Spirit to enable us to mortify our Sins p. 349 350 351. Secondly The Necessity of our Concurrence with the Spirit p. 352 353 354 355. Thirdly The Certainty of Success p. 356 357. Fourthly The great Reason there is for our continual Prayers to God p. 358 359. Fifthly The indispensable Necessity of our faithful and sincere Endeavours in order to the mortifying our Lusts p. 360 361. Sixthly The Possibility of keeping the Commands of God in that God by his Spirit doth so powerfully Aid and Assist us p. 362 363. Seventhly The Inexcusableness of Sinners if they go on in their Wickedness p. 364 365 366. CHAP. V. OF the Eternal Reward of Mortification That there is a State of everlasting Life and Happiness prepared for good Men proved by plain and easie Arguments First Because the Law of our Natures hath not a sufficient Sanction without it 367 368 369 370 371 372. Secondly From those Desires and Expectations of it which do so generally and naturally arise in pure and vertuous Minds p. 373 374 375 376. Thirdly From the Justice and Equity of the Divine Providence p. 377 378 379. Fourthly From the Revelation of his Will which God hath made to us by Jesus Christ p. 380 381 382 383. From the Consideration of which the following Inferences are raised First What an unreasonable thing it is for us Christians immoderately to doat upon the World p. 384 385 386. Secondly How vigorous and industrious we ought to be in discharging the Duties of our Religion p. 387 388 389. Thirdly How upright and sincere we ought to be in all our Professions and Actions p. 390 391. Fourthly What great reason we have to be chearful under the Afflictions and Miseries of this World p. 392 393 394 395. CHAP. VI. OF the Necessity of Mortification to the obtaining Eternal Life proved First From God's Ordination and Appointment p. 396 397 398. Secondly From the Nature of the thing which implies a Disagreement in wicked Souls to the future Happiness p. 399. To evidence this Disagreement three things are proposed First Wherein the Felicities of the future State do consist p. 401 402 403. Secondly What the Temper and Disposition of wicked Souls will be in the future Sate p. 404 405 406 407. Thirdly How contrary such a Temper and Disposition must be unto such Felicities p. 408 409. For First There is in it an Antipathy and Contrariety to the Vision of God p. 410 411. Secondly To the Love of God p. 412 413. Thirdly To the Resemblance of God p. 414 415 416. Fourthly To the Society of the Spirits of just men made perfect p. 417 418. From all which these following Inferences are deduced First How unreasonable it is for any Man to presume upon going to Heaven upon any account whatsoever without mortifying his Lusts p. 419 420 421 422 423 424 425. 426. Secondly The indispensable Necessity of Mortification since it is plain we can't be happy without it p. 426 427 428 429 430 431. Thirdly What is the only true and solid Foundation of our Assurance of Heaven p. 431 432 433 434 435 436 437. Fourthly What is the great design of the Christian Religion p. 438 439 440 441 442 443 444 445. OF THE Christian Life PART III. CHAP. I. Of Justice as it preserves the Natural Rights of Men and particularly in reference to their Bodies HAVING in a former Discourse asserted and explain'd the Nature of Moral Good and Evil in Humane Actions I shall now distinctly consider the Sum of all that Moral Duty which we owe to God and to our Neighbour as the Prophet hath compris'd it in these words He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly to love mercy and walk humbly with thy God Mic. vi 8. I begin with that Duty which God requires of us towards our Neighbour and 't is all imply'd in the two distinct Vertues of Iustice and Mercy IN discoursing of Iustice I shall endeavour these two things 1. To shew what that Justice is which is requir'd of us towards our Neighbour 2. To prove that it is grounded upon such immutable Reasons as do render it a Moral Good I. I shall endeavour to shew what that Justice is which is owing to our Neighbour In general therefore Iustice consisteth in giving to every one his due in which latitude it comprehendeth all matter of duty for every Duty is a due to God or our Neighbour or our selves and accordingly every performance of every duty is a payment of some due and as such is an act of Righteousness And therefore in Scripture Good Men are frequently stiled Righteous and the Whole of Vertue and Goodness is called Righteousness because it is a payment of some due either to God our selves or our Neighbours But Iustice being here consider'd as a distinct and particular Vertue must be understood in a more limited sense viz. for Honesty in all our dealings with men or giving to every man his due with whom we have any Intercourse And wherein this consisteth will best appear by considering what those things are which are due from one Man to another or what those Dues and Rights are which men may claim by the eternal Laws of Righteousness And these are twofold 