for no other use but to emasculate the Spiritual part weaken her Powers defile her Purity debauch the Mind and set up Sense in the Throne of Reason But as the greatest evil of all which for a while disables the whole Man the Soul in its Faculties and the Body with its Members avoid Drunkenness This is a Sin which when in intense degrees brings a kind of Death upon the Body as well as Mind and so intermits the Exercise of both Judicatures but every Tendency to it more or less undermines sober Reason slackens the Reins of her Government blinds the Understanding and by degrees casts her into a deep sleep and thus weaken'd lets loose the Philistines upon her And though I confess there be different degrees of this Sin and different Constitutions of Men so that some are made more wicked by it than others and thus some excellent Natures may be free from its usual Attendants the greater Crimes I mean in the use of it yet no Man I 'm sure can retain his Wisdom and Discretion You cannot but remember the old Proverb to this purpose Inebriari simul sapere ipsi Jovi non competit Drunkenness makes all Men Fools most Beasts and some Devils And what it naturally tends to learn from the Mouth of the wise Solomon who describes its Effects so sensibly and truly as though he had tried it and observ'd it often Prov. 23. 29. to the end of that Chapter Let your Intellect therefore prescribe the Times Methods and Measures of your Feastings Mirth Diversions and Compotations consult not Sense about these her near Friends to whom she is so much allyed least she deceive and betray you § 23. Fifthly If by the Importunity of the sensual Part the Persuasion of those falsly term'd Friends or the Example of others you have been seduced to do any thing unworthy of your self and thereby have proved Rebel to your better Part upon the first return of your Reason and the recovery of your Understanding from its Eclipse for the opacous Body will soon remove and righteous Râ—â—son shine out again and by its Light shew you your Sin I say then your great care must be immediately to fall down upon your Knees and humbly implore Forgiveness of your Creator for this Offence committed against him and his Vice-gerent At which time you are not only to renew your Resolutions of Amendment and fortifie your self against ensuing Temptations but also to inflict some Penance upon your self for your defection This cannot but be pleasing to Almighty God when he observes how you not only pass sentence but do execution upon your self and thereby anticipate his Judgments Besides it will prevail with the Divine Benignity for a supply of extraordinary Aids for the future make you more circumspect over your self when you know that you must suffer for it and satisfie your own Conscience of the Truth of your Repentance § 24. Sixthy and Lastly because in many things we offend all and so must shall do during this state of Imperfection above all things beware of the Habits of Vices and that you do not give 〈◊〉 â—ensual Part at least the usual 〈◊〉 Habits you know of all things especially of Vice stick hard and are not easily removed Sensuality a little encouraged will grow strong insolent and play the Tyrant and warm'd with the Snake in the Fable begins to hiss gather Poison and keep Reason out of doors the longer we delay to humble him which yet must be our Task at one time or other unless we resolve to be miserable for ever the harder our work will be And believe me a Man besotted to his Vices or in the Apostle's Phrase dead in Trespasses and Sins is next the damned the most lamentable Spectacle and the direct way to this Condition is to gratifie our Appetites so long till we must deny them nothing yea and at last destroy Appetite it self by pleasing it And though this may seem strange yet 't is the true end of all Debauchery for Sensuality doth at last devour itself and the inferiour Soul if let alone like the Worm in the Fruit will become its own Executioner § 25. But this case is God be thanked not so common Such a Man must have lost all Sense of Vertue be fully reconciled to his Vices though never so destructive and resolv'd on his own Ruine He must be deaf to all Counsel hardned beyond all Impressions of Reason and Conscience The Spiritual Life must be totally swallowed up of the Sensitive and he must be a hardned impenitent and contented Sinner content to lose Heaven and endure Hell If he hath any apprehensions of his Sin and Danger he is not irrecoverably lost but may admit of Help To which Purpose I will in the Close of this Discourse lay down these Rules for his Recovery I. Let him be truly convinc'd of his Condition his present and future Miseries his unworthy Bestial and Brutish Life and the Sorrows to which he is posting For if he can be but made sensible of his Condition so as to desire Help he is capable of it and may have it The Understanding must be clear'd and the Will rectified and the Man made throughly willing to be cured Wilt thou be made whole saith our Lord to the impotent Man that had lain at the Pool of Bethesda thirty and eight Years and having understood his willingness he received the powerful Command of Rise take up thy Bed and walk II. Let him then leave off all the Incendiaries to Vice as Wine and Strong-Drink and the Converse Company and Society of those Betrayers of Souls those Panders for Hell which have hitherto accompanied him into Debauchery and let him frequent the Society of Wise and Vertuous Men who will direct and encourage him by their Advice and Example III. Let him call upon God who is always ready with his Grace to assist Pious Eneavours who gives liberally and upbraids no man IV. Let him begin with the Out-works of Sensuality deny himself in smaller Matters first and retrench himself by degrees If he can conquer in a little he may be sure to proceed and the more he prevails the more he shall be enabled till at last he becomes more than Conquerour and can do all things thro' Christ that strengthens him V. And for his Encouragement let it be considered that the old habituated Sinner's state is not so desperate but that he also hath some advantages of Piety his Lusts and Appetites by continual fruition are become tired nauseate and by the decay less importunate His Heats are cooled his Rashness moderated and Righteous Reason is ready to convince him That all sinful Enjoyments are but Vanity and Vexation of spirit That the days are come in which he can find but little pleasure in them For a Young man may in some measure be excused but an Old man cannot because even Nature joins with Grace to sound a retreat his Appetites are ready every foot to
and which doth not stand in need of its Assistance and no part of Religion but what it serves And all this it doth by watching over the Passions to prevent Tumult and punish Insurrections by keeping the rein in the mouth of the Beast and the Appetites in due subjection Thus Autarchy is Custos Pacis the Keeper of the publick Peace in the little World the Defender of Vertue and a Magistrate bearing the Sword of Punishment where it governs not in vain § 16. This is that Christian Duty that St. Paul calls Mortification or killing of the deeds of the Body through the help and power of the Spirit Rom. 8. 13. in order to the Heavenly Life And these Deeds or Actions of the Body which are to be mortified are in another Place called our Members that are upon the Earth Coll. 3. 5. because the Earthly part useth them as Members of the Body of Sin and operates by them Of these he reckons there only the concupiscible Passions when contaminated and ungoverned as Fornication Vncleanness inordinate Affection evil Concupiscence and Covetousness which is Idolatry and the Irascible in the eighth verse following This is the Crucifixion of the old man call'd so because we brought it into the World with us whereas Regeneration and the Spiritual Life begin in Baptism and the destruction of the body of Sin Rom. 6. 6. This is the Crucifixion of the Flesh or earthly Part with its Affections and Lusts which he mentions to his Galatians c. 5. v. 24. By all which words viz. destroying mortifying crucifying c. he means no other than keeping the Body in subjection and the exercise of the Duty of Autarchy To which purpose he gives you his own Example 1 Cor. 9. 27. I keep under my Body by Fasting and other Spiritual Exercises and bring it into subjection to the Soul the Heavenly Part whose Office and Charge it is to govern lest while I preach to others I my self should become a Cast-away And indeed as this our Apostle laboured more abundantly than all the other so were his Sufferings proportionable both by land and water of strangers and of his own Country-men yet his Autarchy or Self-Government was that which made him endure all not only with Patience but with Glory He us'd his Body to suffering whihc made it become habitual to him and amongst all those Pressures that he underwent for Christ some of which he himself mentions 1 Cor. 11. those he impos'd upon himself because he impos'd them upon himself and voluntarily chose them were so much the more glorious Thus he was crucified with Christ before he was beheaded at Rome and was made a Partner in his Sufferings and conformable to his Death though never crucified Thus he was not only able to do but to suffer all things through Christ that strengthened him and his Conquest of himself first made him more than Conquerour This was the Original from whence the first Christians took the Copy of all their Fastings Discipline and other voluntary Severities they put upon themselves Exercises now quite out-dated nay ridicul'd and call'd superstitious by an impious Pretence to Christian Liberty Their Austerities and Fastings their Penances and holy Revenges their Retirements and Self-denials were only to dis-arm the Enemy within and to render the Fleshly part unable to hinder their Course of Piety and that which they all their lives aim'd at and which we should also if we would be as happy as they was only Autarchy § 17. This is not only the great duty and end of all Moral Philosophy and Practical Divinity but a certain Sign of True Piety Others are sometimes false sometimes frivolous this cannot deceive us Men miss commonly in the Notion of Religion and leaving the Essence of it follow its Shadow and doat upon its Counterfeit For if a Man can but express an outward Zeal though it be nothing in comparison of the Pharisaic Order of old for the Law of Moses if he can but look demurely and counterfeit a Seriousness if he can pour out abundance of bold talk about God though it be hardly Sense lament the Iniquity of the times that is slander and backbite his Superiours and sanctifie all his Raillery with shaking his Head a Sigh or a Groan if a Man can do this I say he must be a Saint an elect person holy and beloved c. though in the mean time his Heart be as full of Extortion and Excess as the Pharisees those painted Sepulchres were of old though he can give his Tongue liberty to slander and his Heart to envy though his Passions be untam'd his Appetites unrestrain'd every where but in publicl The truth is Autarchy when exercis'd for the sake of Religion is a certain Sign and the distinguishing Property of a Child of God and all other Signs are delusive no Man can be either religious or wise without it For true Religion begins within and subdues the Passions and Affections is not clamorous rash fierce or envious as well as not voluptuous wanton or unclean The Wisdom which is from above is first pure then peaceable gentle easie to be intreated full of Mercy and good Fruits and without Partiality or Hypocrisie Jam. 3. 