he hath not only the Kindness of an Ordinary Man but his Humane Nature was filled with a Spirit of Love and Compassion and therefore he who hath so strictly commanded us to deal forth our Bread Isa 58.10 and draw out our Souls to the hungry will be much more ready to do it himself The Woman of Samaria tho' none of the best Temper or Character who denied him a Draught of Common Water might have had the Water of Life from him if she had but seriously asked it of him Joh. 4.10 And tho' the Hearts of his Country-men the Jews were full of Malice against him yet from a Custom that had obtained among them of bringing Water from Siloam to the Temple and pouring it out there he takes Occasion to intimate to them that He was the Fountain of Saving-Grace and gives them an Universal Invitation saying If any man tho' he be never so poor Joh. 7.37 or hath been never so wicked yet if he thirst let him come to me and drink And assures them that they should not repair to him in vain For he adds He that believeth on me as the Scripture hath said out of his Belly shall flow Rivers of living Water This spake he of the Spirit which they that believe on him should receive as St. John the infallible Commentator adds And there are several Circumstances of this Speech of his which the Evangelist mentions and are worthy of our Observation In the last Day that great Day of the Feast Jesus stood and cried saying If any man thirst c. 'T is the Feast of Tabernacles that is here meant one of the three on which all the Males in Israel were to appear at Jerusalem the First and the Last Days whereof were Great Days and in a Special manner to be observed as a holy Convocation wherein it was not Lawful for them to follow their Worldly Employments And consequently this being a Day of Leisure there was the greater Confluence of the People And it being the Last Day and they on the Point of departing to their several Homes just as they were going he utters these Words that so they might stick and abide by them as mens last Speeches are wont to do And then 't is added that Jesus stood up The usual way among the Jews was for those who taught the People to do it Sitting but here we find our Saviour chose the other Posture that his Voice might reach the further And he did not faintly Whisper but he Cried that every one there might be sure to hear him and that by the Loudness and Fervency of his Delivery he might make the greater Impression upon their Souls So earnestly did he desire to draw Men to him for their Spiritual Advantage And as a Sanative Vertue was sent forth from the Body of Christ here on Earth for the Curing the Natural Distempers of all those who resorted to him and believed on him so shall Influences of Grace flow forth from him in Heaven for the healing the Spiritual Diseases of those who seek to him and depend upon him He will do as great Miracles and Cures on Mens Souls as ever he did on their Bodies Open the Eyes of them who were Born blind quicken them who are dead in Trespasses and Sins restore their Feet to them that are Lame cleanse them that are Lepers and cast out the unclean Spirits from those who have been possessed by them And to remove all Jealousies and Obstructions he hath given us such a Description of the Gracious Nature and Will of God as is most worthy of him and most proper to incline us to return to him to awaken the Negligent and encourage the Doubting He hath clearly inform'd us of his Holiness Justice and Omniscience as a Remedy against the vain and fatal Imaginations of those who are secure in Sin and are apt to fancy him like a drowzy Judge on the Bench who neither hears nor regards how Causes go He hath as fully display'd before us the Riches of his Grace that awaken'd Sinners might not despair and so prove obstinate and irreclaimable It was the Reproach of the Israelites Ps 106.20 that they changed the Glory of God into the Similitude of an Ox that eateth Grass 'T is of a more pernicious Consequence to transform him into the Likeness of a roaring Lion thirsting after Mens Blood and greedy to devour their Souls Our Blessed Saviour in pursuance of his great Design which is to recover Men from Sin hath given us quite other Representations of him That he is desirous to be at Peace and ready to give forth of his Grace Luk. 11.11 12 13. That the most tender-hearted Father can't be half so ready to give Bread to his Starving Child as God is to give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him And to cut off all Objections to this purpose viz. how can God consistently with his Holiness Justice and the Honour of his Government