promoted by our Essential consistency of Spirit and Body the material and bodily part always disposing us to the pursuance of Outward things contrary to the approbation of the Intellectual But since the depravation of Mans Will by the fall of Adam we are united to Errour and need not a Tempter to lead us out of the way for both the Principles of our Being do now dispose us to wrong Objects therefore to lay open this grand Fallacy it being in a matter of so great concernment as is the Eternal happiness or perdition of Men let us examine what is requisite to the constituting of true Pleasure To the making up then of true and real Pleasure I shall lay down these three Conditions as requisite First That the Object be suitable to the Soul Secondly That the Soul be put into Fruition of this suitable Object Thirdly That the perpetuity of this Fruition be ensur'd to it Now let us enquire whether External things considered simply in themselves and not relatively as they have respect to greater ends have these three Conditions in them or no. First then Is any External thing an Object suitable to the mind of Man I answer That no External thing is because they all want two Qualifications which are requisite to make an Object suitable to the mind the first of which is That it be congeneal and of the same nature with the Soul that is a substance immaterial or spiritual The second that it have in it a sufficiency to gratifie all the Appetites of the Soul First No outward thing is immaterial or spiritual for a spiritual substance comes not within the notice of our senses and though in Scripture we read of the appearing of Angels as three to Abraham two to Lot one to Cornelius another to S t Peter yet this must be suppos'd to have been by the assumption of bodies to which they were united not essentially but occasionally and pro tempore for in other places the Scripture tells us what their natures are calling them Spirits Psal. 104. vers 4. Heb. chap. 1. vers 14. and although I find no decisive Text for that Opinion of the Church of Rome that there is a Tutelary and a seducing Angel attending upon every Man and Woman and likewise Children which was indeed held amongst the Heathen under the terms of bonus and malus Genius yet it speaks indefinitely Heb. 1. 14. that they are all ministring Spirits for the Elect but notwithstanding their presence appears not to them when they come in their own Natures So likewise the Souls of Men are not within the notice of our senses being Spirits and incorporeal substances as Angels are for which we have the testimony of Scripture Man was made after the Image and Similitude of God But since the sense of these words Image and Similitude is much controverted in the Schools let us look into the twelfth of the Hebrews at the ninth verse Furthermore we had fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of Spirits and live where Souls are called Spirits in opposition to flesh Besides the Testimony of Scripture we have a demonstration of their nature in the death of every Man for though the Soul be separated from the body yet the standers by see it not we hear nothing but the groans of the dying person caus'd by the motion of Parts we feel nothing but a coldness in the extremities of the body caused by the cessation of motion we smell nothing but a putrid savour caus'd by the corruption of humours neither do we tast any thing On the contrary all outward and corporeal things are obvious to some one of our senses for instance though we cannot hear the Light we can see it though we cannot see the Air we can feel it and though we taste not the white of an Egg yet we can see it or feel it and though we cannot smell a piece of Glass yet we can likewise see it or feel it and so of all material things that are at a due distance from the organs of our sense And here before we look into the second thing requisite let us examine why it is necessary that the Object be of the same nature with the Soul Thus then the Soul of Man being immaterial that which makes it happy by the fruition of it self must likewise be immaterial for as it is a fundamental in Physick that Nutrition is made by Similaries so likewise is this assertion true in the Metaphysical complacency between the Soul and the Object it cannot receive a proper supply from any thing that doth not bear an affinity with it in its substance and qualities This reciprocall delight between Parties is discoverable in every species of Created Beings and in every action in Natura naturata In Physicks flame and flame embrace one another but a furious conflict ariseth from the convention of fire and water in Morals goodness accords with goodness but vice will not be suffered to dwell with virtue and in the Metaphysical action of the contemplation of the Soul we see experimentally that she cannot content her self with inferiour Objects but is still seeking to her self some more excellent matter of delight which desires of the mind intelligent men may take notice of in themselves if they will be self-observers This appetite of the Soul is the reason why Solomon was not contented with all his clusters of delights though he turn'd over the whole world as it were yet he arrived not to the summ of his desires but still there remained in his spirit an appetite after something more than any exteriour thing could furnish him withall so that at last he openly proclaims them all to be excuse the catachresis but full of emptiness Seneca saith of Augustus Caesar that he delighted to talk of laying down the Scepter and of betaking himself to a recluse life And we read that the Emperour Charles the fifth resigned up the Low-Countries and Burgundy and afterward all the rest of his Dominions to his Son Philip in his life-time And of the Emperour Theodosius that he delivered up the charge of the Empire to his two Sons Arcadius and Honorius though with power to resume it which he never did and many other precedents of the same kind doth History present us withall of which it is reasonable to think that it was not only the troubles which usually attend Crowns caused this in them others being deputed to bear the greatest burdens in that kind but rather that all their enlargements could not present them with any thing agreeable to those secret appetites of their minds and this dissatisfaction there is in all the entertainments of sense by which it appears that the great capacities of the Soul can never be filled up with these lean and scanty Objects and whiles that Capacity is unsupplyed there will be a coveting of those things which are
