more frequently required of or attributed to the Perfect Man in Scripture then Zeal and Fervency of Spirit in the ways of God and no wonder For when Actions flow at once from Principles and Custom when they spring from Love and are attended by Pleasure and are incited and quicken'd by Faith and Hope too How can it be but that we should repeat 'em with some Eagerness and feel an Holy Impatience as often as we are hindered or disappointed And as the Nature of the Thing shews that thus it ought to be so are there innumerable Instances in the Old Testament and the New which make it evident that thus it was Shall I mention the example of our Lord who went about doing good Act. 10.38 Shall I propose the Labours and Travils of St. Paul These Patterns it may be will be judged by some too bright and dazling a Light for us to look on or at least too Perfect for us to copy after and yet St. John tells us that he who says he abides in Him ought himself also so to walk even as he walked 1 Joh. 2.6 and we are exhorted to be followers of the Apostles as they were of Christ But if the Fervency of Christ and St. Paul seemed to have soar'd out of the reach of our imitation we have Inferiour Instances enough to prove the Zeal and Fruitfulness of Habitual Goodness Thus David says of himself Psal 119.10 with my whole Heart have I sought thee and Josiah 2 King 23.25 is said to have turned to the Lord with all his Soul and with all his Might How fervent was Anna wo departed not from the Temple but served God with Fastings and Prayers night and day Luk. 2.37 how Charitable Tabitha who was full of good Works and Alms-deeds which she did Act. 9.36 Where shall I place Cornelius With what words shall I set out his Virtues with what but those of the Holy Ghost Act. 10.2 He was a devout Man and one that feared God with all his House which gave much Alms to the people and prayed to God alway But peradventure some may imagine that there is something singular and extraordinary in these Eminent Persons which we must never hope to equal but must be content to follow them at a vast Distance Well let this be so What have we to say to whole Churches animated by the same Spirit of Zeal What are we to think of the Churches of Macedonia whose Charity St. Paul thus magnifies 2 Cor. 8.2 3. in a great trial of Affliction the abundance of their Joy and their deep Poverty abounded to the Riches of their Liberality For to their power I bear record yea and beyond their power they were willing of themselves And St. Paul declares himself perswaded of the Romans that they were full of goodness filled with all knowledge Rom. 15.14 And of the Corinthians he testifies that they were enriched in every thing and came behind in no gift 1 Cor. 1.5 6. that they did abound in all things in Faith in diligence c. 2 Cor. 8.7 I will stop here 't is in vain to heap up more Instances I have said enough to shew that Vigour and Fervency in the Service of God is no miraculous Gift no extraordinary Prerogative of some peculiar Favorite of Heaven but the natural and inseparable Property of a well confirmed Habit of Holiness Lastly is Constancy and Steadiness the Property of an Habit It is an undoubted Property of Perfection too In Scripture Good Men are every where represented as standing fast in the Faith steadfast and unmovable in the works of God holding fast their Integrity In one word as constantly following after Righteousness and maintaining a good Conscience towards God and Man And so Natural is This to one Habitually good that St. John affirms of such a one that he cannot sin 1 Joh. 3.9 whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin for his Seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God Accordingly Job is said to have feared God and eschewed Evil which must be understood of the constant course of his Life Zachary and Elizabeth are said to be Righteous walking in all the Commandments of God blameless Luk. 1.6 Enoch Noah David and other excellent Persons who are pronounc'd by God Righteous and Just and Perfect are said in Scripture to walk with God to serve Him with a Perfect Heart with a full purpose of Heart to cleave to him and the like And this is that Constancy which Christians are often exhorted to watch ye stand fast in the Faith quit ye like Men be strong 1 Cor. 16.13 And of which the first followers of our Lord left us such remarkable Examples The Disciples are said to have been continually in the Temple blessing and praising God Luk. 24. And the first Christians are said to have continued stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of Bread and in Prayers Acts 2.42 Thus I think I have sufficiently cleared my Notion of Perfection from Scripture Nor need I multiply more Texts to prove what I think no Man can doubt of unless he mistake the main Design and End of the Gospel which is to raise and exalt us to a steady Habit of Holiness The end of the Commandment saith St. Paul 1 Tim. 1.5 is Charity out of a pure heart and of a good Conscience and of Faith unfeigned This is the utmost Perfection Man is capable of to have his Mind enlightned and his Heart