Vice are things that we shall find to be more than mere Names at the last CHAP. VI. The Conclusion I Have in this Discourse endeavour'd to vindicate the Credit of Religion against those that maliciously report it to have no other foundation but either the Craft and Policy of States-men and the Credulity of simple People or at best the Authority of Governours who are supposed by their People's receding from their natural Right to have a Power given them to declare what is just and right and what is Injustice and Iniquity And if Religion has such a greal Foundation in our Nature as the foregoing Arguments do certainly prove it has 1. Let us enquire how it comes to pass that any Man can be an Enemy to it 2. How great folly it is to neglect and despise it 3. How much reason we have to live in the constant practice of it 1. Upon what reason it is that any Man can be an Enemy to it For it may as soon be expected that a Man should be an Enemy to himself and contemn the best Powers of his Nature and believe that he himself is the greatest Cheat in the World as that he should believe that That which has so near a relation to and perfect agreement with the Frame of his Nature should be so And indeed if we consider the Grounds and Principles that they go upon it is but too plain that they do not remember that they are Men when they endeavour to over-throw the Truth and Reality of Religion For either they consider themselves to be nothing more than material Beings and to have nothing better than a Body to provide for or if those Thoughts and Reasonings those Reflections and other internal Operations which we are sensible of and which cannot be accounted for from so dull and insenfible a Principle as Matter is do force 'em to acknowledge that there is something in us that is not Matter yet they maintain that the Body is as considerable a part of us as the Soul and that our bodily Appetites have naturally as good a Right to govern us as our Reasons So that although the spight of these Men does not go upon the same Principles yet it is in both equally mischievous and has a respect to the same ill Ends which is the supporting the interests of the Flesh and the serving our Lusts The former indeed goes more roundly to work and by a point-blank denial of his own Immortality leaves himself no other happiness but what consists in bodily Enjoyments And the latter though he does allow of a Principle in us that disposes us for Religion yet does meet him in the same point when he gives as good a Right in Nature to our bodily Appetites to govern us as to our Reason For it is not in favour to Reason that he allows it a room in our Nature since it would be all one to us if we had no Reason at all if it may not command us And what signifies a disposition to Religion upon the account of the Reason that is in us if we may without incurring any guilt despise both Reason and Religion upon the account of an equal Authority that our bodily Appetites hav eto rule us Does it not as much over-throw Religion to give such an Authority to our Appetites as to deny all the Principles of it And does not the setting our Appetites at liberty from the Restrains of Religion imply a very great tenderness to our Bodies What less can be supposed to lie at the bottom of such Discourses as tell us That though our Nature does dispose us to Religion as we are reasonable Creatures it does as much dispose us the other way as we have fleshly Appetites planted in us And that upon this account he who obeys his Appetites has as good a Right to do so as he who obeys his Reason so that in our natural State we cannot conceive any such thing as Sin or a God to Judge and Punish us for it What I say can lie at the bottom of such horrid Discourses but a palpable design to serve the Interests of our Lusts And indeed it is no great wonder that Men that have so much kindness to their Bodies should endeavour to weaken the Power and be spightfull against the Interests of Religion Let them pretend a concern to free us from Prejudices and Pre-possessions as much as they please and a design to restore our Nature to its true and native Liberty 't is obvious enough that all the Liberty they aim at is to be Vicious and to live as much without Reason as if they did really believe they had none For why should they contend for the Freedom of our Appetites from the Restraints of Reason if they did not much more favour their Bodies than their Souls and had not a greater liking to a Life of Sense than Reason 'T is a plain case that they are Enemies to the Obligations of Religion for no other reason but because they love their Lusts too well to have them check'd and have stronger Inclinations to do wickedly than to live well And therefore it is objected against Religion that it is an utter Enemy to all the delights of the Body and lays this part of us under such severities and hardships as are no ways consistent with the Happiness of a Man The meaning of which is that they are Enemies to Religion because it is an Enemy to an unreasonable way of living and condemn its Restraints because it condemns the Licentiousness of our Lusts And if this be a just Reason to except against Religion it is every-whit as just to quarrel with our own Nature and to account it an unhappiness that we are not Beasts So that 2. It is a very great folly to despise or neglect Religion For we cannot do this but to our own infinite hurt and mischief It is to neglect the best means of satisfying all the desires of our Nature and of putting our selves into that easie state which every Men wishes and longs for It is to hurl the greatest contempt upon our Understandings and to persuade the World that it is no advantage to us that we are Men. It is to make Reason a useless Faculty to us and the same thing as to wish we had been made Fools and Idiots But more particularly 1. It is to do the greatest mischief to the Soul 2. To the Body And he who can be such an Enemy to himself does deserve the Character of a Fool. 1. It is to do the greatest mischief to the Soul This indeed the Enemies of Religion are not very sensible of but they are never the wiser Men for that no more than a Man in a Lethargy who feels nothing can be said to enjoy the best health The stupidity of theformer is as ill a symptom of the dangerous condtion of the Soul as the insensibility of the latter is of the bad state of the Body It is a
force and violence that is put upon and offer'd to it by our bodily appetites that deprives it of its freedom and suffers it not to chuse as it is naturally inclin'd or to perform its own Office so that either our Wills do signifie nothing to us or from that power of checking the senfitive Motions of our Nature which it is endued with we must conclude That a Faculty of this nature is never well employ'd but in keeping our Bodies under and putting our fleshly Appetites under the restraints of Temperance Soberness Chastity and the like Vertues It s power to controul our Appetites and govern the Members of our Bodies is of no use at all to us if it be not our Duty to employ it in laying vertuous Habits in our Minds § 3. But besides that the best Faculties of our Nature are of no use to us without Religion I come in the third place to shew that they must be a torment to us without it And in order to this I shall do these two Things 1 Consider wherein the Happiness of a Man does consist 2. Shew That without Religion our best Faculties must be uneasie and troublesome to us First then for the supporting the Cause of Religion Let us consider wherein the Happiness of a Man does consist Now Happiness in general does denote satisfaction For no kind of Being can be said to be happy so long as it is not at ease and sarisfied in it self And this satisfaction does arise from the Enjoyment of a suitable Object so that no Creature can be at ease and satisfied in it self if it wants any thing that its Nature is capable of enjoying Consider the condition of Plants whose onely End is to grow up to such a state of Maturity wherein they display their beauty and yield the fruit they are design'd to give Now no Plant can do this unless it be planted in a proper Soil and enjoy so much of the influence of the Sun as is needfull to draw forth its life and vertue but for want of sap and nourishment it will hanguish and decay So likewise the Beasts of the Earth which are made for the enjoyment of sensible Objects would be made in vain if they had nothing to see and to entertain their other Senses with The happiness of a Beast is to have Meat and Drink enough and to live among such Objects as are gratefull to his Senses and without these his life would be miserable For as no Creature can be miserable so long as it enjoys all the good that it is capable of and there is no Faculty in its Nature that does want the Object that is proper for it so there can be no full satisfaction where there is a Faculty and nothing to entertain it Thus to have an Eye and yet nothing to see or to be doom'd to perpetual darkness would be a torment So that Happiness is nothing else but that rest and acquiescence that arises from the enjoyment of suitable Objects And accordingly the Happiness of Man does consist in such a satisfaction of all the Powers of our Nature as springs from the true and natural use of them and the enjoyment of all that good that belongs to our Nature For so long as any Faculty does want the good that belongs to it our Nature can no more be at ease than the hungry Man is who wants the Bread his appetite craves Every Faculty has its appetite and so long as any one appetite does gnaw there will be restlessness and trouble But for the better explaining this matter I shall consider these three Things 1. That the satisfaction we aim at must be for our whole Nature 2. It must arise from the true and natural use of all our Faculties 3. From