your Discourse Viz. That so far is the Christian Law from being more clearly given that it requires us to admit of some things relating to Faith that no one Living can conceive how they should be And so our understandings which are the sole Judges of other things are so far from being relied on here that they must be wholly laid aside 2. Granting that the Precepts of Christianity are very full and enjoyn'd to a greater Spirituality than in Older Time yet the Severities of them are unreasonable to us as we are Men reducing us to such streights as cannot be gone through without a great deal of uneasiness if at all And though there be none who will not commend a pure Air yet if it be so pure as not to be breathed in without much difficulty there is no reason it should be over Delighted in and Loved Eubul I know there are some who in good earnest dare thus urge against the Laws of our Lord but they are Men of corrupt minds and by their ill Lives are sway'd to talk after this manner lest they should appear to have Opinions any whit better than their Practice A shame it is that any in a Christian Common-wealth where Christianity affords so many outward benefits to them should without severe punishment be permitted to speak against the Laws of Christ But when such a vile Liberty is so much usurped it will be but meet with Truth to defend these Laws And I will with your leave endeavour to do it the more largely that I myself may have the more in readiness what to reply upon occasion to this sort of Men. Theoph. Be that your design then so that I share with you in the benefit Eubul In answer therefore to their first Objection viz. That so far is the Christian Law from being more clearly given that it requires us to admit of some things relating unto Faith that no one Living can conceive how they should be And so our understandings which are the sole Judges of other things are so far from being relied on here that they must be wholly laid aside we say That however the matter of our Faith is beyond our reach yet the Precept of believing is plain and and what our Faith is to be we are very clearly instructed in Holy Writ And what absurdity will it be if at the thoughts of some Mysteries the Son of God being Conceived by the Holy Ghost and Born of a Virgin and such like we cease with that Blessed Virgin to enquire How these things can be and make our Understandings yield to our Faith as She did when she quietly rested with no more than those Words Behold the Handmaid of the Lord be it unto me according to thy Word And wherein will it misbecome us if in the thoughts of the Hypostatick Union of the Infinite and Eternal God with our Frail and Mortal Nature we cry with St. Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O the Depth of the Riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God! How are his ways past our finding out This is not to throw away our Understandings but only to reduce them to the Obedience of Faith which will be their perfection The Gospel Theophilus doth teach us the Obedience of the whole Man All the Members of the Body are to become the Members of Christ by being conformed to his Laws and also all the faculties of the Soul are to own his Sovereignty The Will is to be pliant and ready to what he enjoyns and the Affections are to be regulated into the being Holy and Obedient And do we think that the Vnderstanding is to be lawless and yield no Obedience But what Obedience can it shew other than a Submission to the Boundless and Inconceivable Wisdom and Knowledge of God confessing that itself is weak and dimsighted in Comparison thereof Certainly it is but meet to think that God is a Being which is far above our Conceptions and that he can do what our understandings cannot measure and so it is not un-becoming us to acknowledge some things in Christ as the Objects of our Faith which yet our Understandings cannot fathom For our Blessed Lord is in the greatest height the Wisdom of his Father So as that the Holy Angels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do only desire with a Reverential stooping to look into these things as being fit for Admiration and beyond their Knowledge and therefore they may well surpass the most acute and largest Conceptions of Men. There is indeed a very great Room for Reason in our Holy Religion which claims admittance into the Hearts of Men by Arguments as great and strong as any considering Man would desire There being no rational grounds to think that the Evangelists and Apostles did publish Falshoods in their Writings but the greatest reason for our belief that what they have Written is True and Divine But then when by Reason we have admitted of the Truth and Divinity of the Scriptures we are not to imagin that we can comprehend every particular thing therein contain'd with the same Understanding by which we conceive the Truth of the Scriptures in general And yet the same Reason by which we admit of the Truth of the Holy Scriptures in general doth prove very fully the Truth of all Particulars therein contain'd though we cannot understand them Yea yet further Every even the most difficult Mystery there gives us so much the use of our Reason and Understanding as to think that it is but Reasonable the Chief of the Ways and Methods of God for such the Nature of our Lord his Conception Life Death and Resurrection are should be above our weak Capacities Which may shew methinks very well the Arrogance of some Men who to make the Law of Faith the more easie would bring all the Mysteries of the Gospel down to the Level of Human Conceptions And the Profaneness of others who would make the Height of these Mysteries to be the Disparagement and Blemish of the Holy Laws Or in a Word who will not Believe the one that they may not Practise the other I would not compare these great Mysteries with small things But yet to these Men I may say that every thing in Nature which they look upon and know that it is if I should ask them how it comes to be so they mul◠〈◊〉 that they are Ignorant of it How comes a little un-colour'd Moisture in the same Turf to be formed into Herbs of different Qualities and Shapes That it is so they see plainly but the How of it if I may so speak they understand not And it would be a Madness to deny that there are such Herbs because they cannot conceive how they came to be so And is it not a strange piece of Obstinacy That when these Men are baffled in Ten thousand things which they see before their Eyes to have a real Being they will deny these spiritual Mysteries meerly because they cannot comprehend how they should
that appears either answerable to the Title of Spirit which is given to these Laws by reason as you say of God's Holy Spirit preventing and enabling us in our Obedience or expressive of the Constitution of a Christian in which Spirit is added to Soul and Body Eubul I hope Theophilus you do not think that the Assistances of the Holy Spirit are such things as put by our Endeavours and nourish our Sloth They are Assistances and so they do suppose that we ourselves should do somthing For were all to be performed by the Holy Spirit without the intervention of our Actions we must call them by some other Name for they could not properly be termed Assistances And therefore it is that what our Lord doth accomplish for us by his Grace through the Holy Ghost he enjoyneth us by his Command to do as of our own Power He worketh in us to will and to do but yet we are to work out our own Salvation He strengtheneth us but we are to strive The Victory is from Him but the Fighting must be ours And so it is very true what you said viz. That our Work seems not to be the less to us for the Assistances which he gives we must be altogether as industrious and earnest as if the whole were to be done by ourselves and nothing at all by Him. But because when we have done all which we are able to do we can see much of Human Weakness in our Actions and but little of Divine Strength shall we therefore conclude that the Assistances of the Spirit have been none or at most very mean and nothing worthy of the Character which is given them What Theophilus if the Holy Spirit in his aiding us will so comply with the Natural Powers of our Souls that we cannot discetn his Actings from our own