17. He that brings his Body with its Lusts and Appetites into Subjection to the Spirit so that he allows of nothing either unlawful or inconvenient he that endeavours above all to obtain a pure Heart and a right Spirit and to this end purifies himself as God is pure that visits the Fatherless and the Widows in their Affliction and keeps himself unspotted from the World which is St. James's Notion of True Religion and Vndefil'd before God this Man notwithstanding some Errours in his Judgment and Heterodoxes in Opinion can be no other but a Son of God and an Heir of Heaven for they are Christ's that have crucified the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts. § 18. And as Autarchy is a sure sign so it is the Foundation and Beginning of all true Religion whatsoever is not built upon this is founded upon the Sand and will fall in time of Temptation Profession without this is like an Impostume it looks red big and fiery and is a mighty Pain to the Professor but within it is full of crude Humours and Impurities which will at last break out into an Ulcer Nay I will go further and venture to say That it is not only the Bottom but the Top of all Religion and its Perfection Go sell what thou hast saith our blessed Lord to the Young-Man in the Gospel who bragg'd of keeping all the Commandments from his Youth up to that time and give the Money to the Poor if thou wouldst be perfect Try whether thou canst deny thy self and part with thy beloved Mammon upon the Hopes and Promises of Possessions that are above Whether thy Soul or thy Body thy rational Faculties or thy Appetite govern in thee Whether thou canst so far conquer as to deny thy self
Climax So great is our aversion to Death our greatest Friend that would put an End to our Troubles and lay us up in Peace Young men put it far from them and Old men do not care to hear of it though descending down towards their Grave And I have experienc'd in my self now entring into my Declination a kind of Reluctancy to be told I was so far on my Journey I conclude therefore that there is something in Nature some Relict of the Old man that is afraid of Death though she carries it within her and thus perhaps it will be with you and therefore to please the lower Soul and reconcile it to the Government of the upper I shall endeavour to shew that it is the usual Gift and natural Consequent of Autocracy § 4. To this Purpose it will suffice to propose this one Consideration viz. That There is nothing that can conduce more directly to the Health of the Body and consequently to its Preservation to Old Age than the regular Vse of Meat Drink and animal Pleasures which Self-Government enjoins This alone is able to preserve Health and to recover it when lost and if some Original Distemper or fatal Providence interpose not to convey it down to Old Age to procure the Vigour of Youth in Age and a healthful and strong Constitution and consequently a Long Life c. This Truth is self-apparent and shines by its own Light for most Diseases are confess'd to be the Effects of Intemperance Vice tends to our Ruine from its first Entertainment and the Body of Sin naturally leads us to the Body of Death Excesses bring Sickness and Surfeiting will turn to Choler By surfeiting many have perished but he that taketh heed prolongeth his Life saith the wise Son of Sirach Ecclus 37. 30. Instances will best illustrate this Truth for their Conviction For thus the Glutton lives to eat not eats to live but to die when by contrarieties of Meats and Drinks he hath vitiated his Appetite and collected a Mass of Crudities in his Stomach the morbifick Matter which at last sends him out of the World Thus the Drunkard drowns himself in a Dropsie or by a Collection of Adventitious Heats inflames his Blood into a Fever when he shall call for Drink without Satisfaction and use it without Offence And I wish it were seriously considered how peculiar an Enemy this Sin is to our Lives and of how many sad Accidents it is the cause some times fatal to Body and Soul of which we have too many Examples So false is that flattering Proverb A Drunkard never takes hurt And indeed Drunkenness is a kind of Daemoniacism and taking away the use of the Members of the Body and Operations of the Soul the evil Spirit casts him sometimes into the Fire and sometimes into the Water Nor is it a wonder that when the internal Principle of Direction the Understanding is destroyed the Guardian Angel driven away and kept at a distance the Devil should take the advantage to do a Man a Mischief In a word Intemperance is such an universal Purveyor for the Grave that it is become long since a Proverb Plures gulâ quam gladio c. The Throat is the greatest Enemy as well as Preserver to it self and destroys more than the Sword Thus the impure Slave that with an Adulterous Eye pursues every Woman besides his Fears and Dangers wears out his Body and twists up his own Scourge A Disease I mean that destroys his Form and Beauty torments him with Pains when he should take his rest makes him water his Couch with his Tears and his Bed to be the Place of his Punishment because it was the Place of his Folly and at last consigns him over to Rottenness and to become his own Sepulchre And if Whoredoms and Adulteries do not always produce such Tragedies 't is because they are in some Measure restrain'd and so it is the Effect of Autarchy Nay those immaterial Diseases those of the Mind I mean that are not so conversant with gross Matter even these become prejudicial if not fatal to our Lives and Health Covetousness pines and withers the Body Envy dries it up and makes it pale and Pride begets Quarrels Contentions and Wars that send thousands to the Grave together I need not instance in more for 't is the Confession and Complaint of emasculated Debauchees that their Vices have been their Enemies and contributed to their Destruction So that there is a natural Reason as well as Providence in the Sentence of the wise Solomon Evil shall pursue the Sinner and he shall not prolong his days Prov. 10. 27. 13. 21. Eccles 8. 13. 'T is Autarchy alone that prescribes Moderation that distinguisheth betwixt the Abuse and Use betwixt the Poison and Nutriment of Meat and Drink that maintains a due Temperament and satisfies that Nature that she preserves § 5. And here I cannot conceive what Sensuality hath to say for it self and in its own defence unless it is by way of Recrimination Unless she leads you to the Cells of Asceticks and the Oratories of Recluses and shews you the pale and lean Effects of Fasting and Mortification the Skeletons of some few Saints who chose to anticipate Death and die whilst they lived See there will she say the Effects of Bigottism and Religious Frenzie what she would reduce the World to if she could procure once a perfect Empire there And what can Luxury it self do more Besides thou mayst observe that Wise men die as soon and as well as Fools and the Righteous fall promiscuously with the Wicked Alas Death makes no difference nor can Integrity Wisdom Valour or Parts oppose him The End of Man is determin'd and then why should the Means be blam'd he was to die at that time and therefore why should his Vices be accus'd for bringing him thither Thus Sin is ready to excuse it self though she lays the Fault at God's door and on his everlasting Decrees To all which I answer briefly First Waving the Question about the determination of our Lives of which I shall find occasion to give you mine opinion towards the end of this Discourse I say as to the Hardships Fastings and Mortifications of restraining Vertue I cannot find as I noted before that Autarchy absolutely and universally prescribes them but only where our particular necessities require them God hath given his Creatures richly though moderately to be enjoy'd and having given us his Son with him hath given us all things But when the Beast within the Sensual part begins to wax fat and kicks against its Master and Maker both there is then but too apparent Symptoms of a Spiritual 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an evil Habit of Mind and then Fasting and other Ghostly Exercises become our Duty For it is Physick to the Body as well as Soul and serves mutually their Necessities Besides I do not find any Command even in that Case to make our selves sick or to impair our
Indeed there is a rude notion of Justice among the Vulgar but it is only pleaded when they think they are injur'd and exerted when they are like to be Gainers by it But as for Truth a piece of Justice we owe to all Men there is little or no regard to it especially in dealings but Men swear lye and dissemble and will maintain that there is a necessity so to do Hence it is that Oaths which were of old Sacred are now of no Validity yea and the common use of Speech in bargains is to no purpose Lying is become so clamorous that it hath took away our Senses and we had as good be deaf and dumb as hear and talk among Men And then for Charity that God-like Vertue the highest notion of it is quite lost amongst us and we never give but when natural compassion wrings it out of our hands Mean while Ambition is restless and rages so in the World that it overturns whole Kingdoms and buries thousands in their Ruines and Pride that reigns among all Sects and in all shapes will not suffer us to know our selves or be quiet with others And besides these there is such a deluge of inhumane Vices for so I call those that are unworthy of Man and below the Beast broken in upon us from Hell that no Pen is able to describe no Vertue oppose for Man is become the greatest Enemy to himself and cruelly wounds his own Being so that the Love of our selves can serve no longer as a rule to measure our Love to others by and the Apostle's assertion No man ever yet hated his own Flesh seems not to hold in our times In a word we are sunk below Heathenism while Turks and Infidels upbraid us Impiety hath over-run the World and our blessed Lord's Prophecy is too much verified Matt. 24. 10 11 c. 