purified and to be inform'd acted and influenc'd by Faith and Love as by a vital principle And all this is Essential to Habitual Goodness If any one desire further Light or Satisfaction in this Matter let him read the eighth Chapter to the Romans and he will soon acknowledge that he there finds the substance of what I have hiterto advanced There though the Word it self be not found the thing called Perfection is described in all the Strength and Beauty in all the Pleasure and Advantages of it There the Disciple of Jesus is represented as one who walks not after the Flesh but after the Spirit as one whom the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has set free from the Law of Sin and Death one who 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 does not mind or relish the things of the Flesh but the things of the Spirit one in whom the Spirit of Christ dwells He does not stand at the Door and knock he does not make a transient visit but here he reigns and rules and inhabits One finally in whom the Body is dead because of Sin but the Spirit is life because of Righteousness And the Result of all this is the Joy and Confidence the Security and Transport that becomes the Child of God Ye have not received the Spirit of Bondage again to Fear but ye have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father The Spirit it self beareth witness with our Spirit that we are
Anchorite or Hermite was at first little better then a Pious Extravagant I will not say how much worse he is now Meditation and Prayer are excellent Duties but Meekness and Charity Mercy and Zeal are not one jot inferiour to them The World is an excellent School to a good Christian the Follies and the Miseries the Tryals and Temptations of it do not only exercise and employ our Vertue but cultivate and improve it They afford us both Instruction and Discipline and naturally Advance us on towards a solid Wisdom and a well-setled Power over our selves 'T is our own fault if every Accident that befalls us and every one whom we converse with do not teach us somewhat occasion some wise Reflection or enkindle some Pious Affection in us We do not reflect on our Words and Actions we do not observe the motions of our own Hearts as diligently as we ought we make little or no Application of what we see or hear nor learn any thing from the Wisdom and the Vertue the Folly and the Madness of Man and the consequences of both And so we neither improve our Knowledge nor our Vertue but are the same to day we were yesterday and Life wastes away in common Accidents and customary Actions with as little alteration in us as in our Affairs Whereas were we mindful as we ought of our true Interest and desirous to reap some spiritual Benefit from every thing the Vertues of Good Men would enkindle our Emulation and the Folly and Madness of Sinners would confirm our abhorrence for Sin from one we should learn Content from another Industry here we should see a Charm in Meekness and Charity there in Humility in this Man we should see Reason to admire Discretion and Command of himself in that Courage and Constancy Assiduity and Perseverance Nor would it be less useful to us to observe how Vanity exposes one and Peevishness torments another how Pride and Ambition embroil a third and how hateful and contemptible Avarice renders a fourth and to trace all that variety of ruin which Lust and Prodigality Disorder and Sloth leave behind them And as this kind of Observations will fill us with solid and useful Knowledge so will a diligent attention to the Rules of Righteousness and discretion in all the common and daily actions of Life enrich us with true Vertue Religion is not to be confin'd to the Church and to the Closet nor to be exercised only in Prayers and Sacraments Meditation and Alms but every where we are in the Presence of God and every Word every Action is capable of Morality Our Defects and Infirmities betray themselves in the daily Accidents and the common Conversation of Life and here they draw after them very important Consequences and therefore here they are to be watched over regulated and govern'd as well as in our more solemn Actions 'T is to the Vertues or the Errors of our common Conversation and ordinary Deportment that we owe both our Friends and Enemies our good or bad Character abroad our Domestick Peace or Troubles and in a high degree the improvement or depravation of our Minds Let no Man then that will be Perfect or Happy abandon himself to his Humours or Inclinations in his Carriage towards his Acquaintance his Children his Servants Let no Man that will be Perfect or Happy follow Prejudice or Fashion in the common and customary Actions of Life But let him assure himself that by a daily endeavour to conform these more and more to the excellent Rules of the Gospel he is to train up himself by degrees to the most absolute Wisdom and the most Perfect Vertue he is capable of And to this end he must first know himself and those he has to do with he must discern the proper Season and the just Occasion of every Vertue and then he must apply himself to the acquiring the