1. Natural and 2. Acquired I begin with the First viz. the Natural Rights of Men which are such as appertain to Men as they are Reasonable Creatures and dwelling in Mortal Bodies and joyned to one another by their natural Relations and by Society For in all these capacities there accrue to men certain Natural Rights which we are obliged in Justice not to violate but so far as we can to secure and make good to one another First Therefore we will consider men as dwelling in mortal Bodies Secondly As Rational Creatures Thirdly As joyned to one another by natural Relations Fourthly As naturally united in Society and I will shew what Rights there are redounding to them from all these Respects and Considerations I. WE will consider Men as dwelling in mortal Bodies in which there is a twofold Right accruing to them 1. a Right to their Bodies 2. a Right to their bodily Subsistence I. As dwelling in mortal Bodies they have a natural Right to their Bodies and to all the Parts of them for their Bodies being the Tenements which the great Landlord of the world hath allotted to their Souls during their abode in this terrestrial State are upon that account their undoubted Right which unless they forfeit they cannot be deprived of without manifest Injury and Injustice For if God gave this Body to my Soul it is certain that immediately under him my Soul hath a Right to it and holding in Capite as it doth from the Supreme Proprietor is Tenant at will to none but him for this its earthly Habitation so that antecedently to all Humane Laws and Constitutions every Soul is vested with a natural Right to its own Body
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.
Johannes Scott S. T. P. THE Christian Life PART III. Wherein the GREAT DUTIES OF JUSTICE MERCY and MORTIFICATION are fully Explained and Inforced VOL. IV. BY IOHN SCOTT D. D. late Rector of St. Giles's in the Fields LONDON Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's-Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1696. To the Right Honourable Sir GEORGE TREBY LORD CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE Common PLEAS MY LORD THose excellent Treatises of Christian Life which were published some years since by the learned Author have I doubt not in a great measure answered his Design in writing them which was to do as much good as he could to the World and had he lived to finish the other Parts of it we might have had such a compleat Body of Christian Institutions in our own Language as would have highly contributed towards a Revival of true Piety among us For besides those Pieces which have already seen the Light 't was the Author's design to proceed to a particular Explication of the several respective Duties which Men are obliged to render to God their Neighbours and Themselves and for a Conclusion of all he proposed a distinct Treatise of Ecclesiastical Duties The two Discourses of Iustice and Mercy which I now present to your Lordship were intended as a Part of that Duty which we owe to one another and which with other Enlargements had the Author liv'd would have made a Volume of themselves And the Discourse of Mortification is likewise a Part of what He designed for the Explication of that Duty which Man owes himself which was also intended for another distinct Volume Besides these he proposed a particular Examination of those great Duties which God requires which together with the other Volumes would have compleated the whole Design In Justice therefore to the Memory of this incomparable Person I thought my self obliged to communicate to your Lordship this short Account of him The Design which he proposed was Great and Noble and I 'm sure those Pieces which he hath already published do loudly speak the Excellent Qualifications with which God had endowed him to compleat it had not a laborious Station and what was worse a very sickly Constitution at last interrupted him from the Prosecution of it As for these Remains they are faithfully transcribed from the Author's Manuscript and your Lordship may easily discern that they are his true and genuine Off-spring by your Perusal of them I know your Lordship hath a very high Value and just Esteem for the Memory of that great and good Man and that is a prevailing Inducement to take into your Protection those Works which he has left behind him To You they address themselves and I doubt not but under that Character which your Lordship bears they will be sufficiently recommended to the World and that they may effectually promote the Good of it is the hearty Prayer of Your Lordship's most Obedient Humble Servant J. G. THE CONTENTS OF JUSTICE CHAP. I. OF Justice as it respects the Rights of Men whether natural or acquired The natural Rights of Men shewn in four particulars First As dwelling in mortal Bodies Secondly As rational Creatures Thirdly As joyned to one another by natural Relations Fourthly As naturally united in Society Page 3. As Men dwell in mortal Bodies they have a Right to their