Mission of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles who was also one of Christ's Witnesses then the Sin became deadly because the last means were used and the fullest proofs of Credibility given that could be expected for matter of Fact that is there was every thing done which might procure Belief in a disinteressed Person And therefore for any obstinately to contradict this is quite to prescind his own hopes and shut the door against himself by wilfully rejecting all those Arguments which might and ought to have gained belief I pray GOD open the Eyes of those who slight and undervalue Christianity as if it were not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a faithful and true Word and every way Worthy to be Received that they may timely see and repent of their Error and through a sincere acknowlegment of the Truth may be eternally Saved A DEFENCE OF Revealed Religion SERMON II. ROM I. 16. For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ WE have shewn from these Words That the History of the Life and Actions of our blessed Saviour his Death Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven is true and being so we have no reason to be ashamed of our Religion which is built upon these things Truth is a thing that none need to be ashamed of because it is a Perfection a Ray and Beam that descends from God the Fountain of all Truth Now the Truth of the History of the Gospel depending upon the Veracity of those that wrote it we shewed that the Apostles could not be deceived because they were present and Eye-witnesses of the things they set down And we have no reason to suspect they would deceive others because they might have been discovered and besides had no self-ends nor designs in broaching a Falshood but on the contrary were ready to Sacrifice their own Lives for the Truth of what they said and lastly That they gave as high a Testimony of the Resurrection of Jesus on which all his other Miracles depended as possibly can be given by Men to any Thing or Matter in the World 2. The next cause of Shame is if the Doctrine delivered to us be not Rational therefore we come now to shew that Christianity or the Doctrine of the Gospel is rational that is agreeable with those common Notions of Reason and Understanding which God has planted in the Souls of all Mankind And indeed if we believe that it is true and came from GOD it must necessarily follow that there can be nothing contained in it that is unreasonable forasmuch as GOD being the highest Reason cannot be the Author of any thing that is unreasonable for then he would be the Author of something unlike himself and that had no Analogy or Correspondence with any of his Attributes And therefore to affirm that GOD can propound to us what is altogether Irrational and bears no Harmony or Agreement with any of our Faculties is to make him the Author of Nonsence Contradictions and Impossibilities Reason is that Light and Candle of the Lord which he has set up in the Souls of Men to guide them safe from Error Falshood and Delusion And when we say a thing is reasonable we say that it hath a Conformity with those Intellectual Principles the sovereign Author of our Beings has planted in us There is a suitableness and agreeableness of such things with the rational frame and make of our own Souls Therefore the Apostle calls our Conformity to the Divine Will which he terms Rom. 12.1 a presenting our Bodies a living Sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God a reasonable Service that is such a Worship as if we understand our selves is fitted and accommodated to our natural Faculties of Reason and Understanding And hence it is that St. Peter bids us to be ready 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to give an Answer or make an Apology to every Man that asks us a Reason of the hope that is in us i. e. he would have us prepared to give a satisfactory and rational account why we are Christians But now if there were any thing in Christian Religion that were unreasonable what Apology could be made for it Or how should any man defend a thing that were wholly contrary to that Light which God has set up in his Soul to discern between Truth and Falshood So that if there lie an Obligation upon us to give a Reason of our Faith then we may be sure there is no part of it unreasonable But here we must note in the mean time that it is one thing to say that there are some Articles of the Christian Faith above Humane Reason and another thing to say they are unreasonable or contrary to sound Reason The frame of Christianity it self is called by St. Paul 1 Tim. 3.16 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a great Mystery and a Mystery we know must have something hidden and recondit in it which is discerned only by capable Minds And there may be and doubtless are some sacred and hidden Doctrines in Christian Religion above Humane Reason in this Sense viz. That our Reason could never have lighted upon them or found them out without a Divine Revelation But notwithstanding these