our selves in all such matters as fall within the Sphere of our Cognizance Which if our Reason be debarred of it standeth for a lonely Cypher in our Natures and is altogether useless and insignificant And if in any thing our Reason hath a Right to judge for us then much more in matters of Religion in which our highest and most important Interest is concerned So that to deny it the Right of judging for us here is to render it useless in our greatest Importance and to disable our best Faculty from being serviceable to our best Interest 'T is true there are sundry Controversies about religious Matters which every Man's Reason cannot judge of the Arguments pro and con depending either upon Criticisms of Language or Metaphysical Niceties or ancient Histories which are all beyond the Comprehension of persons of mean and vulgar Understandings who are therefore obliged in all such matters as these to submit to the Determination of their lawful Guides and Governours But as for the great and necessary matters of Religion they are plain and obvious to the meanest Understanding and consequently herein every man ought to exercise his natural Right of judging for himself and not swallow his Religion blindfold without trying it by the Test of his Reason And certainly they who remove the Cognizance of Religion out of the Court of Reason take away that which doth most properly and naturally fall under its Determination For Religion is the Chief End of Man's Creation as he is a reasonable Being and thereby capable of Religion and to be sure where the End is natural the Means must be so too And therefore as Horses that were made for Burthen have a natural Ability to bear and as Birds that were made to fly have a faculty and Wings for that purpose so rational Souls that were made for Religion must needs be supposed to have some Power naturally placed in them for the Exercise and Iudgment and Choice of it And what else can that be but their Reason So that to deny Men the Liberty to judge for themselves in that which is their natural End and highest Interest is as great a piece of Violence and Injustice as can be offered to humane Nature And of this very matter the Church of Rome is highly guilty for it commandeth Assent without Evidence and imperiously requireth Men to believe her Doctrines without examination to rely implicitly upon her Authority and swallow down her Faith by the lump without ever inquiring whether it be Physick or Poyson For the leading Principle of the Romish Religion is this that the Churches Authority is the Reason of our Faith and that Men are bound to believe what she believeth without any further proof or evidence by which tyrannical Proceedure She useth her wretched Children as the Philistins did Sampson first putteth out their Eyes and recreateth herself with their Blindness and Ignorance For unless they wink hard and believe at a venture whatsoever she proposeth they are sure to feel the Edges both of her spiritual and temporal Swords and though they are never so modest peaceable and humble in their dissents to incur her Anathemas which have always the sting of Fire and Faggot in the tayl of them Now what is this but to force the Opinions of Men and drive their Reason from its Throne of Judicature For he that punisheth a man barely for his Opinion doth in so doing endeavour to rob him of his natural Right of judging for himself which is the greatest Tyranny in the World it being an exercise of Dominion over the minds of men which are subject only to the Empire of God 'T is true if in judging for themselves Men take up Opinions that are vicious or destructive to Government their wicked Practice is justly punishable according to the proportion of its Malignity for otherwise Men's right of judging for themselves will soon be made a Sanctuary for all the Villanies in the World And though no Man ought to be punished barely for his Opinion yet he may be justly punished for practising his Opinion though his practice be indifferent in its own Nature For indifferent Things which God hath neither commanded nor forbidden are the proper matter of all humane Laws and therefore if upon a false Opinion that what the Law enjoyns is not indifferent but sinful I practise contrary to the Law I am justly punishable because my Mistake altereth not the nature of the thing If it be indifferent it is a proper object of humane Laws whether I think it so or no and as such may justly be imposed and the Imposition being just in it self our not complying with it is justly punishable Once more though no Man ought to be punished for his Opinion yet he may be justly punishable for making a publick Profession of it for there is no doubt but Men may be restrained by Laws from propagating their little Opinions into Factions and dividing themselves upon every different persuasion into opposite Parties Otherwise it will be impossible considering the Passions of Men to maintain any Unity or Concord in civil or sacred Societies And therefore where such Restriction is Men ought to be satisfied with this that they freely enjoy their