Bodies p. 4 5 6. And to their bodily Subsistence p. 7 8 9 10. CHAP. II. OF Justice in preserving the Rights of Men considered as rational Creatures p. 11. Which Rights are reduced to four particulars p. 12. First That every Man hath a Right to an equitable Treatment from every Man p. 13 14 15. Secondly That every Man hath a Right to judge for himself so far as he is capable p. 16 17 18 19 20 21. Thirdly That every Man hath a Right not to be forced to act contrary to the Iudgment of right Reason p. 23 24 25. Fourthly That every Man hath a Right to be respected by every Man p. 26 27 28 29. CHAP. III. OF Justice in preserving the Rights of Men as united together by Natural Relations p. 30 31. And as joyned together in Society p. 32. Wherein is shewn first That they have a Right to Love p. 33. Secondly To Peace p 34 35. Thirdly To Truth p. 36 37 38 39 40. Fourthly To Credit p. 41 42 43. Fifthly To Protection p. 44 45 46. Sixthly To Communication in the Profits of Commerce and Intercourse p. 47 48. CHAP. IV. OF Justice as it preserves the Acquired Rights of Men and particularly those which arise from Sacred and Civil Relations As first Of Sovereign and Subject p. 54 55 56 57 58 59. Secondly Of Subordinate Magistrates to the Sovereign and People p. 60 61. Thirdly Of Pastors and People p. 62 63. Fourthly Of Husband and Wife p. 64 65 66 67 68. Fifthly Of Friend and Friend p 69 70. Sixthly Of Masters and Servants p. 71 72 73. Seventhly Of Truster and Trustee p. 74 75. Eighthly Of the Benefactor and Receiver p. 76 77. Ninthly Of Creditor and Debtor p. 78 79 80 81. 82. CHAP. V. OF Justice as it preserves the Rights of Men acquired by Legal Possession p. 83 84 85 86 87 88 89. CHAP. VI. OF Justice in reference to the Rights of Men acquired by personal Endowments p. 90 91 92 93. And of outward Rank and Quality p. 94. 95. CHAP. VII OF Justice in reference to the Rights of Men acquired by Compact p. 96 97. Wherein are prescribed some general Rules of Righteousness to Conduct our Bargains and Contracts First That we should use Plainness and Simplicity in our Dealings Secondly That we should impose upon no Man's Ignorance or Unskilfulness Thirdly That we should take no Advantage of another's Necessities Fourthly That we should not substract from the Commodity or Price for which we have contracted Fifthly That we should not go to the utmost Verge of what we conceive to be lawful Sixthly That in doubtful Cases we should chuse the safest side p. 98 99 100 101 102. CHAP. VIII OF the Eternal Reasons whereon Justice is founded and which render it morally good which are these four p. 103. First The eternal Proportion and Congruity of Iustice to the Nature of Things p. 104 105 106 107. Secondly The eternal Conformity of it to the Nature of God p. 108 109 110 111. Thirdly The Agreement and Correspondency of it with the Divine Providence and Disposals p. 112 113 114 115. Fourthly The everlasting Necessity of it to the Happiness of Men p. 117 118 119 120 c. CHAP. IX SOme Motives and Considerations against the Sinfulness and Unreasonableness of Injustice viz. First The great Repugnancy of it to the Terms and Conditions of the Christian Religion p. 125 126 127. Secondly The great Vanity or Desperateness of it p. 128 129 130 131 132. Thirdly The manifest Inexcusableness of it in it self p. 133 134 135 136 137. Fourthly The Fruitlesness and Mischievousness of it to our selves p. 140 141 142 143. Fifthly The
Creature placed by God in a mortal Body and neither to ravish his Body to satisfie our Lust nor to maim or destroy it uless it be in our own Defence nor to captivate and enslave it unless it be upon free Consent or upon just Forfeiture nor to suffer it to perish for want of bodily sustenance so long as it is in our power to support and relieve it These things he hath a claim to as he is the Tenant of God and cannot be denyed without foul Injustice Once more to use him as a Rational Creature united to me by natural Relations if he be my Father to honour and reverence and obey him if he be my Child to love and instruct him maintain and provide for him if my Brother or Sister or consanguineous Relation to cherish and advise support and assist him according to my ability These are the Dues of Natural Relation and cannot be with-held without great Unrighteousness Lastly to treat him as one whom God and Nature hath united to me in the bands of humane Society to love him and live peaceably with him to speak Truth to him and when I am lawfully called to swear nothing but Truth concerning him and perform my Promises and Oaths to him so far as it is lawful and possible not to blast his Reputation but to defend his Person Good Name and Estate so far as I am able and to allow him a competent share of all those Profits which accrue to me from my Dealing and Intercourse with him These are the natural Dues which Justice requireth me to render him and which I cannot with-hold from him without being injurious to the Humane Nature within him And as I am