Mysterious Truths are very agreeable with our Reason now they are discovered and there is a rational Defence to be made for them and a satisfactory Account to be given of every one of them We could never by the bare help of Reason have known any thing of the Union of God with Humane Nature nor discovered the Doctrine of the sacred Trinity nor the Mystery of the Resurrection of our Bodies nor the Joys and Felicities of Heaven if God had not revealed these things to us But now that they are made a part of our Faith we can shew that none of them is contradictory to the Principles of sound Reason If therefore there be any unreasonableness in Christianity it must arise either 1. From the Frame and Contexture of it Or 2. From the Doctrines contained in it That there is no unreasonableness or incongruity in the Frame of Christianity will appear thus the great End and Design of it is to release and free the Souls of Men from a State of Sin and Evil into which they had unhappily plunged themselves and to recover them into a holy blameless and heavenly Life and Nature that behaving themselves harmlesly and unblameably as the Children of GOD though encompassed with many Hardships and Afflictions which they meet withal in their Passage through the Wilderness of this World they may at last thro' his infinite Goodness arrive by orderly steps and degrees to the Land of Righteousness their ancient Inheritance in the Kingdom of Heaven This is the free Counsel and Determination of Almighty God which flowed only from his immense and boundless Love Now the Methods and Ways which GOD hath made choice of to bring this great design about are such so fitted and adapted to to our Case and Condition and so agreeable to the Nature
teaches all Men that is to speak Reverently of what God does and to have honourable Thoughts of his Works But for the further Confirmation of this point and for the building of us up more firmly in our most Holy Faith I shall consider what are the main causes of Shame and upon what grounds we may justly be ashamed of any Doctrine delivered to us and then shew that in none of these Respects we have any reason to be ashamed of the Christian Religion 1. A first cause of shame is If that which is delivered to us be not true If a Man should confidently entertain an Opinion that were false and which there were no Grounds of Credibility for and should expose his Life and Fortunes to hazard and danger for it he would have great reason to be ashamed of his Levity and Rashness and all Men besides himself would conclude him guilty of an unpardonable Folly 2. We may justly be ashamed if the thing propounded to us be not Rational that is agreeable to those common Notions of Reason and Understanding which God has planted in our Souls 3. We have sufficient cause of Shame and Confusion if the Doctrine offered to us for our Faith and Belief be not Intelligible i. e. easie to be understood by all those to whom it is propounded For if Christianity were made up of a company of intricate and dark Riddles only to amuse the World and to puzzle our Understandings I do not see but that a Wise and Sober Person might have grounds enough to be ashamed of it 4. If it be not useful to the World but contain only some poor and trivial things that are of no benefit to Men. If Religion had indeed been thus the Apostles themselves might have been ashamed to have made such a stir in the World And all Christians that followed them would have been extremely out of Countenance when they had seen so little good and benefit of all that which was yet delivered as GOD's Will and wherein he had shewed such a wonderful piece of Art and Wisdom But now when we look upon Religion and find that it is most truly and certainly the Will of God delivered to the World That it came from Heaven and was attested by all the Evidences and Arguments that such a thing is capable of That God had an immediate hand in it and that all its Authority was undoubtedly derived from him Again when we shall find that there is nothing in Christianity but what is highly rational and agreeable to our Intellectual Faculties and for which we may be able to make the most reasonable Apology and Defence And further when Christianity is so plain and easie to be understood in all those things which are indispensably necessary to every Man's Salvation so that the most ordinary Capacity may apprehend what is GOD's Will and meaning in it and what he would have him to do And lastly When we shall see that Religion is a thing of no mean and low Concernment but a matter of the greatest Benefit and Advantage that ever was communicated to Mankind When its great End and Design shall be discovered only to make Men everlastingly happy in another Life When these things put together shall appear with irresistable Evidence and Clearness surely that Man must be bereaved of his Wits and Understanding that can be ashamed of a Doctrine that has all these Qualifications In the first place then to make it manifest that the Christian Faith is a Doctrine worthy of