liberty of Opining and are not deprived of their natural Right to judge for themselves and so they ought either to keep their little Opinions to themselves or at least not to vex and disturb the Publick by a fierce Endeavour to propagate them to others And this due Deference to Men's natural Right of judging for themselves hath been always punctually observed in the Church of England for it neither damneth nor censureth persecuteth nor destroyeth Men upon the score of difference in Opinion provided their Opinion doth not lead them to wicked or seditious practices but hopeth well of all that live well and receiveth all into its Communion that desire it provided they believe but the Apostles Creed and the Doctrine of the four first General Councils 'T is true it forbideth Men so to profess their Dissents to the Articles of its Doctrine and Discipline as to seduce her Children from her Communion and list them into Factions against her and this every Church must necessarily do that valueth its own Peace and Preservation but it pretendeth not to invade the Liberty of their Thoughts or to lay rigid Restraints on their Opinions and so long as they dissent from us modestly and peaceably they may enjoy their own Opinions and our Communion too And as for those Forein Communities of Christians that differ from us we pass no severe Sentences against them but do believe and hope and earnestly pray that the God of all mercies will pity their Errors and connive at their Defects and finally unite them to us for ever in the blissful Communion of the Church Triumphant Nor doth our Religion obtrude it self upon the minds of Men by the bare Warrant of an imperious Authority but fairly appealeth to our Understandings and
Staves the speediest way to make them strait is to keep them bent for a while the contrary way This therefore is implied in our honest Endeavour to mortify our involuntary Inclinations to sin that we do not only forbear the sin it self but avoid the Occasions that lead to it and deny our selves those lawful Liberties which do nearly approach it and set us upon the brink of it And thus you see wherein Mortification consists namely in abstaining from the outward Act and inward Consent to sin and in a constant Endeavour to mortify those involuntary Inclinations to sin which we have contracted in any former Course of wilful sinning CHAP. II. Of the Means and Instruments of Mortification HAVING explained wherein Mortification consists I proceed in the next place to consider what are the Means and Instruments of it And these are chiefly these Six First FAITH Secondly CONSIDERATION Thirdly RESOLUTION Fourthly DISCIPLINE Fifthly FREQUENT receiving of the Sacrament Sixthly CONSTANT Prayer I. FAITH or a thorough Belief of the Truth of our Religion which will furnish us with such Arguments against our Lusts as all the Temptations they can muster up will never be able to resist Hence St. Iohn tells us that This is the victory that overcometh the world even our faith 1 Epist. v. 4. where by the World we are to understand all those Temptations to sin that do arise from these outward worldly Objects wherewithal we are here surrounded Faith therefore must needs be a mighty Instrument of mortifying our Sins it being the Victory whereby we overcome all the Temptations to them And indeed a firm Belief of the mighty Arguments of Christianity is in it self such an efficacious Means to dissuade us from sinning that one would think it were impossible for the most bold and resolute Sinner to withstand it For who but a mad Man would prostitute himself to the Charms and Flatteries of a base Lust that believes that Promise which proposes a Heaven of immortal Ioys to dissuade him from it Who would be frighted into any Sin by the most amazing Danger that can threaten or befal him that credits that Threat which denounces a Hell of endless and intolerable Woes against every wilful Transgression Did we but believe that it cost the Son of God his dearest Blood to redeem us from our Sins How could we be so disingenuous to our best Friend as to harbour those Lusts that were his Murderers and which he abhors more than the Spear that pierced his Side or the Nails that gored his Hands and Feet Yea how could we be so fool-hardy as to dally with those Sins which are so infinitely odious unto God that he would not be attoned for them by any meaner Sacrifice than the Blood of his own Son In a word did we but believe that we must all appear before the Judgment-Seat of Christ to give a strict Account for whatsoever we have done in the Flesh What Temptation could there be great enough to ballance our Fear of that dreadful Tribunal Doubtless did we but heartily believe our Holy Religion there is nothing in all the World would be so terrible as Sin to us the mighty Arguments of the Gospel would so over-awe us that we should not be able to think of it without Horrour and Amazement the very Sight of it would scare us like an Apparition and cause us to run away from it in as great a Fright as if the Devil himself were at our heels For Lord can I be so stupid