What if he in a silent and gentle manner shall suggest things to our Understandings shall secretly sway our Wills and move our Affections really but yet imperceivably unto us Let us not because he draws us with the Cords of a Man say that we are not drawn at all If when we have done our best we seem to ourselves to be weak and to have done far less than we should have done it possibly is none of the least Aids of the Spirit that we can discern our own weakness and desire to please God even beyond our Abilities His Grace can be and it this way is very properly made perfect in our Weakness I dare be bold to say that he is not prompted from above who shall deny that there are Divine Assistances because there is not a Demonstration to the Soul that there are such Nay it may seem expedient that ordinarily they should be secret and imperceptible For should they commonly be otherwise Men would be too apt to rely upon them and thereby do less themselves because they see what their Aids are Or it may be they would grow conceited and abuse the helps of Gods Holy Spirit to the overthrow of the Excellent Grace of Humility Out of Mercy therefore the Blessed Spirit may Insensibly give his Aids unto Men that so by a constancy in their endeavours they at last may attain unto a greater perfection of all Graces and may the surer enjoy his Love by their Humility Theoph. But Eubulus if the Holy Spirit should in his Assistances move upon the Soul in this insensible way how could it be known that there were any Assistances at all And if it could not be known where would the Excellency of these Laws be from such a Motive as we are uncertain of Eubul There would be certainty enough of it from the Scriptures Revealing that such Assistances there are although we should not know the manner of them nor the times in which they are afforded But yet Theophilus these Spiritual Aids are not always indiscernible neither They oftentimes are seen by their effects though in their actings they were unperceiv'd And when a Mans Life is changed and he that heretofore was Dissolute and Wicked is now become Sober and Religious Or when in a constant course of Piety and Devotion he from his Childhood hath escaped the enticements of Satan and pollutions of the World we and he himself also though those Assistances have not been discerned may no less know that the Holy Spirit hath been present with him than we know that there is a Wind when we hear the Sound thereof though we see not whence it cometh nor whither it goeth And yet further Theophilus after faithful Obedience to the more Silent and Gentle Motions of the Holy Spirit it is not altogether unusual to have inward and sacred Joys darted into the Soul which as they are Rewards for Fidelity in the years past so are they likewise more sensible Helps for higher degrees of Piety in the years to come and prelibations of that unspeakable Joy which Holy Men shall be filled with hereafter in Heaven If there be not such discernible Assistances more frequent in the World it is either because Men do not duly close with the Holy Spirit in his Ordinary and Secret Aids or because they indulge a Sad and Melancholy Temper which shuts them out of the Soul or because God sees them not requisite for a great many Persons But yet the Laws of our Lord may notwithstanding be truly said to have more strong Assistances afforded than under the Old Law there were and deservedly to be entitled so much to the Spirit from the Secret Helps which the Holy Spirit offers unto all that are willing to obey Theoph. I was willing to urge you somthing the more upon this Head because the Holy Spirit is signally the Honour of the Evangelical Laws and because many are forward to talk slightly of his Assistances upon the account that they are not Visible to the Eye nor gross enough to be touch'd Eubul I heartily pity the State of these Men since none are more surely in the way to Misery than those that laugh at the Aids to Happiness especially when held out by a Divine Hand But let us go to the Third and last Motive for the securing of Obedience to these Laws which is their having such Loving Invitations and Affectionate Expressions of Kindness joyn'd with them Come unto me saith our Lord all ye that Labour and are heavy Laden and I will give you rest Where by those that Labour and are heavy Laden I suppose that They are not only to be understood who perceive the burden of their Sins and see the necessity of Grace from their Misdoings Our Lord here calls Men not only to Comfort but also to Teach and Instruct them that they may come to an Acknowledgment of their Sins which in their own Nature are a Weight and Burden although they be not yet perceived so to be After the manner of those who Rev. 3.17 were Wretched and Miserable and Poor and Blind and Naked when they felt no such thing So that all Men
continually in yours without any ceasing or decay for the great Veneration and Love which you express to these Laws Theoph. Truly Eubulus it is impossible there should be any true Happiness without them Should not the Understanding be recovered from that Blindness and Errour which are in it should not the Will be reduced from its Pravity and Perverseness Should not the Affections be delivered from their Tumultuousness and Evil Excesses even Heaven would not be a place of Joy and Bliss For how unagreeable would Glorious Mansions be and an incorruptible Body were the Soul imperfect and vicious in all its Faculties unacquainted with Holiness secretly grudging at God's Will and openly disobeying it What would the Salvation be should Saint with Saint carry it ill-naturedly and enjoy their Immortality only for the Perpetuating of their Dissentions And if to them whose Natures are not fashioned by these Laws Heaven would not afford an Happiness we may be sure Earth will not Which makes me Eubulus to pity those Men as Enemies to their own Welfare who esteem Liberty and Greatness to be then alone truly perfect when they are attended with a Licentiousness doing whatever liketh them without any respect had to the Laws of God or Man. Whereas God himself who is infinite in Majesty and most absolute in Power acteth according to the Eternal Laws of Righteousness and Goodness And it is the perfection of his Greatness and Liberty so to do Eubul What you have said I cannot gainsay but do much approve And though I confess I could never think as some have done that the Scriptures bare saying that they are the Word of God is a sufficient Testimony that they are so yet from the inward Excellence of these Laws and those admirable Motives which are added to them for the securing of our Obedience there is methinks a substantial Proof of their Divinity and Truth Can it be thought that the Devil could ever prompt any Man to make Laws so righteous and good as these are Or that he would promote their Observance with such mighty Rewards such severe Threatnings and such sacred Considerations If so then surely our Saviour's Argument of Satans being divided against himself and his Kingdoms not being able thereby to stand might be altogether as valid in the present case as then it was when the Jews said that Devils were cast out by Beelzebub the Prince of the Devils Neither have we more reason to imagine That any Man out of his own falseness and deceit did make these Laws since they are so directly destructive of all falseness and deceit and may justly be supposed to be everlastingly so in that they are recommended to the World with Considerations so powerful and savoury From their own Purity therefore and Goodness they may well be own'd to be the same Divine Precepts which in reality they are Theoph. And let me add That no Man ever deserv'd to be so much honour'd among Men as He hath done who hath given these Laws and beyond all example hath encouraged their practice I cannot but think somtimes how highly the grave Lucretius hath extoll'd and is himself highly extoll'd by some for so doing his Epicurus who endeavour'd to Arm Men against all Fears by the beating down of all Religion and the excluding the Gods from the knowledge of every thing on Earth as being neither pleas'd with good Actions nor offended with evil ones And He so far well doth shew that all other Inventions however very much conducive