Golden Remains OF Sir GEORGE FREMAN Knight of the Honourable Order OF THE BATH BEING CHOICE DISCOURSES ON Select Subjects LONDON Printed by J. M. and are to be sold by Henry Bonwicke at the Red-Lyon in S t Paul's Church-Yard 1682. PREFACE THE great charity the Author had for souls lest any should take example by seeing him drink and the desire he had of making what restitution he could was the reason he desired me to set out his Treatise against Drinking after his Death And as I who was constantly with him must needs know him better than any other so I think my self obliged to do him that right as to let the world know he was not the Man they generally took him for I can justly say I never knew any one of a more tender Conscience after he had been in company if upon inquiry into himself he found he had committed a sin in drinking too much or done any thing he thought extravagant he would very much lament himself and hath sent for the company he was with and given them good advice perswading them to a holy life He has made resolutions to drink nothing but small Beer which he hath kept till the violence of his fits seized on him so severely that he has been forced to drink some Wine to relieve him from them but hath been extreamly troubled and said to me what a miserable condition am I in that these fits should force me to that I would fain quite cast off and would take it with great caution and say Lord give a blessing so far as I may lawfully pray For his Family Duties he was careful there should be Prayers morning and evening For some time he had a Minister in the House which said the Church Prayers twice a day when he was gone he performed the duty himself and when he was not able by reason of his illness he order'd one of his Sons to do it Several times when he rose from Prayers he would give his Servants good instructions And when he could not go to Church by reason of the violence of his Fits he would speak to me to take care that his Children and Servants went and bid me tell them the reason why he did not go lest they should take example by his staying away which he said he would never do if it pleased God he had his health It was his constant practice before he went abroad though it was never so little a way first to go to his Prayers and beg a blessing of God For his Charity in giving Alms he had bowels of mercy he seldom gave Alms but he shed tears of compassion for their misery And when they return'd thanks in praying for him he would say to me they do me much more good by their prayers than I can do them with my Alms What a mercy it is that I have so much plenty who deserve no more than they On the Lords day he had many of the Poor dined with his Servants which he would speak to with a friendly kindness and look on them with much joy that they received refreshment at his Table He gave yearly Pensions one to a very ancient Widow and another to an ancient Gentleman who died and then he gave it to his Brother being in the like want He relieved several Knights and Gentlemen in their distress feeding cloathing and assisting them with mony towards the burying their dead And every Christmass he gave money to the Poor of Betchworth and Brockham And as an encouragement to Charity he used to say it is the best way of putting money to use to give it to the Poor As he was thus eminent in this Virtue of Alms-giving so he was no less in that hardest part of Charity which is forgiving Enemies He received as much wrong as a slanderous tongue could do him but was so far from returning evil for evil that contrary to that he asked me what he should do to do that party good my answer was I knew no way but Prayer which he immediately betook himself to after a solemn manner on his knees with me and after that told me he had Prayed at Church and in his bed for that party and though he received the wrong yet he first desired to be reconciled I could give several other instances of his returning good for evil for he never bore malice against any but still endeavoured to overcome his Enemies with kindness His Charity to souls was so diffusive that he wrote several short dehortations from sin and exhortations to a holy life and used to cast them privately about the streets that some finding them might by the grace of God be wrought upon to forsake their sins One of the Papers I have by me with these words in it Fear to do ill for thou know'st not how soon death may overtake thee He was very just in all dealings careful to pay his debts and in accounting would rather be a loser than any should suffer by him He many times used this expression Whose Ox have I taken He was humble kind and courteous to the meanest of his Neighbours and never slighted any Gentleman for his poverty but used them with as much respect as those that had great Estates He was a Loyal Subject to his King a true Son of the Church of England and very much against Popery He was a loving Father to his Children a very kind Master to his Servants and I must ever owne it he was a most tender loving Husband to me which he shewed in taking care to the utmost of his power to provide for me and to his last in his extraordinary kind expressions to me on his death-bed Above two years before his death a great Affliction befell him which brought much anguish on his spirits so that when he hath been at Prayers with his Family he could scarce bring out his words for tears and he being naturally melancholy great afflictions must needs lie heavier upon him and be harder to overcome had he not had a great support from Heaven But through Gods grace they turned so much to his advantage and weaned him so from this world that his discourses to me were as Sermons treating of Death and the happiness of the next world He said the day of our death might very well be called the day of our birth giving us a greater enlargement than when we came from the inclosure of our Mother's womb And told me he and I should do as my Lady Falkland advised her friends not love one another too much but endeavour to wean our affections knowing one must go before the other telling me also of one that when he had word brought him of the death of his only Son said I knew I begat a mortal When troubles were on him he would say Heaven will recompence all Heaven is a sweet place there is no disturbance but all Peace and Love He hoped he might overcome his troubles which he could never