bestow so rich a Blessing on us the Scriptures further tell us it was one End of his Death to purchase Saving-Grace for us It was part of the Prize for which he ran a Branch of that Joy that was set before him Heb. 12.2 as an Encouragement to him to endure the Cross and despise the Shame and Pain of it He knew he should have a Seed and see the Travel of his Soul Isa 53.10 11. and be satisfied with the blessed Fruit thereof And when he ascended up on High Ps 68.8 he received Gifts for Men indefinitely of all Sorts and Ranks yea even for the Rebellious also Acts 5.31 and was exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour to give Repentance to Israel and Forgiveness of Sins Yea saith the Apostle to those Men whose Hands were yet reaking in the Blood of Christ and who therefore one would think should never have been applied unto or if they had of all Men living they should have been the Last that ever should have heard such glad Tidings yet on the contrary Unto you First saith he Acts 3.26 God having raised up his Son Jesus hath sent him to bless you in turning not a few only but every one of you from his Iniquities Considering the Nature of the Gospel the Representation therein given of God the Temper of Christ his tender Love to the Souls of Men which drew him down from Heaven his Carriage on Earth his Death Ascension Exaltation and the Ends of them which he who did not stick at the hardest Command of his Father that of laying down his Life will be sure punctually to answer and his own Honour which is so deeply engaged the Glory of a King consisting so much in the Multitude of his Subjects Prov. 14.28 we have the highest Reason to believe that nothing is more Grateful to him than the lifting up a perishing Sinner out of the Pit and the helping a strayed Soul in its Return to God The CLOSE I
man's Friend is laid Plutarch speaks no more confidently when he endeavours to comfort * Consol ad Apol. Edit Xylandri p. 109 c. Apollonius upon the untimely Death of his very promising Son he adopts that Saying of Socrates That Death is like a deep Sleep or a long Travelling into a foreign Country or else 't is a total Destruction of Body and Soul and speaks to the last as well as the two other that he may demonstrate Death to be no Evil. This was one of the Ingredients he uses to make a Plaister to heal the Sore of his distressed Friend And the best that he could say was IF the Saying of the Ancient Poets and Philosophers be true †P. 120. as 't is Probable that it is that Good men are advanced when they die and some of them as 't is reported more highly than others and there be a certain Place appointed for pious Souls in which they live you have reason to hope well concerning your Son that he is got among ' em As for Death saith * Antoninus l. 7. §. 32. Antoninus whether it be a Dissipation of the Elements or a Reduction into Atoms or an Annihilation it is either an Extinction or a Transmigration Or as others read it it is either †Gataker in locum p. 273. a Dissipation of the Elements Resolution into Atoms Annihilation Extinction or Transmigration A Saying that much resembles that of Seneca ‖ Contemnite mortem quae vos aut finit aut transfert Seneca de Provid ch 6. Despise Death which either ends or translates you He that would see more of Antoninus's Uncertainty let him turn to the Places * Lib. 3. §. 3. l. 4. §. 14. 21. l. 6. §. 24. l. 7. §. 50. l. 8. §. 25. 58. l. 10. §. 58. l. 12. §. 5. cited in the Margent To these Philosophers I will add the famous Historian †Vita Agricolae ad finem Tacitus who speaking in very affecting Terms concerning the Death of his Father-in-Law Agricola drops this Passage IF there be any place for the Ghosts of Good men IF as Wise men define the Souls of Great Persons die not with the Body in Peace maist thou rest c. Of the same Strain is the Speech of that noble Roman Lady Veturia a Woman of an admirable Wit and Address and whose Spirit was altogether as great as her Quality who among other Arguments with which she diverted her Son Coriolanus from ruining his own Country when it was entirely at his Mercy makes use of this That if she could but succeed in her Enterprize of prevailing with him to lay aside his she should not only gain Immortal Honour here upon Earth but also IF there be a place saith she * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dionys Halicarn l. 8. p. 522 523. Edit Wichelii for the Reception of Humane Souls after they are dismiss'd from the Body mine shall go not to a subterraneous and dark one where 't is SAID that miserable Wretches are lodg'd nor to the Plains of Lethe as