Perfection of it by the daily Exercise of it even in those things which for want of due Reflection do not commonly seem of any great Importance To one that is thus dispos'd the dulness or the carelesness of a Servant the stubbornness of a Child the soureness of a Parent the Inconstancy of Friends the Coldness of Relations the Neglect or Ingratitude of the World will all prove extreamly useful and beneficial every thing will instruct him every thing will afford an opportunity of exercising some Vertue or another so that such a one shall be daily learning daily growing better and wiser § 2. The two great Instruments not of Regeneration only but also of Perseverance and Perfection are the Word and the Spirit of God This no Man doubts that is a Christian And therefore I will not go about to prove it Nor will I at present discourse of the Energy and Operation of the one and the other or examine what each is in its self or wherein the one differs from the other 'T is abundantly enough if we be assured that the Gospel and the Spirit are proper and sufficient Means to attain the great Ends I have mentioned namely our Converversion and Perfection And that they are so is very plain from those Texts which do expresly assert That the Gospel contains all those Truths that are necessary to the clear Exposition of our Duty or to the moving and obliging us to the Practice of it And that the Spirit implies a supply of all that supernatural strength be it what it will that is necessary to enable us not only to will but to do that which the Gospel convinces us to be our Duty Such are Rom. 8.2 For the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of Sin and Death 2 Tim. 3.16 17. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for Instruction in Righteousness That the Man of God may be Perfect thoroughly furnished unto all good works 2 Cor. 12.9 And he said unto me my Grace is sufficient for thee for my Strength is made perfect in weakness Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my Infirmities that the Power of Christ may rest upon me 1 Pet. 1.5 Who are kept by the Power of God through Faith unto Salvation ready to be revealed in the last time 'T is needless to multiply Texts on this occasion otherwise 't were very easie to shew That all things necessary to Life and Godliness are contain'd in the Word and Spirit that what ever is necessarily to be wrought in us to prepare us for or entitle us to Eternal Salvation is ascribed to the Gospel and the Spirit This truth then being unquestionable that the Gospel and the Spirit are the two great Instruments of Perfection we may from hence infer two Rules which are of the most Universal use and of the most powerful efficacy in the pursuit of Perfection 1. We cannot have too great a Value too great a Passion for the Book of God nor fix
Mind but never benefit it but there are others which are in the Language of Solomon like Health to the Navel and Marrow to the Bones Wisdom and Vertue Life and Honour the Favour of God and Man attend them where e're they dwell And these are the Truths which Illuminate Truths that are Active and Fruitful that make us wise and good perfect and happy such as we have a mighty Interest in such as have a strong Influence upon us such as give a new Day to the understanding and new Strength and Liberty to the Will such as raise and exalt our Affections and render the whole Man more rational more steady more constant more uniform These are the Truths which make Men great and modest in Prosperity erect and couragious in Adversity always content with this World yet alway full of the Hopes of a better Serene Calm and well assured in the present state of their Souls and yet thirsting after Perfection Maturity and the absolute Consummation of Righteousness in the World to come Now the Truths that effect all this are all reducible to those which I have mentioned under the former Head For in those we find all that is necessary to Life and Godliness to Vertue and Glory in those we find all that is necessary to raise and support true Magnanimity to enlarge and free the Mind and to add Strength and Courage to it For what can more certainly promote all this than Immortality and Glory What can be a surer Foundation for the Hope of both to rest on than the Favour of God himself And what can more effectually reconcile and ingratiate us with God than sincere universal Righteousness and the Mediation of his dearly Beloved Son 3. The Third Character of Illuminating Truth is that they are Pleasant and Agreeable to the Soul Hence it is that the Royal Psalmist pronounces the Word of God sweeter than the Honey and the Honey Comb that he ascribes to it Delight and Joy For he tell us that it rejoyces the Heart that it enlightens the Eyes And accordingly we find the true Servants of God not only continually blessing and praising God in the Temple but magnifying him by Psalms and Hymns in their Prisons and rejoycing in the midst of Tribulation But when I reckon Pleasure and Delight amongst the Fruits of Illumition I must add that there is a vast difference between the Fits and Flashes of