the enjoyment of the good that is suitable to the Nature of each Faculty 1. The satisfaction we aim at must be for our whole Nature And therefore before we can arrive to the full and compleat Happiness that we are capable of we must understand our selves and be acquainted with the utmost Excellency that belongs to us For all Men do agree in this That Happiness does consist in satisfaction and that it is impossible that any Creature should be happy that is not at rest and ease in it self And therefore what-ever course of life Men take to they pretend to aim at that satisfaction wherein Happiness does consist There is no Man that lives viciously and follows the inclination of his sensual Appetite but will tell you that it is for the stilling the Cravings of his Appetites which render him uneasie that he lives as he does That he finds it is impossible he should be at ease and quiet in himself unless he makes those provisions for his Flesh which are proper to lay the rage of his Appetites and accordingly that it is onely in order to a happy life that he hunts after sensual delights and bodily gratifications So that these Men do feel the truth of this that so long as there is any Faculty in us that is not satisfied we cannot be happy And it must be confessed that if he be not mistaken in himself and Man be no more excellent a Creature than his way of life represents him he is as wise for himself as it is possible for a Man to be and does pursue all the happiness we are capable of But if we be something more than Flesh and Blood the satisfaction he aims at is not the compleat happiness of a Man because it leaves the most considerable part of our Nature unsatisfied So that while we onely take care of our Bodies and study how to please our Senses and to still the cravings of our Appetites though this be satisfactory to us yet it is onely the satisfaction that belongs to a Beast For could a Beast speak it would tell us that its utmost happiness lies in the enjoying of every thing that the Body craves And is this all the satisfaction that a Creature that has a Soul to provide for a Divine Mind to please has to look after No since our Nature is so much more excellent than theirs the happiness we must aim at must be so too Our provisions must be for our Souls as well as our Bodies for our Understandings as well as our Senses and our Consciences as well as our Appetites We may have the pleasure and satisfaction that belongs to a Brute when we pamper our Bodies and keep not from our Eyes any good that they desire but after all this our Wants will be greater than our Enjoyments and our Misery more than our Happiness For in this case we onely take care of half our Nature and which is worse of that which is least worth our looking after 2. The satisfaction we must aim at must arise from the true and natural Use of all our Faculties As it is impossible we should be happy so long as we neglect any part of our selves so it is likewise
unless we employ the several Powers of our Nature a-right It is as much against Nature to make use of an understanding Faculty in the service of our Bodies onely I mean in worldly or bodily Solicitudes what we shall eat and what we shall drink or how we shall drive on our worldly Aims as if a Man should resolve to hear with his Eyes And hence it comes to pass that when Men make no other use of this Faculty than this comes to after a life of many years spent in Thoughtfulness and anxious Solicitudes for the things that relate to their Bodies onely they are as far at last from being happy as they were at first It is with Men in this case as it is with Children who think if they were but at the top of such a Hill as lies at a good distance from them they should touch the Sun and yet when they come there they are no nearer it than at first And thus it would be should they go round the World Thus Men that use their Understandings onely in worldly or sensual Projects believe that in compassing such a design or enjoying such a good they shall compleat their happiness and yet when they have done it they are as far from being satisfied as they were before And this they continue to be when they have gone the whole Round of their Lives Now the reason of this dissatisfaction does lie in this That they abuse their own Minds and do not make a right use of their Understandings For it is not the bare using our Faculties will make us happy but the using them to their own true and proper Ends. And it must needs give great distast and be very dissatisfactory factory to our Minds to have its noblest Faculty employ'd in mean and sordid Services and not be permitted to discover its true and utmost usefulness to us to drudge for the Body and not do its own proper work and consult its own good 3. The satisfaction must arise from the enjoyment of that good as is suitalbe to the Nature of each Faculty So the satisfaction of the Eye is from beholding the light and the beauty of those Objects which the Day discovers And the thing that is dissatisfactory to this sense is Darkness or the want of an Object to behold or else such an imperfect Light as is not sufficient for a clear perception But yet that which is gratefull to the Eye does give no satisfaction to the Ear and the best Melody in the World as much as it pleases the Ear does not at all affect the Eye So it is likewise with a respect to the higher Powers of our Souls They have some good that does peculiarly belong to them from the enjoyhment of which alone does arise their satisfactgion And 't is as preposterous a thing for a Man to think himself happy without it as it is to gratifie the Eye without light Men may boast of the mighty Pleasures and wonderfull Satisfactions they meet with in a voluptuous senfual way of living but what pleasure can a Soul take in the delights of a Hog How is it possible that the Mind of Man should be satisfied with the glories of the World which is the pleasure of the Eye or with those gratefull Sounds that are the delightes of the Ear or with those well-cook'd Dainties that gratifie the Palate The Mind and Soul of Man is no more made for these things than the Eye is to rejoyce in the Melody of Sounds But if we will as well satisfie them as our bodily Senses we must search for delights that are more accommmodated to their Nature Who can think that his Understanding is given him for no other pleasure than that which his Eye or his Ear is sufficient to him for Or that he has a Soul which a Beast wants onely to tast the Pleasures of a Beast Bodily Enjoyments are onely proper to satisfie our bodily Senses but the Happiness of a Man does suppose that our Souls as well as our Bodies are possess'd of that good that they can take pleasure in This then being the Nature of that Happiness we are to aim at I come 2. To make it appear That without Religion it is impossible our Nature should be perfectly at ease and fully satisfied And this is very evident from what has been said concerning the Nature of that satisfaction that our Happiness consists in For if there be something in us that all the bodily Pleasures and Enjoyments of this World cannot satisfie there will after all the care we can take to provide for our Flesh be something in us that is dissatisfied And so long as there is any thing in us that is no satisfied we must be troubled with such gnawings as will not suffer us to be any more at ease than if we had Eyes and yet nothing to see But besides this we have the tacit Confession of the Enemies of Religion against themselves For while the satisfactiion they aim at respects onely the Body they leave their Souls out of their care and consideration For no Man eats and drinks or gratifies his Eyes and Ears for the ease and quiet of his Mind They do not pretend to the satisfying their Minds or delighting their Consciences by indulging to the Pleasures of a sensual life No the Soul is so little concern'd in these things and they are so sensible of the wrong and mischief they do themselves in this respect that as soon as they resolve upon such a way of living they as it were throw away their Souls and tie up their Conscience that they may without disturbance reap the satisfaction they aim at They are forced to run away from themselves and to avoid all communications with their own hearts and find a necessity of being strangers at home and of forbidding their own Minds to tell their dissatisfactions For should they but ask their own Souls what pleasure they take in their Rioting and Excess or what content their bodily Enjoyments give them they would let 'em know that these are things that grieve and vex that make 'em weak and languishing and that expose them to Death and Misery They would complain of their hard fate of being compell'd to feed upon Husks and Trash and deprived of the pleasure of their own proper Entertainments And therefore every wicked Man is put upon hard shifts to avoid all interviews with his own Mind lest he should be chid and upbraided for his brutishness in taking so little notice of hmself Which is an argument of an inward sense that all is not right with him within but that he carries those dissatisfactions in his breast that if he should once hearken to them would damp all his mirth For why should he be afraid of meeting his own Conscience if he was not sensible he has done it a great deal of wrong Why should he avoid enquiring of his own Mind whether his was of living be good for it if he