all Acceptation and of which there may be made the best Defence in the World I shall shew by a few Arguments the Truth of it viz. That God sent his Son Jesus to communicate this as his Mind and Will and that he would have all the World to live in the Faith and Obedience of it They that would have more full and ample satisfaction upon this Subject may consult that excellent Treatise of Grotius of the Truth of Christian Religion translated into English by Dr. Patrick now the Reverend Bishop of Ely Now to this Purpose let us consider That as to the matter of Fact concerning the Life and Actions of our blessed Saviour his Death and Resurrection and his Ascension into Heaven which is the Ground and Foundation upon which Christian Religion is built it is not at all probable either 1. That the Apostles should be deceived Or 2. That they should deceive others 1. It is not likely the Apostles should be deceived because they received not the Relations which they delivered by here-say but were constant Attendants of our Lord and Saviour and saw him work his Miracles when he cured Diseases raised the Dead and cast out Devils And therefore when the Apostles chose another into the room of Judas there is this reason given for it Acts 1.21.22 Wherefore of these Men which have Companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out amongst us beginning from the Baptism of John unto that same day that he was taken up from us must one be Ordained to be a Witness with us of his Resurrection Here was one who together with the rest of the Apostles was to assert upon his own Knowledge the Actions of Jesus his Resurrection from the Dead and his Ascension into Heaven And therefore St. Luke Chap. 1.2 tells us That the things which he wrote were such as were delivered by them who were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eye-witnesses of them And doubtless there can be no better Testimony in the World concerning the Truth of a matter of Fact than from an Eye-witness of it according to that common saying Pluris est unus ocularis testis quam auriti decem one ocular Demonstration is worth ten Hear-says And this was the Answer that Peter and John gave to the great Council of the Jews Acts 4.20 We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard But that we may not run over the whole History of things in the Gospel I shall content my self with that one which is the Confirmation of all the rest of the Miracles of Jesus that is his Resurrection from the dead For as St. Paul speaks 1 Cor. 15.14 if Christ be not risen then our Preaching is vain and the Faith of Christians is likewise vain The Preaching of the Apostles would have been vain because they Exhorted Men to the Practice of the Commands and Precepts of the Gospel in hopes of a glorious Immortality and that their Labour and Pains should be rewarded by the Resurrection of their Bodies to eternal Life Whereas if Christ be not risen there is then no Reward for Believers and the great Noise and Talk of the Joys and Felicities of Pious Souls after this Life are nothing but the Dreams of Melancholick Persons to amuse the rest of Mankind And the Faith of Christians if Christ be yet in the Grave and under the Power of Death will be as empty and vain because it is built upon
faster upon the Consciences of Men the Apostle makes use of the Example of Christ in the next words For even Christ pleased not himself i. e. Christ had no respects for himself no ends of his own to consult but as if he had wholly forgotten himself he devoted himself perfectly to the promoting of his Father's Glory The whole number of Christians that believe in Jesus are one Body Now as the Members of the Body have the same care one of another so ought every Man to be very tender of the Good of his Fellow-Christian If a Man be a true and unfeigned Christian he will not walk solitary and alone in his way to Heaven but will strive to draw as many to accompany him as he can in so pleasant and gainful a Journey He will always be instructing those that are ignorant comforting the weak-hearted and strengthning those that are wavering and unsettled And where these things are wanting and every one lives as a Stranger to another it cannot be expected that the Gospel should draw off Men from Sin so successfully and with so much Triumph as it would if Men would lay aside their little Self-ends and be of more universal and publick Spirits and employ their Wit and Diligence in doing good to one another The summ and conclusion of the whole matter is this Since Christian Religion was intended not merely for Wise-Men and such as were of great Reach and Understanding but for the poorest and weakest Person it is in all things necessary to Salvation made plain and easie And that GOD might gratifie our innocent search after Knowledge he has hid many precious Treasures of Wisdom in the Scriptures as a Reward of our Piety and Diligence And therefore where any thing is delivered so obscurely that with our best diligence we cannot attain to the true sence and meaning of it