurity they have bore Pain with an invincible Patience and outfaced Death it self with a stupendious Bravery But yet there are some farther Heights which Christianity enjoyns that are necessary to a true Contempt of the World and which the Heathens were ignorant of And those are contained in that former Part of the Apostles Precept Set your Affections on things above and not on things on the Earth Col. 3.2 Now a great Number of them like Men of Sense and Spirit thought these little things upon the Earth were too vile to set their Affections on and that it would reflect upon their Rationality to be enamoured with such fleeting Pleasures But then they were unable to perform the former Part of the Command for they had but very imperfect Notions of those things above which are the true and noble Objects of our Affections These clear Manifestations which God has been pleased to make to us of his Nature and the unquestionable Promises he has given us of an eternal Reward in another Life have in them a Magnetick Attraction to raise our Affections a great deal higher to hinder their dull Weight from pulling them downwards to the Earth and do as it were draw them to another Centre Morality indeed might effect that a Man should not lie groveling upon the Ground and wallowing in sensual Pleasures it would enable him in some measure to stand erect like a reasonable Creature and not to stoop down to every puny Object that lay before him but those happy Revelations which our Religion affords us inspire us with a sort of Angelical Nature joyn the Seraph and the Man together add Wings to the Soul and make her take her Flight toward Heaven This setting our Affections on things above This Spiritual Mindedness which is so much commended in Scripture does consist in these two Particulars I. In an hearty Love of God II. An earnest Desire of Eternal Happiness I. In a hearty Love of God By the Love of God I do not understand here the whole Duty of the Christian Religion for the Love of God sometimes signifies as largely as the Fearing him does that is the doing every thing which God commands to the utmost of our Power and then the Love of God takes in all the Duties of Morality and revealed Religion As the Apostle takes it Rom 8. Every thing worketh for good to them that love God So 1 Cor. 2. Eye hath not seen nor Ear hath heard the things which God hath prepared for them that love him Neither do I mean any unusual transported Spirit of Mind by which the Soul is generally filled with Exultations and Raptures whenever it happens to think of God For these where they are found are rather the Effects of mens bodily Constitutions than the peculiar Symptoms of a true Christian Love which is best when it is constant and even throughout the whole Course of our Lives and does not take us by Fits and Spurts Where-ever such passionate Returns of Zeal are found they are good Signs and Indications of Piety but they are not Piety it self they do usually shew a Man to be good but they do not make him so such heated Transports do no more entitle a Man to the Love of God than an excessive Custom of Laughter entitles him to be a risible Creature But by a Love of God I understand that Complacency which we take in the Deity arising from the Consideration of the Excellence of his Nature and his Bounty to us For any thing may be rendered the Object of our Love either by having very great Perfections and Excellencies in it self or by the procuring us any considerable Benefit Now for both these Reasons we ought to love God or to set our Affections upon him 1. Because he is the most Perfect and Admirable Being 2. Because he is the most Kind and Bountiful to us 1. Because he is the most Perfect and Admirable Being Therefore in order to a Just Contempt of the World and a setting our Affections upon God we must 1. Study and admire the Perfections of the Divine Nature It will be an intollerable shame for us when God has made us alone of all his Creation here below capable of contemplating his Nature that we should think as little of it as the Cattle do that we should employ all our Thoughts about the Brutal part of our selves and think of nothing suitable to that Nobler part of us which alone denominates us Men and that we should drive away out of our Minds the consideration of the admirable Excellencies of the Divine Nature which are the properest and the most worthy Objects of them Not that we should with a bold inquisitiveness pry into the Mysteriousness of the Divine