they are called but to the High and Pure Aether where 't is REPORTED that they who are descended from the Gods do lead a blessed and happy Life I am not without some Grounds of Jealousy that the Whole of her Speech whereof these Words are a part as 't is set down was made for her by Dionysius according to the usual custom of most Historians who are wont to put Words into the Mouths of those Persons whose Actions they relate and don 't so much tell us what They spake as what Themselves would have said had they been to have made a set Oration under the same Circumstances wherein they frequently over-do make them talk much finer than it can rationally be supposed They are capable of doing lay on so much Paint that it easily appears to an observing Eye to be the work of Art and not of Nature But be it the Incomparable Veturia or the Grave Dionysius 't is not very material 'T is evident the Person that spake was very doubtful about a Future State Now if it were thus with the most Learned and Sagacious Men with the most Elevated and Exalted Souls how sad in all likelihood must it needs be with the Body of Mankind If they who had got the Higher Ground above the Heads of the Common People and had the Advantage too of standing on one another's Shoulders could see such a little way before 'em what shall we think of the little Creatures that sate below In short we do not find that Everlasting Life in the other State was in any Heathen Nation an Article of Religion established by Law It was but slightly touch'd on by Philosophers when ever they did name it which was but seldom as a Motive to excite Men to the Practice of Vertue Other Arguments they use and trust to which they did better understand and it is Prudence for a man not to urge those Reasons which are strongest in themselves but rather fight with that Weapon which he is a Master of and knows how best to manage And 't is a shrewd Observation of * St. August de Civit. Dei l. 4. c. 22. l. 6. c. 9. St. Austin That tho' the Heathens had abundance of Gods to whom they did particularly apply themselves to one for one Blessing to another God for another Favour and therefore the Knowledge of the Gods was necessary that they might direct themselves to them aright and not ask Water from the God of Wine c. Yet Varro himself who was very well skill'd in the matter hath not mentioned so much as one God whom they were to pray unto for Eternal Life 'T is true indeed we who have been taught from our very Infancy by the Gospel that there is such a Place as Heaven and so glorious a Reward for the Righteous in the other State may be apt to think that we have hit upon it by the Exercise of our own unassisted Reason or that it was very easy so to have done But herein it fares with us as oftentimes it doth with a Studious Man who having familiarly convers'd with good Authors doth verily think some of those Notions and Expressions too which he hath learnt from them are the genuine Off-spring of his own Mind and Thought Just as Corn that springs up in some places seems to the Husbandman to be the natural Product of the Ground he having never sowed it with that sort of Grain the Seeds of which in Reality were taken up by the Wind from another Field whereto they did originally belong and invisibly dropt down there I can't better express my Sense of this than in the Words of a modern Author who herein speaks very well tho' judging by the main Design of his Book I take him to be a very Singular Unitarian seeing he cuts off all the necessary Articles of our Faith excepting that of the Belief of
generous Coriolanus hath these Words If when * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dionys Antiq. Rom. p. 529 530. the frame of the Body whatever that be is destroyed that of the Soul perisheth also and is annihilated I don't see how those can be accounted Happy who having received no Advantage from their Vertue yet perish for it But then as appears from the following Words he did not carry this so far that those great Souls should remain for ever or be Eternally rewarded tho' he saith that some do so think because he thought agreeably to the Sentiments of the Stoicks they would be sufficiently recompenc'd for all their Vertues and Sufferings if they continued only for a Considerable Time in a State of Happiness above and were highly commended here below as it happen'd saith he to that Man Besides these as St. Austin * De Civitate Dei l. 22. c. 28. informs us out of Varro there were a Sort of Men who held that there was a certain great Year when all the same Stars and Planets shall return to the same Configuration