which was not long after but in the midst of my idle and sensual life I had intermissions of consideration not without some trouble my bashfulness which I always had in a measure more than ordinary did much incline me to drink finding that did embolden me for which reason I have wisht I had been brought up at some publick School rather than in my Fathers House supposing that strange company and being from under the tender wing of my dearest Mother I might have been rouzed up by being put more to my shifts and my bashfulness abated by being accustomed to the company of strangers And indeed I found manifestly that being so much confined to home through the carefull fear and love both of my Father and Mother bashfulness and melancholy did so gain upon and take root in me that it was always a great disturbance to my life I found likewise my memory both slow and not retentive occasioned by that fixtness which was upon me and that occasioned by the want of business to employ my memory and inform my judgment and excite my thoughts which contributed much to fix me more in melancholy and want of confidence which though not so considered of by my Father and Mother yet I found manifestly in my self it was a great occasion of mischief to me and did expose me to a loose life But Lord had I stirred up in my self that stock of Grace and those Divine Principles which were infused into me by thy self the fountain of holiness and purity and the instiller of holy motions thou wouldest undoubtedly have come into my soul with such controuling power as would have reduced my disordered mind to an obedience to thy heavenly will the absence of which hath bred in me so great matter of discomfort but if thy goodness shall spare me for so much future obedience as may place me in the favour of thy self I shall more esteem it than thousands of Gold and Silver A Prayer I Desire Eternal Jesus to call upon Thee from the depth of my sorrows upon Thee O Divinity incarnate whose mercies are bottomless and whose Merits can bury the most vast extuberances of repented sin from the eye of thy Fathers Justice and secure the relenting sinner from the stroke of his Omnipotent hand which nothing can intercept but thy self who art all and whose intire Obedience can answer all the objections of Divine fury and out-wrastle Justice when she makes her greatest assaults But O my presumptuous soul though it be true that the Mercies of God in Christ exceed all proportions and that there are continuall springs of compassion which are ever flowing from the breasts of his goodness yet how can that avail thee while thou art bathing thy self in sensuality and courting thy treacherous lusts who were the murtherers of the blessed Jesus whom if thou chase from thee which thou must needs do if thou welcome thy sins she goes along with the blessed Lamb and never leaves him where he is she is still to be sound and had not he come into the visible world she had never presented her self to mankind but they must have been ever separated from the Glories of Eternity What can the best extracted cordial do to a man who is naturally dead neither can these cordials of salvation advantage thee who art spiritually so Most blessed Lord make me a subject capable of thy mercy by faith and repentance for else the preparations of thy mercy will be my greatest misery to see redemption at a distance causeth a languishment of the soul here if she have any residues of Grace while mercy is not irrecoverable but to see her removed when she can never return yet so many times offered in the day of Grace is the most bitter ingredient of eternal misery Suffer me most glorious Jesus who am but dust and ashes to speak unto my Lord and let me ask at the mouth of wisdom how it comes to pass that my heart should pant after thee now and anon grow cold and disobedient can Christ and Belial be inmates together If I love thee and desire thee above all things to day why do I leave thee next since thou art more delectable the second day than the first and the third day than the second since thy essential sweets do not like those thou hast created glut the appetite but become the more gratefull the more frequently they are tasted Oh it is my original corruption which strives to demolish those reparations of Grace which are in my soul by thy death and to obscure those reinfused sparks But Lord let thy additional Grace joyned to that twinkling light which yet remains in me improve it to such a flame by thy frequent supplies that by its light I may discover my sins and by its heat they may be consumed who would betray me into that fire which should ever light me and ever burn me but never consume me Blessed Redeemer I have not onely my own inherent sinfulness and the spirit of spirits separated from thy self to encounter withall but there is another cause in nature which depresses my soul from rising up to her Lord the flesh which is ever warring against the spirit and besides the usuall evils of it there is more in me than the bodies of men do often bring with them thou know'st it Lord for thou made'st me and since thou did'st I am silent I know thou madest me to thy Glory what though I have more of earth in the composition of my body than others have by which the motion of my animal and vital spirits is obstructed though my apprehension and memory be not so quick and retentive if I obey my Redeemer and hearken to his charms the spirit of Jesus shall inspire and quicken my soul which if it be nimble and active in its correspondencies to the Rules of Christ I shall have a large amends for the splene and dulness of my body But when I have been troubled with the incumbency of this weight I have not looked up unto my blessed Jesus whom I might have seen through my thickest blood since that excellent spirit which I am by Creation doth not require the body to its sublime operations but instead of this most injured Saviour I have run to thy Creatures for help yet that I might have done for they had not been but to preserve my being and support my natural life but ah wretch that I am I have made an inordinate use of them and turned thy blessings into my own curses instead of putting my soul into a more serviceable estate for thy glory by correcting the disproportions of my temperament I have defaced her beauty with intemperance and exposed her to the assaults of Lusts and Devils But Oh most meek and mercifull Jesus though I made a resignation of my self thou didst not give me away by substracting the residues of thy Grace but my spirit even in her most deliberate aberrations from thy Rule was the