as to hug my Lusts while I believe that I shall rue for it to all Eternity Can I be so sensless of my own Interest as to treat and entertain those Vices which I verily believe will rob me of all that an everlasting Heaven means No no Did I but believe the Propositions of the Gospel doubtless I should sooner trust my Body among ravenous Cannibals than my Soul among my Sins and think my self much safer among Vipers and Scorpions than in the Embraces of my Lusts which whilst they wrap themselves in amorous Folds about me sting me with an everlasting Venom But our Misery is that we are most of us Christians by chance and have taken up our Religion upon trust without ever satisfying our selves of its Credibility or troubling our selves to enquire why or wherefore we profess it So that though perhaps we do not absolutely disbelieve yet neither can we be properly said to believe it it being a matter we never troubled our selves about so as to enquire whether it be true or false and therefore it is no great wonder that it hath so little Effect upon us For how can it be expected that we should be affected with that which we do not believe or be persuaded to part with those Lusts that are so dear to us upon Proposals that we give no Credit to and of whose Truth or Falshood we never troubled our selves to enquire Let us therefore but satisfy our own Reason of the Truth of our Religion by considering impartially those mighty Evidences it is founded upon and then it will soon captivate our Souls into the Love and Obedience of it and none of our Lusts will be able to withstand its mighty Force and Efficacy but will all be forced to fall down before it as Dagon did before the Ark of the Lord. This therefore is the first Instrument of Mortification viz. a hearty Belief of the Christian Religion II. ANOTHER Instrument of Mortification is Consideration For we have no other way to mortify our Lusts but only by Reason and Argument and 't is impossible that any Arguments should persuade us unless we duly consider the Strength and Force of them 'T is true our Religion furnishes us with sufficient Arguments to baffle all the Temptations of Sin But what will it signify to have good Arguments in our Bibles while they are out of our Thoughts and are not at all regarded by us Do we expect they should cure our Souls as Charms and Amulets do our Bodies meerly by being written upon Paper and worn in our Bosoms Why then may they not as well charm a Swine into Cleanliness or a savage Tyger out of his natural Fierceness and Cruelty But alas all the Arguments in the World to an inconsiderate Mind are but like so many Arrows shot against an Anvil where they cannot stick but are forced to rebound and fly off again without making any Impression on it And hence in the Parable of the Seed the reason which our Saviour assigns why it prospered not in the High-way the stony and thorny Ground was either that they considered not at all or not enough Matth. xiii 19 20 21 22. either they were wholly inconsiderate so that the Seed of God's Word lay scattered upon the surface of their Minds like Corn upon the High-way to be picked and devoured by the Fowls of the Air or they considered but a little so that the Divine Seed being not throughly rooted in them
and do Reign by his Authority they have also an inseparable Right to be obeyed in all things wherein they do not interfere with the Commands of God for in obeying them we obey God who commandeth by their Mouths and willeth by their Laws and Edicts and as he who refuseth to obey the Vice-Roy's command doth in so doing disobey the King himself unless he commandeth the contrary so he who disobeyeth his Sovereign who is God's Vice-Roy doth in so doing disobey God unless it be where God hath countermanded him So that while he commandeth only lawful things he hath an undoubted Right to be obeyed because his Commands are stamped with Divine Authority and are thereby rendered sacred and inviolable Again since Sovereigns are the supreme Representatives of God's Power and Majesty upon Earth as being his immediate Substitutes they have also an unalienable Right to be honoured and reverenced by their Subjects because they bear God's Character and do shine with the Rays of his Majesty before which every Creature in Heaven and Earth ought to bow and lye prostrate and therefore for Subjects to contemn and vilifie their Sovereigns to expose their faults and uncover their nakedness and Lampoon and Libel their Persons and Actions is an Affront to God's own Majesty and an unjust and impious Prophanation of that Divine Character they bear about them Once more since Sovereigns are substituted by God for the Common Good to protect the Innocent and avenge the Injured and guard the Rights of their People against Foreign and Intestine Fraud and Violence they must hereupon have an undoubted Right to be aided and assisted by their Subjects because without their Aid it will be impossible for them to accomplish the Ends of their Sovereignty And therefore for Subjects to refuse to Aid their Sovereign with their Purses or Persons