and then there shall be a new Production of all Men and all other things again which shall rise up successively in the same manner and all the fame Circumstances wherein they have already appeared So that I shall again begin just as I have lately done to write the very self-same Book on the very same individual Paper with the very self-same Pen and Ink and my Reader be got just to the very self-same place in it where he now is And tho' by the Title which St. Austin from Varro gives them viz. that of Genethliaci one would take 'em to be a despicable sort of Figure-flingers and Conjurers yet they were no less Men than * See for this Dr. Jackson Vol. 3. p. 425. and Hody of the Resurrection à p. 16. ad 23. Plato and Pythagoras and their Followers and the Egyptians and many of the Indian Philosophers and some of the very Stoicks too tho' they derided St. Paul as a Babbler for Preaching the Resurrection in the Christian Sense These Men are far from being agreed about the exact Number of Years when the Stars and Planets shall return exactly to the same Configuration And therefore I can't tell the Reader how often Souls as well as other Beings shall run this Round and like Fairies dance in this imaginary Ring Only for our Comfort we must know that this will be an * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Numenius in Euseb Demonstr l. 15. c. 19. p. 821. Edit Paris It. Origen c. Celsum l. 4. p. 208. Everlasting Tautology Besides all this there are some Philosophers and St. Austin †Hoc dixerunt valde magni Philosophi St. Aug. de Tempore Serm. 139. It. 142. tells us they are of the highest Form who thought that the Souls of Good Men are a long time at Rest but after a very considerable Time they come down from Heaven and appear in Bodies again And there was yet another Hypothesis which was no Fiction of Virgil's but what he brings in as a known ‖ Dii quibus imperium est animarum umbraeque silentes Et Chaos Phlegethon loca nocte tacentia late Sit mihi fas audita loqui sit numine vestro Pandere res altâ terrâ caligine mersas Virgil Aeneid 6. v. 264. Tradition That the wicked but curable Spirits after they had smarted for their Folly in the infernal Gulf for a thousand Years were like so many Head of Cattle driven to the Waters of * Animae quibus altera Fato Corpora debentur Lethaei ad fluminis undam Securos latices longa oblivia potant Virgil. Aeneid l. 6. v. 713. O Pater anne aliquas ad caelum hinc ire putandum est Sublimes animas iterumque ad tarda reverti Corpora quae lucis miseris tam dira cupido Id. v. 719. Has omnes ubi mille rotam volvêre per annos Lethaeum ad fluvium Deus evocat agmine magno Scilicet immemores supera ut convexa revisant Rursus incipiant in corpora velle reverti Id. v. 748. Lethe where they drank so long till they were perfectly besotted to that degree that they did irrecoverably forget every thing which they had ever done or suffered But as Lucian †De Luctu Tom. 2. p. 428 429. Edit Benedicti wittily observes it fell out very happily for the World that Alcestis and Protesilaus and Theseus and Ulysses slipt by without taking a Cup there or else it had been impossible they should ever have remembred any thing and given us such a particular Account of it as they have done when they return'd to this Earth of ours After this Draught they are received up into Heaven where they enjoy all manner of Happiness till being weary of it the freak takes them to make another Trial of their Fortune here below and so they return to this World again whereupon unless it be a very sorry Heaven indeed they pay very dear for their Folly Thus have the Heathens for want of a Guide from Heaven entertained these so very different and extravagant Notions about it And for any thing that meer Reason can say to the contrary it may be but a short Term of Happiness which we shall enjoy in the other State and that would be a more abundant Recompence than we could pretend to deserve And tho' the Soul being Immaterial is naturally Immortal and hath no contrary Principles of Corruption within yet who can assure us but God may withdraw his Preserving Influence and then our Spirits must fall back again into that primitive Nothing whence they sprung up into Being by his powerful Word of Command Or for any thing we know by Natural Light the other Life as well as this may be a continued State of Trial tho' in better Circumstances and from which we may fall It may often happen among departed Souls what Modern Philosophers have dreamt doth frequently come to pass among the Heavenly Bodies where a Star is many times covered with a rising Scum and