it but the Imperfection of our own Understandings It is not because the Perfections they present us with have no end but because we want Light to discover them So that this is so far from proving that there is Knowledge enough in the World without Religion to satisfie us that it proves the quite contrary That if there be no such thing as Religion our Understandings must necessarily be a perpetual Torment to us for want of something to satisfie them For all other Knowledge is either dissatisfactory because it has its limits or because it is obscure and cannot easily be come at If we cannot attain to the utmost Truth that it contains our Ignorance will be our Reproach and Torment but if we can our Understanding will be dissatisfied because it has nothing more to know and must for ever afterwards be forced to lie idle But now it is the peculiar Excellency of Religion that it presents us with the sublimest Truths sets before us Perfections that are infiniet and yet delivers them with that plainness that its severest Enemies do not pretend that its discoveries are either intricate or dark And besides there is no other Knowledge besides that of Religion that does immediately concern or is of use to our Minds But either it is of no use at all to us or its usefulness reaches no farther than the Interests of our Bodies And what a Calamity must it be to our Mind to know nothing that is for its own good What a dissatisfaction must it be to our Understandings to search and enquire after Truths that they can reap no profit by and that all the Knowledge they can possibly can attain to is no way serviceable to their own Interests But 2. As to that Practical Knowledge which consists in our being acquainted with those Rules of Life whereby we are to judge of what is good or ill ofr us who does not feel the great benefit and advantage it is to us What is it that Men do more value themselves upon and take greater pleasure in than in an Opinon of their own Prudence and Discretion That they make use of Jubgment and Consideration for the directing their ways and by wisely weighing before-hand the different circumstances of Things do take care to avoid that which is hurtfull to them Every Man in his Employment does find a great deal of contentment in himself from such a use of his Understanding and as oft as by a carefull consideration he prevents any damage to his affairs he is extreamly pleas'd to think that he has not acted like a Fool. But on the other hand with what vexation do Men reflect upon their own folly when by a careless over-sight or a hearty rash action they have prejudiced their affairs Now what does all this serve for but to satisfie us that it is impossible that any thing but Wisdom should content the Under standing of a Man In this case the question lies between Wisdom and Folly Whether it be as agreeable and satisfactory to our Minds to be destitute of the Art and Skill to manage our selves to our own infinite Advantage or to be so wise as to know what is really best for us Now it is plain that in all the concerns of this life no Man does reckon it any part of his felicity that he knows not how to manage his Trade and Calling his Affairs or Estate with discretion but is forced for want of Judgment to venture at all without ever consulting what will be the issue of it No Man does think that the foolish imprudent Man does enjoy the most satisfaction in his Mind even upon the account of his folly But every Man laments it as a misfortune when he feels the Effects of it And since then no Man is willing to run himself upon any inconvenience if he can avoid it it is a plain argument that it is a very gratefull thing to the Mind to be capble of discerning between Good and Evil. But then the Question is Whether there be no other Prudence but that which has a respect to this life and whether this be sufficient to satisfie our Minds It is certain that the Understanding does find a great deal of pleasure in being able to discover and prevent those Temporal inconveniences which would give us a great deal of trouble But then this is onely such a pleasure as one friend takes in the prosperity and good fortune of another It is upon the account of the intimacy that is between the Soul and the Body that the Mind rejoyces at the success of that advice and counsel whereby the condition of so near a friend is better'd But where lies the great Good of all this to it self What is it the better for its own Prudence if it be not prudent for it self Is it likely that its joy for the good state it procures for the Body should over-weigh its dissatisfaction for acting foolishly in its own concern Or may it be imprudent for it self without any trouble when every Man feels the Calamity of being indiscreet in the management of those affairs that respect the Body If there be no Religion then it can be under no Obligation to avoid any sort of Actions but as they cross our Temporal Interests And if so there are no kind of Actions that are peculiarly gratefull to the Mind and which the Reason of a Man can take pleasure in but as it finds the Body and its Interests benefited by it And if every thing be reasonable or unreasonable as it is either for the profit or hurt of our present concerns Reason is of no use at all to the Mind nor is it possible for it to do any good to it self by all its Prudence but Folly and Wisdom must be equally gratefull to it But if there be a sort of Folly that the Mind is afflicted with even when the Body receives no hurt by it it must be because there are some Actions so reasonable in themselves and others so deform'd that it cannot be well at ease but by acting as advisedly for it self as it does for the Body And what does all this import but that there are such Rules of Life as having a peculiar respect to the good of the Soul the Mind of Man cannot be satisfied in it self unless it be well skill'd in them For it must assuredly be as sensible of its own good and harm as it can be of that of the Body and be as deeply affected with that Folly which occasions the doing any thing that is unreasonable as that which is attended with Tomporal inconveniences 3. I proceed to that other sort of Knowledge that respects our Actions when done and consists in a serious re-viewing and examination of them and a capacity to pass a judgment upon the goodness or illness of ' em And there is as much satisfaction accrues to our Mind from this capacity and skill as from any other I do not suppose that it is
may be managed by other Heads and Hands than our own and although a Man be wholly careless himself yet his Affairs may thrive in the Hands of a trusty and faithfull Servant But as to Religion it is of that Concernment to us that it is impossible any Man should improve in it or be the better for it who does not take it into his own Hands and give all Diligence to make his Calling and Election sure There is no qualifying our selves for Heaven by a Proxy no adorning our Souls by the Vertues and Graces of a Friend or a Servant no satisfying God for the Neglect of our Duty by the Merits of a Saint but either we must labour for our selves and be industrious to add to our Faith all the Vertues of Religion or the Nakedness and Poverty of our Souls will be our everlasting Shame And what is it that we will be industrious in if not in that Imployment which God has made us for and which we must live and prosper Eternally by Is there any thing that it can with more Reason be expected that we should be diligent in than our own Business Or is there any Affair more pressing and urgent upon us any that it half so much concerns us to attend to as that upon which the Honour of our Nature and the well being both of our Souls and Bodies both in this Life and that which is to come depends To say of any thing that it is our Business does imply that we are fitted and designed for it that we throughly understand the Mysteries of it and that we husband our time as well as we can in prosecuting the great Ends of it This we know is the meaning of our having any thing for our Imployment And if it be Religion alone that our Reason has a respect to this ought to be as much our Imployment as any of those Callings whereby we maintain our Mortal lives And were we but as sensible of the Necessity and great Concernment of our Spiritual as we are of our Temporal Affairs what Noble Improvements might we make what Treasures might we lay up in Heaven and what excellent Persons should we make our selves How little Prophaneness and Debauchery how few Tricks and crafty Devices How little Strife and Contentious Animosities would trouble the World Nay how much would the fear of God then influence us and the consideration of his Presence and Majesty awe and make us afraid of offending him How should we court his Favour by frequenting the place where his Honour dwells and by paying a due veneration and regard to every thing that has a relation to him by honouring his Sabbaths revering his Word and in Supplication and Prayer by expressing our dependance upon him With how much Love and Good-nature Simplicity and Integrity Justice and Honesty Faith and Truth would Men converse with each other and how much of Heaven should we have here below We daily see how industrious Men that design to live and make themselves usefull Members in a Society are in managing their affairs when any business is before us with what care and thoughtfulness do we contrive and project the compassing it to our advantage And when we have the prospect of some gain before us how little do we grudge the pains and labour the difficulties and hardships it puts us to We then sit up late and rise early and neither dread ill ways nor hard weather but with a great deal of chearfulness undertake tiresome Journeys and dangerous Voyages for the sake of the advantage we have in our Eye All this we do and suffer for the sake of our Bodies And did we love our Souls as well we should be as hearty in the practice of all the Duties of Religion And for the better promoting so good a work let us consider these Two things 1. That Religion is the easiest Employment we have It will 't is true take up all our Time and employ all our Faculties but it will never be a burden to us Men that favour their Lusts may complain of difficulties