it is a sure sign that whatever sence GOD intended yet he did not make that absolutely necessary to the Salvation of all Men. For if he had he would have laid it down in plain and not in intricate and ambiguous Terms In the mean time we must all consider that it is our Duty to pray unto GOD as the Apostle St. Paul for his Disciples the Colossians Chap. 1.9 10. and to desire that we may be filled with the knowledge of his Will in all Wisdom and spiritual Understanding That we may walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing being fruitful in every good Work and increasing in the knowledge of God And let us remember that as GOD has distributed the measures of his Gifts and Graces to every one accordingly shall their account be at the last day He that cannot read the Bible and has fewer opportunities of knowledge his account shall not be so great as his that can Read and has leisure and time to inform himself And he that has skill and knowledge to understand the Scriptures shall yet be more severely treated if he do not make use of this both for his own and his Neighbour's Good A DEFENCE OF Revealed Religion SERMON V. ROM I. 16. For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ HAving dispatched the three first Causes of Shame we come now to remove and take away the fourth and last and to shew the great Usefulness of Christian Religion to the World The usefulness therefore of any thing consists in the serviceableness of it for that end to which it was designed Now this very Apostle assures us 1 Tim. 4.8 that Godliness is profitable to all things having the Promise of the Life that now is and that which is to come that is to say Christianity is serviceable useful and conducing to promote the Happiness of Mankind both in respect of this present Life and that which is to come First then we shall consider the Usefulness of Christ's Religion in order to the Felicity of the next World and shew how excellently well suited it is to the attaining of that Which the Apostle seems to intimate in the Words of the Text when he calls it the Power of God unto Salvation to every one that believes Had Christian Religion designed the instructing of Men in the knowledge of Nature giving them a true System of the Heavens and declaring the Natures and Properties of all Things in this our Earthly Globe it would indeed have filled the Mind of Man with abundance of Pleasure and Delight but had mightily fallen short of that universal Usefulness that now it hath The great End therefore which GOD intended by the Gospel was the Advancement of true Godliness the pulling down and destroying the Kingdom of Sin and Satan and the erecting and setting up the Kingdom of Light and Grace in the Hearts and Minds of Men. And that this was the purpose of GOD cannot be unknown to any who considers the great Excellency and Perfection of the Commands of Christianity and what a high measure of Purity and Sanctity they aim at namely the entire Purification of the Soul from all manner of Terrestrial Defilements and Pollutions and the raising up in it a Divine and Heavenly Nature which being that State wherein we were at first created and into which we are recovered by the gentle Influences and Illapses of the Divine Spirit upon us there is begotten in our Souls a daily Tendency upwards and a restless endeavour to free themselves from that Preternatural Load that hangs about them and this effort of theirs receiving fresh Strength and Supplies from above never ceases till it have wrought them to such a high Pitch as through the Benignity and Power of him who is the beginning of the Creation of God they may be translated into the Peaceful Mansions of everlasting Glory We shall consider then the exquisite suitableness and serviceableness of the Gospel for the extirpation of all Sin and Vice and putting Men in possession of a Holy and Divine Nature which surely is the most advantageous Happiness the Soul of Man is capable of And if Religion be furnished with such Powers and Assistances as will against all Opposition whatever attain this great End then its usefulness to the World will be evidently discovered and no Man will have any reason to be ashamed of it Now that this End may be attained 1. GOD is pleased to promise us the Assistance of his holy and blessed Spirit For we being so sunk into this Earthly State that we are wholly carried away with its Affections and Lusts could never by our own single effort and solitary endeavours bring our selves back to the Participation of that Holy and Divine Life we fell from Therefore GOD out of his infinite Love and Compassion and upon the Intercession of our Lord and Saviour has vouchsafed us the aid of his blessed Spirit to regenerate our Natures and to form in us such a strong and active Principle of Holiness as should steadily carry our Wills to a perfect compliance and obedience to his Holy Will That we