over-run with so thick a Scurf as to be degraded into a wandring Planet or a Pilgrim Comet perpetually frisking and bounding from one Vortex to another a long time before its surrounding Crust being broken it recovers its ancient Eminency again But Revelation acquaints us that the time of our Probation ends with this Life The dying Groans of a Saint are the last that ever he shall fetch He shall Sin no more Sorrow no more be Tempted and Afflicted no more His Bliss shall continue without any Interruption and without any End And this tho' but a Circumstance yet is of that Weight that it may justly be esteem'd a considerable Part of the Happiness of Heaven to be secured in the Enjoyment of it without any Fear or Possibility of a Change for ever IV. § IV Natural Light and Reason can't assure us That we shall enjoy this Happiness
For the proposing vast Recompences for very slight and trivial Matters betrays great Want of Judgment in not setting a true value upon things either upon Rewards or Services or both Now by the Law of our Creation we owe God all possible Duty and Obedience a great deal more than the best of us do yield to him And should God have exacted it on the Account of his Sovereign Authority over us without promising us any thing at all much less any great Matters we had been indispensably obliged to it And our best Actions stand in need of Pardon so far are they from deserving to be Crowned Nothing in us or done by us can bear the least Proportion to the Heavenly Glory And therefore that besides a Pardon God should promise us Eternal Life as the Reward of what we do for him is what can hardly enter into our Thoughts But now Revelation does relieve us in this Matter The Scriptures tell us That Christ by his perfect Obedience and Death in our room and stead hath highly Glorified God and his Government and not only redeemed us from Hell and Destruction to which we were liable but also merited Everlasting Glory for us And that the Design of this whole Affair is to magnify the Riches of God's Grace and show the vast Regard he has to the Death and Intercession of his own Son that on his Account he offers such an unspeakable Reward to us Rom. 5.12 That as Sin has reigned unto Death so might Grace reign through Righteousness to Eternal Life by Jesus Christ our Lord. It is not for any Works of Righteousness that we have done or can do it is not because of their Intrinsick Worth that such great Things are given to us Heaven is the Purchase of Christ's Blood it is for His Sake we are accepted and rewarded And so upon our Faith and Obedience we freely receive the Blessings which he hath merited And the more we abound therein the greater is our Reward not because of our Merits but because of God's gracious Promise and Respect to the Blood of his Son for which he assigns us different Degrees of Glory in Proportion to our different Measures of Holiness and Obedience VII § VII I shall add one Consideration more which will equally reach both this and the foregoing Head viz. Natural Light and Reason cannot assure us where Grace is to be had to enable us to perform the Terms on which the Pardon of Sin and the Enjoyment of the Heavenly Glory is suspended Whosoever consults himself the Vanity of his own Mind the Corruption of his own Heart the Turbulency of his Passions the unruliness of his Appetite the Strength of Temptations the Weakness of his Resolutions and the Force of Evil Examples will quickly see an absolute Necessity of a Divine Power to turn him into and keep him in the Paths of Holiness Some Ingenious Men tell us very strange and surprizing Stories of the mighty Strength of Wheels and Pullies and Screws that 't is possible by the Multiplication of them to pull up an Oak by the Roots with a single * Bishop Wilkin's Archimedes p. 96. Hair of a Man's Head lift it up with a Straw or blow it up with ones Breath So that by these Contrivances one of Sampson's Locks when shaven off would have had far greater Strength and done greater Wonders than he himself when all of them were on As Extravagant as this may seem to be yet 't is much more easy and likely than for any Man by his own feeble Arm to pluck up those inveterate Evil Habits which Time and Custom have settled in him and made natural to him Now what well-grounded Confidence can we have from the meer Light of Nature of Divine Help for the accomplishing this great and necessary Work Whether any shall ever enjoy it seeing the same Sins that make us need it render us most unworthy of it Or in what Proportions it shall be given forth and how long it shall be continued Whether the Spirit of