and 't is certain that Religion is severe enough upon the Lusts of our Flesh which it commands us to crucifie and destroy But all this implies no more than this That it is a difficult yea an impossible thing for Men that serve their Lusts to serve the living God But after all let but any Man consider the Nature of all the Duties of Religion and he will find such a gratefulness of them to the Reason of his own Mind so much comfort and satisfaction to his Conscience to issue from them as will force him to declare that it is the best and easiest the most delightfull and ingenuous Employment that a Man can possibly take to For it commands us to do nothing but what our own Reason does and to avoid nothing but what our own Consciences abhorr And is it a hard thing for a Man to live according to the Laws of his own Mind and to follow the Dictates of his own Conscience and in all he does to consider that he is a Man and that his own Reason ought to govern him Is it a grievous thing for a Man not to wound his Conscience not to fill his Soul with vexation and horrour Is it I say an uneasie Employment to take care that there be nothing in our Conversation but what is gracefull and comely what will render us beloved of God and Man and what will fill us with joy unspeakable Surely if any thing be easie for us to do it is that which we are peculiarly made for and which the joy and comfort the ease and satisfaction the pleasure and happiness of our whole Nature depends on 2. That it will be infinitely satisfactory to us at the last to consider that we have been employ'd in the business of our lives The time will come when we shall know that Religion is our business That time I mean when we shall so far return to our selves as to be sensible that we are something more than Brutes and that our Happiness does not lie in the gratifying the Appetites of a mortal Body And then when those that have been negligent and careless of every thing but a Body that is going to its Grave will be seiz'd with sad remorse and fill'd with confusion the Religious Man will look over a well-spent Life with great content and delight Surely St. Paul felt a wonderfull satisfaction in his Mind when he could say I am ready to be offer'd and the time of my departure is at hand I have fought the good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge will give me at the last day 2 Tim. 4.6 7 8. This is the comfortable issue of a Religious Life It gives a Man peace at the last and having all his time been well employ'd in the Duties of his Calling he has no sorrowfull Reflections to make but nothing else to do but to die and to receive his reward But with wicked Men it is quite otherwise For they have all their business lying upon their hands when they are called upon to bring in their accounts And how uncomfortable a thing will it be then to them to consider how much work they have made themselves by fixing ill Habits in their Minds and turning their whole Nature out of course by accustoming themselves to do Evil How dolefull a thing to look upon the disorders of their Souls the wast of their Time their abuse of Grace and above all their contempt of those fair warnings that have been given them Then will their Hell begin when they see their Souls so eaten out of heart with Sin that they neither have Skill nor Time to remedy it Let us then be so wise as to prevent all this mischief by making use of Time and Opportunity and working while it is day that when the night comes wherein no Man can work we may not be found barren and unfruitfull I shall conclude this Discourse with St. Peter's Exhortation 2 Epist 1.10 11. Wherefore the rather or above all things Brethren give diligence to make your calling and election sure For if ye do these things ye shall never fall For so an entrance shall be ministred unto you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ FINIS ERRATA PAge 6. Line 6. for belches Read fetches P. 14. Marg. r. Offic. P. 31. l. 17. for hearty r. hasty P. 67. l. 10. for hearty r. hasty Now in the Press A Discourse of the Resurrection shewing the Import and the Certainty of it By the same Author
did not know before-hand it is not He need not be such a stranger to himself or afraid of meeting with such occasions as will turn his Eyes inward and make him consider what he has done if he was really sensible that he paid as much reverence to his Soul as he shows fondness to his Body and was as kind to the one as the other So that if we appeal too the inward sense of those that neglect Religion and live as if there was none it is plain that if there was really no such thing our best Faculties would torment us with perpetual dissatisfactions But I shall endeavour to give a more positive proof of this matter by considering wherein the pleasure and satisfaction of the two great Faculties of our Souls our Understanding and Will does consist 1. Our Understanding Now every Man is very conscious to himself that there is something in him that is very inquisitive and searching into the true Nntures of Thins and that he is very desirous to inform himself what good or ill does lie in those things that are before him and what profit or disadvantage he may reap from any thing he does This then being so it is plain that it is Wisdom or Knowledge alone that can satisfie our Understanding By which I mean such an improvement of the Mind as renders it capable of discerning Truth from Errour and as much as possible of securing us from those mistakes nad illusions that the darkness of our Minds is apt to betray us into Or a Mind so well instructed in the Rules and Principles of Life that it is at all times capable of judging rightyly of the goodness and excellency or the illness and deformity of our Actions This sort of Knowledge is that which is called Practical as the former is onely Speculative It is such a Knowledge as has a respect to our Duty and is to inform us how we are to live Now the true use of this Knowledge is either to deliberate before-hand whether such or such an action be fit to be done and so it is prudence the Nature of which does consist in this That it suffers us not to be rash and precipitate in our doings but does consult and advise upon the Nature of every action what good there is in it or whether it is for our profit and advantage or no. Or else its Office is to look back and to try and examine the Nature of those things we have done whether they bear the stamp of Reason and be squared by those Rules of Life that God has given us And when our Understandings are thus employ'd they bear the name of Conscience whose peculiar Office and Duty it is to try whether our Actions be good or ill and either to accuse and condemn or to excuse and justifie the doing of them These them being the several sorts of Knowledge that the Understanding is capable of it is evident we must be more or less happy as we have more or less of this Wisdom and Knowledge and that there is a possibility of satisfying this spiritual Appetite in all these respects otherwise this Faculty will always be restless and uneasie And 1. As to the Knowledge of Truth Who knows not that this is very gratefull to the Mind and that our Understanding can no more be at ease without it than our Eyes are pleas'd with darkness Ignorance was never lookt upon to be a lovely quality nor did ever any Man make his boasts of it as if it was as noble an Endowment as Knowledge is And besides Knowledge is so very agreeable to the Mind that it never grows weary of it It never creates any loathings and disgusts or gives a Man occasion to repent himself of the time or pains he has laid out in acquiring it And therefore the Wise Man recommended it to his Son as the most pleasant thing he could labour for My son eat thou honey because it is good and the honey-comb which is sweet to thy tast so shall the knowledge of wisdom be to thy soul i.e. It will be extremely pleasant to thee as soon as thou rellishest it but yet not like those other satisfactions that we seek for in the enjoyments of a lower nature which in a short time lose their sweetness For when thou hast found it there shall be a reward and thy expectation shall not be cut off Prov. 24.14 i.e. It will never be irksome to thee and give thee any reason to wish thou hadst laid thy time out better But yet though Knowledge be thus pleasant to the Mind yet is not every Degree of it equally satisfactory Every Truth let it be of what Nature it will does give some kind of content But yet there is no Truth below those that Religion acquaints us with so great and excellent as fully to set our Minds at rest All other discoveries but what this makes to us are but like the dawnings of the day which though they please our senses yet chiefly please because they give us the hopes and prospect of a more perfect light approaching They do not satisfie because they are fully commensurate to the largeness of our capacity but because they necessarily inferr the Being of a prime Truth which alone is able to satisfie our desirre of knowing This must be suposed or else there will be an appetite in us that nothing can satisfie and where there is an unsatisfied appertite ther must be uneasiness and disquiet An imperfect Knowledge is no more sufficient to satisfie the Mind than an imperfect Light can the Eye And how is it possible that we should arrive at such a perfection of Knowledge from the Contemplation of the Natures and Perfections of Things as are bounded Could we know all that is to be known concerning all dreated Beings yet since all that is to be known concerning them does lie in a certain narrow compass it could not satisfie the Mind because no Knowledge that has its bounds can If a certain degree of Knowledge could set our Minds at rest why are we not satisfied with the first discoveries of any Truth Why do we wast our spirits and wear away our strength in driving our Thoughts further and further as if there was really no end of knowing Does not this growth of our desire tell us that either there is or ought to be a Knowledge that is infinite I mean an infiniet Object that will for ever employ our Thoughts and exercise our Reason and furnish us with perpetual Matter for Contemplation and that if there be not there is not such a height of Knowledge as will give our Minds full content I know indeed that the several sorts of Knowledge that are in the World do find us work enough and were we to spend all our time in searching the depth of any one we should hardly ever come to the bottom of it But then it is to be consider'd that this does not arise from the Nature of