Jesus Christ who took our Flesh and Blood upon him parted with his own Life to Redeem us from an inevitable Danger which would have undone us for ever And in recompence of this great Love he desires us only to make our selves Happy by taking upon us his easie Yoke and light Burthen And can we be so ungrateful as to slight him for it and forget his Commands What Bands or Cords can tye Souls nearer together than that Love which is stronger than Death Or what Words make deeper Impressions upon the Hearts of Men than those that are spoken by their dying Friends It is not possible for the Heart of Man to conceive a more effectual way to expell Sin and Wickedness and more conducing to the furthering of Goodness and Holiness than the consideration of the Death of Christ For that the Son of GOD who had no Sins of his own to satisfie for should descend from Heaven and submit himself to the Weakness Frailty and Drudgery of our Mortal State and endure such deep Agonies of Spirit as forced him to sweat drops of Blood and after suffer an inglorious and painful Death upon the Cross and this merely upon our Account and out of a mighty sense of Compassion for our Misery is so astonishing a Love as must needs thaw our icy Hearts and dissolve them into Tears and a ready Conformity to his Will How can any Man go on and continue in Sin when he considers that his Saviour came for this only end into the World that he might destroy the Works of Sin and Satan and present all Men a glorious Church to GOD without Spot or Wrinkle Whatever Sin therefore it be that assaults thy Soul present unto it thy dying Saviour who with his out-stretched Arms on the Cross sues for admittance into thy strongest Affections Art thou insnared with Pride How canst thou look upon thy self without watry Eyes when thou beholdest the Son of GOD born a helpless Infant of a poor Virgin subject to all the Hardships and sinless Infirmities of our Nature and at last breathing out his innocent Soul on the Cross for his bitter Enemies Art thou Covetous and too desirous of worldly Enjoyments then remember Judas and consider what a heinous and bloody Act his Covetousness betrayed him to even the delivering up his harmless Lord and Master to the malicious and implacable Jews And whoever sets his Heart upon the World he does with Judas sell his Saviour Thus you may see of what great usefulness this one Consideration of the Death of Christ is to the Mortification of all our Sins And this the Gospel every where holds forth to the same purpose that we should express his Death on the Cross in our Souls by our dying unto Sin and Crucifying all our corrupt Lusts and Affections 4. Another powerful means by which Men are drawn off from their Sins and engaged in Holiness is the example of our Holy Lord and Master Whose Life and Actions were therefore carefully written by his Disciples that Men might learn of him and follow his Steps And that we may more clearly discover wherein we are to imitate and follow the example of our Lord and Saviour we must distinguish between those Actions which our Lord did as a publick Person invested with Authority from Heaven As likewise those Actions of his which he did to confirm his Mission we must distinguish these I say from those wherein he is set as an Example for us to imitate 1. Therefore we are not called to imitate Christ in those Actions which he performed as a publick Person For there were many things which he did that related wholly to his Office as he was the Messiah the great Representative of Mankind who took upon him and came down from Heaven to reconcile the World to GOD. Thus he gave new Laws of Life to Men and forgave Sins by his own Power and Authority and laid down his Life as a publick Victim and Sacrifice for the World To these we may add his Fasting forty Days and forty Nights His leading a single Life and refusing all Earthly Honour and Dignity And hitherto likewise we may referr that Action of Zeal wherewith our Lord was possessed for the Honour of GOD and in behalf of the despised Gentiles against a corrupt Generation who only pretended but had really nothing of true Zeal or the Honour of GOD in them when as St. Matthew relates it Chap. 21.12 He went into the Temple of God and cast out all them that Sold and Bought in the Temple and overthrew the Tables of the Money-Changers and the Seats of them that sold Doves 2. Nor are we called to follow and imitate Christ in those Actions which he did to testifie the Truth of his Mission that he came from GOD and acted by his sole Authority Such were all his miraculous Works His giving Sight to the Blind Speech to the Dumb and hearing to the Deaf His commanding the Winds and Waves of the Sea which instantly obeyed him His multiplying Bread according to his own Pleasure so that a few Loaves should be sufficient to satisfie some Thousands of Eaters His curing all bodily Diseases and Distempers and shewing his Power over Evil Spirits which upon his sole Command and Word were forced to leave those Bodies they had vexed and tormented But above all his raising the Dead to Life shewing that he had a Power not only here but in the Regions of separate Souls likewise Now in neither of