to the Welfare of Men are yet nothing to be compared to That which will quiet tumultuous Passions and render the Mind well informed and steady Compare saith he with This the great things which others have found out Ceres and Bacchus are much honour'd She as having first taught the way of sowing Corn He as having first instructed Men in planting of Vines But yet without these things Mens Lives may be sustain'd and as report goes some Nations even now do live without them At bene non poterat sine puro pectore vivi but without a Breast well purged a Man can have no happy Life And then he goes on with the Praises of his Philosopher as being worthy a Place among the Gods. But if He had so much Honour who profanely taught Men not to fear what shall our Lord have who with sacred Religion directs Men in the pleasant and right Paths to Happiness Who gives them Laws which will render them easie to themselves and acceptable unto others Who in any Troubles that may befal them affords them the only Methods of Comfort by telling them that God is a Father unto Men in every thing taking care of them and ordering even Afflictions for the good of those who are pious Who makes known everlasting Joys after Death which are prepared for those that live holy Lives and renders the way thereunto not difficult by the help which he continually vouchsafes from above And all this in such a wonderful manner by having loved us even unto Death with a Love much stronger than Death itself Eubul Our Lord doth indeed in these things deserve Honour above all Men and we may often on his account sing that Anthem which at his Birth the Angels sung Glory be to God on high on Earth Peace Good-will towards Men. And I will further say That They who faithfully give up their Names unto him have the Precedency not only of all Those who among the Heathens pretended to the study of Wisdom but also of God's own People the Jews yea in a sort even of David himself who was so dear to him and whom in our Discourse we have had occasion so often to mention For though I cannot but yield that this King had a fair insight into the Kingdom of the Messias and the things belonging unto it there being in his Psalms so many undoubted Descriptions thereof yet it will not be an Untruth to affirm That the meanest Christian among us hath unless it be his own fault more clear Revelations of Christ of Life and Immortality and of the Assistances of the Holy Spirit than David had or any of the Prophets The words of our Lord tending to what I now say are very remarkable Verily I say unto you Among them that are born of Women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist Notwithstanding he that is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he Matth. 11.11 i. e. However a very great Prophet John was one that above all the rest had the Honour to see our Lord in the Flesh a thing which many Prophets and Kings had desired to see and had not seen it yet the least Disciple or Christian when Christ shall be set at the Right-Hand of God and shall raise up an Heavenly Kingdom upon Earth shall he greater than John. i. e. From the being Baptized with the Holy Ghost and having a larger knowledge of the Divine Will manifested being made acquainted with higher and
Incorruption they are Sown in Dishonour they shall be raised in Glory They are Sown in Weakness they shall be raised in Power they are Sown Natural Bodies they shall be raised Spiritual This is plainly spoken and not only so but is confirmed by our Lords own Rising from the Dead and becoming the First-Fruits of them that Slept Which implies that as the Harvest followeth the First-Fruits so shall our Christian Friends with all other Holy Men follow our Lord in his Resurrection It is very remarkable that the Holy Scripture gives to the whole Church as united with its Head The Name of Christ Thus 1 Cor. 12.12 As the Body is one and hath many Members and all the Members of that one Body being many are one Body SO ALSO IS CHRIST Whence there may seem an holy Necessity that our Religious Friends should rise from the Dead They are parts of the Church and as the Church and Christ are one He could not be said to be wholly risen unless They likewise should rise from the Dead If there be no Resurrection of the Dead saith the Apostle then is Christ not risen which is true also in this sense His Resurrection would be incompleat and in effect no Resurrection should not his Church which is his Body rise after him What need is there then of so many Lamentations and of such Floods of Tears Why should we be dejected at the Graves of our Friends which we may look upon as the places from which they will arise rather than as the places wherein they are buried And what may yet further contribute to the appeasing of our Sorrow is their rising again never to be sick more Never any more to leave us but to enjoy us and to be enjoyed by us in an Eternity of Happiness For it cannot reasonably be thought that those particular Friendships which were founded in Virtue will not hereafter be continued in Heaven especially since a Religious Faithfulness and Constancy in Affection shall have a good share in the Everlasting Rewards which are there given So that we shall have our Friends again and much more ours than ever they were before Neither even at the present is our Communion with them dissolved by their Death For that Bond which unites us one to another and to our Head is Spiritual and so Death which only divides the Soul from the Body makes no real separation of the Christian who is dead from the Christians who are alive For they who still continue Members of the same Head do also continue Members one of another And the same good Will which our Friends as Christians had to us while they lived we may safely believe they have after they have left us Such as consisteth in the making Supplications unto God that it may be well with us both in Life and Death and in rejoycing at those Spiritual Blessings which are held out unto us for the obtaining that Happiness which they before us have reach'd unto Why then should we grieve as though they were quite lost unto us As though all our Interest in them were buried in their Graves and all that Virtuous Kindness they bore us were wholly extinct We rather may rejoyce that their Love towards us and other Christians is increased and more perfect as their own Happiness is increased and themselves are more perfect Theoph. What you say might administer unto Patience were it not that the Fears of an Hell and the Apprehensions that it may be worse with them now they are dead than it was when they were alive did not so often interpose Eubul But why should we suffer such Fears and Apprehensions to interpose in relation to those Friends who have loved Religion and Virtue and made them visible in their Lives Precious in the sight of God is the death of such And as for those daily Slips and Failures which proceed only from that Weakness which is common to all Mankind they from the Sincerity which hath been in the Heart shall be forgiven Indeed there are some Persons for whom our Hopes cannot be so great and we are not to be blamed if our Griefs be of a larger measure in the Deaths of these But yet we are by no means to pass sentence ourselves upon them but must leave them to stand or fall to their own Master And the same God that commands us to be charitable means that we should be so not only to the Living but the Dead also And if he so strictly enjoyns our Charity towards them we have some reason to hope he will not deny unto them his own Mercy This is certain that however the evil Lives of some Men may render the Thoughts of Death less comfortable to themselves and others yet through our dear Lord's Dying for us Death is in reality become an harmless thing to us as we are Christians and we may Triumphantly use the words of St. Paul O Death where is thy Sting O Grave where is thy Victory Thanks be unto God who hath given us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ Nay though Death to our Bodily Eyes hath Terrour in its Face and is attended with Worms and Corruption yet the same Apostle reckons it a part of the Church's Dowry 1 Cor. 3.22 Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or Life or DEATH or Things present