would every moment lie exposed to by lying at the Mercy of our bodily Lusts and by being obnoxious to the ill consequences of our frequent follies If it be a happy thing to know the true state of our own condition Religion is the most comfortable thing we can think of and there connot a worse thing befall us than to have it proved beyond contradiction that there is no such thing as Religion For Religion by instructing us in the real differences between Vertue and Vice does furnish us with that Knowledge as enables Conscience to determine rightly concerning our state and to be a faithfull Monitor to and certain Director of us in every difficult case And 2. As our Understandings would labour under perpetual dissatisfactions without Religion so would our Wills As all Men are sensible that they have something in them that is not satisfied with any thing but Knowledge so there is none but feels a Power within them that can give Laws to their Senses and either permit or forbid our bodily Inclinations to bear rule in us a power whereby he can either chuse to do or not do any thing that he discovers to be either good or hurtfull to him So that it is plain that nothing below Vertue can give satisfaction to so excellent a Faculty By Vertue I mean a firm Purpose in our selves to do nothing but what is good or a determination of the Will to those things which upon a strict and thorough Enquiry we find to be really best for us So that Vertue is not a thing that lies at the mercy of any thing without us to deprive us of neither is it a thing that is not in our own power but is seated in our very Souls and is nothing else but the constant and unmoveable purpose of the Will to prosecute those designs that are of real and great advantage to us For since our Wills are capable of obeying the Impulses of our sensual Appetites and yielding to the force of bodily Inclinations or of following the Commands of Reason we become either vertuous or vicious as we yield either to the one or other of these To hearken to the Temptations of the Flesh and to let our Appetites rule and govern our Wills is to be vicious because in this case the Will is removed form the steadiness of its purpose and is compell'd to chuse that which Reason cannot approve or allow to be the best for us but we then show the Vertue of our Minds when our Wills do move as Reson commands and our Understandings direct So that Vertue does suppose such a firmness and resolution of Mind as is not to be groken by the strongest On-sets of our sensual Appetites For he that wavers and is carried away with every gust of Temptation who can neither prevail with himself to deny his Appetite when any sensual Gratification offers it self or to withstand the force of any bodily Inclination is a Man of no more Vertue than he is of Resolution But then this steadiness of our Resolution must follow the Judgment that Reason after a most diligent enquiry makes of the goodness of any Action For unless our Resolution has a respect to that which we know is really good it is so far from having any thing of Vertue in it that it is a sinfull Wilfulness or an obstinate bending our Spirits to such a thing against all reason So that every Man that is firmly resolved either to do or not to do a thing which carries nothing of good or ill in it nothing whereby the Conscience can be either recreated or hurt does not merit any thing of Praise for the Vertue of his Mind For those things that have nothing of good nor ill in them and can neither make our condition better nor worse are not matters of Vertue but they may either be done or left undone without any damage to us But that Resolution of our Mind is our Vertue which has a respect to some-thing that is really good and excellent and tends to our great advantage and honour This then being the Nature of Vertue either we must acknowledge that there is such a thing as Religion or we must deny that there is a power of chusing its own Actions in the Soul For if there be no such thing as Religion there is nothing either good or ill for us to chuse or refuse And if we be so framed as to have but one way of living before us we must disclaim a power of determining our selves to any other For such a power does suppose that we are framed for two different kinds of Actions and that it behoves us to be very cautious how we determine our selves It necesiarily supposes that all things are not equally good for us else it is to no purpose to have a power to refuse any thing but that we may chuse amiss and thereby put our Souls into a very uneasie condition And therefore the Wise-man observes That he that getteth wisdom i.e. who is well instructed in Religion loveth his own soul and he that keepeth understanding shall find good Prov. 19.8 i.e. This is the great advantage of Wisdom and Vertue that by it a Man does gain an Empire and rule over himself He gets his Heart into his own possession and becomes the Master of his bodily Affections and Lusts And the that thus manages himself does discover the truest friendship to his own Soul for he best consults its good and happiness And thus Epictetus considers the Will as an instrument either of good or ill to us Arrian in Epict. l. 1. c. 29. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God has enacted this Law That if we desire any goo we should ask it of our selves For saith he the Nature of Godd and Evil does lie in the disposition of the Will And again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. God has not given us this Faculty to enable us to bear all Events with an undaunted Mind onely but as a King and a Father that nothing may exercise a Power and Authority over us but that we may have a full Power over our selves But what can such a Power signifie to us if we cannot chuse amiss and nothing we can do can hurt us Since then there is such a Faculty in our Souls either we must believe we are made for Religion or to be a vexation to our selves For 1. It is onely Religion and Vertue can be the true and proper Employment of this Faculty 2. Without it it cannot maintain its freedom 1. It is Vertue alone that is the true and proper Employment of such a Faculty For who can believe that by obeying the Lusts of his Flesh and following the Inclinations of his sensual Appetites he lives like a Being that has a power over his own Actions Does any Man think that he shows the power of his Will to chuse Good and refuse Evil who indifferently allows himself in the practice of any thing he has a
mind to Was Man design'd onely to live a sensual life he would not have stood in need of such a Faculty For the very Propensities of his bodily Appetites would have been sufficient to such a purpose For what need can a sensitive Creature have either of Understanding or Will to see those things that are pleasing to the Eye or to tast those things that are delightfull to the Palate Whether we were capable of chusing these things or no our Eyes and other bodily Senses are sufficient for them And there is no Man that preferrs a sensual before a vertuous Life but before he can take any tolerable kind of satisfaction in it he finds himself under a necessity of offering Violence to his Wil and forcing it to comply with his lower Inclination So that if a Man was design'd as much for a sensual as a vertuous Life he would be the worst fitted for it of any Creature because he carries a Faculty in him whose Office it is to withstand his sensitive Inclinations The Beasts have nothing in their Nature that does controul their Senses or forbid their gratifying their Appetites to the full But where-ever they find a full Pasture they graze and fill their Bellies without considering whether they be guilty of a Trespass or no because they have nothing but a want of Appetite to restrain them at any time But Man is certainly very ill contrived for a life of Sense and the happiness of a Beast because his Will till it be wholly subdued has a Power to forbid his Appetites from craving Since then there is such a Power in our Wills to put our Appetites under restraints and that Sense cannot gain a Command over us till it has gain'd the Mastery over our Wills and made them of no use at all to us who can doubt but the happiness of our Souls must arise from that Vertue which consists in giving Laws to our Bodies For to be sure their happiness must arise from the true and natural use of their several Powers neither is it possible they should be in an easie state so long as any of their Powers are either useless to them or abused any more than the Body can be in a healthfull vigorous state so long as there is a dead Member belongs to it When therefore we maintain firm and steady Purposes in our selves to do nothing but what is for our good notwithstanding all the Temptations we have to the contrary we must needs as much delight our Souls by employing their Faculties a-right as we do our Bodies when we make use of our Eyes to see and our Ears to hear And on the other hand it must be as grievous to the Soul to have the Authority of so Soveraign a Faculty despised as it is an Affliction to the Body not to satisfie