these are we called to imitate our Lord and Saviour But though we are not enjoyned to follow him in these yet are they not therefore thrown away or recorded to no purpose We may make a good use of every one of these Actions of our Saviour though we lie under no necessity to imitate him in them nay it were a presumption in us so to do When we read that he fasted Forty days we may learn that the further we withdraw our Minds from bodily Lusts and Affections we are in a greater Forwardness and better Disposition to converse with GOD. When we hear that our Saviour Christ stedfastly declined all Earthly Dignities and Honours It shews us what a light esteem GOD puts upon these things in comparison of the participation of his Nature in true Goodness and Righteousness And so of all our Lord 's Miraculous Actions which were as so many Credentials and Seals from Heaven that attested and verified his Commission and the Authority by which he acted There is something still that we may draw for our encouragement and support in that holy and unblameable Life which he came to propagate in the World When we find him by a Miracle redressing the Infirmities of Mankind and easing them of their Sorrows by curing their bodily Distempers Does not this teach us to be of a Compassionate Temper to sympathize with others in their Miseries and as far as we are able to lend our assisting hand to free them from them When
and fretting Passions of Pride Envy and Malice are the Causes that disturb Mens own Quiet and that of the Society wherein they live and makes them like those Disconsolate Spirits we read of in the Gospel continually wandring up and down seeking rest but finding none But if they would strive to suppress the Boilings and irregular Fermentations of their Spirits and endeavour to turn them into Calmness and Meekness if they would give that Honour and Deference to their present Governors that Christ's Law Commands and bear a hearty Love and Benignity to all their Fellow Creatures it is impossible but that a lasting Peace and Concord should ensue upon such fit and duly qualified Preparations They would then see that our present establishment which Divine Providence hath so miraculously brought about is not only for our own but the universal Good and Happiness of all Europe 2. Another Publick Blessing is Plenty which cannot be more desirable than it is ascertain'd and secur'd by the Laws of Christianity For what can more contribute to a general Plenty than that every Man be industrious in his proper Calling The Christian Doctrine enjoyns Diligence which like a provident Governess sollicites and excites the torpid and languishing Members of our Earthly Frame to a careful discharge of the several Offices of Humane Life Religion is a thing that retrenches the unruly Appetites of Men and cuts off those superfluous Expences which Luxury and Debauchery make them obnoxious to And this it does by teaching Temperance and Frugality and by shewing Men a nobler and more profitable way of converting their Abundance by Charity to the Necessitous and Indigent which is indeed a true imitation of that divine and overflowing Goodness which the whole Creation in their several Measures and Capacities tastes of 3. A third Publick Blessing is Safety and Security from Danger Which Religion hath so far an influence upon that it tells us it is only the true fear of GOD that can make us dwell in safety And That no Evil shall happen to the Just but the Wicked shall be filled with Mischief Again Righteousness exalteth a Nation but Sin is the Reproach of any People When Men once become Treacherous to their GOD they seldom prove true to his Vicegerent here below And if they had walked up sincerely to the Prescriptions of Christianity the Fears of a Foreign Invasion had been needless It is want of Religion that makes Men betray their Native Country correspond with its Enemies and puts them upon such courses as the braver and more generous Heathens looked upon as Wretched and Ignoble For surely those Persons who can let themselves loose to unhinge an established Government to weaken and undermine a Prince who upon juster Accounts Merits to be called Deliciae humani generis than that Noble Roman Emperor whatever pretences they may make to Christianity will find it the hardest thing in the World to prove they have any Religion at all Where a People are truly Religious submissive to their lawful Governours and Charitably affected towards one another there the invisible Ministers of GOD's Providence are engaged in their Protection and Defence and those Chariots and Horses of Fire are as ready now to preserve true Goodness as heretofore to secure the Prophet Elisha from the Attempts of the Syrian Army 'T is only when a Nation grows deplorably Wicked that their Guardian Providence is withdrawn and those kind and officious Spirits say as of old of Babylon Forsake her and let us go By this it appears that Religion and Vertue are abundantly serviceable for the obtaining Publick and General Blessings Now for those that relate