obliged in Justice to render to every one his natural Dues so I am no less obliged by it to render him his acquired ones to render him whatsoever is due to him upon the account of any Sacred or Civil Relation to me not to intrench upon his legal Possessions either by Fraud or Violence to render him those Honors and Respects which are owing to his Personal Accomplishments or to his outward Rank and Quality and not to defraud oppress or over-reach him in his Contracts and Bargains with me These are the particulars as I have shewed you at large to which this comprehensive Virtue extends it self and Oh that now having seen upon what everlasting Reasons it is built we would be persuaded to betake our selves to the serious Practice of it CHAP. IX Of the Sinfulness and Unreasonableness of Injustice AFTER the explication of the immutable Reasons and Grounds of Iustice it may be proper to add some Motives and Considerations against Injustice And First CONSIDER the great Repugnancy of Injustice to the Terms and Conditions of the Christian Religion I know there are some People that look upon Honesty and Iustice as one of the beggerly Elements of Religion a sort of Heathen Vertue belonging to carnal and mere moral Men that are utterly unacquainted with the Spirit and Power of Godliness and accordingly in the room of this and such like Moral Vertues they have foisted in a sort of spiritual Religion as they call it which consisteth in a certain Model of Conversion and Regeneration that is made up of nothing but a mere fanciful train of Dejections and Triumphs that are most commonly either the effects of a distempered Blood or the unaccountable freaks of an over-heated Fancy and if they find they have been Converted secundùm artem i. e. that they have undergone those frightful sorrowful or joyous Passions which this stated Method of Regeneration includeth all their After-Religion is nothing else but a leaning and rolling on Jesus Christ. And whilst they should be governing their Wills their Tongues and their Actions by the eternal Rules of Iustice and Goodness they are employed as they think in a higher Dispensation in forming odd Schemes of spiritual Experiences and attending to the inward Whispers and Incomes and With-drawings of the Spirit of God all which are commonly nothing but only the effects of a melancholy Fancy tinctur'd with Religious Fears and flushed with a natural Enthusiasm But whatever it be it is doubtless a dangerous Mistake for Men to take up with any Religion which doth not principally insist upon the eternal Laws of Morality and though Iustice or Honesty in our dealings with Men will never singly recommend us to God unless it be conjoyned with Mercy Sobriety and Godliness yea though all these together will never recommend us to God unless their Imperfections be purged and expiated by the all-sufficient Merit of our blessed Saviour yet without Iustice and Honesty all our Religion is a damnable Cheat and all the Merit of our Saviour will be as insignificant to us as it is to the Devils or damned Ghosts For his Merit is no Refuge for Religious Knaves his Wounds no Sanctuary for Spiritual Cheats or Lyars or Oppressors and for such persons as these to shelter themselves in our Saviour's Propitiation is to prophane and desecrate it and thereby to cause those vocal Wounds to accuse them which were made to plead for them and to provoke that eloquent Blood to cry aloud for vengance against them which in its native Language speaketh far better things the blood of Abel Heb. xii 24. For Iustice is a Duty of that indispensable necessity that God will not yea to speak with Reverence cannot dispense with it and so far was our Saviour from ever designing to obtain a Dispensation from it that the great end of his dying to obtain our Pardon for our past unrighteousness was to encourage and oblige us to live more justly and righteously for the future For so the Apostle telleth us Tit. ii 14. That he gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works and notwithstanding all that he hath done for us he hath plainly assured us by his Apostles that no unrighteous person shall inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. vi 9. and that the unjust shall be reserved unto the day of Iudgment to be punished 2 Pet. ii 9. that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness of men Rom. i. 18 and that they all shall be damned that take pleasure in unrighteousness 2 Thess. ii 12. And if these things be so then as ever you hope to enter into the Kingdom of God to escape his unquenchable Wrath to hold up your Heads at his Tribunal and not to be condemned to everlasting Horror and Confusion be persuaded to fly from all Unrighteousness and use all honest Care to deal justly and righteously with all Men. II. CONSIDER the great Vanity or Desperateness of Injustice for if the Wrong and Injustice you do to another Man be such as is repairable you must resolve to repair it or to perish for ever For he who doth not repair an Injury when he is able doth every moment continue and