or Things to come all are yours and the same we may esteem it to be in relation to our departed Friends You have seen Theophilus the excellent Motives for Patience on every Hand and for Obedience also to the other Laws that more nearly concern ourselves And truly the conceiving of a Man whose outward actions are all Clean and Chast whose inward Thoughts are Pure and Holy who can part with even Lawful Enjoyments rather than be insnared by them who is contented with his Lot not anxious for the years to come and cheerfully bearing up under present sufferings the conceiving I say of such an one so every way perfect is very pleasant to the thoughts and we cannot sooner think of him than we must Love him the Laws then that form the Man to be such must needs be no less fitted for our Love and Delight and these sure will much be heightned from such pleasing and weighty Inducements Theoph. I 'll confess to you Eubulus from this short account which you have given all my Affections are turn'd into a Love of these Sacred Laws except only that there is some room in my Soul left for Reverence and Admiration of them And I hope while I speak the same Words that the Pious Mr. Herbert did I speak to the utmost the same Truth also viz. That I would not part with one Leaf of these Holy Laws might I have the whole World in Exchange They are able to make would Men permit them an Heaven upon Earth while Peace and Joy and Love would be in the Community and an Holy Calmness and Inexpressible Pleasure in every private Breast Eubul And may such be
such a moderate and harmless Transgression to make the Holy and Good God to favour Intemperance to look slightly on Unchasteness to be at good terms with Idleness and Sloth I remember that Plutarch in relation to Mens Evil Thoughts of the Deity saith He had rather it should be said There is no such Person as Plutarch in the World than that it should be said He is after such and such a manner Vitious And surely these who imagine God so vile as to approve of those things which in Men are shameful are no less wicked than they who deny there is any God at all For his Being cannot be conceived to be Dear to him without his Holiness If lastly they shall own him as to his Attributes to be such as he is hoping that their good Opinions shall make amends for bad Practices what a strange Contradiction is this They acknowledge him to be Just that he may not punish Unrighteousness Holy that he may favour Impureness True that he may over-look Falseness Good that Evil may not be discouraged Can there be greater Indignities offered unto the Holy One and the Just than these are Can any one be so wicked as to think that because he is not edged with a sensible spight in these things against God he therefore is a very pardonable Sinner Or can he be so foolish as to imagine that these his Sins are wholly free from Maliciousness Were it so that Malice could effect any thing against the Almighty it would quickly shew itself openly but since it cannot it lieth hid yet hath the same pernicious Tendences as if it appear'd more in view and in other Garbs doth act the very same things Theoph. But is there Eubulus the same Pollution and Defilement in all Sins I therefore enquire this because there is no one living that can say he hath not Sinned And some I am sure would by no means bring such Defilement upon themselves nor such Disorder into the World through their Sins as you have mentioned to be the effects of Disobedience Eubul I cannot say that there is the same Pollution and Deformity in all Sins There is somwhere in Scripture I think in Deut. 32.5 such an Expression as This Their Spot is not the Spot of his Children Which sheweth that there is a greater Pollution in some Men than in Others but yet that Sin wheresoever it is is a Defilement a Spot both to the One and the Other Sort. Theoph. Since there is none that is wholly free from Disobedience and Disobedience hath a different Deformity in different Sorts of Men Good and Bad pray Eubulus tell me what is the Spot of each and wherein it is that they differ Eubul I will endeavour to do it and the rather because it is of Material Consideration as to what we have been discoursing As for Those that are Good Men They are Partakers of Original Sin as much as any other Since they were no less than others in Adam's Loyns when he transgressed Gods Command And if a Clean thing cannot be brought out of an Vnclean one there is a Pollution belonging unto Them. Their Nature as they are Men is Corrupted Darkness and Error is in their Understandings Their Wills and Affections are Irregular and Prone to Evil and their Bodies joyn their Allurements to the Evil Inclinations of their Souls And as thus they are not Clean from Original Sin so they have many actual Sins springing therefrom David asketh a Question at large Who is it can tell how oft he offendeth Even He that most taketh heed to his ways can He tell how oft he sinneth Besides the Faults which he may have observed in himself there are many secret ones which he may pray to be delivered from St. Paul saith Though he knoweth nothing by himself yet is he not thereby justified and so may every good Christian say also Though he be not conscious to himself that at such a time he sinned in such a Concern he fail'd of his Duty yet he cannot certainly plead innocence before God. For his Offences reach further than his Knowledge His Understanding by reason of the first Parents Sin being so imperfect that many times he cannot discern the Failures he hath been guilty of But then the Disobedience of Good Men whether Natural or Actual is through the Grace of God the occasion of many Virtues in them whereby they become acceptable in God's sight The Imperfection of their Nature rendereth them humble They observing the many Defects that are in their Souls and the depraved Constitutions of their Bodies do see a great deal of reason for Humility of Spirit As their imperfect State in this World is a Punishment just upon them they will bear it with Patience and not be tumultuous and unquiet as if God had dealt hardly with them They will not behave themselves proudly towards others as knowing that Pity and Kindness rather become those who are in the same Condemnation Thus will they do and thus be while they consider their imperfect State in this World to be their Punishment As it is their Sin also and a Defilement upon their Natures they will be affected with Sorrow yet will not be desponding and idle nor so contented with their Sin as not to endeavour to correct it by a Religious Carefulness and Industry knowing that it is the part of Negligence to let Original Sin he unmeddled with and to rest satisfied both in that and in their other Sins as if these did necessarily flow from the Imperfection of their Nature and could not any way be helped They will make it their business to clear their Understandings to rectifie their Wills to reduce into order their untoward Appetites and to bring under their Bodies that though they cannot wholly wipe off their Original Pollution yet the ill effects of it may be as few and as small as they can possibly make them As for their Actual Sins these stir up in them an Hearty Sorrow an holy Indignation and Revenge Troubled really they are that they have offended so Good a God and so Gracious a Father Throughly angry with themselves that they have made such ill Returns to One who hath infinitely obliged them and Revenging it upon themselves by unfeigned Acts of Mortification These their Sins will also occasion their more frequent and fervent Devotion They will freely and without so much as hiding one confess their Iniquities before God Heartily acknowledging themselves less than the least of his Mercies Earnestly begging that He through Jesus Christ will forgive them They will not let him alone will give him no Rest till they have obtain'd his Favour And so by how much they heretofore have in the Commission of Sins been at a distance from God they now by seriously calling them into Remembrance and truly repenting of them will the more and the oftner draw near unto God in Prayers and other Acts of Religious Worship Their former Sins beget in them the Resolution