when legally required or by any indirect means to withdraw themselves from his Assistance whenever his Necessities call for it is to detain from him a just Right that is owing to his Character and Relation And as these Rights are all implyed in the Relation of a Sovereign so are there others implyed in the Relation of a Subject for Sovereign Power being ordained by God for a publick Good to guard and defend the Innocent to shelter and relieve the Oppressed to fence and propagate true Religion and adjust and ballance private Rights and Interests Every Subject hath a Right to be protected by it so far as it is able in his Person and Legal Rights in his just Liberties and Privileges and sincere Profession of true Religion and that Sovereign who doth not employ his power to these purposes but through wilful and affected Error or Ignorance imposeth a false Religion on his People or betrayeth oppresseth or inslaveth them himself or permits others to do it either out of Malice or Carelesness is an injurious Invader of their Rights and Properties and though he be not accountable to any Earthly Tribunal shall one day answer for it at the Tribunal of God II. THERE is the Relation of Subordinate Magistrates to the Sovereign and People such are the Judges and Justices the Governours of Towns Cities and Provinces and the like who by vertue of that Authority which is stamped upon them and which they derive as I told you from God who is the Head and Spring of all Power and Dominion have by vertue of that a Right to be honoured and reverenced and obeyed by the People according to the Degree and extent of their Authority For wherever it is placed Authority is a Sacred thing as being a Ray and Impress of the Divine Majesty and as such may justly claim honour and reverence from all Men and whoever contemneth the lowest Degree of it offereth an Affront to the highest He who contemneth Subordinate Magistrates who are vested with the King's Authority doth therein contemn the King and he who contemneth the King who is vested with God's Authority doth therein contemn God Whatsoever therefore the personal faults and defects of Magistrates may be Men ought to consider that their Authority is a Sacred thing and as such challengeth their Reverence and Obedience by an unalienable Right and that therefore to behave themselves frowardly stubbornly or irreverently towards a lawful Magistrate is to detain from him his Rights and offer an unjust Affront to his Character which how good soever they may be in other Instances doth in this bespeak them highly dishonest and injurious And as the Relation of Subordinate Magistrates intitleth them to the Peoples Reverence and Obedience so the Relation which the Prince and People bear to them intitleth them both to their Fidelity Vigilance and Iustice. For Subordinate Magistrates are the King's Trustees for himself and his People and in their hands he depositeth the Honour Security and Rights of his own Crown and Dominion together with the Safeguard and Protection of the Just and Legal Rights of his People So that upon their acceptance of this Trust by which they engage themselves faithfully to discharge it the King acquireth a Right to their faithful and vigilant Care to see that his Authority be Reverenced his Laws Obeyed his Person Government and Properties Secured the People acquire a Right to be Protected by them in their Persons Reputations Liberties and Estates and so far as they are wilfully failing either towards the King or the People in any of these Matters they do unjustly detain the King's or the Peoples Rights or both they betray the Trust committed to them falsifie their own Engagements and under the Mask of Authority are publick Robbers of Mankind III. THERE is the Relation of Pastors and People for since out of his tender care to the Souls of Men God hath instituted an Order of Men to Administer to them those holy Ordinances by which he conveyeth his Grace and Spirit to instruct them in their Duties admonish them of their Errors and warn them of their Dangers and guide them to eternal Happiness there doth from hence arise a near and sacred Relation between the People and their respective Guides and Pastors They are joined together by the Tyes and Obligations of Religion which giveth them a mutual Right in one another and which giveth the Pastor a Right to be diligently attended to by the People in his religious Ministrations to be Construed in the best Sense and fairly treated and complyed with in all his pious Reproofs and Admonitions to be honoured and reverenced for his Work 's sake to partake with the People in their Temporals as they do with him in his Spirituals and to be supported by them according to their Ability with a fair and honourable Maintenance and they who are wanting to their Pastor in any of these particulars deprive him of that which is as much his Right in Conscience as any thing can be theirs in Law And then as for the People They have also a Right to have holy Things duly and regularly Administred to them