all outward things are more in appearance than they are in experiment and acutual probation the reason is because the Soul looking on them in their approach and doting on the gains which is coming towards her concludes they are as thick in substance as ravishing in their anterior fairness but after they have met and embraced she finds that they are both in haste to be gone and are but a bare frontispiece of Beauty like the Portraictures of Kings and Queens painted upon a flat which behind are nothing but dusty canvase Another thing which doth much lessen the pleasure of them is that the Soul in her reflex actions is still accusing her self and thus expostulating with her self Why am I thus conversant about transient things how long have I sought for true pleasure and satisfaction in them but cannot find it certainly I was design'd for matters of a higher concernment since I find I can look above them and beyond them how do I dishonour those noble Objects and injure my self in descending to these mean entertainments These and the like contrariant thoughts are a great allay to those imaginary pleasures and being mixt with the enjoyments give them a very disgustfull relish These circumstances well considered will I suppose very much shrink up that bulk of delight which to the abused fancy seems to be united to outward things before enjoyment even within the limits of Moderation when it is distinct from Virtue Let us now look into the third Postulatum or circumstance required to make up true pleasure which is the certainty of its Duration The death of all men is so confirmed to us by Arguments à parte ante besides the Physical reasons which are produced for the necessity of it that he that should question the continuation of it à Parte post may carry about him his Phantastick head to dispute it by himself till it be laid at rest in its own Grave to receive conviction Here then the question is Whether the Sensualist hath any firm ground of hope for a reversion of his pleasures after Death The Alchoran makes fair promises to Mahomet's disciples that they shall meet with sensual Pleasures again in the next world and if any Voluptuous man shall presume to urge the authority of it he is but that in profession now which he was before in Practice But I do assert the contrary that it is impossible that the Sensualist should be re-estated in the same Species of delight in which he solaced himself during his temporal life or in any other from reasons Physical Moral and Theological First then the body will most certainly at its re-union with the Soul exist after a manner as much different from this which is temporal as to be eternally durable differs from being dissoluble or in a state of corruption for eternal duration being that Divine Boon which shall be conferred upon the Totum Compositum the entire person of man both Soul and Body the Body which is the material part and which will be the Instrumental or intermediate cause under God the Efficient of its own duration being by the wisdom of God fitted with those affections and properties which shall be requisite to that great end of Eternal duration will in degrees proportionate to those future consequences differ from it self as it is now under a state of corruption For take any two different Effects in Nature and it will be found that the proximate and immediate causes of them do differ between themselves in the same degree that the Effects do Ex. Gra. Take a piece of Wood and a piece of Iron both of them smooth and of the same figure and bigness the Wood swims the Iron sinks proportionably to the speediness of the Irons sinking it must differ in solidity or closeness of parts from the Wood which swims This similitude is very Analogical and by the same reason the consistency of the Body in the state of Glory will as much differ from its consistency here as the consequences of duration and dissolution do these being likewise two Effects of two immediate causes Now then to come to the thing that is to be proved therefore the objects of Pleasure must be likewise disparate from if not adverse to what we meet withall here because these here are terminable of which nature there will be nothing after Death For the Body and the Soul being made durable to all Eternity it is most reasonable to think that all their Celestial Accommodations must be durable too for else there would not be a completion of happiness there being a discrepancy between the recipient and the object But to go a step farther That a Sensual man should meet with his old ones or any other sort of Pleasures after death is oppugnant to the precepts of Morality By a Sensual man I mean such a one as makes the attainment of corruptible things his ultimate end whether under a Notion of moderation or of excess and the word excess is to be taken in a double consideration either excess as to the quantity of the thing or excess as to the propriety of the thing First let us consider the person exceeding as to Quantity The Miser never hath pelf enough to satisfie his avaritious mind for he is alwayes coveting more while his thoughts and appetite do terminate in Gold and Silver as the ultimate object they aspire to therefore he loves nothing beyond that or above it for if he did the desire of that would in process of â—ime cease and he would desire something beyond it or above it since desire is a necessary effect of Love issuing immediately from it as from its proximate and contiguous cause if then he loves nothing beyond it or above it he sins against his natural Conscience which still presents the Deity to him as an object which only merits the whole stream of his affections for ignorance of which he hath no plea since the universal voice of nature proclaims a Divine power and in this every man is a Plato to himself Here then is a Moral Trespass or the Commission of an Act against the secret impresses of Nature Now the mind presently enters into consideration whether it ought to run counter to these infused habits or not if a thought propounds to it that it may it presently asks why then these Notions were Imprinted in it either they were given in vain or else that they should be practised If in vain that clashes with a Moral Axiome Natura semper agit propter finem if to be practised then an accusation of Guilt ensues and from thence naturally arises not an expectation of Pleasure but of Mulct from the Original Justice of that first Cause which fixed these Principles in the Mind So much then for excess in Quantity that I may avoid the surplusage of Argument In the next place I must take a view of the Person who exceeds as to Propriety Every Soul not obstructed