he hath appointed Heir of all things by whom he made the Heavens Heb. 1.1 2. As much as to say He hath spoken to us in a more Eminent manner than ever yet he hath done unto any And Chap. 2. he gives Precedency to his Laws before the Law given on Mount Sinai upon the Account that THAT was spoken by Angels THESE by the Lord. And by how much the greater the Person is that speaks supposing the things he speaks are in themselves Good as we shall shew that His absolutely are by so much the more should the things spoken have our Observance and Esteem This is my beloved Son hear ye Him said the Voice out of the Cloud at the Transfiguration when our Lawgiver did far exceed Moses in the Brightness of his Face and had Moses himself with Elias Attendants upon him He it is that hath the note of Excellence by S. John Chap. 1.18 viz. Who is in the Bosom of his Father i. e. Who as nearest unto him knows his mind most of any Above All he is to be heard He alone is the Man in whom saith God I am well pleased 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in whom I fully rest having made known my Will unto him so as that a further notice of it is not to be expected for to my full satisfaction it is by him declared unto Mankind Such considerations of our Lawgiver may well excite our esteem of his Laws and we have great reason to Love them for the Givers Sake Since never any Laws were so much Honour'd from Love and Greatness as these were Theoph. The things which you have said are of no mean Concern and I wish that they were entertain'd abroad with such a Sense as they ought to be Good Eubulus proceed to the consideration of the Laws themselves Eubul I will and surely they well deserve our Love in these four respects 1. In that all those Troublesom Ceremonies of the Old Law are done away and that in so excellent a manner 2. In that only such Laws are enjoyned as have in them an intrinsick Goodness or else are for Ends absolutely good and such as are discernable by every one 3. In that those Moral Laws which were given to the Jews are by our Lord more fully and clearly given 4. In that from these Laws we have a fair way for a pardon of all Sins 1. In that all those Troublesom Ceremonies of the Old Law are done away and that in so excellent a manner The Eighth Day doth not now shew us the Blood of our Children nor give us an occasion to pity them from the pains they endured by a Knife or sharp Stone And how great these Pains were and what the Soreness may be collected from the Story of the Shechemites whom Simeon and Levi were able to slay Two Men a whole City Those Numerous Washings which upon the Touching of Unclean Things and those Unclean Things so many were to be performed are now at an end There is now no being polluted for many Days or until the Evening separated from the Company of others neither need we for every Sin of Ignorance go with a Goat unto the Temple for Sacrifice Which how many must they have been since too apt we are unawares to fall into Sin Yea a Period is put to all those Sacrifices which were continually offered up These things had indeed good Reasons as hath been said for their being enjoyn'd to the Jews But it must be confessed that as to their Number and Nature they were tedious and burdensom There was somthing in the whole Oeconomy itself that in the Apostles word Heb. 8.7 was not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 free from blame And though it serv'd well for a time yet Men in after-Ages when their Understandings were adult and their Reason improved were capable of better things than such 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Paul termeth them weak and beggerly Elements Now had God done them or the more uneasie part of them away by his Will only without any visible Effects of his Wisdom in their being abolished it would have been a great Favour unto us But that they All should cease by being improved into greater Excellencies That Circumcision as it mark'd the Jews for Gods People should be at an end by all the Kingdoms of the World becoming the Kingdoms of the Lord That as it imported Purity and Chastness it should be raised into the Spiritual Circumcision of the Heart and the daily cutting off as it were all impure and corrupt Affections That as it was a sign of the Promised Seed it should end in His Wonderfully being Born who is the Everlasting Perfection of it That so many Allusions and Sprinklings should terminate in the inward Cleanness of the Soul and Conscience so as that there should be no further need of such things to denote it That extraordinary Sacrifices should be finished by the Lamb of God's offering up himself once for all appeasing by his pretious Blood his Fathers Wrath satisfying his Justice and purging away our Sins That ordinary Sacrifices should be no more through our Bodies and Souls being presented daily unto God a Living Sacrifice an holy acceptable and rational Service That all those Ceremonies Theophilus should in so admirable a manner be cancell'd is an high Demonstration of Gods Wisdom and the greatest Expression of his Love to us And therefore his Laws so excellently freed from such Troublesom Rites may very much engage our Love. Theoph. What you say as it may much engage our Love to the Christian Law so methinks it affords a good Answer to the Jews who urge that their Laws are in Holy Writ styled Everlasting and Ordinances for ever and so cannot be thought to cease so long as the World stands And it also may correct their way of speaking when they say our Lord hath vilified and destroyed those their Laws Eubul Pray go on and shew how in both Theoph. Some Things being said to be Everlasting and for ever denoteth only their Duration so long till their Nature cannot extend them to a further length Thus Isai 34.10 The Fire is said to burn for ever which shall not be quenched before it hath consumed all the Matter in which it burneth So likewise Deut. 15.17 A Servant is said to be a Servant for ever i. e. So long as till the Year of Jubile should free him Before that time he must not think to leave his Master And not impertinent to what we are now speaking was their way of dividing the World into Two Ages The one before the Messias the other after The former they called one for ever 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Seculum The later added to it was for ever and ever 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Secula Seculorum Now the Law as given by Moses was Everlasting as the word Everlasting may import a Duration so long as the Nature thereof would well allow of so long as till the great Jubile should be
to us which Objection may seem to have some kind of share in all the other we say That Inclinations and Appetites may be considered either as belonging to Nature in a pure and perfect State or as it is corrupted and depraved for deeply corrupted our Nature is and was observed so to be by the Heathen wise Men though they were ignorant of the cause why it was so Now the Laws of Christ do not oppose Mens Inclinations and Appetites considering Nature in its perfect State but do then only correct and curb them when by reason of the Corruption of our Nature they are crooked and irregular and lanch out into Vicious Excesses In a word The Design of our Lord in his Laws is to reduce us as much as possible to our Primitive Perfection Not in a Stoical manner to beat down our Appetites out to rectifie them that they may be truly commendable in themselves and may convince us of the Equity of the Commands of Christ by giving an Eternal Pleasure and Satisfaction unto us For if any Man do his Will he shall quickly find that his Commands are not grievous but that all his Ways are Pleasantness and all his Paths are Peace If it shall be urged That our Natures are here incapable of such a Perfection as is talk'd of and therefore that the Laws which enjoyn it are unreasonable we may reply That our Natures as now they are are capable of far greater Perfection and Regularity than these who thus plead are willing to admit of And we may say that even now there are Inclinations of two sorts Those that arise from Nature and Those that we ourselves do in a great measure make Nature requires but what is enough but ill Desires heightned by ill Customs require for Luxury and Excess Now Temperance amidst our Earthly Enjoyments