Mirth and the serenity of a Fixt and Habitual Delight between the Titillations of Sense and the solid Joys of the Mind and lastly between the Pleasures of Fancy and of Reason And when I say Illumination consists in the Knowledge of pleasant and agreeable Truths I mean it of rational Pleasure an habitual Tranquility of the Mind And then the Matter is beyond Question Whatever Truths do contribute to promote this the Study and Contemplation of them must be our true Wisdom Joy when 't is solid and rational does enlarge and exalt the Mind of Man 'T is as it were Health to the Navel and Marrow to the Bones it renders us more thankful to God more kind and courteous to Man 'T is an excellent Preparation to invite more Plentifully Influxes of the Spirit of God Hence did Elijah call for a Musical Instrument when he desired to Prophesie And we find the Company of Prophets rejoycing with Hymns Musick and Dances all outward Testimonies of the inward Transports and Ravishment of their Minds And as I am perswaded that that which distinguishes a Godly sorrow from a Worldly or Impious one Repentance and Contrition from the Agonies and Perplexities of Dispair is the peace and tranquility which attends it so am I perswaded that God does press and invite us to Mourning and Sorrow for Sin for this Reason not excluding others because it naturally leads on to Peace and Joy A soft and tender Sorrow dissipating the Fears and Distresses of Guilt like mild and fruitful Showers that do lay Storms In a word there is no such powerful Antidote against Sin nor spur to Holy Industry as Holy Pleasure Pious Joy or Spiritual Peace and Tranquility This is a Partaking or Anticipating the powers of the World to come and the mightiest Corroboration of every thing that is good in us The Study then of such Truths is true Wisdom And Illumination thus far will consist in quitting those Errors which beget Melancholy Superstition Desperation and in such Truths as enlarge our view of the Divine Perfections and exhibit to us a nearer Presence of his Goodness and Glory Such again as unfold the Dignity of Human Nature and the wise and gracious Ends of our Creation Such Lastly as extend our Prospect and enlarge our Hopes support our Frailties and excite our Vigour 4. The last property of those Truths in the Knowledge of which Illumination consists is that they are such as procure us a Reward If we reflect upon those three Heads under which I ranged those Truths which Illuminated the Gentile and Jewish World we shall easily discern how well they fit this Character They fill the Mind with Joy and Peace and make it abound in Hope they Purge the Man from his natural Corruption and fortifie the Mind against such Impressions from outward Good or Evil in this World as disquiet and torment the Sinner they procure him the Protection of God's Providence and the Assistance of his Spirit in this Life and they invite him to hope for Glories and Pleasures in another far above any thing that the Heart of Man can conceive God is the God of Hope He has all Fulness and Sufficiency in himself And therefore Blessed must all they be who have the Lord for their God Jesus is the Fountain of all Consolation He is made unto us of God Wisdom and Righteousness and Sanctification and Redemption Happy is he that does rejoyce always and glory in Him Righteousness is a state of Health and Strength of Perfection and Beauty of Peace and Tranquility of Rest and Hope Blessed are they who are possessed of it who are made free from Sin and become Servants of God who have their Fruit unto Holiness and the end everlasting Life Such are already past from Death to Life for the Spirit of Life and Holiness of God and Glory rests upon them This is the Character that distinguishes Gospel Knowledge from all other sorts of Knowledge No knowledge of Arts or Sciences and much less the most exquisite knowledge of all the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Darkness can pretend to an Eternal Reward A short and impure Pleasure and a transcient Interest is all that this sort of Knowledge can bestow and very often instead of Pleasure and Profit it requites its Disciples with Pain and Trouble The Gospel only contains those Truths which confer Life and Immortality on those that Believe and Obey them 'T is the Gospel alone that teaches us how we are to gain the Love and Favour of God and 't is God alone who Rules and Governs