'T is time then that those days should be shortned that any Flesh should be saved and that he should hasten his coming for he shall hardly find his Faith upon the Earth § 2. And yet after all it must be confess'd that this general Apostasie of the greatest part of Mankind cannot be laid to the charge of God or to any defect in revealed Religion He hath fenced and cultivated his Vineyard though it brings forth wild Grapes and hath us'd all means possible to save us but one and that is such an irresistible Grace upon all Men which some have fansied to be bestowed upon those that are effectually called such I mean as would carry us to Heaven by force and save us whether we will or no. His Precepts are holy and just and require of us nothing but what is reasonable to be exacted and feasible to be done besides his Commands are certainly our Interest as well as Duty they are such as would settle Peace and Prosperity amongst Men restore the golden Age and make every Man happy with his Neighbour and happy in himself they enjoin nothing but Love Peace Meekness Long-suffering and Courtesie amongst all men and would necessarily banish Hatred Malice and revenge and all the inimical Vices from humane Society And to render him happier yet by Sobriety and Temperance they would settle Health in his Body and Peace and Contentment in his Soul All this the Christian Religion doth upon great and precious Promises both of this Life and of that which is to come and upon Threats proportionable to its Promises by which Means and by the powerful Ministery of those appointed to this Service God hath secured to himself in all Ages some Witnesses of the inherent Power and Energy of Piety which like so many stars adorn and enlighten our dark Times § 3. It may now be justly enquir'd into why so amiable and reasonable a Religion so profitable to every Man and suited to his true Interest should not have the same Influence upon all and captivate every understanding Why the same cause should not have the same effect and the same Means prove successful to every one that uses it especially seeing there is no fatal sentence to the contrary nor do any labour under eternal Fetters which binds their Hands from receiving what is offer'd to them One would think that the same advantageous Pardon should be embrac'd by every rational Creature and the same Word prove alike not the savour of Life to some and of of Death to others And certainly the fault must be in our selves only and in the indisposition of the Patient which may produce contrary Effects For thus the same Heat melts down Wax and hardens Clay Nor is this Indisposition generally in our Reason and Understanding but in our Affections We all know the Will of God and our own Interests well enough and accordingly we should resolve upon a new Life and perform our Resolutions but alas Man is not usually Master of himself and of his own Intentions The Government that God hath settled in us is sore shatter'd if not quite dissolv'd His Vice-Roy Reason is under confinement and the Senses seduced from their duty the Appetites like dissolute Janisaries in an Interregnum domineer and carry all before them and the Passions like the Mobb pretend to settle the State and make such a Noise that the soft Messages of Peace though from God cannot be heard for First Man is usually brought under bondage to the Earthly part and the higher Faculties captivated by the lower he is carnal and sold under Sin and so cannot do what he would The Fall of Adam has weakned his spiritual Powers and brought them down so that they stand upon even ground with the lower Appetites and Custom and a slavish yielding up our native Freedom have made us absolute Slaves to our sensual Part. And hence it is that though we are convinc'd of the Necessity and Benefit of Vertue before and of Repentance after we have offended and promise and perhaps sincerely intend to act accordingly yet after all we fail in our Performances and break our Resolutions The next Temptation bears all our Vows and Faith away with it we have disabled our selves and being under a kind of Confinement can promise much but perform nothing And then Secondly Sensuality being got into the Throne fortifies it self there with specious declarations of the lawfulness of its Title and possesses the poor deluded with the mighty hopes of its Profits Pleasures and Advantages It represents the Comforts of Eat Drink and be Merry to the utmost advantage It crys up the Felicity of sinful Freedom and is always inculcating the Severities and Chains of Vertue It represents Religion sowre and austere and draws her picture like Magdalene always weeping By these her false Representations and the Echo's of the Appetite poor Reason cannot be heard Hence it is that we first entertain and by conversation begin to love and then doat on and at last espouse our Vices not to be separated as long as the Body and Soul hold together Thus we are fallen since we came
without any consideration of its Consequents or Effects For the brutish Part â—n Man is the same with that in Beasts uncapable of the future Prospect of Good and Evil and fully satisfied with what is present So truly Bestial is this lower part of our Nature that it admits not of Hopes or Fears but tends greedily to present Enjoyment This is that Conduit by which the Devil conveys his Temptations into us and the Instrument by which we destroy our selves Hence it is that we know no Moderation in the use of animal Pleasures but run into that Excess from whence proceeds the dreadful Catalogue of Crimes which St. Paul enumerates as The Fruits of the Flesh Gal. 5. 19 20 21. § 8. It may be here questioned by some with more Curiosity perhaps than Profit were it not that we should be jealous over every thing that might eclipse the Divine Goodness Why thâ— ever Gracious and Merciful Deity should infuse the Pure Spirit fresh new-created and immaculate into the defil'd Vessels of the Body Why should he join such 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such disagreeing Natures the Heavenly to the Earthly Vehicle there to lose not only its Glory but Innocency For what is this but Mezentius like might Atheism object to join the living and dead Bodies together that the one might die leisurely but infallibly by the Putrefaction of the other or to put an undefiled Virgin innocent and unknowing of Sin into the Stews where she shall meet with Temptations of all sorts to sollicite her Chastity and from whence morally it is impossible for her to escape unpolluted 'T is true the Doctrine of the continual Creation of humane Souls and their Infusion into Bodies is obvious to these and other mighty Prejudices as that of their Traduction is to greater and therefore some thoughtful Men have revived a long-since-forgotten Hypothesis of the Creation of all humane Souls together with the Angels and other invisible Beings before that of the visible of their Lapse from their Primitive Integrity as likewise did the Angels and Mankind after both and after a long time of Inactivity of their being sent down to Bodies diversly circumstantiated according to their several demerits there to grind in their Prison-houses till Time had worn out and the Divine Pity forgiven them their Crimes till Grace and the Exercise of Vertue had reviv'd the Coelestial Fire and the lost Image of God in them c. This is the Prae-existentian Doctrine which they say would fitly solve all the doubts about the Goodness of God in our Origination and dissolve all that Darkness that seems to obscure the Face of Providence I mention not this Opinion because I would oblige any Man to believe it but for its Novelty as to most Men and for its Ingenuity nor would I perswade you to it if you can cleaâ— the Divine Goodness or Justice withouâ— it For it is not only the Privilege of the Schools to dispute but of every Christian modestly to opine freely of things undefin'd by God and his Church Bâ—â— seeing this Hypothesis receives so littlâ— Light from reveal'd Religion that it iâ— generally look'd upon as the Product oâ— Fancy I shall endeavour to untie thâ— Knot in plainer Terms and upon morâ— allowed Principles wherein I must yeâ— run back as high as the Fall of Angels § 9. When Heaven by the Lapse oâ— so many of its Inhabitants first intâ— a state of Sin and then into that oâ— Punishment bound up in everlasting Chains against the Judgment of the greaâ— Day became something empty and the Coelestial Powers were reduced to a lesser Number it pleased the Creatour of alâ— things in order to the filling up of those Vacancies to make a Race of Creatures of a mixt and middle Nature a little lower than the Angels and yet higher than the Beasts that perish Man I mean Partaker of both the Heavenly and Earthly Natures united together that the Earthly Part might teach him Humility to avoid the aspiring thoughts and so the Fate of the lapsed Angels and that the Heavenly Part might exalt his Thoughts and lift them up to God his Creator As his Strength and Endowments were lesser than those of the Angels so were his Failures less fatal than theirs He was plac'd in a state not of Condemnation in case of disobedience as they were but of Falls and Recoveries of Sin and Repentance His Station was not so high as theirs lest if he fell his Fall might prove like theirs Final and yet high enough to make his Recovery a Work not a Pastime and a Work of that Difficulty to require the Help of a Divine Saviour Thus his very Composition became his â—dvantage and his Earthly Part with its attendant Lusts and Temptations became accidentally the Cause of all the Mercies he hath received ever since To which I may add That as he consists of two opposite Principles so each must have its peculiar Law or Inclination in opposition one to another That of the Spirit and that of the Flesh each tending as it were to its proper Centre the one inviting him upwards the other downwards For each Nature would be incompleat without its attendant Inclinations and Fruitions to caress it The Spiritual would be as good as dead without its Intellect and Prospect and consequently Desires of Future Good and the Earthly part had as good cease to be as cease to be sensible of Earthly Pleasures If we could not experiment the Delights of Seeing Hearing Tasting c. how dull and flat would our Lives be like a Play without Scenes or Intrigue without the Passions of Love or Hatred or any thing to move the Spectators 'T is then not only out of a Principle of giving each Nature its Perfections but also for the Comfort of both that God hath endued us with Sense and Appetite as well as Reason For these take off the Acerbities of Life and render it tolerable they support the Body and Mind under all the Pressures that God lays upon both under the Sun Without these Life would not be worth the Acceptance when proffer'd or Preservation when accepted of § 10. And that which perfectly rebates the Objection against the Goodness of God is this That there is no necessity of Sinning intended to be imposed upon us for our Appetites and Passions are not sinful in themselves nor directly and simply incite us to it but by accident when put in a Commotion and Rage and when the Reins are loose and broken like the Horses of the Sun when a foolish Phaeton undertakes their Management which would otherwise bless that World with Light and Influence which it now burns up Or like the Blood in a ferment that sometimes destroys that Body it daily nourishes 'T is their Nature 't is true to desire to be satisfied and move strongly towards that Object they would enjoy else we should have no Love or Hatred but they are design'd for Subjection and not for Government to