Contentation in the State which God hath placed us in A Readiness to part with somthing of our Abundance for the good of those that need A Charity in interpreting their Actions well And a neglecting of Vain-glory and such like things as these are not such impossible things to be performed Nay the contrary shall perhaps bring more Difficulties and Pains than the Observance of these Laws shall For we must not forget that there is such a thing as Reason which is no less Natural unto us than any Inclinations or Appetites we have yea it may justly claim the Precedence of them They being in a great measure common unto Vs and Beasts but This the Peculiar of Men only And what is the use of this thing call'd Reason which is so Natural unto us but this viz. To regulate our Appetites and Inclinations when they grow exorbitant and to give us the great Satisfaction of having acted like Men So that in an impartial Consideration of things it will be found to be more agreeable to Nature to repress our sensitive Appetites and Inclinations by Reason than to give them their swinge without Reason The Rational part in Man being far the more Noble Now Reason cannot but approve of and close with these Excellent and Refined Laws of our Lord. Nay our Inclinations themselves would we but seriously set ourselves to the bringing them into order might in some time be duly brought into it And truly it hath been very well observed of the Constitutions of particular Persons and we therein may give Praise to him that made us that as every Temperament doth some way or other evilly dispose the Man so his being thus disposed sets him at the greater distance from another Evil. As the being prone to Fearfulness removes him far from the opposite Evil of Presumptuousness Nay he is hereby rendred somthing inclined to that Good which lies next to his Disposition the All-wise God so ordering it that defects are not wholly destitute of somthing at Hand to make them up Thus the being Cholerick enclines the Man to Zealousness Melancholy bends him towards Devotion The being Phlegmatick borders him upon Perseverance A Proneness to Anger prompts him to Activeness So that if we ourselves will but be prudent and resolute in bringing the ill inclinations of our Nature or of our particular Constitutions into Order according to the Laws of our Lord we shall find it a work not so intolerably hard as some would make it and would have others believe it to be And as thus our Dispositions if well managed are not averse from a right Improvement so our Affections and Desires if they be but removed from an Object less good to one that is more Excellent and this may oftentimes easily be done they may retain the same earnestness and find more rational Gratifications Yea somtimes the Work is less and it is only the bringing the Affection somthing lower or raising it a little higher and the Object need not be changed We see how much Use and Exercise will prevail upon Men's Bodies to make them Supple and Pliant unto those Motions which Nature of itself is unacquainted with and shall the Soul of Man not be able to correct Natural but Corrupt Inclinations Let us take but as much pains with our Souls as some have done with their Bodies and I doubt not but through Gods Grace we shall make them as pliable to the Motions of Goodness and Virtue as some Men's Joynts and Limbs are to those Motions which at the first they were so unapt unto It was as I Remember in the Objection you brought That These Laws are unreasonable to us as we are Men whereas Theophilus as we are Men they in a peculiar manner are fitted for Vs and for no Beings beside Those that are Brutal by their being destitute of understanding are below them And those that are Heavenly viz. Blessed Angels and Saints seem to be above them whose Appetites wholly bent to the love of Holiness can never be guilty of excess Their Pleasures admit of no Temperance nor Restrictions but the more high and exerted they be the more refined and excellent they are But we are of a middle Nature between the Brutal and the Heavenly and partake somthing of both Our Pleasures are dangerous our Appetites are very apt to be excessive and we have Understanding to moderate and repress them and therefore we are carefully to do it that from such Voluntary Restraints we may be Virtuous and have praise both with God and Men. And indeed a curbing of the Appetites of Nature even these Men themselves however they object it against the Laws of Christ will upon more considerate thoughts like well of and commend They cannot but approve of the Fidelity of those to each other whom the Marriage-Bond hath united and they would detest a Spurious Issue to be brought forth by those whom they have by Wedlock enclosed to themselves alone But this could not be but by some restraint put upon those Appetites which are Natural And shall they be willing to admit of such Restraints for the good of the Community and for their
not be prompted to fear Him who is Righteous in his Judgments and will not spare the Wicked If God be True in his Predictions who will not think him so in his Threatnings And shall so many Prophecies concerning Him who came to destroy the Works of the Devil give any delight to him who is resolved to retain those Works It would be a strange Contradiction that any one should be pleased with the Winning Exhortations which God useth to engage Men unto the Observance of his Laws and yet in the mean while be unconcerned whether he observe those Laws or not And how can the Devotion of the Saints of old touch his Soul with any delight who is and is resolved to continue a Stranger unto what he readeth them to have been remarkable for and who neglecteth that Obedience without which their Prayers and Praises would not have been acceptable with God Whosoever they be that with no Conformity to the Divine Law are yet pleased with and do pretend to love the holy Writings they shall be rewardable in the sight of God no more than one that loveth the Writings of Caesar or Livy It is not from a Principle of Goodness that these Authors are delighted in but they please the Fancy and yield somthing that hits the Readers Humour Just so is it with this Divine Book in respect of these Men. They like it not for the great Design it hath but they find somthing from its great variety that delights the imaginative Faculty Or their Knowledge therein is in Quest of Opinion and Reputation among Men Which how much below the Dignity of this sacred Volume is it Opinion and Reputation even in Obedience will stand a Man in little stead hereafter much less will they when they are without Obedience Theoph. We will let These Men go and make no Inquiries concerning them But what Eubulus shall we think of Those who are Conscienciously Obedient to the Divine Law yet find not that Delight therefrom which Earthly Things do frequently give them and who hereupon are very apt to interpret their love to the Divine Precepts to be unsincere and such as will be rejected Eubul The Divine Laws are indeed worthy the highest pitch of our Affections and they are happy Men who find a more quick and grateful Relish from them than from all Earthly Objects Yet I cannot say but there may be a true love of them when it is otherwise For our Passions have a very great dependence upon the outward Senses And these Senses admitting of strong impressions from Material things and from them alone no wonder that the Soul is visibly affected and this somtimes the more from the unexpectedness and pleasing surprize with which these External Objects present themselves insomuch that it requires Labour and Pains to keep our Affections within due Bounds But the Case is different with the Divine Laws they being of a Spiritual Nature and in many things above the outward Sense do not make those impressions thereupon which Visible Objects do So that here if the Affections be stirr'd they must be so not immediately from the Things but from the Souls own Reasoning and deliberate Thoughts inculcating these Laws and the great advantages which they give Add to this that things future for such the Reward of these Laws are do not give so quick a Sense as those that are present And because the Soul is at some pains in thinking and the things thought of are of old