from this Country gone And here hast left me wandring all alone The clue is broke and weary I Bewilder'd in this Labyrinth lie And nought but monstrous Minotaurs of unheard Vices spie Thy sacred reliques now must be A second holy Guide to me And from thy Book I will such blessings crave As once thy living precepts gave Where we behold thy Soul it self and free From the restraint of vainer Company From th' heats of Wine and passion From complement and fashion And all that discords with its native Harmony 7. Thy Charity expires not with thy breath But here thou' rt benefactor after death Out of the ample treasure of thy mind Leaving a stock of holy truths behind Thou dost a large estate to pious souls bequeath O may success answer the great design May'st thou be others guide as well as mine And may 't increase thy joys to see Thy Converts flocking after Thee The fruits of all thy passionate cares Captives of thy discourse or blessings to thy Pray'rs A. B. A BRIEF APOLOGY FOR THE Lords Prayer I Have selected two Texts out of the New Testament one is in the 6 th Chap. of S t Matthew the beginning of the 9 th verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 After this manner therefore pray ye c. the other is in the eleventh of S t Luke at the second verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And he said unto them when you pray say Our Father Which two places of Scripture will administer a redundancy of argument to prove what I have undertaken namely That it is the duty of every Christian to use the Lords Prayer constantly both at his publick and private Devotions As to the integrality and exact composure of this Prayer every man will readily acknowledge it because it were sacrilegious impudence to say otherwise notwithstanding this you shall hear the most moderate of its opposers say that the assiduous use of it is not necessary and many since our late dissensions began have declared by their continued omission of it that it is not requisite at all not allowing it entertainment although the Lords Prayer within the walls of the Church stiled by our Saviour himself the House of Prayer nor into their own houses at their Family Duties and I have much reason to fear not into the most recluse corners when they have been at their private devotions Thus did they in effect teach Assemblies that prayer as effectual as that might be made out of new molds of their own and entertained them with nothing else but their own belches and eruptions On the contrary I do assert the necessity of its use both at all times of prayer and by all persons first from the primitive practice and the high esteem that all the Eminent Fathers of the Church had of it And next I shall endeavour to prove it by Logicall deductions from the letter of the Scripture in one text and by unavoidable consequence from the other shewing that the place cited out of S t Matthew must of necessity hold Analogie with that of S t Luke I will begin with that of S t Luke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the original is an adverb compounded of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 adverbium primarium and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 conjunctio potentialis sometimes it signifies postquam after that as S t John chap. 16. vers 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 postquam aut pepererit sometimes quamdiu as long as so S t John 9. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quamdiu in mundo fuero here it signifies quum or quando and being indefinite comprehendeth all the times of Prayer but if you should put it thus as a solution to a question namely as if I should ask a man when will you do such a kindness for me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the answer be made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isidor when you return here supposing I had told him before when I would return 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not indefinite but joyn'd with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is an answer to the precedent question and points at some hour or day in the which I said I would return but in the Text it must of necessity comprehend all the times of prayer and therefore this injunction When you pray say Our Father is and must of necessity be as much as if our Saviour had said whensoever you pray say Our Father which art in heaven c. Nor will it enter into my apprehension how this can possibly admit of any other explication But to this they will object if so that our Saviour enjoyns us whensoever we pray to say Our Father the consequence will be that we must say no other prayer for when we pray in another form we pray how is this command then fulfilled when you pray say Our Father if we take a liberty to vary from it I answer that by these words when you pray is not to be understood all the continued time of prayer but some part of that occasional or assiduous praying so that it is not spoken exclusively of all other prayers for S t Paul Ephes 1. 16. tells them he ceaseth not to pray for them and verse the 17 th tells them in what manner namely in words of his own as you may there read and in another place Acts 2. 42. it is said And they continued in the Apostles doctrine and fellowship and breaking of bread and prayers in the plural so that it is much more probable that they did use occasional prayers and not make a continued repetition of the Lords Prayer besides we find that S t Chrysostome S t Augustine S t Bernard and all the Fathers took that liberty neither was it ever questioned but however if the Text did restrain us to it those that use it not at all would be the more strongly refuted From the premises then it will appear that this individual prayer these very words for they are the immediate subject of that command must be used by every Christian whensoever he applyeth himself to God in prayer But to this they will object That the Text in S t Matthew gives a dispensation from using these very words because it saith pray after this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thus To this I answer If our Saviour commandeth us in this Text to pray after this Prayer then he doth implicitely though not expresly enjoyn these very words but if it be supposed to be spoken exclusively of the Lords Prayer that is as if our Saviour had said You need not say my Prayer or you need not use it alwayes but set it as a pattern and rest alwayes or for the most part upon your own methods which you make in imitation of mine what would the consequence be but a horrid one namely that our Saviour did set a greater estimate upon those subsequent prayers which we were afterwards to make in imitation of his than he did upon his own which will inevitably follow if we