God shall be like those Periodical Winds which in some Parts of the World do annually blow to help the Mariner forward in the pursuit of his gainful Voyage or whether it shall only be like that bright Minute which Astrologers tell us of that comes but once in the whole Compass of a Man's Life and which if he lazily let slip he shall never have such another but is doom'd to Misery by a Fatal Necessity all the remainder of his Days But the Christian Institution is peculiarly called the Ministration of the Spirit 2 Cor. 3.8 c. as contra-distinguish'd from the Judaical one tho' that also had God for its Author so small a Portion of it was given forth under the one like little Drops of the Dew from Heaven which just wets the Ground in Comparison of what is bestowed under the other like a plentiful Shower of Rain from above that abundanly Waters it It was in the New Creation as in the Old The cold and dark Evening went before the warm and bright Morning and God appointed the lesser Light to Rule the Night and the greater one to govern the Day The Jewish Dispensation like the Moon had its Glory and its Influence on these lower Bodies But the Gospel is like the Sun who may with more reason than any thing which some Ancient Philosophers dreamt of be called the Soul of the World whose bright and warm Beams give a new Life and Being to all things here below awaken the sleepy and drowsy Spirit in every Creature and cause the Fruits of the Ground to Spring up and flourish and Crown the Year with an abundant Increase Therefore our Blessed Saviour stiles himself the Light of the World Joh. 8.12 a Title which he doth deserve because of the Objects that he hath informed us of having set those Old Truths which before were but darkly apprehended in a full and clear Light and acquainted us with those New ones which had it not been for him we had for ever remained Igrant of And he doth deserve it no less because of that Vital Influence with which his Heavenly Doctrine is accompanied without which all Knowledge in our Minds would be but like decayed Drugs which tho' taken into our Bodies having lost all their Virtue never operate upon them nay Men could not act worse if they verily believed or knew those Doctrines to be false than they do now they believe and know them to be true Joh. 1.4 Ephes 5.14 His Light is the Life of Men Wherefore he saith Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the Dead and Christ shall give thee Light And by the Scriptures we are certified that God hath appointed his own Son to be his High Almoner to distribute this Royal Gift of his among us his needy Creatures That being God and Man he hath the Infinite Goodness of the one and the tender Bowels of the other united in him And
Cannot Conclude without making a little Reflection upon what has been said And 1. How should we love and value and adhere to the Gospel of Christ and the Blessed Author of such a Revelation How are Writers esteemed who treat of Matters which are of very great Use and Service to Mankind in the things of this Life And what a Price do Men set upon those Books wherein Difficulties are cleared up and those profitable Inventions are contained Now what is there of so great Importance as Pardon of Sin and Immortal Life the Doctrine whereof is encumber'd with so many Difficulties which are too hard for Natural Light and Reason but are so clearly plainly and fully Solved by the Holy Scriptures How are Men pleased with an exact Description of a Foreign Country tho' they do not so much as dream of dwelling in it nor have any thoughts or hopes of having so much as one Foot of Land there How then should we value the Gospel that gives us so full and plain an Account of the Heavenly Country and how we may be possessed of all the Glory of it What an Esteem have ingenious Men for a Book of Astronomy that gives an Account of the orderly Motions of the Sun Moon and Stars What an happy Invention is that of those Glasses whereby they discover some lesser Bodies which the naked and unassisted Eye is not able to perceive tho' thereby they have no more Benefit from their Light and Influence than those who are the most ignorant of these Affairs How should we value the Sacred Oracles which do discover the Heavenly State to us which is not to be known by mere Reason and how we may so order our own Motions as to get above and out-shine any of those glorious Luminaries Let us adhere to the Bible for if once we give up that we are off from our Center we shall find nothing whereon our Soul can rest but shall be at our Wits-end Methinks that Courtier spoke like a Man of Sense