standing to our knowledge as the Practicks of Religion usually are there is not that pleasure from surprize as in those things that fall out unthought of or are new unto us A Person that is truly Obedient to these Laws and resolves to continue so need not despond as if his Love to them were unsincere though he finds not his Affections raised to such a pleasurable Sense as he conceiveth somtimes from Worldly things God will not require that things should act upon the Soul otherwise than is their Nature to do And if his Laws obtain their End by producing Righteousness of Life there is a better Evidence of Love to them than from inward delight alone there would be Yea possibly if the Man will cease disquieting himself and will calmly search his own Heart he will discern that the Sacred Laws are very much approved of there and esteemed far beyond those Earthly Objects which so highly delighted him He sees that the Affections which these outward things did so much heat and raise do after a little while cool and sink again But the Divine Law finds a continued respect within him And though the Love thereof do not enkindle a flame in Him yet it ceaseth not to have Warmth in itself He sees that his Affections are not always in his own power to raise them as he pleaseth He will therefore endeavour that his Reason shall supply their Defects And that the Sacred Precepts shall never want This to attend them if he cannot yield them the Other But suppose that there be a great Coldness towards these Laws and an inward indisposition to Obedience yet if notwithstanding he will resolutely Obey and what he cannot do with that pleasure which some others have will do through pains and striving he will not be disapproved by his Lord. An ill Temper of Soul or Body is one of those Enemies against which he is to Exercise a Spiritual Valour And if he shall Fight and Conquer and Conquer he doth if his Obedience be still on the upper hand he shall undoubtedly have a Crown And for ought I know it will be as weighty an One as his who obeyeth these Laws with less Difficulty This Man indeed is much happier in the way but the other shall be altogether as happy in the End. Theoph. What you have said I believe would be much for the quiet of the Persons we spake of Who by more suspecting their Obedience for its seeming Coldness than approving it for its real stedfastness do want such Lenitives Eubul I should be glad could I Administer Comfort to any who are truly Religious Though to say Truth Theophilus many are too apt to make an ill use of what is spoken after this manner And do improve it not so much to a right appeasing of their sadder thoughts as to the reconciling themselves to a careless or hardned Temper of Soul. I would therefore urge what would certainly be for the good of all viz. SVCH A FREQVENCY AND FIXEDNESS OF THOVGHTS upon the Divine Laws as the Royal Psalmist expresseth who immediately after he had said O how I Love thy Law addeth It is my Meditation all the Day By which we may conceive that the Sacred Variety and the Wondrous things of Holy Writ did find that Constancy of Entertainment in his Heart which was worthy of them And where Theophilus is there such satisfaction to be met with as the Sacred Scriptures reach out unto us And how little may other things and how wholly may
and in Them the Image and Work of God to the vilest of Drudgeries When the Vnderstanding which is capable of the Knowledge of God and should be exercis'd to the right conceiving of all Virtues and the best Methods of bringing them forth into Action shall be fill'd with Impure Conceptions and wrought up to the Knowledge of all Wickedness and of the readiest ways of reducing it upon all occasions into practice When the Will which ought to be bent to the pleasing of God in an Universal Compliance with his Laws shall be forward in the desiring and prosecuting of Evil and shall rest satisfied in the accomplishment of it When the Memory which is so well fitted for God's Service shall be far from retaining the great Mercies he hath shewed to Men in general and to ourselves in particular in various Circumstances of our Lives When the excellent Things of God's Law are allow'd no room in it but on the contrary when itself is chiefly imploy'd in the remembring of those things which are light and vain in the preserving present to our Minds the readiest ways of bringing about ill Actions and in the keeping fresh those Injuries which by others have been done us whether through Imprudence Passion or Design that we may never upon Opportunities forget to revenge them When the Affections which should be engaged in an Holy Joy at the great things which God hath done for us in an Vnfeigned Love to Him for his being so loving and gracious unto us in a Delight in those Commandments which are so agreeable to the Nature and Souls of Men in an Ardent Longing for that Blessed State where we shall be wholly freed from Sin When these Affections I say shall be turned into Coldness towards God and the Things of Heaven into an hot and eager persuit after those things which minister only to Worldly Advantage or Sensual Pleasures into Ill Wishes towards others Envy at their Welfare Delight in their Troubles or Miscarriages And likewise when our Bodies which are Temples of the Holy Ghost shall be alienated to prophane Uses when our Members which are the Members of Christ shall be made to become the Members of Vnrighteousness our Eyes in beholding Vanity our Tongues in uttering Deceit or those things which Minister not Grace to the Hearers our Hands in doing that which is Evil our Feet in being swift in running to Mischief all of which were made for better Ends. When Men which were Created in the Similitude of God and should in their Actions also be like him shall through Disobedience have their Bodies and Souls brought under to such vile Offices is not the Great God made to serve in the Principal of his Handy-Works on Earth Certainly he is We know among Men there may be a suffering of Indignities in Effigie in somthing that shall represent the Man though his Person be absent or untouched and the Discredit shall redound to him in great measure as if he himself had in Person suffered And will it be otherwise with the Almighty God We are his Image and Likeness in respect of our Souls and both in our Souls and Bodies we bear the Image of his Son our Lord who was pleased to take upon him our whole Nature If therefore Disobedience shall throw such Dishonour on his Image and Workmanship in us although it reach not his Person to hurt that it yet makes him through his Works and his Image too as we are his Works and Image to serve Neither doth it Theophilus any more spare the Almighty in the other visible things of the World. The Sun and Moon and Stars in their Light and Influences The Earth and Sea and all the Creatures thereof in their several Capacities He made instrumental to the Life and Virtuous Actions of Men and through them to his own Praise and Glory And therefore since They as of themselves being Mute cannot Celebrate the Praises of their Creator Man's Mouth is to be theirs and to offer up Praise unto God in their stead Thus did the Royal Psalmist for them Praise the Lord ye Sun and Moon Praise him all the Stars of Light. Praise the Lord ye Heavens and ye Waters that be above the Heavens Praise the Lord from the Earth ye Deeps Fire and Hail Snow and Vapours Wind and Storm fulfilling his Word Mountains and all Hills Fruitful Trees and all Cedars Beasts and all Cattel Creeping things and Flying Fowl Psal 148. So likewise since these Visible Things of themselves are unable to do any Virtuous Deeds in relation unto Men our Hands are in some sort to become theirs through which they are to promote Actions of Justice of Kindness and of Mercy These are the Ends for which they were made and in them all they are to do Service unto God. But Theophilus our Disobedience to the Divine Law turns all these things another way and makes the Holy God in his Creation to be Instrumental unto Services which are quite contrary unto Himself When the Sun shall rise and make the Day only that those Sins may be acted which require Day-light in the Commission When it shall set and Night come on merely for the accomplishing of those