produced only a present Fit and pang of Religion which in the Heat of the next Temptation withered and died away or else they considered but by halves their Minds being all over-grown with worldly Cares and Thoughts which quickly choked that Holy Seed and rendered it barren and unfruitful Thus Inconsideration you see will render the most powerful Motives insignificant and it will be to no purpose for Religion to knock at the door of our Souls while our Reason is asleep and our Understandings deaf to its Importunities But would we be but so true to our own Interest as to inure our selves to a through Consideration of our Religion that would arm us with such invincible Arguments as none of our Lusts would be able to withstand and we should have so many good Thoughts like Guardian Angels perpetually encamped about us that whensoever the Devil or the World besieged us they would find our Souls impregnably fortified against all their Batteries If in the Morning before we go into the World we would sit down a while and take a little pains to antidote our Souls with such Thoughts as these O my Soul now am I going into the midst of a crowd of temptations where ever and anon one bad Object or other will be beckoning to me and inviting me unto that which is evil let us therefore consider a little what answer we shall return to all their importunities By and by perhaps some great opportunity of gain may present it self before thee to tempt thee to a fraud or consenage but alas What a poor recompence will a little Money be for all that Eternity of misery whereunto I shall consign my self by it Can I carry this sorry Pelf thither with me Or if I could can I bribe my Flames or corrupt my Tormentors with it And shall I for such a trifling momentary Gain incur such an everlasting Damage When I have thus answered this Temptation perhaps immediately after some amorous Object may present it self to court me to the Harlot's Bed but O my Soul Will the Pleasures I am promised there compensate the loss of all that Heaven of immortal Ioys which I shall forfeit by it And if they will not as doubtless they will not shall I be so childish as for the Pleasures of a moment to extinguish all my hope of being pleased for ever And when thou hast thus baffled this Temptation perhaps thou mayst be solicited a new with some importunate invitation to Intemperance but O my Soul Remember the bitter Agonies that thy Saviour endured upon the Score of thy Sins how this among the rest filled his deadly Cup and vomited it full of Gall and Vinegar and can I be so sensless as to make light of any sin the guilt whereof was so heavy as to crush the Lord of Life into his Grave Shall I be so disingenuous as to gratifie any Lust that had a hand in the murder of my dearest Saviour my Saviour who loveth me a thousand times better than I love my self And now no sooner hast thou repulsed this temptation but happily some other may assault thee thou mayst be presented with a favourable opportunity of treating thy Lusts so privatly and securely as that no Eye shall discover thee and then how difficult will it be for thee to refuse such an inviting Occasion but consider O my Soul thou art always and every where under the inspection of thy Iudg by whose righteous Doom thou must stand or fall for ever and he that seeth what thou dost in private will one day call thee to account and openly unmask all thy actions and present them bare-faced upon the publick Theatre before all the world of Spirits unless therefore thou couldst find a place to be wicked in where God might not see thee 't is in vain to promise thy self coverts and retirements for he will one day bring to light all thy deeds of Darkness and display thy shame to the open view of the world would we I say but take the pains every Morning before we enter into the World to season and antidote our Souls with such Meditations as these it would doubtless mightily contribute to the Mortification of our Lusts. For this would make the Arguments of our Religion so familiar to us that no Temptations whatsoever would be able to baffle our Resolutions which being backed with such a Strength of Reason would stand like a Rock of Adamant outbraving the Fury of those Waves that dash themselves against it and forcing them to retire after all their threatning Rage in empty and insignificant Foams For what Temptation can be too hard for that Soul that is armed with the Hope of Heaven and the Fear of Hell and is furnished with Arguments from all the Quarters of Reason and Religion to oppose against it This therefore is another of those Means and Instruments by which we are to Mortifie our Lusts viz. a serious Consideration of the Motives and Arguments whereby we are to oppose them III. ANOTHER Instrument of Mortification is a hearty and well-grounded Resolution and indeed without a firm Resolution it is in vain for us to attempt the mortifying of our Lusts or any difficult Undertaking whatsoever For there is a wide Distance between Thoughts and Things and 't is much easier to discourse of Things than to pass them into Execution for clear Reasonings are accompanied with a