the contrary consist in being able not only to will but to do good in obeying those Commandments which we cannot but acknowledge to be holy and just and good And this is the very Notion which our Lord and Master gives us of it Joh. 8. For when the Jews bragg'd of their Freedom he lets them know that Freedom could not consist with Subjection to Sin he that committeth Sin is the Servant of Sin ver 34. That honourable Parentage and the Freedom of the Body was but a false and ludicrous Appearance of Liberty that if they would be free indeed the Son must make them so ver 36. i. e. they must by his Spirit and Doctrine be rescued from the Servitude of Lust and Errour and be set at Liberty to work Righteousness If ye continue in my word then are ye my Disciples indeed and ye shall know the Truth and the Truth shall make you free ver 31 32. Finally not to multiply Proofs of a truth that is scarce liable to be controverted as the Apostle describes the Bondage of a Sinner in Rom. 7. so does he the Liberty of a Saint in Rom. 8. For there ver 2. he tells us That the Law of the Spirit of Life has set the true Christian free from the Law of Sin and Death And then he lets us know wherein this Liberty consists in walking not after the Flesh but after the Spirit in the Mortification of the Body of Sin and Restitution of the Mind to its just Empire and Authority If Christ be in you the Body is dead because of Sin but the Spirit is Life because of Righteousness ver 10. And all this is the same thing with his Description of Liberty Chapter 6. where 't is nothing else but for a Man to be made free from Sin and become the Servant of God Thus then we have a plain account of Bondage and Liberty Yet for the clearer understanding of both it will not be amiss to observe that they are each capable of different Degrees and both the one and the other may be more or less entire compleat and absolute according to the different Progress of Men in Vice and Vertue Thus in some Men not their Will only but their very Reason is enslaved Their Vnderstanding is so far infatuated their Affections so entirely captived that there is no Conflict at all between the Mind and the Body they commit Sin without any Reluctancy before-hand or any Remorse afterwards their sâ—ared Conscience making no Remonstrance inflicting no wounds nor denouncing any Threats This is the last Degree of Vassalage Such are said in Scripture to be dead in Trespasses and Sins Others there are in whom their Lust and Appetite prevails indeed but not without Opposition They Reason rightly and which is the natural Result of this have some Desires and wishes of Righteousness but through the Prevalency of the Body they are unable to act and live conformable to their Reason Their Vnderstanding has indeed Light but not Authority It consents to the Law of God but it has no Power no Force to make it be obeyed it produces indeed some good Inclinations Purposes and Efforts but they prove weak and ineffectual ones and unable to grapple with the stronger Passion raised by the Body And as Bondage so Liberty is of different Degrees and different Strength For though Liberty may be able to subsist where there is much Opposition from the Body yet 't is plain that Liberty is most absolute and compleat where the Opposition is least where the Body is reduced to an entire Submission and Obsequiousness and the Spirit reigns with an uncontroul'd and unlimited Authority And this latter is that Liberty which I would have my Perfect man possessed of I know very well 't is commonly taught by some that there is no such State But I think this Doctrine if it be throughly considered has neither Scripture Reason nor Experience to support it For as to those Places Rom. 7. and Gal. 5. urged in favour of an almost Incessant strong and too-frequently prevalent lusting of the Flesh against the Spirit it has been often answered and proved too that they are so far from belonging to the Perfect that they belong not to the Regenerate But on the contrary those Texts that represent the Yoke of Christ easie and his burden light which affirm the Commandments of Christ not to be grievous to such as are made Perfect in Love do all bear witness to that Liberty which I contend for Nor does Reason favour my Opinion less than Scripture For if the Perfect man be a New Creature if he be transformed into a New Nature if his Body be dead to sin and his Spirit live to Righteousness in one word if the World be as much crucified to him as he to it I cannot see why it should not be easie for him to act consonant to his Nature why he should not with Pleasure and Readiness follow that Spirit and obey those Affections which reign and rule in him Nor can I see why a Habit of Righteousness should not have the same Properties with other Habits that is be attended with ease and pleasure in its Operations and Actions 'T is true I can easily see why the Habits of Righteousness are acquired with more Difficulty than those of any other kind but I say I cannot see when they are acquired why they should not be as natural and delightful to us as any other Lastly how degenerate soever Ages past have been or the present is I dare not so far distrust the Goodness of my Cause or the Vertue of Mankind as not to refer my self willingly in this point to the Decision of Experience I am very well assured that Truth and Justice Devotion and Charity Honour and Integrity are to a great many so dear and delightful so natural so easie that it is hard to determine whether they are more strongly moved by a sense of Duty or the Instigations of Love and Inclination and that they cannot do a base thing without the utmost Mortification and Violence to their Nature Nor is all this to be wondred at if we again reflect on what I just now intimated that the Perfect Man is a new Creature transformed daily from Glory to Glory that he is moved by new Affections raised and fortified by new Principles that he is animated by a Divine Energy and sees all things by a truer and brighter Light through which the things of God appear lovely and beautiful the things of the World Deformed and worthless just as to him who views them through a Microscope the Works of God appear exact and elegant but those of Man coarse and bungling and ugly My Opinion then which asserts the absolute Liberty of the Perfect Man is sufficiently proved here and in Chap. the first And if I thought it were not I could easily reinforce it with fresh Recruits For the glorious Characters that are given us in Scripture of the Liberty of