theirs who did reject it And I would very fain be satisfied how the Dissenters from Ecclesiastical Ceremonies can quarrel with the Church of England for imposing things in their own nature indifferent that is not prohibited by God in his revealed will how they can I say except against the imposition of such lawfull things and plead it is for this reason to avoid giving offence to tender consciences which consciences cry out before they are hurt and yet maintain that themselves may publickly omit this great duty of saying the Lords Prayer and that to the offence of so many well-grounded consciences who can by no means dispense with it The Church of England out of her prudent care to preserve Order and Uniformity in the exteriour part of Gods worship imposeth a lawfull thing or action and that 's a sin the Presbyterian dispenseth with the not performing of a necessary duty and that 's no sin The Church of England magnifies Christs Prayer and that 's idolizing a Form the Presbyterian despiseth it and that 's good Religion The Parliament of England of which the Fathers of the Church are a very considerable part do cause the illegitimate Covenant to be burnt and that 's a great wickedness the Presbyterian slights the Divine Energy of the Lords Prayer legitimate as Tertullian calls it which is far worse than the bare action of burning the paper wherein it is printed or written and that 's not ill at all But it may be they will say to me you make a discourse concerning the excellency of the Lords Prayer we may ask you the same question that one was asked who insisted long upon the praise of Hercules Quis unquam vituperavit Herculem which of us ever spoke against the excellency of the prayer It is true I never heard any man in terminis do it as I said in the beginning of my discourse for that were open blasphemy and persistence in it would merit excommunication from the society of Christians but you do implicitely and inclusively or otherwise why do you not use it Actions speak more than words and cry aloud in the ears of God either for reward or judgment But some of them do object that they do use it sometimes but they are not bound to use it alwayes To this I answer that the intermitting of its use doth imply the setting of but a gradual esteem upon it and that they do not acknowledge its supereminency above all other prayers If a man that is prescribed an excellent dyet-drink which never sail'd the cure of some disease which he labours with and is ordered by his Physician to take it every day if he intermit but one day it will argue that he doth not so highly approve of it that is that he doth disapprove of it in a degree proportionable to the discontinuance of it So if any man do make use of the Lords Prayer sometimes and sometimes useth it not what doth this omission of his unless it be through forgetfulness but secretly whisper to the understanding that he doth not intensively and absolutely approve of it but partially and in gradibus remissis For to say the Lords Prayer is the best prayer and yet to say it is not requisite to use it at all times of prayer is a most absurd assertion and to be exploded by all judicious men for if it be the best and that most transcendently why should any other prayer justle it out It is true that many times there is incumbent upon the soul the guilt of so many great and often repeated sins that the deep apprehension of the spirit at such a time requires more room and a greater field of language to rove up and down in and to unbosome her remorse to God whom she hath offended she would come to a more particular repentance and insist upon all the circumstances which may aggravate her guilt and be argument of sorrow to her in her self-condemning that by her timely sentence upon her self she may avoid that irrevocable sentence which Christ at the last day will pronounce against those who justifie themselves and therefore is not satisfied in her deep recesses of grief with that petition in our Lords Prayer Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us and therefore other prayers are allowable because the soul doth by them as it were divide her repentance into smaller parcels and make it more fine by sifting it into single circumstances but when this penitent Soul hath recollected all she can for the accusation of her self and finds that in her memory she can discover no more being troubled she cannot now let her make a sure conclusion with this perfect prayer which is a summary of all her wants in which she confesseth all her sins and asketh forgiveness for all and not for her own sins only but for the sins of the whole Church by which Petition of the Lords Prayer we are most sweetly taught how diffusive our Charity should be and now having confessed all her sins and begged pardon of God for all her own and others sins she can strain at no more but finding in this prayer a sweet repository of all her scruples commits her self to God till the next time that he shall honour her so highly as to let her enter again into that near Communion with himself which Prayer gives us So that to conclude though the Lords Prayer do not exclude the use of other Prayers especially when they are collected out of Scripture yet it comes with full commission for the use of it self Especially at the conclusion of our devotions For then all other forms of Prayer which are like rivulets and little streams should retire into this Prayer as they into the Ocean to cover their imperfections One thing I shall add more and that concerning the brevity of it for although various expressions are allowed to the Soul in her passions for sin which when they are found in the concerns of repentance are most exceeding acceptable to God in Christ yet that is caused by the unaptitude of the body to answer readily to the first motions of the soul. And therefore the soul cannot communicate her notions but by a longer successiveness of discourse but those that have most evaded their passions and are advanced nearer to a ready use of their noble faculties may with the Lords Prayer perform the act of repentance thoroughly and obtain pardon for their sins with all temporal blessings without a fear or groan or any farther enlargements of themselves and rise up as much advanced as any others in all the concernments of their salvation FINIS A DEHORTATION FROM ALL SIN BUT Particularly the Sin OF DRINKING Reader IF thou hast been hitherto carefull to lead a good life according to the rule of Gods Word I entreat thee to persevere for the Lords sake unto the end that thou mayest receive the end of thy hope even the salvation of thy soul which upon