its Appetites at all If Vertue and Vice be onely Names the Power that the Will has to give Laws to our sensitive Appetites if we make use of it will give a great deal of trouble to us But if we do not how can it chuse but be a great dissatisfaction to the Soul to be troubled with a Faculty that is of no real use to it So that in either case without Religion we cannot enjoy that content and ease in our selves which springs from the natural use of our Faculties And especially 2. Since without Vertue we cannot maintain the freedom of our Wills T is true indeed if there be no such thing as Religion we are at liberty to follow the most violent Inclinations of our Nature But this is a Liberty if we make use of it that deprives the Will of its Soveraignty and makes it an unreasonable thing for this Faculty to interpose its Authority for the restraining us in any case And accordingly it is the unhappy condition of every Man that lives by no other Laws but those of his Members and is under the power of his bodily Appetites that he is never true to any good purpose but having lost the liberty of his Nature he wills and chuses loves and desires hates and flies things onely as a present inclination commands him And how is it possible that the Soul should be in an easie satisfied state when it is not suffer'd to move according to its own Will but the Will and Pleasure of a Lust nor to seek its own satisfaction but is forced to serve the Will of a Tyrant No it is Vertue alone can be the delight of the Soul because it is that alone that sets it at liberty and maintains it in its own proper freedom When a Man is bravely resolved in himself that no Lust shall be his Master that his bodily Appetites shall not crave beyone the Measures of Nature nor his Sense usurp upon his Reason and assume the office of judging what is good or bad for him he asserts that Liberty which is the delight of the Soul and maintains that just Authority of his Will which the Mind rejoyces in This is so Essential to our happiness that even bad Men do insist upon it as the reason why they live as they do They complain that it is a very hard case for a Man to be obliged to lay restraints upon the Appetites that God has planted in his Nature and to deny himself of the free use of any of his natural Powers For to what purpose has he Eyes say they if he may not look upon gratefull Objects or why I she made capable of tasting the Pleasures of a feasted Appetite if he must put a knife to his Throat Now although this implies a very unjust Charge against Religion as if it did forbid us to give that satisfaction to our Appetites which is reasonable yet it does grant that a Man cannot be happy so long as any of the Powers of his Nature are in slavery To know then whether Vertue or Vice be most for our happiness we have nothing to do but to consider which does best maintain our freedom Now the freedom that the vicious Man pretends to lies onely in his living a licentious course of life as if he had no Reason nor Conscience no Faculty to consider with nor no Power to bridle his Appetites but was as very a beast as those that graze in the Fields And it is sure if we take away Religion we have nothing to do either with our Reason or our Wills But if we make use of them they will vex us by not suffering us to humour the extravagancies of our Appetites And if we do not the slavery of our Wills will be our Torment For it can no more be an easie thing for the Soul to see itself in bondage or to hear Conscience groaning under a heavy yoke or to have no more benefit of its own Will than if we had no power at all to live better than it is to our Body to feel it self loaden with Chains Wicked Men by breaking loose from the restraints of Religion do indeed
valuable thing that he is not willing to part with For when a Man has lost all that he has will he thank his friend for the comfort he gives him by telling him that now he is as low as he can be and that though he has not the advantages of his former better condition yet he cannot be in a worse than he is This is his trouble and affliction And so it must be to the Atheist likewise to know that he cannot for ever enjoy the Life that he takes so much pleasure in For suppose it true that he shall at last be reduced to a state in which he shall neither feel good nor evil what comfort can that be to him when he knows he must lose all the Good he now delights in There is no question but were Life and Death at his choice and in his power he would much rather chuse to live on and be what he is than to die and be nothing at all And since he values Immortality as so desirable a Blessing does he not make a tacit confession that Religion is too agreeable to our Nature to be false But. 3. He not onely desires to live but he desires a Life perfectly free from trouble and vexation The pleasures he loves are not 't is true of the same nature with those in Heaven which Religion teaches us to aspire after but he is desirous they shoud be as lasting and as little interrupted as full of satissaction and have as little Evil mingled with them as those have Though he considers himself onely as a sensitive Creature and goes no further for his Happiness than the Objects this World sets before him yet he loves his Body as well as Religion teaches us to do our Souls and woudl enjoy all bodily Pleasures in as high a persection as Religion informs us holy Souls do those that are Spiritual What-ever is apt to put the Body into a painfull uneasie condition is in the opinion of all the World and Affliction and Calamity No Man doubts but it is a great Blessing to be capable of seeing the Glories and tasting the sweet and feeling the good that is lodged in this sensible World But if by having such bodily Powers we did tast nothing but what is bitter and unsavoury nor see any thing but what is troublesome and vexatious nor hear any thing but what is ungratefull and harsh we should not much rejoyce in our privilege 'T is this consideration for the Body is the reason that the Atheist is sfallen out with Religion For he pretends that it is an enemy to our happiness and suffers us not to enjoy our selves with that freedom as otherwise we might That it lays severe restraints upon us and makes self-denial a necessary Vertue That in some cases it obliges us to quit our Enjoyments to vex our Bodies with severe Mortifications and to undergo with patience Pains and Torments Now although this be true and the Atheist makes use of it as a very considerable prejudice against Religion yet it is very much for the reputation and advantage of Religion that he undertakes to prove thereby That Mankind cannot be satisfied with a less degree of Happiness than what Religion sets before us For he plainly intimates that he would have the Body suffer no kind of pain nor be denied any thing that is good and gratefull to our Senses That he would enjoy the pleasures of this life with as much freedom and as much untainted as those the good Man looks for hereafter And to this purpose he takes care to improve his Pleasures and to make all his Enjoyments as poinant and delicious as possibly he can And now what is it that this Man does quarrel at Religion for Upon what reason does he report it to be an invention and persuade himself that its Principles are laid in our Minds by Art and Education when he is so great a friend to and so desirous of them He has nothing to except against a Being that is absolutely perfect for 't is such a friend that he desires He has no quarrel with an Immortal life for 't is such a life as he would live nor does he find fault with Joys and Pleasures that have nothing to sully and interrupt them for he is sensible that no less delights do deserve the name of Happiness All the difference then between him and Religion lies in this That it deferrs our hopes of such enjoyments and such a life to another state and he would have them now But since he finds it impossible we should have them here he has infinite reason to think well of Religion because it takes care to satisfie his desires at the last if he will but depend upon it If his deesires of these things be reasonable he has little reason to believe Religion to be so unreasonable an imposition as he complains it is And although he is not reconciled to the Notion of spiritual Delights yet he ought For the reason why he laughs at them is because he believes he has nothing but a Body to please And it is certain that if he be right in his Faith he is not mistaken when he makes this World his onely place of pleasure and delight But how then comes he to desire such a degree of Happiness as is not to be had here below Whence is it that he cannot content himself with the sensible pleasures of this life such as he finds them For no bodily Delights are pure and unallay'd uninterrupted and endless and if these be the onely Delights we are capable of how comes it we are capable of wishing for better If his Desires be reasonable he has as much reason to desire and value the spiritual Enjoyments of another life as to desire such Joys as are endless For since nothing in this World can satisfie such a Desire he must either look upon himself to be very ill framed for any kind of Happiness at all or he must look beyond this life for pleasures as endless and full as the desires And since the nature of his Desires do necessarily lead him thither at the last he ought not to despise the notion of spiritual Enjoyments since there are no other there I come 2. To consider how all that Vertue which Religion teaches us is likewise the Matter of every Man's desire 'T is every Man's defire that Truth and Faithfulness Justice and Honesty Uprightness and Integrity were Universally practis'd in the World The Violence of humane Passions the unruliness of Humour and the extravagancies of our Appetites are so troublesome to the World And all kind of Immoralities are attended with such bad effects that there is none but wishes that they were utterly extirpated and the contrary Vertues establish'd For who is there that would not gladly dwell in safety and peaceably enjoy the fruits of his labour Who would not live free from vexation and trouble and pass his life with as little disquiet and disturbance