Vices which need secresie chiefly and darkness When Malice and Ill Nature shall strengthen themselves by calling to their Aid whatever we possess rather than fall unactive to the ground When what should in Sobriety be imploy'd for the good of ourselves and in Charity and Friendship for the Benefit of others shall be abused to Intemperance Covetousness or Ambition is not God through the Works which he hath Created made to Serve Yea to Serve the worst of Beings his greatest Adversary in the worst of Services Theoph. Were it not that the Creation is by some Religious Men improved to right Ends we might not wonder if it should give Signs that it rather would be reduced to its first nothing than be thus abused to the Dishonour of its Maker and of itself Eubul This Slavery Theophilus the Creature is in a manner sensible of for the Apostle saith Rom. 8.22 The whole Creation Groaneth and travelleth in pain together until now and all upon the aceount that it is made Subject unto Vanity and brought under the Bondage of Corruption It is not willingly that it thus serveth the Prince of Darkness It groaneth and travelleth in pain Which expressions denote the State it is now in to be a State of great Misery and speak forth the greatest longing and the most earnest Expectation to be delivered from it into the glorious Liberty of the Sons of God Where as those Sons of God shall be freed from Sin and shall do Service pure and uncorrupted unto God so the rest of the Visible Creation which hath too much and too long been forc'd to minister unto Vain Ends and Ungodly Practices shall be asserted also into that Freedom where it never shall be imployed more but in the true Service of God whose Service is perfect
doth vindicate his own Soveraignty and Power which they as much as in them lieth have brought under and trampled upon And this he so doth as that they themselves may look upon it to be God's just Hand and that others also may acknowledge it his doing But then Communities of Men which by their publick Sins make the Almighty to serve are always when those Sins are ripe punished in this World for they cannot with any reason be thought punishable in the next because all Bonds of Civil Society are utterly broken and evacuated by the Death of the Whole Yea and those Private Men who have contributed their share to the Sins of a Nation as such are also oftentimes in some respect punished in this World even after Death by Publick Calamities reaching their Children or other Relations in whom themselves are in a manner still here continued Which to one who rightly considers it sheweth forth God's Righteous Judgments upon them But because it is not always safe to pronounce That the untimely Deaths or unexpected Miseries of some particular Persons are an immediate Stroke of God upon them for their Disobedience for our Christian Charity will not permit this when we know no signal Crimes by them And the great Afflictions of some who are not greater Sinners than other Men and of some whom we have reason to esteem as good Men may caution us in this point not to be over-forward to Judge And because also we see a great many wicked Men to live and become old to be in no Troubles as other Men to die in peace and leave the rest of their Substance for their Babes Therefore we may affirm it as a Truth Viz. That God seeth it fit generally not to cut off those Men nor yet to force them into Obedience who by their Disobedience do thus make him to serve He seeth it fit generally not to cut them off that they may have space for Repentance Thus did he to the Church of Thyatira I gave her saith he space to Repent of her Fornication And for this end may he spare these dealing with them as the Lord did with the Barren Fig-Tree hoping that though they be not fruitful this year they will grow better the next And this the rather because from the thoughts of this Goodness of God unto them they may the more effectually be prevail'd upon to repent Despisest thou saith the Apostle the Riches of his Goodness and Forbearance and Long-suffering not knowing that the Goodness of God in this his Forbearance and Long-suffering leadeth thee to Repentance A Sorrow for former Sins and an Acknowledgment of God's Soveraignty for the future in Mens giving themselves up to his Service may arise from other Considerations but from none more directly or more forcibly than from that of his sparing them and suffering them to live that they may Repent and Turn unto him Neither may it be a small Motive for his not generally Cutting them off that in case they do not Repent there may from their Freedom from Punishment in this Life be afforded unto us a strong Proof that there will be Another Life after This in which those Sins which are here spared and Unrepented of shall most surely be punished God is a Righteous God and he hath told us plainly by his Prophet Nahum Chap. 1.3 That he will not acquit the Wicked And it is not Unobservable that These Words are put thus to wit The Lord is slow to Anger and great in Power and will not acquit the Wicked As much as to say Though he forbear long yet it is not as if he could not punish yea if they shall go on in their Disobedience and not Repent them of their Misdeeds they most certainly shall have the Reward of their Doings Now in that These Wicked Men who to the utmost of their Power make God to Serve do often live and dye without Punishments they must necessarily be punished after Death or else God will contrary to his Word acquit the Wicked But the Judge of the Earth will do Right though all Men shall be Lyars yet God cannot but be True And therefore he will not Cut them off that he may make them a strong Argument that there will be a Day of Punishments when this World is at an End with them And Lastly Theophilus we may not amiss think he will suffer them to Live that if They Repent not here they themselves may hereafter in the Other World confess that they are justly punished Though Gods sparing their Lives in so much Mercy when they had deserved to be struck Dead or sent Living into Hell were little minded by them on Earth it yet shall at the Great Tribunal have this effect upon them viz. To make them acknowledge that their Damnation is Just because They had so much favour shew'd them and they shut their Eyes upon it And surely as Gods Gracious Designs of Mens Turning unto him and being happy do take off whatever can be Objected against his not presently destroying the Disobedient So the Reputation of his Justice which will by this means be Exalted even among Those that in Hell shall suffer it may abundantly Vindicate Gods Government of the World from being slack and remiss though he do not immediately Condemn unto Death those who make him to Serve by their Sins Theoph. You have throughly satisfied me why God doth not presently Cut those off who are Rebellious But since all Power is his and with a Word He can do it why doth he not Force them into Obedience that his Sovereignty may be acknowledg'd by all and not opposed so much as in appearance by any Eubul One Reason may be Because he would have their Obedience to be their Virtue and such as shall become Rational Creatures to give He as Elihu saith Teacheth Them more than the Beasts of the Earth and maketh Them Wiser than the Fowles of Heaven that they may know what Good and what Evil is and may be sensible of the Favours that are shew'd unto them He hath given them a Will to choose or refuse what things are before them And hath planted Affections in their Souls by which Love and Gratitude may be Exercised Now when they shall endeavour to Understand what is truly Good and also what Gods Loving-kindness to them is when they shall choose that which is best and shall willingly serve Him whom they know to be the Lord of the World and their Lord Loving him for his Goodness and striving to express Thankfulness to him so far as they are able when I say they shall do this they will be Virtuous and shew themselves such as their Nature and Make require they should be But how unagreeable would it be for these Men to be forced contrary to their Mind and Will Wherein would they be Commendable should they do that which they could not help And how unsutable to Love and Gratitude is Violence and Constraint It is Love that is