or censure or rigorously treat him meerly because it is his lot to be miserable and mine to be happy What if he hath had the ill Luck to have his Brains cast into a different figure from mine by reading different Books or keeping different Company or being prejudiced by a different Education is it reasonable that I should hate or severely judge him because he hath been unfortunate and perhaps could no more prevent those little Errors wherein he differs from me than he could the Moles on his Skin or the different colour of his Hair and Complexion What is this but to load the oppressed and heap Misery upon Misery which is the most unmanly Cruelty In this case therefore the Laws of Mercy require us as private Christians to bear with one another's mistakes to make the most candid Iudgment and Construction of them and interpret them in the most favourable sense and not to separate from one another for Trifles or fly out into Bitterness and Animosity upon every little Opinion which we judge false and erroneous II. ANOTHER Act of Mercy which this Case requires is to endeavour by all prudent and peaceable ways to rectifie one another's Mistakes If I behold my Brother's Understanding labouring under the misery of Error Mercy will incline me so far as I am able to endeavour his Relief and Recovery an Error in the Understanding being as great a misfortune as a wound or a disease in the Body and what merciful Mind can behold that noblest Part of a Man diseased and affected without being strongly inclined to administer what it can towards its Health and Recovery And as Mercy will incline us to it so it will direct us to the properest Means of effecting it for if it be Mercy and Compassion that moves me to rectifie my Brother's Mistake it will move me to endeavour it with the Spirit of Meekness which as the Apostle assures us Galat. vi 1. is the most likely expedient to restore him that is calmly and compassionately to represent to him his Error so as that he may see it is not my Design to expose or upbraid him to insult over his Folly or to triumph in his Confutation but merely to set his Understanding to rights and to rescue it from the Mistakes in which it is unfortunately entangled And this if any thing will dispose him to listen to my Reasons and make way for my Arguments to enter into his mind whereas by deriding his Error or persecuting it with sharp and bitter Invectives I shall engage his passion to defend it as well as his Reason for witty Jests and severe Sarcasms may provoke an Adversary but will never convince him And as Mercy will direct me to treat my erring Brother with Meekness and Compassion so it will also instruct me not to teaze and importune him with perpetual Disputacity for this will look rather like an affectation of wrangling with him than a desire of convincing him but to wait the fairest Opportunities of remonstrating his Error to him when he is most at leisure and most disposed to attend to Reason and Argument For Errors like Paper Kites are many times raised and kept up in Mens minds by the incessant Bluster of over-fierce Opposition III. ANOTHER of the Miseries which affect Mens Souls is Blindness and Ignorance in things of the greatest moment which is doubtless one of the greatest Miseries that can happen to a Soul in this Life For the Interests of Souls are everlasting they being born to live happily or miserably for ever and their Happiness depending upon the right use of their Liberty and this upon their Knowledge how to use and determine it it will be impossible for them to attain to eternal Happiness or escape eternal Misery without Knowledge to steer and direct them so that whilst they are ignorant of those Truths by which their Liberty is to be governed and their Choices and Actions to be determined to eternal Happiness they are under a very remote Incapacity of being happy And what a miserable Case is this to have an eternal Interest at stake and not to know how to manage it To be travelling on this narrow Line or Frontier which divideth those boundless Continents of everlasting Happiness and Misery and not to see one step of our way before us nor to perceive whither we are going till we are gone beyond recovery Should you behold a blind Man walking upon the brink of a fatal Precipice without any Guide to direct his steps and secure him from the neighbouring Danger would not your Hearts ake and your Bowels yearn for him Would you not call out to him and warn him of his Danger and make all the hast you could to take him by the Hand and conduct him to a place of Safety And is it not a much more deplorable sight to see a poor ignorant Wretch walking blindfold on the Brinks of Hell and for want of sight to direct him Heaven-wards ready to blunder at every step into the Pit of Destruction Can you behold such a miserable Object with a regardless eye and yet pretend to Pity or Compassion Can you sit still and see him cast himself into