leave him and he is fain to use Arts to keep them his Lusts slight him and deceive him and he hath nothing but a sinful vitiated Will and a polluted Fancy left which yet makes him ridiculous and exposes him His Lusts first seduced his Mind and now a defil'd Mind is forc'd to caress them like an out-worn Mistress once ador'd now slighted by her old Servants 'T is but time certainly then to retire when we can pursue our pleasures no longer when Providence hath taken away the Temptation we ought not to make to our selves Images and Shadows of that which hath forsaken us This is the Order of Nature and thus Days speak if we would hear and multitude of Years would teach us Wisdom Lastly Let him endeavour to obtain a true Estimate of the different Pleasures and Advantages the Ends and Consequences of Vertue and Vice and by comparing them together become satisfied how much better 't is to live the Life of a good Man and a Christian here and to be received into Bliss hereafter than to be a Sot a Slave a Fool for a few days and afterwards to be damned § 26. This is the great Truth which the two following Essays do endeavour to illustrate and which I hope your Experience will one day convince you of In the mean time let me only tell you That the Sensualist for all his gay Colours and fine Shows is but a poor miserable Slave and enslav'd to that which every good and wise Man keeps in Subjection I mean his Brutish Part his Lusts and Appetites Whilst the Man that keeps his Liberty and rules within himself that uses Pleasures as a Cordial not continual Nourishment and takes only what will agree with his Spiritual Advantages the Man that can learn and practise this short Lesson of the excellent Moralist of old sustine abstine suffer and abstain suffer with Patience and Resignation what Providence lays upon thee and abstain from every thing which may be hurtful for thy Body or Soul This mighty Man I say this more than Emperour reigns a Soveragin in himself is invulnerable and unconquerable he falls into no sin nor runs into any Danger but is the Favourite and Care of Heaven here and hereafter And thus much of The Nature of Autarchy and Rules of its Practice with which I shall conclude the First Part of this Essay and am Yours c. ἈΥΤΑΡΧΊΑ· OR THE ART of Self-Government The Second PART BEING A Vindication of the Pleasures of Autarchy compar'd with those of Sensuality § 1. AFTER a curious Search into the Original of Corrupt Nature the Reasons of its Conjunction with the purer Spirit and the Rules to make it serviceable to Religion which was the Argument of my former Discourse my Dear Dorotheus you may perhaps think it unnecessary to write a Second time or add any thing to that Subject And truly after I had finished the Former Letter I became inclinable to that Opinion my self till besides my Promise I had consider'd that it is easie to give and hard to take such Counsel that Autarchy is the most difficult and perhaps in some Sense our only Duty and that Sense will become importunate especially when it hath Health and Youth to be its Advocates And truly when I find so few Men even in their best Age and most vivid Exercise of their Reason able to tame the Wild Beast within I must confess I cannot rigorously exact it of Youth My Business therefore shall be in the following Papers to work upon your Affections I mean to engage my self in the Cause of the superiour Faculties and endeavour to convince you that they are not rigorous nor exercise any Tyranny over us but that by a wise and sweet Conduct they would if permitted gently and carefully pilot our crazed Vessel through the turbulent Sea of this World to the Haven of Happiness and this not only when the Rules are drawn by Morality but by the strictest Religion If this can be made out Self-Government will be your Choice not your Yoke and you will find it your great Duty and greater Interest § 2. And because there be several sorts of Judgments as well as Constitutions so that some will be convinc'd with that Argument which others cannot Apprehend or count ridiculous Lest from hence Autarchy and its Vertues should be disparaged by a real or seeming poor Apology I must here premonish you that its Exercise doth not merely depend upon those outward Encouragements which follow Morality is our Duty and our Interest though never so ungrateful and its great Obligations arise from Spiritual Promises and Rewards in this Life and the Eternal Joys of the Life to come and tho' she were ever so sorrowful hirsute and Squallid yet those inexpressible Joys she inspires into the Soul in this Life and those she reserves for the future state are abundantly sufficient to subdue any rational Understanding Even Afflictions themselves may be elegible when being light and Momentary they work for us a far more exceeding weight of Glory The End makes Sufferings tolerable and we see in Temporals Men are very willing to be sick for future Health to serve a severe Apprenticeship for a lasting Freedom to labour toil and sweat for an approaching Harvest and to hazard the dangers of the Seas for Merchandice and of War for Glory These are common Practices founded upon rational Conjectures And why should not Religion engage us upon greater and more certain Motives The Arguments then that follow are not necessary but ex abundanti If they convince they will sweeten the Methods of Providence reconcile the Sons of Sense to Vertue answer the Objections of the Sensualists and remove some Stumbling-blocks that offend the Carnal minded if not know yet that Religion stands upon eternal Foundations and remains secure as having no need of outward Rewards though it may yet receive some encouragements and advances in Minds not so defecate and stript of the World as ours must needs be while we live with Flesh and Blood And indeed the Prejudices of Sensualists are so many loud and clamorous and improv'd to that degree that I thought it worth my time to search into the matter and consider whether Piety makes all her Votaries in this Life most miserable For Men mostly preferr present to future Comforts and these short Joys in a Vale of tears to those of the Regions of Happiness which are above If I therefore can demonstrate that Religion hath its present Comforts and perhaps greater and more substantial than Sensuality can pretend to all these Prejudices will vanish and Men will entertain it for its present as well as future Reward § 3. And here I expect to meet with great Disadvantages by reason of those Prejudices which seem to be congenite and twisted into humane Nature for the Pleasure of Self-denial which must accompany Autarchy are look'd upon as a Paradox and Men bear a kind of antipathy to restraining Vertue when
it puts the Roins into the Mouth of Appetite 't is thought imperious and its Government intolerable We have a natural Inclination to please our worser part which even a mortified St. Paul was forc'd to complain of this is the common Murmurer which looks back towards Egypt and like the Spies sent to search Canaan brings an evil Report of that good Land The Land say they is indeed good but their Cities are walled up to Heaven and defended by Giants the Sons of Anak to whom we are but as Grashoppers See how Fear augments things and what Hyperboles Infidelity can fansie to it self for the Walls were not so high nor the Giants so terrible Thus the Sensualists will describe the Self-denying part of Religion 't is confest will they say all things considered that it were best if we could govern our selves and restrain our Passions and they are certainly happy that can obtain that Power but the number of such have been but small some select Saints of old who had as it were put off Humane Nature and were extraordinarily endued with Strength from above but who amongst us and in these degenerate times of Sin and Death can throw down the Strong-holds of Sin and conquer those gigantick Appetites that defend them this would be to turn Angels before our time and put off that Humanity that we must at the same time carry about us Nor is this Warfare only difficult but painful nay a kind of Death to die dayly I mean to mortifie our selves and kill all those dispositions and tendencies to Sin implanted in us 'T is certainly a harsh Lesson which our Lord teaches us tho' by way of Metaphor to cut off an offending Hand and pluck out a wanton Eye by which is implied at least alas that it should be so the Difficulty and yet Duty of Seeing and not Desiring For why have we Senses given us if we may not use them or why have these Senses any Influence upon our Desires if they may not be gratified This is to exact an impracticable Work of us and excercise a Tyranny that would justifie even a Rebellion For we can never become so unkind to our own Inclinations as thus to mortifie them and under pretence of Religion act a kind of Martyrdom Alas the Scripture hath express'd this Work in frightful Terms and Mortification Circumcision of the Heart and the Death of the Body of Sin are words that carry Terrour in them Besides as though the ordinary Exercise of Religion were not bitter enough God hath infus'd more Gall into it by his Dealing towards his Servants and Providence seems to exercise them above others with Afflictions What means else those Sorrowful Predictions by which our Blessed Lord forewarns his Disciples of Persecutions which they should suffer and which his Apostle St. Paul seems to entail upon Christianity it self 2 Tim. 3. 