to the Pagan King Edwin whilst he was considering whether he had best to turn Christian or no when he said thus to him * Bede's Eccles Hist Gentis Angl. l. 2. cap. 13. The present Life of Man upon Earth Sir if compared with that Time which is to us unknown seems to me to resemble a little Sparrow which while your Majesty was feasting within with your Royal Retinue in your warm Parlour during the roaring of the blustering Winds and the falling of great Quantities of Rain and Snow without flew in at one Door and presently flew out at another All the time it was in the House it was well shelter'd from Wind and Weather but as soon as it got out into the cold Air we were altogether as ignorant whither it went as we were whence it came Thus we can give some Account of our Soul during its Abode in the Body while it was housed and harboured therein but where it was Before and how it fares with it Afterwards is to us altogether unknown If therefore Paulinus he was the Christian Bishop who laboured to Convert those Heathens by his Preaching can certainly inform us herein he deserves in my Opinion to be followed And the King after he had heard Paulinus's Sermon spoke like an Understanding Man when he said I have long ago been convinced that the Idols we have Worshipped were meer Nothings because the more diligently I have sought for the Truth in this way of Religion so much the farther was I from finding it But now I openly profess that by this Preaching the way of obtaining Eternal Life and Happiness is clearly laid before us Whereupon he immediately gave Orders for the Demolishing the Heathen Temples and Altars 2. Let us take heed that we do not fall short of Pardon and Heaven Sad was the Case of that wicked and prophane Lord at Samaria who barely saw the great Plenty with his Eyes but never tasted of it he stood at the Gate to let in others but was trampled to Death by the Multitude pressing in upon him Much worse will be our Case if we only hear of the great Provision which God has made for us in the other State and never feed upon it but be trodden down to Hell in the Crowd of our own unpardoned Sins It is a double Misery to be drowned within sight of Shore to miss of that Pardon and of that Heaven that are so plainly revealed and of which we have heard so much and so often 3. Let us clear up our Right and Title to both of them How long have we remained in Doubts and Fears and shall we always continue in that uneasy Posture like a Door on its Hinges moving this way and that but still hanging in the same Place where it was many Years ago To clear up our Right 't is necessary that the following Rules be observ'd 1. Don't give Way to immoderate Worldly Sorrow If we be like a Carkass that lies under the Weight of that Earth which presses upon it and never stirs Hand or Foot to help it self If we lie down under our Burdens only mourning and complaining and indulging our selves in black and gloomy Thoughts we can never expect that God should help us especially if we do worse than this if we sinfully afflict our selves we can't reasonably hope that God should comfort us and raise up them who madly cast or bow themselves down If with our own Hands we plunge the Dagger into our Breast it would be a Miracle if we did not lose our Blood and Spirits faint and feel a great deal of Pain They that will chew upon nothing but Wormwood and Gall and delight in rolling it up and down in their Mouths are likely to walk in the Bitterness of their Souls all their Days 2. Watch against the Encroachments of Bodily Melancholy This naturally disposes a Man to Fears and Jealousies is the black Root of many idle but vexatious Scruples and perverse Cavillings and will make him refuse to be comforted tho' there be ever so great Reason for it If a Stander-by convince him of some saving Work of God on his Soul and of his Right to Pardon and Eternal Life yet as soon as he is gone all is undone again the Melancholy Christian being like a faulty Watch which may be wound up and go a little while ones Hand is upon it but no sooner is that removed off but it runs down in an Instant and stands still again When such meet with Worldly Crosses from which none are exempted it casts them into deep Fits of Sorrow which in a Serious Person presently runs into dreadful and amazing Fears about his Soul and the supposed miserable and forlorn State thereof As Peter when he was over-shadowed with a Bright Cloud so any other of the Disciples of Christ when cover'd with a Black one Luke 9.33 are apt to speak they know not what especially against themselves All proper Natural Means therefore