the mouth of such horrid and amazing Danger without warning him of it and endeavouring by the best Instructions you can give him to lead him off and direct him to eternal Happiness Surely did we but duely understand the Worth and the Danger of Souls such a woful Spectacle could not but affect our Bowels and excite us to employ all our Power to convince him of the Danger he is running into and instruct him how to avoid it For this is the proper Act of Mercy which this miserable Case calls for viz. to endeavour to dispel that fatal Ignorance which surrounds Men minds and to enlighten them with all those Principles of Religion which are necessary to conduct them to eternal Happiness For it is not so great a piece of Mercy to give a starving Man Bread as it is to inform an ignorant Sinner and feed his famished Mind with the Bread of Life because without the former 't is only his Body will die whereas without the latter his Body and Soul will die for ever When therefore we know any Persons to be grosly ignorant of God and Religion the Laws of Mercy require us to use all prudent means to instruct and inform them and if they are in our power as our Children and Servants are to take care to train them up in the fear and nurture of the Lord to catechize and instruct them in the Doctrines of Faith and season their Minds with the Principles of pure Religion that so understanding their Duty and the vast and indispensable Obligations of it they may not leap blindfold into eternal Perdition For whilst we train them up in Blindness and Ignorance we do in effect Predestinate them to eternal Ruin and like those barbarous Parents that offered up their Children to Molock devote them
and transcribed into our own Natures And as we grow in Grace from one degree to another so Heaven will break forth clearer and clearer upon us and the nearer we approach to the top of the Hill the fuller View we shall have of the Horizon and extended Sky till at last we come to walk all along in sight of Heaven and to travel towards it in a full View and Assurance of it But if we secure our selves of Heaven before we have mortifyed our Lusts we do but entertain our Fancies with a golden Dream which when we awake will vanish away and leave us desperate and miserable If therefore we would be assured of our future Happiness let us not trouble our selves with numerous Signs of Grace nor go about to erect Schemes of our spiritual Nativity to cast a Figure to know whether we have Grace or were converted secundùm artem but let us impartially examine whether our Wills are so subdued to the Will of God as universally to choose what he enjoins and refuse what he forbids For if they are our Condition is good and our Hope secure by what Means or Motives soever it was effected and whether they are or no we need no Marks or Signs to resolve us for our Thoughts and Resolutions and Intentions are Signs enough to themselves and we need no Marks to know what it is that we choose and refuse this our Soul can easily discern by that innate Power she hath of reflecting upon our own Motions by which she doth as naturally feel her own Deliberations and Volitions as the Body doth its Hunger and Thirst. 'T is true indeed holy Dispositions like all other Motions the weaker they are and the more they are interrupted by contrary Motions and Inclinations the less they will be perceived which is the Reason why Beginners in Religion cannot be so sensible of the Grace that is in them because their good Inclinations are checked and hindred by the strong and vehement Counter-Motions of their Lusts but the more their good Inclinations prevail and free themselves from these contrary Inclinations which clog and incumber them the more their Souls will be sensible of them For this we find by Experience that as we perceive our own motions the more vigorous they are the more we perceive them especially when they are advised and deliberate as all vertuous Motions and Inclinations are For that a Man should be insensible of a Motion which he exerts advisedly or not be able to know that he is so disposed when he is knowingly so disposed implies a Contradiction and indeed if we are not able to know when we choose and refuse as we should when we resolve well and intend aright we cannot discern when we do right or wrong but are left to a Necessity of acting at random like Travellers in the dark that go on at a venture without knowing whether they go backward or forward If we cannot know when we do well it is impossible we should know how to do well but must necessarily leave the Conduct of our Actions to Chance and Fortune must determine us unto Right or Wrong Since therefore our Soul is not a senseless Machin that hath no Perception of her own Motions but is naturally sensible of whatsoever is transacted within her let us no longer excuse our Ignorance of our own Condition with that common Pretence that our Hearts are deceitful and hypocritical for our Hearts are our selves and if they are deceitful