little favour as they have for Religion do yet frequently commend the Vertues they want and condemn their own Vices in other Men. So that it is plain that Religion has the Testimony and good Opinion of all Men And when they who are most averse to the practice of it do in innumerable cases judge of things according to its Rules and the Dictates of right Reason when they I say express such an inward Sense of its Excellency that they cannot but acknowledge they indecency of their own Vices when they see them in other Men who can believe but that it has its Foundation in our very Nature CHAP. V. From those Hopes and Fears that possess Men upon their doing well or ill THE last Argument I shall make use of for the proving Religion to be a thing that our Nature teaches us is Because Men that do well do naturally hope for some good from their Actions and on the contrary they that do ill are as naturally afraid of some ill consequences 1. From the hopes of good Men upon the account of the goodness of their Actions we have reason to believe there is a very great agreeableness of Religion to our Minds Such is the gratefulness of a vertuous Conversation to our Minds Such is the acquiescence and pleasure that arises from Acts of Piety and Humanity as discovers that we live according to the truest instincts of our Nature when we reverence the Deity and are just and charitable to Men. A good Man shall be satisfied from himself saith the Wise-man Prov. 14.14 i.e. The goodness of his Actions shall fill his Soul with joy and comfort and afford him the truest pleasure and most solid contentment And hence it is that he lives in a continued expectation of nothing but Good here and leaves the World with a good Hope of a glorious Reward hereafter The hope of the Righteous is gladness saith the Wise-man Prov. 10.28 He is not onely full of comfort upon the account of the Hope that is in him but that which he hopes for from the Nature of his Actions is such an acceptableness both with God and Man as is matter of great satisfaction to him The fruit that he expects from his labour is Quietness and Assurance Peace and Joy because he knows his Actionsare such as cannot justly create him any Enemies and which he knows God can no more be displeased with that he can hate his own Perfections But with a great deal of reason he looks for the favour and good-will of Men toward whom he behaves himself according to the most obliging Principles He expects that all Men should know their own Interests so well as not to be displeased with a Man that is afraid of nothing more that of giving them any distast and is onely thoughtfull how he may be a good Neighbour and a kind Friend to them If they love not Religion yet he knows they ought to love him who makes Conscience of his doings because they have no reason to apprehend an ill turn from such a Neighbour And the less reason he gives them to be offended with him the less apprehensive he is in himself of any knid of ill from them He lives secure in himself and is well persuaded that the goodness of his own Actions will protect him from all the spight and ill-nature of a corrupt World And as he has no reason to believe but his Actions will be well approved and liked of among Men so he has infinitely more reason to expect that the God whose Will he makes his Rule and whose Perfections he honours should be favourable and good to him There may be some reason to doubt whether he shall at all times be so well treated in a World where we see so much ingorance and folly so much wickedness and ill-humour to prevail But there is no reason to question whether a God of infinite Purity will take pleasure in his own Perfections Though Goodness has power enough to command respect from the worst of Men yet a Misrepresentation or a Calumny or the Evil bent of Men's corrupt inclinations which does not always suffer them to speak well of that Vertue which they inwardly approve of may disappoint the good Man's Exectations of Favour and Good-will among Men. But there is nothing to hinder him from rejoycing in hopes of favour and acceptance with God whom he fears and reverences because infinite Wisdom cannot be abused and imposed upon by false surmises nor infinite Goodness and Holiness be spightfully inclined against a pure and holy Conversation This is so great a Truth that bad Men oftentimes by seeming to be what the Religious Man really is do endeavour to secure to themselves a share in the good Man's Hope Hence we read of the Hope of the Hypocrite which though it be grounded onely upon a cheat and false show yet it is an argument that he is persuaded that Religion is a sure ground of a comfortable expectation For why should he be at the pains to disguise himself if there was no more reason to hope well from good and vertuous Actions than from those that are bad And if Religion does beget such a Hope as no Man is ashamed of such a Hope as even wicked Men by a counterfeit Piety are desirous to share in who can doubt of its agreeableness to our Minds For why should Men be better satisfied in themselves and have a better Hope from a sober and temperate a holy and upright Conversation than from one that is wicked and profligate if the one has as just a Foundation in our Nature as the other 2. If we consider the Fears of ill Men they will assure us that there is a great deal of Truth and Reality in Religion I do not suppose that every Man that does wickedly does immediately fall under the displeasure of his Conscience For a long course in Sin will do much to turn Men into such mere Brutes as not to be capable of trembling at an Evil at a distance But this is certainly true that no Man can enter upon an Evil course but his Conscience will reluct and terrifie him with the sense of his guilt and frightfull apprehensions of future wrath A future state of Rewards and Punishments is indeed derided by the Enemies of Religion as an idle Tale of crafty Priests that make use of it for the driving a Trade and to awe the World into an unreasonable Respect So that to go about to prove Religion by the fears of something hereafter that possess Men is in their opinion to prove one Cheat with another We must therefore they tell us first prove there is such a State before we go about to establish Religion by the Apprehensions Men have of it Now if this be true How comes it to pass that Men are more apprehensive from their bad than their good Actions Whence is it that Men look pale and are fill'd with Horrour and Anguish when they do an
considerable part of that mischief that Men do their Souls by the neglect of Religion that they sin away that tenderness of their Consciences whereby they should feel that hurt they do themselves And therefore the Holy Scriptures do represent the case of those Men as desperate and report them as persons given over and past cure who are past feeling It is not then from what they averr that we are to judge whether a sinfull contempt of Religion be mischievous or no any more than we would conclude from the frantick Expressions of a Man in a Fever that shall tell us he feels himself well that he really is so but from the ill symptoms of a great disorder in his Soul that discover the illness of his state Now it is too visible that every wicked Man by neglecting Religion does lay all wast within him He injures his Mind by neglecting those improvements it is capable of and is as cruel to his Soul as he would be judg'd to be to his Body should he neglect those refreshments that are needfull to keep it in repair For Religion is the same to the Soul as food is to the Body and the former is subject to the same Wastings and Languishings without Vertue as the latter is without Meat and Drink And it is every abvious that this is the case of every wicked Men when he lives as if he had nothing but a lump of Flesh to provide for He has confumed his Soul as it were to nothing so that he is no more sensible that there is any fuch Principle in him The great and noble Faculties thereof have no life of their own left in him but all the spirit that moves and animates them is derived from his Senses So that all his Reasonings respect onely the Welfare of his Body and the unmost use he makes of his Understanding is generally to know how he may eat and drink well But this is not the onely Mischief that comes to the Soul by the neglect of Religion but when a Man has once laid this aside he parts with the best Ornament of his Head and the most gracefull Dress that his Soul can be in He then begins to take his leave of the Nature and Spirit of a Man and to put on that of a Beast to lose his own upright Posture and to stoop his Soul to the groveling shape of a Brute He parts with the natural Order and Beauty of his Soul and turns himself into the most deformed Monster For it is not so much against Nature to see a Man's Body turned upfide-down as to see the Faculties of his Soul displaced His understanding and Reason which are his head Faculties trampled under the Feet of his Lusts and a vile Appetite made to reign in the room of Reason And yet this is not all for by the neglect of Religion Men treasure up Wrath and Vexation to themselves and do such things as estrange them from and made them ashmaed to know themselves And it must needs be so because they ae as unnatural to their own Minds as he would be to his Body who should refuse to breath the Air he lives in They neglect to cultivate their Souls but suffer them to go so much out of Order that