thy continuance in well-doing thou shalt most certainly accomplish to thy unspeakable comfort but if thou art a captive to the false and deceitfull pleasures of sin as I have been hearken unto me who can upon too too long an experience Lord pardon my many relapses assure thee that what fair appearances soever sin presents thee with in its first approaches it will leave a sting behind and after the commission of every sinfull act thou wilt most certainly be so far removed from God as the greatness of thy sin was and as the testimonies of a good conscience decay so will the accusations of an evil one come in their room till insensibly thou fall into horror and despondencies of spirit one of the least of which is far too dear a price for all the pleasures the world can afford thee These are the entrances of Hell into thy soul upon the withdrawings of God and spiritual consolations without which the soul languisheth as the body fainteth upon a decay of the animal or vital spirits this must thou look for after the continuance in any known and presumptuous sin but if thou find it not thy condition is dangerous for the obduration or hardening of the heart is the threshold of Hell look quickly then and seriously into thy soul labour to get a sight of thy sins in the Book of Conscience whiles they may be blotted out pray earnestly to God for a true sense of them for Prayer is the Key of Heaven consider often of Death Judgment Heaven and Hell think how odious the sin of ingratitude is between man and man and that unthankfulness for the Blood of Christ is the highest of that kind think of the shortness of mans life and the great business is to be done in that little life that thy short life is posting to an end O the folly and madness of sin it is a continual acting against reason a treasuring up of wrath with the God of all Power a providing for the society of Devils and damned souls who will be cursing their Maker and one another to all eternity 't is that which only is dishonourable to man a disturbance to Commonwealths it is the satisfaction of Devils if they could have any the trouble of Angels and blessed souls nay the grieving of the Holy Ghost and the continual murthering of the Son of God I have no design in this short Discourse but the Glory of God the conversion of souls and the discharging of my own Conscience by testifying to as many as I can the detestation of my former life that so the ill consequences of my example may be in some measure repaired by this publication of my self and therefore wish to that end that all may see this that saw my debauchery and I beseech God to give me boldness in the confession of my faults and to make me only shamefull of recommitting them Above all things I advise men to beware of immoderate drinking which dulls the understanding and makes the soul impatient of contemplation it disposeth vehemently to the pleasures of sense and to a gigling impertinent mirth it precipitateth to the acts of uncleanness and exciteth all the passions exposing men to many and daily hazards both of soul and body and rendring them unfit for any employment either in Ecclesiastical or Civil Affairs And since it is so that some mens bodies by their temperament do require strong drinks more than others it is not a total abstinence but a moderate use of it which is expected for which end I think it a very good rule by which to set some observable bounds to drinking that men would drink so far as to cherish the stomach but not to the least elevation of the brain and the stomach is satisfied with a small quantity unless a man lie under the cheat of a habit but when the spirits of the wine or any strong liquor begin to mount up to the brain from whence the soul doth principally and most immediately act the contemplative power begins to be disquieted and unfixt and the soul now to fluctuating as it were and wavering in her motion her best and steady operations being hindred pleases her self with being conversant about outward things and trivial objects and lies more exposed to the danger of frequent temptations this which I speak of is but the first change of the brain when it is altered from its usual tone and composure and although a man may drink to this pitch and yet carry civility about him and a favourable correspondence with men because his tongue doth not falter neither is his understanding so obscured as to fail at least in matters of common converse yet this person who hath done nothing unacceptable to the world hath so changed the Scene within himself that he is now more at the command of his sensual appetite than before and his noble faculties begin to lean towards the world and stagger in the sight of God though his legs stand firm before the eyes of them that see him I appeal to the consciences of any such plausible drinkers whether they do not find themselves more cold in acts of devotion more fond of outward pleasures more affected with the thoughts of temporal honours and the favour of great men more than the love of Jesus Whether the contemplation of eternity and the estate of their souls in reference to that being doth so well relish with them at that time If they did so why do they not wave a Stage-play and go to publick prayers which are at that time Why instead of going to a wrangling Gaming-house do they not study the game of Christianity that they may beat that experienced Gamester the Devil and win their souls which lye continually at stake and are in imminent danger of being lost What a sad thing is it that so noble a Creature as man should rest in and be contented with trifles for whom are prepared the glories of eternity if here he will take upon him the easie yoke and light burden of Christ Now although many men that drink not may and do often these things and far worse yet drink betrayes them more easily to vanities and idle pastimes therefore be carefull to avoid this degree of drinking and thou wilt then be secure from the scandalous sin of visible drunkenness which is the beastly consummation of the former I do not speak this to perswade men from society and chearfulness as if Religion and Mirth were things inconsistent since I know that true Mirth is found no where else But we do for the most part mistake Mirth the most of any thing accounting that it consists in laughter only whereas properly a man may be most truly merry when he laugheth least For none laugh more than Idiots and men of weak understanding and sensualists while men advanced in knowledge and quieted in mind by serious and due reflections on themselves do it but seldom but none will deny but the latter