12. That all that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer Persecutions I will therefore saith the Sensualist lay aside this difficult this painful Work and depend upon Mercy for Heaven for if God had expected better things from me he would have made me better Heaven is I confess worth the pursuit but 't is an Estate that may be long before it falls nor know I whether all my Sorrown and Sufferings in the Pangs of the New-birth will at last entitle me to it Or if this Resolution be too daring I hope I may yet adjourn this bitter Cup this painful Task to Old Age which is the only time proper for Penance and Mortification Pleasures will then be denied me by Nature and then and not till then I will deny them Appetite must at last cease and then I will resolve no longer to gratifie it It is best parting by mutual Consent and when my beloved Vices and I can keep company no longer then and not before then we must part for ever Thus pleads the Sensualist and so puts off this necessary this pleasant work till Death comes and snacks him off the Stage and then his Thoughts and Designs perish Or if he lives to Old Age his sinful Habits are become inveterate and fixt beyond the possibility of a Removal so that Age finds him and leaves him a hardned and contented Sinner All which yea and the punishments of the other World that follow after proceed from this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this Fundamental Errour That Autarchy is a harsh unpleasant work and her Government Tyrannical § 4. It is now therefore my Task to combate the Sensualist with his own Weapons and in his own Way and to vindicate the Duty that I commend which is look'd upon as the severest in the Christian Religion being no less than Self-Denial from the evil Report that Sin and Satan would needs fix upon it To do this I consider That there are but two Qualifications that can commend any thing to our Observation viz. Pleasure and Profit Pleasure is the peculiar Dalilah of yonger and Profit of older Years These are the two boasted Advantages of Sensuality for which the deluded Wretch pawns both Body and Soul and the only Spoils he can aim at If I can therefore demonstrate That there are equal if not better Pleasures and as much Profit to be found under the Government of the Spirit as there is under that of the Flesh I have mine end nor will the want of these be an Argument against Autarchy This is the remaining part of my Task and the Province that I have undertaken which though it look like a Paradox I hope to perform with that Evidence that to an understanding and considerative Person it shall reach even to a Conviction The only thing I desire of you my Dorotheus is to strip your self of all Prejudices and lay aside the Love of Carnality to clear your Mind of all gross Matter and to consider Enjoyments abstracted from your natural Inclinations to them and as they are in themselves and thus qualified I shall not fear to make you judge in this present Controversie while I weigh the present Advantages of Vertue and Vice in the Balance of Reason and thence evince that Autarchy is neither so difficult or unprofitable a work as it has been hitherto represented to you That the Spiritual part lays no heavy Burthens upon Mens Shoulders grievous to be born but that Christ's heaviest Yoke is yet easie and his Burthen light And this I shall do by examining the Pleasures of Sensuality in the first place and stripping off its Paint and Garniture compare them with the more solid and substantial Pleasures of Vertue And then having made some suitable Observations upon the Difficulty and Misery which are suppos'd to attend a pious Life conclude the trouble of this Letter and leave the other outward Advantages of Autarchy for the Subject of the Third Part. § 5. I am not here oblig'd to maintain That there are no such things as sinful Pleasures no more than with the Stoick deny that there is Evil
present Blessedness as well as a future This cannot be discern'd I must confess by the most part of Mankind in a degenerate Age which will admit of no Happiness which is not carnal We put Sensuality in the Chair and make her Judge of the Pleasures of Autarchy and she will not fail without all question to give sentence on her own side in her on Case viz. That Self-Government is a painful and a miserable sort of Life Whereas let enlightned Reason be placed on the Tribunal and you shall hear that which Solomon long-since noted even to a Proverb That her Ways are Ways of Pleasantness and all her Paths are Peace I have already I hope sufficiently proved That there is no considerable Pleasure appropriate to Sensuality but what she borrows of Temperance and Moderation and then dishonestly claims to be her own and That her End is Sorrow and Shame This were enough to obtain my Point and make Autarchy the severest of all Vertues much more eligible but I shall proceed to confirm the same thing more directly and positively and that whether we consider those Pleasures that are outward or inward those that concern the Body or the Soul For though I have appealed from the Sentence of Sensuality in this Case yet I will admit of the Evidence of the Senses when not either disordered or bribed into a false Information § 15. And here I dare challenge all the Sensualists in the World to shew in all their boasted Enjoyments any thing equal to the Delights of Moderation or any Delight that doth not take its Original from thence For Animal Pleasures arise first out of the Temperate use of Nature and when they are us'd beyond this they become weak decay and die Sure I am that the Pleasure of Tasting and so of all the other Senses is more vivid quick and lasting and consequently greater in the Temperate Person than in the Glutton Debauchery feeds upon and devours it self by being gratified The full Soul loaths the Honey-comb but to the hungry even bitter things are sweet The frequent Use of any thing takes away its Pleasure and it dwindles to nothing Expectation Art and Fancy may support it for a while but at last it dies and is utterly lost by Enjoyment whereas he that governs himself by Rules and Measures reaps all the Delight that Nature hath provided for him For whilst Riot makes Men dull stupid and insensible Moderation keeps up and maintains the Vigour of the Senses and consequently their Pleasure Thus Vertue takes the best Course to propagate Youth and continue it her Servant is not usually dim nor is his natural Force by Disorder c. abated such is he or such would he be if Autarchy might have its Effect § 16. Nor can Poverty Infoelix Paupertas as the Poet calls it the Vnhappy Poverty or Meanness of Birth or Fortune diminish these I mean the outward Pleasures of the Autarchist his Dinner of Herbs tastes as well as a fatted Ox upon the Rich Man's Table He needs no Sauces to commend his Meat to his Palate or Varieties to delight him Hunger and a good Stomach makes his Food be it ever so mean pleasant and Nature supplies him with the same or at least as delightful Rarities as Art doth other Men. And here give me leave a little to vary from my Argument and make a short digression in favour of that we call Poverty For if we search into things themselves and lay aside the accustomary abuse of Words and Titles we shall find that Heaven's Bounty is not so unequal nor that there is so much Difference betwixt Men in respect of outward Blessings as the World judges For First we are all equally Rich in the common Blessings of Nature and the Heavens and Earth with all the good things of each are bestowed upon every Man The Sun Moon and Stars and their Light Heat and Influence is every Man's Propriety and the Hills Rivers Woods and Plains with all the other Varieties of Nature Objects more August than Art can frame are all expos'd to his View to delight and serve him Secondly The Great Man hath no more from all his Superfluities than the Poor Man from his Necessaries All the Revenues in the World will but allow the Owner Food and Raiment his Family and Servants devour the rest and all his stately Buildings will but give him shelter from the Extremities of Heat and Cold and the Poor Man hath that which affords him both these and commonly with more Peace and Safety Thirdly The Greatest Person cannot appropriate his Riches to himself but other Men even the meanest shall in spite of Covetousness share with him He may indeed look upon his Palaces Buildings Aquaeducts c. with Delight and Admiration and so may the meanest of his Servants and Strangers with greater Admiration than either He may call them his own and pride himself in his Magnificence but I do not see but to most Intents and Purposes they are as much his Servants as his Indeed there is this difference betwixt the legal Owner and others he may pass over his Right to others and leave them his Heirs to he knows not whom which another cannot He hath the Care and Trouble of them which a Stranger hath not but as to the Profits and Fruits of his Possessions though he hath the First Choice yet his Inferiours must share with him and enjoy it to as good Effects as he This that I have said is not to detract from Worth and Nobility but to comfort those that are estemed the Drudges and Slaves of this World We have all enough if we could comprehend God's Bounty and be contented If we could but govern our selves and regulate our Desires we might be Rich enough For then we should prize the Musick of the Birds and value the Odours of the Flowers above artificial Perfumes we should think our selves loaded with the Blessing of Nature were we apprehensive of them and could we view them with an intellectual Eye we should then find the Blessings appropriate to a middle Estate as well as those of a greater and though our Commons be not great nor costly we should find Satiety This is not altogether alienate from the Subject in hand for it shews the outward Pleasures of Self-Government even in low Circumstances and that whilst the Voluptuous studies to gratifie his decayed and out-worn Senses the Autarchist enjoys the Caresses of Nature and there can be no innocent Epicure in the World but only he § 17. Nor is the Influence of Autarchy confin'd only to the outward Senses but it reaches the inward yea and the Operations of the Soul also For though the Soul be a Substance distinct yet she is much influenced by the just and due Temperament of the Body and hath no Converse with things without but by the Mediation of the Senses And though according to the Notion of the Platonists she be imprisoned in these walls of Flesh