and hypocritical we our selves are so And yet I know not how it comes to pass it passes among some Men for a great Sign of Grace and Sincerity to complain of the Falseness and Hypocrisie of their own Hearts not considering that Men are as their Hearts are and that if these are Hypocritical they themselves are Hypocrites If therefore our Complaint be true the more Shame for us this is so far from being a Sign that we have Grace that it is a plain Confession that we are graceless Dissemblers If our Complaint be false we falsely accuse our selves in it which is also so far from being a Sign of Grace that it is an Argument only of our own extravagant Folly But if we mistake in our Complaint and think that to be Hypocrisie which is not we should seek to be better informed and if when you are so you still complain of your Hypocrisie I doubt you have too much Reason for it and if you fear that you are Hypocrites I fear you are so too For why should one that knows what an Hypocrite is fear that he is an Hypocrite were he not conscious to himself that he doth dissemble with God and under an open Pretence of submitting to him disguise some secret Purpose of rebelling against him Let us therefore lay aside all our impertinent Scrupulosity and fairly examine our own Souls whether we do submit to God without any reserve and are willing to lay down all our beloved Lusts at his Feet for whether we are or no we may easily discern if we will If we are then are the Foundations of Heaven already laid within our own Bosoms and if upon this Principle we grow in Grace and add one Degree of Vertue to another we may be sure the Superstructure will go on until the whole Fabrick of our Happiness is compleated For as Nature by its powerful Magick is continually drawing every thing unto its proper Place and Center so Heaven attracts to it self and freely imbosoms every thing that is heavenly and thrusts off nothing but what is unfit for and heterogeneous to it If therefore our Souls be of a pure and heavenly Temper Heaven is the Center of our Motions and the proper Place whereunto we belong and whither at last we shall safely arrive in despite of all those dismal Shades of Darkness that would beat us back and interrupt our Progress towards it but on the contrary if we secure our selves of Heaven while we are enslaved to any Lusts we presume unreasonably and embark our Hopes in a leaky Bottom which in stress of Weather will certainly founder under us and sink us into utter Despair For how can we hope to be admitted into Heaven whilst we retain that within our own Bosoms which kindles Hell and is the Spring of the Lake of Fire and Brimstone This would be a confounding of utter Darkness with the Regions of Light a blending of Heaven and Hell together Fourthly and Lastly FROM hence it appears what is the great Design of the Christian Religion We may be sure God would not have sent his Son into the World had not the Embassy upon which he was employed been of the highest Moment and Concernment to us And what other End besides doing the greatest Good could a good God propose in so great a Transaction Surely had we been in Heaven when the Holy One descended thence into the World though we had not known the Particulars of his Errand yet we should have
merciful Endeavours may through the Concurrence of Divine Grace prove blessed means of their final Recovery and Happiness And if so What better Office can we do in the World or what higer Dignity can we aspire to than to be the Saviours and Redeemers of Souls And if by our Instructions and Admonitions we might do so much good in our common Conversation among Men How much more might we do in our own Families For our Children and Servants being under our Power and Government will upon that account receive our Admonitions with greater Awe and Reverence and consequently comply with them with greater Ease and Readiness And then we having the Conduct of their young and tender Years in which their Minds and Manners may be easily shaped in any Form it is in our Power to stamp upon them what Impressions we please So that would we but now take Care to instruct their Minds and regulate their Wills with wise and good Principles and Admonitions we might easily impregnate their Natures with strong dispositions to Vertue and Religion and so by degrees cultivate those Dispositions into a State of Grace and habitual Goodness And when this blessed Effect is so much in our Power what a cruel Neglect is it not to contribute towards it so far as we are able Should you see a Mother deny a morsel of Bread to her famished Child when she hath enough and to spare or strip it stark naked in a deep Winter's Frost and expose it to the Mountains to be starved with Cold Would you not brand her for a Monster of her Sex and exclaim against her with the greatest Detestation and Abhorrence And yet alas that unnatural Cruelty which we should so much abhor in another we our selves are too often guilty of in a much higher Degree For