to every particular Man's Person they are either the Blessings of the Soul or Body or of both Those of the Soul are 1. Joy and Contentment of Mind when the Soul enjoys it self in a perpetual Calm and is not ruffled and discomposed with boisterous Passions I do not mean that our Passions should be eradicated by a Stoical Apathy for that were to deprive the Soul of the choicest Furniture which GOD and Nature has bountifully conferred upon it and to turn Men into some other Species of Being than what they are Desire being the Feet and Wings of the Mind in its vigorous contention after Vertue and Hope and Gladness the Arms that embrace so great a Good But that when the Affections are kept within their due Bounds and Limits and all subjected to the Imperium and Command of the first mover Divine Love the Soul sustains and keeps it self so firm and compacted by that inward Power and Strength that the most violent Storm of external Accidents cannot shake or dissettle that Satisfaction and Contentment it reaps from the Exercise of Vertue And indeed this is such an inestimable and solid Treasure as is justly to be preferred before the choicest Gratifications of the bodily Life All worldly Joy is flashy and dilute and carries with it much of an Earthly Composition But that satisfaction of Mind that arises from a sence of well-doing is substantial and immoveable and can neither be destroyed by Time nor damp'd and choak'd by the most Calamitous Circumstances of Humane Life Who are there in the World that live so pleasantly and contentedly as they that are truly Religious Whose Minds are free from all distrustful Fears and Jealousies believing themselves secure under the Royal Mantle of Heavens Care and Providence and who can look back upon their past Lives without any sense of Terror and Guilt So that if our Hearts and Consciences condemn us not for Sin and Vice they will set us above all those anxious Fears and Sollicitude that render a Man's Life uncomfortable On the other side it is certain that every Vice fatally draws after it a Chain of Misery and Affliction and he that makes a Trade of Sin cannot but look upon himself as a Person always obliged to Punishment And this creates a perpetual distrust and misgiving of Mind affording him nothing to support his Patience under here nor any hope of bettering his Condition hereafter But besides these disquieting Fears and Terrors the constant Attendants of Vice which produce restless Days and sleepless and uneasie Nights those Evil and wicked Affections to which Men in this Life are enslaved have a very Evil Influence upon their Souls in the other World For whatever it be that the Mind of Man pursues as its ultimate Good and Felicity those Passionate Desires and Emigrations of Spirit after it follow him even into the next Life The Covetous Person who spins out his Life in a golden Thread hath his Appetite and Hunger keenly edg'd in the next World after the Idol which he ador'd in this And the Lascivious Man burns with those Flames his Debauched Soul had kindled here below And because the future State denies the acting of those Vices in such Circumstances as here upon Earth it rends the perplexed Mind with a perpetual Thirst after that which she can
never enjoy So little hope is there of solid Contentment and Satisfaction in any thing but sincere Vertue 2. Communion with GOD is another Blessing of the Soul But this is so peculiar to Vertue and Religion that a wicked Man while he continues so can never have the least taste or vital relish of it There is a kind of natural sympathy and harmony running through the World whereby things of a like nature incline to and are attractive of one another Now where there is no agreeableness or suitableness of Nature there can be no firm Union or Society And it is as impossible for a Vitious Man to have any Communion with GOD as it is for the Elements to change their Natures or Darkness and Light to combine and lovingly shake hands together And whatever our Modern Spiritualists and Enthusiasts may talk of their being Godded with GOD and Christned with Christ to whom it may justly be replied in the words of Plotinus long ago to the Gnosticks that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without Vertue and real Goodness GOD is but a Name an empty and dry sound yet certainly there is a very intimate Communion between GOD and the Soul of every Good Man when the Soul converses with him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by a quiet and secret feeling of the Vertue Sweetness and Power of his Goodness as the forenamed Philosopher expresses it And describing further this tactual Conjunction of the Soul with GOD he saith That GOD and the Soul doth as it were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 join Centres and Centres do wholly swallow up one another so that this Philosopher seems to aim at an Union even more than touch But whatever Idea these high and raised Expressions may imprint upon our Minds yet doubtless their full sence is comprehended in that of St. John 