Its Regimen was settled by our Creator in the beginning and first origination of Mankind and therefore not difficult to him who institutes his Life according to the Order of Nature For indeed all manner of Intemperance is a violence and rape upon our Nature and we find that till she is conquer'd by long and customary Force she both abhors and resists it Thus for instance Gluttony presses her down and Drunkenness strives to stifle and drown her whilst she poor Wretch struggles with all her force throws up the unconcocted load the same way it was imposed upon her and in resentment of this Violence pines her self sometimes several Days afterwards This I say is the true state of virgin and undebauch'd Nature And therefore Self-Government is her Guardian nor can it be difficult originally but natural and consequently easie But then 2. As it cannot be denyed but that this among many other things is now grown difficult to us so it must be confess'd That this Difficulty is the Effect of long and customary Habits of Licentiousness nor can it be wonder'd that a Man habituated to a sinful Course of Life and used to be carried about by his unruly Passions should find some uneasiness in the first entrance of a regular and staid Conversation no more than that an untam'd Horse should at first time regret the Bridle or the young Bullock the Yoke that is laid upon his unaccustom'd Neck All Changes from one extream to another prove troublesome and in every Alteration of Life we may observe the like The beginnings of things must be difficult especially to a prejudic'd Nature and he that is accustomed to Extravagance must resent a Restraint The Neophite cannot but expect some trouble in the Government of his Passions and perverse Nature and the young Practitioner will be weary of his New Work but he that has us'd himself to it finds the Sweet of it and he that is exercised therein shall find its Delights 3. And then for those affrightful Names of Mortification c. they were at first given with respect to the Removal of inveterate Habits and the trouble it puts an old Sinner to As for the things themselves they are not simply necessary to the Duties I commend nor indeed to Christian Religion no more than Physick is to our Mortal Bodies Not simply necessary but only by way of Consequence and by reason of those Diseases of the Mind which we have contracted When Piety begins to decay through the Weakness of the Powers of the Soul and the Prevalency of the Appetite then the Spiritual Pill becomes necessary and if it be unpleasant to the Taste or makes us sick in its Operation we may thank our Diseased Minds for it Corrupt humours cannot be evacuated without Pain nor can the dumb and deaf Spirit much less that which is raging mad be cast out without sore Convulsions of Mind and a renting of the Heart even to a seeming Death But all this is but accidental to Religion which in it self is an easie Yoke and a light Burthen a sweet and delightsome Imploy and requires none of these Severities For to a Man that hath been train'd up in Subjection to the Heavenly part and hath liv'd so till he hath become capable of sensing the Pleasures of the Divine Life there is no need of Mortifying of Lusts and Appetites these have been regulated long ago ab initio bred up in Obedience and taught Submission from his Birth I shall only add two things more upon this Head and could wish that they might be as seriously consider'd as they must be confess'd The First is That the strictest Precepts of Christianity such as Self-denial and taking up the Cross the severest Doctrine of the severest Religion hath its peculiar Pleasures and comforts and that in proportion to its Hardships Secondly That Vice is the greatest Slavery and brings greater Mortifications and Hardships upon the Body yea and upon the Appetites themselves than the most restraining Vertue and consequently that Men usually take more pains and suffer more to go to Hell than is required in order to Heaven and a Blessed Eternity § 22. As for the Miseries that the Beginning of this Discourse seems to entail upon Piety whether they are ab extrà or ab intrà I answer briefly 1. That God is not severe or cruel to any Man much less to his Servants He is good unto every Man and his tender Mercies are over all his Works He is slow to Anger of great kindess and repenteth him of the evil 2. That he punishes them or suffers them to be afflicted arises out of other Causes as First To prevent Sin and the Doating upon this World by letting them see their own Frailty and the World's Deceitfulness To take down Temptations and abate the Lusts of the Flesh c. Secondly To punish Sin in this World that their Souls may be sav'd in the World to come Thirdly To bring them to Repentance and recover their Spiritual Health As a careful Physician a severe School-Master and a loving Father who chasteneth every Son whom he loveth and scourgeth every Son whom he receiveth And thus Afflictions are real Blessings and the End changeth the Means into tokens of Love and Mercy Fourthly To make them Instances of the Divine Goodness Thus Job stands a Monument not so much of Humane Integrity as of God's Justice and Mercy his Justice in punishing his Creature which for all his Integrity had some time or other deserv'd as much as this and God may justly withdraw the Blessings of Health and Riches from Job which he had given him and his Mercy in returning them double to him Besides he is an ancient Example of the Power of Divine Grace as also of Humane Imbecillity And the same or the like Account may be given of the Apostles and the First Christians who remain Evidences of the great Love of God to Mankind who spared neither his Son to procure us a better Covenant or his Servants Blood to seal to the Truth of it And therefore 3. As to those * Vid. Matt. 10. 17. 24. 9. Luk. 21. 12. Joh. 15. 20. 1 Thess 3. 3 4. 2 Tim. 1. 8. 3. 12. Texts where our Lord warn'd his Disciples of Sufferings or those of his Disciples to the Primitive Christians of the Afflictions and Persecutions which they must expect They are not universarily applicatory for their Case was extraordinary and they were fitted with Divine Gifts accordingly And those Texts do more particularly point out those calamitous Times and cannot be applied to those times in which the Church had peace and rest from her Labours Their work was in the heat of the Day and God that call'd them to such a mighty Work first enabled them and then crown'd them for it but as for us we labour in the cool nor can we expect any Opposition but that of our carnal Lusts and Appetites Piety is commanded and Vertue is encouraged
Healths for the sake of Religion Secondly As for the Oratories of Recluses and the Cells of Anchorites I know not where we shall find them in Europe unless we travel to Mount Athos in Greece in quest of them And as for those Multitudes in the Roman Church that pretend to leave the World and undertake the Vow of Coelebacy and Poverty most of them I will not say all for some Orders perhaps still retain their original Strictness and Abnegation of the World most of them I say have miserably degenerated from the pretended Sanctity of their Founders 'T is true there was such a sort of People of yore and all Christians were in ancient times extremely careful to keep themselves unspotted from the World and some perhaps even to a kind of Superstition But this was then when Religion possess'd the Hearts as well as the Heads of its Professors and when the Breath of the Holy Jesus was yet warm upon the Heads of his Disciples and the Primitive Christians But in these wretched times of Sin and Death 't is more than we can do to persuade Men to a Recession from the World in prohibited degrees and a sinful Converse and therefore this Instance is especially with us utterly impertinent Thirdly As for those good Men that die Young It proceeds not from any defect in Autarchy but from other causes Perhaps from some Native Distemper which they receive by Traduction twisted up in their very Essence From the original Weakness of the Contexture of their Bodies made at first and intended by Nature for a Tent not a continual Habitation for the Soul Or if the Pillars of the Body were ever so strongly built up yet some accidental Emergency some hidden Train may suddainly blow up the Fort and God by his providential order of Second Causes may concur to its dissolution Perhaps out of Judgment as in the Instance of the disobedient Prophet that was sent to declare against the Altar at Bethel and in his return was delivered up to the Lion that slew him 1 King 13. Perhaps out of Mercy when living well and longer are inconsistent and when the righteous are taken away from the Evil to come These and such like may be the Causes of the early Deaths of some sober and regular Sons of Vertue which yet their Temperate Life naturally tended to prevent So that notwithstanding some particular Instances we may safely conclude That Sensuality is destructive to Humane Nature which Autarchy by its Rules and Directions would long preserve or in the Words of the divine Preacher My Son forget not my Law but let thine Heart keep my Commandments For Length of Days and Long Life and Peace shall they add to thee Prov. 3. 1 2. § 6. The Second outward Advantage of Autocracy is A competency of Estate or Sufficiency of the bona Fortunae as we commonly call Riches And when I have said this I mean not that it will infallibly and suddainly instate you with Abundance or that there is no other way to become Rich but that it is the only lawful way to a worldly Estate and a probable way as well as lawful It will defend you from Poverty and feed you with Food convenient if not with Superfluities It is the proper and natural Means to obtain and increase an outward Fortune and where Providence interposes not it will attain that end This must be confess'd by him that considers that it enjoins 1. Parsimony and Temperance whereby we become the best Husbands of what we have and avoid all needless Expences the Effects of Pride and Prodigality and the Consumers of mighty Estates 2. Justice and upright Dealing which will procure us credit with all Men and preserve what we have gotten For let Men take what Measures they please yet they will not deny but that Honesty is the best Policy For Justice doth attract the Love and Favour even of the Unjust and upright Dealing will find a present as well as future Reward With the same Measure you mete withal it shall be measured to you again 3. Care and Industry which engage us by all lawful Ways Means and Measures both to get an Estate and increase it For if we search into the Causes of Want and Poverty we shall commonly find Idleness or Debauchery at the Bottom of it and most Men must accuse their own want of Providence not the Providence of God for their Wants and Indigency 4. Liberality Charity and Mercy which are so far from being Enemies to Estates that they augment them for the liberal Soul shall be made fat and he that watereth shall be watered Prov. 11. 25. Besides they call down the divine Benediction upon our selves and our Endeavours To him that seeks the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness all things shall be added Matt. 6. And he that castes his Bread upon the waters shall find it again with increase We may reasonably expect to reap what we sow and receive by the same Measure that we mete to others Luc. 6. 38. 'T is our Lord's rule that cannot will not fail us if we do not prevaricate with our selves Give and it shall be given unto you good measure pressed dowm and shaken together and running over shall men give into your Bosoms Nor can this Promise become ineffectual but by our own Fault our Covetousness Hypocrisie and Infidelity And now I dare appeal to the Judgment of any Man whether there can be a more probable way to an Earthly Estate than to be industrious in our selves to have credit with others and the Blessing of God to crown our Endeavours And whether it be not as evident on the other side that Sensuality makes Men Prodigal Debauch'd Spend-thrifts Unjust Fraudulent Creditless Unmerciful and Cruel and so to inherit nothing but the Curses of Men and the Vengeance of God § 7. But here I must walk cautiously lest the Sensualist take the Advantage and prevent the usual Objections which he will make to what has been said upon this Head It is confest therefore that sometimes all these means fail That Vertuous Men continue poor whilst Violence Oppression and Cheatery thrive and grow rich For God hath his secret Ends and Purposes and may make what Exceptions he pleases from this general Rule viz. The hand of the Diligent maketh rich Prov. 10. 4. There is a secret Providence that orders every Man his quota And thence is that which Solomon observ'd long ago There is saith he that scattereth and yet increaseth and there is that withholdeth more than is meet but it tendeth to poverty Prov. 11. 24. And yet this is no impeachment of the general Rule viz. That Autarchy naturally tends to Riches or at least to Sufficiency But if this be further pressed though I know no reason for it I must not omit two mighty and almost miraculous Effects of Autarchy which will sufficiently supply that Defect and make a Compensation 1. The First is that of making the Poor Man