like him that has been careless and negligent in his Business so long that he has run out of all they dare not take a view of their own Condition And surely it is an Argument that they are very sensible of the Mischief they have done themselves that to avoid the Vexation it would give them they are forced to avoid their own Conversation and are as much afraid of appearing in their own right as a bankrupt Person is to meet his Creditor And what greater Folly can a Man be guilty of than by his own Carelesness to hurl himself into such a Condition as leaves him neither Wit nor Will to remedy it But because this is a matter the wicked Men seem not very sensible of I come to consider 2. How much mischief they do to their Bodies and their Temporal Concerns those great Idols that wicked Men have a particular Veneration for And if I can make it appear that they neglect the best means of promoting those Interests which they are chiefly concern'd for and for the sake of which they chuse to despise Religion it will be a Demonstration of such Weakness and Folly as ought to shame them for ever For the Folly of a Man does never appear more shamefull than when he shows himself unskilfull in the Management of those Affairs that he pretends to be most knowing in Now this is the Case of every wicked Man He renounces Religion as an Enemy to our Bodies and fecular Assairs and pretends that the way of Life that he hath chosen does the best of all others conduce to a happy and comfortable Life Though they have no Concern at all for their Souls yet they prosess to have a great Tenderness for their Bodies that they have no other End but to make their Lives easie and pleasant and that the Ground of their quarrel with Religion is because it abridges them in their Pleasures and deprives us of the Comforts of this Life by not suffering us to make those Provisions for the Flesh as are neefull thereto So that in his Case they pretend to have weigh'd things with the greatest Exactness and glory in it as a Mark of their Wisdom that they have found out the true way of living happily And it must be acknowledged that if while Religion furnishes the Mind with Wisdom and Vertue it did take no care of our Bodies there would be some reason to reject it because it could not be said to be sufficient for the Happiness of a Creature made up of Flesh as well as Spirit But if it be quite otherwise than as they report the more Judgment they pretend to have made use of the more gross is their Mistake and the more palpable their Folly in chusing to live otherwise than Religion prescribes And that this is the very Truth of the matter will appear if we consider 1. What is requisite for the promoting our Temporal Aims 2. What for the securing the Health and Vigour of our Bodies 1. What is requisite for the promoting our Temporal Aims And one of the first things that every Man resolves on to this purpose is to gain a good Interest and to settle a good Correspondence among Men. For without this we shall often-times find our selves perplexed with such Difficulties as neither our own Wit nor Industry can over-come So that that Course of Life which tends to disgust and alienate the Minds of those whom we must in innumerable Cases depend upon is so little for our Advantage that it is not our Wisdom to make choice of it And this is the unhappy Condition of those that throw off all respect to Religion For they thereby reject those Succours of Providence that are of absolute
they have not the Wit to discern that they take a Course that thwarts their Devices when they neglect Religion and that they are extremely beholding to Religion for giving them those Rules without which they can never long enjoy what they would have If it be an Argument of Folly not to know how to adapt means suitable to the Ends we aim at the wicked irreligious Man must pass for the veriest Fool that is for living as he does when it is the Welfare of his Body that he pretends to aim at If he be wise in the Choice of his End he can never avoid the Imputation of Folly for living otherwise than according to the Rules of Temperance and Moderation that Religion gives Neither is it in the Opinion of all that know him onely that he is guilty of so much Weakness and Folly but his own Thoughts do upbraid him with it when a surfeited Body does force him to submit to those very Rules as reasonable and just which at other times he condemns as rigid and severe As much as he cries out upon Religion for imposing them he has nothing to except against them when they are prescribed by his Physician And how preposterously does this Man act in despising those Restraints when put upon him for preserving his Body healthfull and vigorous which he flies to as the onely means to restore it when it is decayed He out of a tender regard to his Body does check his Appetites when it is for the Recovery of his lost Health and believes he cannot take a better Course for the freeing himself from the Languishings of a Surfeit and a Debauch and yet he pretends it is out of love to his Body that he lets his Appetites loose when he is in health So that this Man has no other way to prove himself no Fool but by satisfying the World how that way of Life can be unreasonable which he believes is good for his Botly or that good for his Body which he himself is forced to condemn as hurtfull to him And now 3. How much Reason have we to think well of and to live in a constant Practice of Religion For this is to live according to the proper instincts of and to take an Account of our Duty from our Nature 'T is the Business we are in a peculiar manner framed for and in our regard to which we give Honour to our Reason and consult our greatest good We ought from the Dignity of Nature saith Hierocles to take an Account of our Duty In Carm. Pyth. p. 93. and to weigh how we ought to act and speak And again It is from the Ignorance of our Nature that all kind of Evil breaks in upon us So that if we know our selves and reject those things that are a Reproach to our Reason we judge rightly of our Duty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Epictetus Arrian Lib. 2. Chap. 8. Thou art a Principal part of God's Handy-work thou art something taken from God Himself thou hast some Part of God in thee Why therefore art thou not mindfull of thy Nobility Why dost thou not consider from whence thou comest When thou eatest or speakest wilt thou not remember who thou art that eatest and whom thou feedest that thou nourishest a God and carriest a God about with thee If thou wast a Statue carved by the Hand of Phidias when thou considerest whose Work thou wast if thou couldest know it thou wouldest endeavour to do nothing unworthy either of so famed an Artist or of thy self nor wouldest thou be seen in an undecent Garb by those that should behold thee And since thou art the Workmanship of God wilt thou take no care of thy self God has committed thee to thy own Care neither did he know of any that would be more faithfull to such a Trust Be sure saith he to preserve this Depositum such as it is in its own Nature 'T is then by having a Recourse to our own Nature that we must learn the way of Life that we are framed for And since Religion has such a near Relation to us that without it our best Faculties are of little or no Use to us and in spight of our natural Depravity we cannot but desire that all the Principles thereof were true and its Duties put in practice who can doubt but that this ought to be the Business of our Lives It is that Business by which we must gratifie our Reasons and improve our Minds and delight our Consciences And if this ought not to be our Business why have we such Faculties as require it It is as necessary that we live in the Practice of Religion as that we live like Men and discover a Difference between a Man and a Beast He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what does the Lord require of thee i.e. Since God has display'd more of his Goodness to thee than to the Creatures of Sense what is it that he expects from thee but to do Justice to love Mercy and to walk humbly with thy God Micah 6. 8. And hence it is that Lactantius makes the Difference between a Man and a Beast to consist in this that we are capable of Religion and they are not For saith he take away Religion and Righteousness De Ira Dei c. 12. and Man degenerates to the Folly of a Brute or which is worse having lost his Reason to their Immanity and Fierceness And he tells us that the Heathens although they mistook in the Object of their Worship Instit l. 2. c. 3. yet did acknowledge the chief Duty of Man to lie in Religion by maintaining an Appearance of it in their false Worship because the Chief if not the onely Difference between Man and a Brute does lie in Religion This then is the onely calling in the World that every Man is bound to follow and which will find a full Imployment for all our Heads and Hearts and Hands every Man of what Quality or Condition soever he is is indispensibly bound to fear God and keep his Commandments Neither need any Man fear that he shall debase himself thereby For as Reason is the Noblest faculty of his Nature there is nothing so fit for his Reason to converse with as Religion Now this can be said of no other Calling beside For although the Benefit of every Man 's secular Imployment does reach to the whole Society yet if every Man was of one Calling no body would be the better for it and the best is and Imployment of that Nature as will find Work for the Souls and Bodies of every Man and which the more it is practised by every Man the better it is for all the World Nay further it is a Calling that every Man must manage in his own Person or else neither he will receive any benefit by it nor the World by him 'T is possible that any of those secular Callings that are for the Relief of our present Necessities