is expected by God that they yield obedience to him proportionably to this common and general Knowledge which if any man fails to do want of education will not be a sufficient plea because it will be found to be an act of his will running contrary to these degrees of Knowledge if any man shall say at the Tribunal of Christ that he spent his time in drinking and idle pastimes because he was not brought up to Learning what will that avail him who did live under the means of Grace which were sufficient for his salvation for though he had no knowledge in Tongues and Sciences yet he knew the Commandments of God and could not plead ignorance in presumptuous sins and though he that cannot read and understand Greek or Latin yet if he can read English let him spend a part of his time in reading the Bible and other good Books and though he cannot discourse in Natural or Moral Philosophy or in the Metaphysicks nor much in practical Divinity yet let him speak within the limits of his knowledge let him reprove common sins and give all encouragement to the generals of a holy life both by word and example and if he be sooner tired with discourse than men of greater knowledge would be then let him betake himself as I advised before to some honest divertisements but not to any thing that hath the least appearance of evil in it the result of this is that whether a man be literate or illiterate he may serve God and those Gentlemen of our Nation that are not members of the Commonwealth of Learning may yet be members of the Mystical Body of Christ and though their delight in great Studies in Polemical Discourses and Meditations are lost proportionably to the decay of their Knowledge yet their time may be the more spent in the Agenda of Religion and they may be allowed a more frequent use of lawfull recreations but not of drinking though but to good fellowship which though the word sounds finely a man can hardly do it and secure his innocence but since the remedy of continual employment is not sufficient for an accustomed drinker he must unravel the habit by little and little to which the shunning of idleness will very much help him To conclude Let us be carefull to resist all the species and kinds of sin whatsoever for it is only sin which can deprive us of the favour of God which if once we are excluded from we are eternally lost but especially the sin of Drinking which is the unhappy Parent of all other sins and therfore the more carefully to be withstood which care if this short Admonition may but stir up in one soul I should more rejoyce to know than to have the greatest honour of the Nation conferred upon me Now to God the Father God the Son and God the holy Ghost be all honour glory praise and adoration given by me and by all his creatures from hence forth to all eternity Amen FINIS AN ENQUIRY INTO THE Sinfulness of my Life Composed of Confessions and Supplications FOR PARDON CHAP. I. MY intention in writing this is to make restitution a necessary circumstance required from true repentance for the publick injuries I may very probably have done to the persons of many who have beheld the licentious part of my life I did write about a twelve month since this being the 15 th of April An. Dom. 1664. A short dehortation from a sinfull life but principally the sin of Drinking which I did for the same end I write this I purposed then to do what good I could both by Precept and Example But alas since that I have miserably fallen into the same Vice even the Sin of Drinking which I chiefly reproved but not without many checks serious retirements and fresh attempts to overcome the Vice and herein I manifestly discover the depravedness of my Will and the proneness of my corrupted Nature to offend God for when I did set my self most seriously to do good I did find evil to be present with me O miserable man that I am But for the residue of my dayes if Gods ineffable Mercy shall add any more to my life I do firmly purpose to spend them in a strict observation of Divine Laws having gained by a most dangerous experience clearer apprehensions concerning the temperament of my body the unprofitableness and deceitfulfulness of sin a better insight into the subtilty of the Devils proceedings against my deluded soul O thou who givest both to will and to do and in that bounteous act hast not been partial to any that none might be excusable in sinning before thee stir up thy gifts in me and co-operate with my weak endeavours suffering me to live so long that I may have time to make up a sound evidence for my interest in Christ though not of so long a date as those happy souls who have been long proficients in the Doctrine and practice of the true Christian Religion for whom I bless thee praying that my end may be such as to bring me into the same place with them though I be never so low in my celestial degree CHAP. II. MY Fathers care was such as not to deny me any thing for my Education I lived in my Fathers House with my dear Brother under two Tutors the last of which I being arrived to a greater measure of understanding had a great affection to He was of an affable disposition and exprest great love to us even with tears at his departing from us he was very Religious which I may say was not unpleasant to me when I was very young but the Vice of Drinking did soon overtake me by the reason of some loose acquaintance who gave me an ill Example so that I began to go with them to Alehouses which did soon initiate me in an ill habit which was much sooner taken up than it could be since removed Thus I continued till I was about thirteen years of age at which time I went with my Father to Oxford which was then a Garrison there I being alone with my Father was much in his eye which did restrain me very well from drinking being likewise sent to All-Souls-Colledge where a Gentleman read Greek to me in the mornings I had there likewise a civil play-fellow M r Thomas Sanderson with whom I spent my time in harmless Recreations but afterwards being very desirous to go along with my Cousin Martin Harvy to his Quarters not far from Oxford who Commanded a Troop of Horse and was willing to shew me the Countrey and some part of the Army for which I was very importunate with my Father but he would not suffer me to go from him but carried me along with him back again to his Countrey-house in Surrey But afterwards my Father went back again to Oxford to wait upon the King and I was more at liberty again and pestered again with my old Companions especially after the departure of my Tutor