when you arrive at the End Be content therefore to be a Jewel though sometimes you lie neglected in the Dust and to shine though none takes notice of you 'T is a greater thing to deserve to be a Prince than to be one actually and he is indeed a King that reigns over himself and his own Appetites though he hath none other Subjects Remember that Vertue is its own Reward here though it had neither Riches nor Honours attending besides it must be rewarded hereafter Those internal Blessings of Peace and Joy are its own and when it hath no other Reward in this World which is very seldom God takes notice of it and his Reward is with him and the greater because deferr'd And therefore upon the whole matter I must conclude That Autarchy is the only way to true Glory here and Immortality hereafter § 12. By this time you must confess that Godliness and Autarchy is nothing else but the Power it exerts over the furious and raging Passions hath usually the promise of this Life as well as that which is to come That her outward Advantages are great as well as her inward Her ways are ways of Pleasantness and all her paths are Peace Length of days are in her Right hand and in her Left Riches and Honours These are the Privileges that Solomon annexes to a Heavenly Wisdom of which Self-Government is the greatest and hardest part I might here further add to its Advantages that of outward Peace with Men for Peace of Mind was proved to be her gift in the last Discourse the quiet I mean Good Will and Neighbourhood she would settle in the World and the Dissentions she would banish out of it It would restore the terrestrial Paradise again together with its pristine Innocence and make that a Tempel of God which is now become a den of Thieves It would cast out the Devil of Hatred and Malice of Self-Love and Covetousness of Pride and Revenge those Fiends that will not suffer us to live in Peace and restore Love Meekness and Humility to bring the Frame of Nature in order again Thus it would make us all happy if we would accept of Happiness and we should while we live here have some Fore-tastes of the Felicity we are to receive hereafter These are some of the Advantages of Autarchy I might add many other and make many ingenious and surprizing Observations thereupon But it is time to retire and try to practise mine own advices Besides I have in some measure discharg'd the Promise made in the First of these Essays and therefore after a brief review of the whole I will descend to the Conclusion § 13. You have heard therefore my studious Dorotheus in the First Paper the Doctrine of Autarchy explain'd together with the several Rules of Practice In the Second I have I hope satisfied you that its Pleasures are true substantial and durable whilst those of Sensuality are delusive uncertain and unsatisfactory That its regimen is not so grievous or difficult as the World would persuade you but that it is attended with the best inward and outward Pleasures In this Last I have endeavoured to shew its outward Advantages as Health Long Life Riches and Honours in this World as well as Eternal Life in the World to come if it fails in any outward Blessing 't is but in order to a greater it naturally leads to 'em and if it sometimes miss let not that be your discouragement Food may by accident cause Diseases and that which is the means of Life cause Death However it cannot fail of Life with the Ancient of days and the Riches and Honours of a Heavenly Kingdom This is the Argument of what I have writ upon this Subject and my Design and great End in all this is to excite you to the Practice of those Vertues included under the Notion of Autarchy and such are Patience Meekness Humility Temperance Continency Charity and such like And to this End I will commend to you these Considerations I. It is a Duty not only according to original and incorrupt Nature in which the lower part is design'd to obey the upper and join'd to it for its service but also worthy of it It is the peculiar Character of a good and wise man of him that lives the Life of Angels here and is design'd to live with them hereafter It is the only way to restore the defac'd Image of God recover our lost Integrity and the Aethereal Seats from whence we are fallen which is our business in this World for we are sent hither to be exercised in Vertue that we may be fitted for Light and Glory And he that doth not answer this end of his Creation in this Life shall sink down in the next he shall have cause to lament that he had any Being here and shall be so much the more miserable by how much he might have been happy II. It is an Exercise that hath the reality of all the true Pleasures that God usually bestows upon the Sons of Men in this Vale of Tears whilst the Pleasures of Sin are false counterfeit and momentary Besides it is a Preparative for future and greater Joys when God shall lift up our poor dejected Souls out of their terrestrial Prisons to the Aethereal Seats and Offices nearer to himself To which add That it hath as you have heard prov'd all the outward Advantages we can expect in this state of Darkness and Death For it hath been evidenced That nothing can tend more to Health and Long Life Riches Credit Respect yea an immortal Name if any such thing can be obtain'd here or is worth the pursuit than this Great Duty Thus 't is an Aggregate of all the poor present Joys of these lower Regions and an earnest of those of a higher and if any thing can make us happy here 't is only this III. It is an Exercise that the World as well as Religion will in some sense exact of us For though Christianity requires stricter Rules of Discipline for the Body by how much its Principles are higher nobler and more remov'd from Corporeity yet Autarchy is daily and in some respects must be used in every condition of Life Every prudent Man must use it and so hath done from the beginning and that Man doth not live who denies himself nothing If mortal Desires were all to be satisfied they would be soon too clamorous to be endured and would in a short time destroy themselves as well as us We daily deny our selves some thing and look upon it to be no burthen but are content so to do Subjects deny themselves the Pleasures of Regality and Princes willingly relinquish the Liberty and Recesses of Subjects The poor are contented â—o fare hard and be without the Varieties of the Rich Man's Table and the Rich Man is forc'd to want the Appetite and Freedom of the Poor We look upon it to be our Fate to be without many things upon prudential and
and ensue it For the Eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his Ears are open to their prayers but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth In which words the great Duty is Autarchy which consists 1. in the Government of the Tongue from Raillery and Falshood 2. of the Actions in declining every evil Act and doing that which is good 3. of the Mind that it be free from the unruly Passions peaceable in it self and peaceable with all men Thus for the Duty then for the Reward It incloses the Duty on all sides that one may not be seen without the other It promises 1. Temporal Blessings as most agreeable and taking with flesh and blood viz. Long Life Many Days and Enjoyment of Good in them And then adds 2. Spiritual Blessings and these follow the Duty God's Eyes i. e. his gracious Aspect or Providence watches over the righteous and his Ears are open to their Prayers whereas on the other side he sets himself in opposition to them that do evil his Face or Countenance is against the Sensualist not only to cut him off from the earth but the very Memory of him his place and name so that they shall no where be found You see then Dorotheus both your Duty and Reward And what now can be expected from you upon the whole matter but that you should act like your self as a Man of Reason and Understanding and having the Candle of the Lord for your Guide that you follow its Light in all things Do nothing therefore unworthy of your Knowledge and Learning and entertain no Thought that may be a shame to either Bring every intended Action to the Test and examine it before the upper Court of Judicature Avoid Self-condemnation as the greatest evil and scorn to do that in private which you dare not own in publick Eschew not only every sinful but every unworthy Action and abstain not only from Evil but from the very appearance of it Desire nothing but what is necessary and proper for you and suspect every Licentious Act though there appears no present Sin in it Use your Body to some Discipline and accustom it to Disappointments now and then that it may the easier bear the non-enjoyment of things prohibited Keep it and its Appetites at a distance and under the rod and if it rebels exercise it with Fasting and Abstinence In a word Be absolute in your self and tolerate no Resistance there § 16. Thus taught Socrates that living Image of Wisdom and Plato the God-like and the rest of the wise and obedient Sons of Nature enlightened only by the glimmering Candle-light of its Laws Nay thus taught and liv'd the Holy Jesus and spent his time here in Fasting Prayer and other spiritual Exercises not out of any necessity in respect of himself but that he might give us an Example He willingly chose Sufferings and Poverty rather than Empire and preferr'd Sorrow to Mirth as more proper for a Vale of Tears Thus liv'd and taught his holy Apostles and first Followers denying themselves chastising their Bodies and keeping them under and that not only for Cure but for Prevention And thus liv'd and taught the Primitive Saints for some hundreds of Years till Iniquity began to abound and the divine Love to wax cold Many of whom that they might be more than Conquerours shew the Power they had over themselves and avoid Temptations chose to prevent Death and die whilst they lived leave the World I mean and all its Vanities and Follies abandon Delights renounce all humane Conversation deny themselves even innocent Entertainments and shut themselves up from the power of Vain-glory and all Society And this was the Original of a Monastick Life I know very well that there is no Necessity of going thus far and that even this sort of Desertion of the World hath degenerated into Hypocrisie That the blackest Crimes have