1 Ep. 4.16 God is Love and he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God and God in him i. e. there is an intimate Communication between GOD and he that is throughly Baptiz'd into the Spirit of Divine Love and GOD imparts himself to such an one in this Life so far as he is capable of receiving the Communications of his infinite Fulness Which is the highest Privilege of Created Nature 3. A good use of our Faculties as the Understanding Memory and Will When the Understanding is pure and clear and capable of Differencing and Discerning the best Things and the Will obedient to that Light presented to it and the Memory like a Faithful Steward Treasures up those choice and useful Truths committed to its Trust Now true Goodness is of such a Nature as that it purifies and refines these Faculties of the Mind which on the contrary are infinitely weakned and disordered by Sensuality and immoderate Desires after the Bodily Life There is nothing casts so fatal a Damp upon the choicest Powers of the Soul as a deep Immersion in sensual Pleasures So that though in this Life we see but in a Glass as the Apostle phrases it and that darkly yet such is our Infelicity that the gross Streams and Suffusions that arise by the enormous agitation of the Corporeal Life so fully and besmear the Glass of our Understandings that the pure Image of the Divinity and the bright face of Truth cannot sincerely be seen and discerned in it And hence it is clear and evident that the Mind is never so healthful and sprightly as when it is carried in a steady and even course of Vertue Let us now consider the Blessings of the Body which are Health and Freedom from Pain And what tends more to the Advancement of these than Temperance Chastity and Sobriety For the Mind being throughly purged and freed from the pressure of earthly Vices and extravagant Lusts derives a healing Influence even upon the Body it self and adds a Briskness and Vivacity to our Terrestrial Frame But when the Soul is sower'd with Hatred pined with Envy and daily fretted with those corroding Cares a Covetous Humour infects it withal the Body participates of the Infirmities of the Mind and often betrays its own ill Constitution by a Meagre Look and a pale and dejected Countenance Is not the voluptuous Person frequently pressed into the Grave by an unequal Load of Meats and Drinks And does not the lascivious Man groan under the Miserie 's contracted from a Lustful Bed Nay many times the innocent Posterity rue the Faults and Sins of their Ancestors and the Rottenness and Diseases of the Parents procured by their insatiable and ungovernable Appetites are equally transmitted together with their Inheritances to their Children Only Vertue that 's kind and beneficial to us by forbiding us all those things which would destroy our Natures And if we would hearken to its gentle Whispers it not only shows us how by a natural efficacy it would preserve our Health and free us from Pain by accustoming us to a discreet Moderation of our sensual Passions and Desires but it bestows a benign Pulchritude and Serenity that is easily discerned in the external Visage and Countenance And perhaps Solomon might allude to some such thing as this when he tells us that Wisdom makes the face to shine intimating That the Practice of Holiness and Vertue fills the Soul with such a chearful Light and Vigour as diffuses those lovely Beams which become visible in the very Face As the Emperour Antoninus observed That a good single-hearted and benign Person discovers these beautiful Qualifications in his Eyes neither is it possible for him to hide them Thus much for the Advantages which accrue to the Body from Religion The Blessings which belong joyntly both to the Soul and Body are 1. A good Name and Reputation There is in the Mind of Man a natural Desire of perpetuating his Name and Memory and in all his Actions of Moment he makes to himself little Emblems and faint Representations of Immortality From hence springs the Care of Posterity and here lies the Ground of those costly Monuments erected by the Ancients viz. That they might Immortalize their Names But these are poor and petty things and the effects of a mean and abject Mind to place our Fame and Reputation in any of those external Things which the injury of Time may obliterate and deface A good Name and Reputation are only the Productions of true and sincere Vertue and by how much the more Noble and Expansive this is by so much the more glorious a Memory does it transmit of us to succeeding Generations This alone will make the remembrance of us like a precious Oyntment which will yield a pleasant Fragrancy and Perfume when we are gone into the other World 2. A competency of Means and Estate It is true a flourishing Condition is not always the Lot of the best Christian but rather considering the restless endeavours of Vice to promote it self we must expect through many Tribulations to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven And if the sincerly Religious Person do not flow with Earthly