by neglecting to instruct and educate our Families in Religion we deny them the most necessary thing in the World even that which is the Food and Raiment of their Souls without which they cannot live but must necessarily starve and famish for ever And therefore by how much more precious their Souls are than their Bodies and by how much more deplorable eternal Death is than temporal by so much more barbarous and inhumane are those Parents who do not institute their Children in Religion than those who suffer them to perish with Hunger or Cold. For are you such Infidels as to imagine that they are born only for this Life and that there is nothing beyond the Grave in which they are concerned If not What account can you give of this your unnatural Neglect of them If you think they must live for ever when they are gone out of this World Why then do not you take care that they may live in the other World as well as in this O Improvident that we are Can we be so much concerned that they may be happy for a Moment and yet so indifferent whether they are happy or miserable for ever Are their Souls such Trifles or their everlasting Fate such an Indifferent Matter as that when it is so much in your Power you think it not worth your while to concern your selves so much about them Wherefore in the Name of God consider with your selves what an infinite deal of Good you are capable of doing them by your Pious Instructions and Admonitions and what an unnatural Barbarity it would be to omit and neglect it CHAP. II. Of Mercy as it relieveth the Miseries of the Body I SHALL now proceed to the second sort of Miseries viz. such as do affect Mens Bodies under which I shall shew you what Acts of Mercy this kind of Miseries requireth of us Now these as the former may be reduced to Five Heads First NATURAL Blemishes and Defects Secondly SICKNESSES and Diseases Thirdly OUTWARD Force and Violence injuriously offered to them by those in whose Power they are Fourthly CIVIL or arbitrary Punishments inflicted on them for Injuries received Fifthly WANT of outward Necessaries I. ONE of the Miseries which affects Mens Bodies is their natural Blemishes and Defects such as Lameness or Crookedness the Want of our Senses or the disproportion of our Parts or Features all which are real Infelicities for as much as they render our Bodies either less useful to our selves or less graceful and amiable to others And indeed our Body being an Object of Sense is usually much more remarked and taken notice of than our Soul which is an invisible Being and consequently the Defects and Blemishes of our Bodies lying more in view are much more liable to be reflected on both by our selves and those we converse with than the Stains and Deformities of our Minds and Wills which being placed out of sight are less exposed to Observation Which is the reason that our Corporeal Defects are so grievous to us because being so apparent as they are both to our own and others Senses they do not only upbraid us to our selves who being led by Sense are apt to value our selves by sensible Graces and Perfections but are also prone to create a mean and contemptible Opinion of us in the Minds of others the very suspition of which if we are not raised above such mean Considerations will be exceeding apt to grieve and afflict us In this case therefore the Law of Mercy requires us not to contemn or undervalue Men not to upbraid or reproach them upon the account of any bodily Blemish or Defect but to over-look these as inconsiderable Flaws of their Case and Outside and render them all those Honours and Respects which the Graces and Vertues of their Minds deserve Considering that the Body is not the Man but the immortal Mind that inhabits it and that many times the richest Diamonds wear the roughest Coats and Outsides that those natural Blemishes are Infelicities which Men could not prevent and which they cannot rectify that it was not in their Power to order Nature in their own Composure but that what they had there was such as they could neither give themselves nor yet refuse when it was bequeathed to them and that therefore to deride and expose them for any Mishape or Blemish in their Composition is to fling Salt into their Wounds to fret and inflame their Misery And yet alas How common a Practice is this to sport with the Deformities of Men as if God and Nature had designed them for so many Finger-buts of Scorn and Derision to make them the Themes of our Jests and Laughter which is a lamentable instance of the foul Degeneracy of Humane Nature that can thus play upon Misery and turn that which is an Object of Pity and Compassion into a Triumph of Mirth and Drollery for certainly how light and trifling soever it may appear through the common Practice of it it is a sign of barbarous Ill-nature for Men to deride those Defects and Blemishes in another which he is too prone to grieve at but yet cannot help as being his Infelicities and not
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