been acted in the dark and the greatest Licentiousness under the Monk's Cowl and Hood I know likewise that no Man is necessitated to take upon him the Vow of Coelibacy or to forsake the World in that Sense Our Lot is easier than theirs who were forced to fly to the Mountains and spend their times in Solitudes Religion is God be thanked both commanded and rewarded and Autarchy admir'd by all though us'd by few But this is that I have and must maintain That we must keep our selves unspotted from the World and the sinful Lusts of the Flesh And in order thereunto That we must learn the Art of Self-Conquest by the most convenient and suitable Methods and that we ought to be prepar'd to suffer though we have no present Enemy or outward War That Christianity is a spiritual Warfare and that we have the Devil and our own Lusts to combate and conquer And finally That those good and wise Men which like so many Stars illuminate these dark Regions of Sin and Ignorance ought to be Autarchists Shine then my Dorotheus amongst these few for thus only shall you ensure inward Quiet and Peace amongst the Uncertainties of an unconstant World you will experiment true external Pleasures besides the Comforts of a pure Conscience which nothing can take from you you will find inward Pleasure and Peace if not that which outward and probably Long Life Health Credit Respect and many good days The strait Gate will grow wider and the narrow Path broader and Autarchy will at last prove your Reward as well as Duty You will begin here to live the Spiritual Life the Life of Angels and beatified Souls which as you grow older will become more and more delightful till at last you meet Death disarm'd of all its Terrours lovely and charming because it will conduct your willing Soul to the Regions of Bliss and to the Company of Angels Which is the daily Prayer of your Friend and the Design of these Papers FINIS A Catalogue of Books Printted for Dorman Newman THE Way to Health Long-Life and Happiness or A Discourse of Temperance and the particular nature of all things requisite for the Life of Man as all sorts of Meats Drinks Age Exercise c. with special Directions how to use each of them to the best advantage of the Body and Mind Shewing from the true ground of Nature whence most Diseases proceed and how to prevent them To which is added a Treatise of the most sort of English Herbs with several other remarkable and most useful Observations Very necessary for all Families The whole Treatise displaying the most hidden Secrets of Philosophy and made easie and familiar to the meanest Capacities by various Examples and Demonstrations By T. Tryon The Second Edition with Amendments Also the other Works of the Authour A Brief Exposition of the Church-Catechism with Proofs from Scripture By Dr. Williams The Third Edition The Penitent Lady or Reflections on the Mercy of God Written by the Fam'd Madam La Valliere since her retirement from the French Court to a Nunnery Translated from the French by L. A. M. A. The Second Edition Contemplations on the state of Man in this Life and in that which is to come By Bp. Taylor A Golden Chain to link the Penitent Sinner unto God Whereunto is added a Treatise of the Immortality of the Soul A Moral Discourse of the Power of Interest By David Abercromby M. D. and Fellow of the College of Physicians at Amsterdam The Second Edition Letters of advice from two Reverend Divines to a young Gentleman about A weighty Case of Conscience And by him recommended to the serious Perusal of all those that may fall into the same Condition Fly youthful Lusts 2 Tim. 2. 22. Dr. Willet's Synopsis Papismi or a general View of Popery Wherein the whole Mystery of Iniquity maintained by the Church of Rome is Confuted by Scripture Fathers Councils Imperial Constitutions Pontifical Decrees Their own Writers Our Martyrs and The Consent of all Christian Churches in the World Divided into Five Books or Centuries containing so many Hundreds of Popish Heresies and Errours Together with the Life and Death of the Learned Authour This Book hath been Five times Printed and contains near 400 sheets in large Folio there being a small number left they are proposed to be sold at 7s 6d in Sheets or 10s bound Shelton's Art of Short-Writing both sorts Tachygraphia and Zeiglographia
and rewarded and Religion is not now to be espoused in Chains but upon the Throne So that notwithstanding the extraordinary examples of some of God's dear Servants in the Old Testament and of many more in the New I am bold to conclude That Autarchy tends naturally and of it self to present as well as to future Pleasures whether it be of the Mind or a Regulated Body and to make us happy here and hereafter And thus having made what Observations and Reflections I thought suitable upon the Vanity of the pretended Pleasures of Sensuality having pleaded the Cause of Self-Government and vindicated it from the Acccusations of Tyranny or Cruelty over the Body or her attendant Passions I will reserve her Outward Advantages to be the Subject of the Third Letter ἈΥΤΑΡΧΊΑ· OR THE DUTY of Self-Government The Third PART Of the Outward Advantages of Autarchy and an Exhortation thereunto § 1. I had not long finished the Second Part of this Moral Essay in which I hope I have somewhat contributed to the allaying the Heats of your Sensual Desires and rebated your Prejudices to the Oeconomy of Self-Government but I be thought my self of my Promise made in the Conclusion of it to treat of the Outward Advantages of Autarchy 'T is true my Dorotheus the inward Pleasures mentioned in my last of Joy Peace and the Testimony of a good Conscience are the greatest Blessings we are capable of on this side Heaven but then the other outward Blessings are not to be despised As long as we are here we all naturally desire those Delights that caress Humane Nature and he must be more than an ordinary Philosopher that can over-look all corporeal Pleasures He is happy that can gratifie his Soul but yet he is thought more happy that can gratifie his Soul and Body both and yet preserve his Innocency If then Autarchy be a Friend to both these its Government sure cannot be refused What it is in respect of Pleasures hath been the Subject of the former Paper and what it is in respect of all Outward Advantages shall be the Subject of this After which I shall draw up all the Premisses into one conclusion and tying a Knot upon it leave it with you to the judgment of after Experience § 2. The Outward Advantages of Autarchy which I have not discours'd of in my former may be reduc'd to these Three Heads 1. A Healthful and Long Life 2. A Competent Estate or Sufficiency 3. Honour and Respect from all Men. These are the Three Principal Favourites of the Body and are courted as our greatest Happiness while we are here A sickly long Life is therefore thought so much the more miserable because it is long and a Healthful Short Life miserable by reason of its Shortness And both Health and Length of Life cannot make us happy according to the vulgar Opinion if we are condemn'd to Poverty and to eat the Bread of Carefulness And there be many that will not be satisfied without a third accessional I mean Honour and Respect And there is no Man but the highest Christian that can wholly lay them all aside and say with St. Paul That he counts all things but dung and loss so that he may win Christ I cannot expect you should arrive at this Spiritual Life this Perfection of Wisdom these many years It will be sufficient if you attain it at last with all the Aids of Morality and Religion In the mean time it will be sufficient to alliciate a young and unexperienc'd Nature by that which seems most inviting in this World though it be but as Children with Toys and such are most of us in a spiritual Sense I mean with Earthly Blessings such as Life Estate and Honour My Business therefore shall be to demonstrate to you not that Autarchy will infallibly make you live long Healthful Rich and Honourable or instate you presently in the Possession of these Three Blessings for there may be many Circumstances which may hinder the Effect and God may not prosper the Means for the Ends designed nor do I intend to affirm that this Duty will enfeoff you with the intense degrees of each i. e. that it will make you live to threescore years and ten or fourscore and all that while in abundance of outward Prosperity Riches and Grandeur for this is not entail'd upon any Duty but That it is the readiest Way and the most probable Means to obtain a convenient portion of each and enough to ascertain an outward Happiness That it naturally tends to long Life and Health Sufficiency of Estate and Respect and where it is not hinder'd of its effect will ensure them Thus as the Reasons of the former Paper will make you a Votary to the Spiritual Government as a Christian and a Philosopher so those of this may work upon you as a Man I begin with the first of its Temporal Advantages A Healthful and Long Life § 3. Of all the outward Blessings that God usually crowns Man with in this World Health and Long Life ought to be first named because most desired The First begets the Second and they mutually caress each other and would do so eternally When things are as they should be Nature abhorrs an Alteration for fear of a Dissolution The sullen Rocks cling together and oppose Separation and the soft Waters which are dasht into a thousand pieces against them reunite their Parts which will not separate till Gravity and the indispensible Laws of the Universe compel them The Vegetables though they die at Winter do yet retain the Seeds of Life against their Resurrection in the Spring and accordingly appear again in their various Figures and Colours The Birds and Beasts labour night and day to preserve a belov'd though to themselves an unprofitable Life and when they can no longer escape the Snares of the cunning Fowler or cruel Hunter they mournfully utter out their resentments of Man's Tyranny in their inarticulate Rhetorick Man the Lord of the visible Creation preserves his own Life by destroying others and pays Nature in himself what he has robb'd her of in other Creatures We are apt to admire the Happiness of Methusalah and if we thought it to any purpose would desire to live as long as he We complain of Nature's unequal bounty to the Antediluvian World whilst she confines us to Threescore or Fourscore Years To live long and see many happy or rather than die unhappy days to live though old lame decrepit and despis'd much more when young healthful and strong is the universal desire of deluded Mortals inamour'd of their Sorrows and besotted of their Chains Nor can Reason Counsel or Experience without a Diviner Ray darted from Heaven into their Souls undeceive them And after all it is something unaccountable to find that though most Men make Long Life the chiefest Petition in all their Addresses to Heaven yet there are few that will confess they have received it though they have pass'd their great