wonderful Delight because there we engage only with Designs and fighting only with the Idea's of Things they will easily suffer themselves to be conquered by us and taken Captive at our Will but when we pass into Practice that will revolt and oppose us in the Execution which was so very compliant in the Thought and Meditation then you will find that you must wrestle stoutly with those Difficulties that will make Head against you and that these will put you to a greater Proof of your Valour and Constancy than ever you did imagin so that unless you are armed with a great Strength of Resolution you will be beaten oft at the first Attempt and meeting with greater Resistance than you expected be forced upon a base and Cowardly Retreat Now to form a firm Resolution requires a great deal of Prudence and good Conduct for it is of great avail in all Cases to begin well and as a Foundation well laid doth secure the Superstructure so a Resolution well formed will render the Execution of what we are to do a great deal more easie and feasible Before we do resolve therefore on mortifying our Lusts let us be sure to make use of the former Instrument of Mortification that is let us acquaint our selves with all those mighty Arguments against sin wherewith either our Reason or Religion can furnish us and let us consider them over and over till they are familiar to our Understandings and our Thoughts have extracted the utmost Force of them for which End it will be necessary for us to seek Direction from our Spiritual Guides
sudden be so kind to them as to give them Shelter and Sanctuary within his own meritorious Wounds and to make his Blood the Price of a general Indulgence to all Impiety and Wickedness that so we might sin securely and enjoy a safe Retreat from his Authority under the covert of his Sacrifice But be not deceived the holy Iesus will never make himself an unholy Saviour for your sake and your being called by the Name of Christ is so far from giving you a Priviledge to sin that it lays you under a stricter Restraint and if you violate it it will expose you to a severer Punishment than if you had been Heathens and Infidels For this is the great Proposal of our Religion that Iesus Christ died to purchase Pardon and eternal Life for all that do repent and amend but if we still go on in our Sin we are at a greater distance from Pardon and eternal Life than if we never had had a Saviour to undertake for us FINIS Books Printed for Walter Kettilby THE Christian Life Part I. from its beginning to its Consummation in Glory together with the several Means and Instruments of Christianity conducing thereunto with directions for Private Devotion and Forms of Prayer fitted to the several States of Christians Octavo The Christian Life Part II. Wherein the Fundamental Principles of Christian Duty are Assigned Explained and Proved Vol. 1. The Christian Life Part II. Wherein the Fundamental Principle of Christian Duty the Doctrine of our Saviour's Mediation is Explained and Proved Volume 2. All three by Iohn Scott D. D. Late Rector of St. Giles's in the Fields Of Trust in God or a Discourse concerning the Duty of casting our Care upon God in all our difficulties together with an Exhortation to patient suffering for Righteousness in a Sermon on 1 Pet. iii. 14 15. By Nathanael Spinks M. A. A Presbyter of the Church of England A Discourse concerning Lent in two Parts The first an Historical Account of its Observation The second an Essay concerning its Original this subdivided into two Repartitions whereof the first is Preparatory and shews that most of our Christian Ordinances are derived from the second Conjectures that Lent is of the same Original By George Hooper D. D. Dean of Canterbury Mysteries in Religion Vindicated or the Filiation Deity and Satisfaction of our Saviour asserted against Socinians and others with Occasional Reflections on several late Pamphlets By Luke Milbourn a Presbyter of the Church of England An Enquiry into New Opinions chiefly propagated by the Prebyterians of Scotland together also with some Animadversions on a late Book Entituled a Defence of the Vindication of the Kirk in a Letter to a Friend at Edenburgh By Alexander Monro D. D. The Principles of the Cyprianic Age with regard to Episcopal Power and Jurisdiction asserted and recommended from the Genuine Writings of St. Cyprian himself and his Contemporaries by which it is made Evident that the Vindicator of the Kirk of Scotland is obliged by his own Concessions to acknowledge that he and his Associates are Schismaticks In a Letter to a Friend By I. S. Bishop Overal's Convocation Book 4º The Faith and Practice of a Church of England Man 12º Mr. Hallywel's Defence of Revealed Religion in Six Sermons 8º Dr. Gregory's Doctrine of the Trinity not Explained but Asserted 8º Dr. Templer's Treatise relating to the Worship of God divided into Six Sections 1. The Nature of Worship 2. The Peculiar Object of Worship 3. The True Worshippers 4. Assistance Requisite to Worship 5. The Place of Worship 6. The Solemn Time of Worship FINIS * Christian Life Vol. I.