Nazian thought it very extravagant to pretend to be Perfecter then the Rule and Exacter then the Law The Quakers have made much noise and stir about the Doctrine of Perfection and have reflected very severely on others as subverting the great Design of our Redemption which is Deliverance from Sin and upholding the Kingdom of Darkness But with what Justice will easily appear when I have represented their Sense which I will do very Impartially and in as few and plain words as I can Mr. W. P. (d) A Key opening c. tells us that They are so far Infallible and Perfect as they are led by the Spirit This is indeed true but 't is meer trifling For This is an Infallibility and Perfection which no man denies who believes in the Holy Ghost since whoever follows His Guidance must be in the right unless the Holy Ghost himself be in the wrong He urges 't is true a great number of Scriptures to shew they are his own words that a State of Perfection from Sin though not in fulness of Wisdom and Glory is attainable in this Life But this is too dark and short a hint to infer the Sense of his Party from it Mr. Ed. Burroughs (e) Principles of Truth c. is more full We believe saith he that the Saints upon Earth may receive forgiveness of Sins and may be perfectly freed from the Body of Sin and Death and in Christ may be perfect and without Sin and may have victory over all Temptations by Faith in Jesus Christ And we believe every Saint that is called of God ought to press after Perfection and to over-come the Devil and all his Temptations upon Earth And we Believe they that faithfully wait for it shall obtain it and shall be presented without Sin in the Image of the Father And such walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit and are in Covenant with God and their sins are blotted out and remembred no more for they cease to commit sin being Born of the Seed of God If by Sin here he means as he seems to do Deliberate or Presumptuous Sin I do not think any Establish'd Church whether Protestant or Popish Teaches otherwise Mr. Barclay (f) Apol. Thes 8. goes very Methodically to work and first sets down the state of the Question then confutes those that differ from Him answers their Objections out of Scripture and lastly establishes his own Doctrine As to the Perfection which he asserts he lets us know That it is to be derived from the Spirit of Christ that it consists not in an Impossibility of Sinning but a Possibility of not Sinning And that his Perfect Man is capable of Daily Growth and Improvement When to This I have added that he speaks all along of That which we call Wilful Sin as appears from his Description of it for he calls it Iniquity Wickedness Impurity the Service of Satan and attributes such Effects to it as belong not at all to what we call Sins of Infirmity when I say This is added to render his Sense clear I can readily subscribe to him For I know no such Doctrines in our Church as Those which he there opposes namely that the Regenerate are to live in Sin and that their Good Works are Impure and Sinful But then he either mistakes the Main Point in Debate or prudently declines it For the Question is not whether good Men may live in Mortal or Wilful Sin but whether good Men are not subject to Frailties and Infirmities which are indeed Sins though not imputable under the Covenant of Grace Whether the Quakers are not in this Point Pelagians I do not now inquire because if they be they are already considered Two things there are in Mr. Barclay's state of the Question which I cannot so well approve of the One is that he expresses himself so injudiciously about the growth and improvement of his Perfect Man that he seems to forget the Difference the Scriptures make between Babes and full Grown Men in Christ and to place Perfection so low in reference to Positive Righteousness or Virtue as if it consisted in Negative only or ceasing from Sin The Other is That though he does not peremptorily affirm a State of Impeccability attainable in this Life yet he seems inclined to Believe it and imagines it countenanced by 1 Joh. 3.9 But he ought to have consider'd That whatever Impeccability may be inferr'd from that Text it is attributed not to some extraordinary Persons but to all whosoever they be that are Born of God but this is out of my way All that I am to observe upon the whole is that These Men place Perfection especially in refraining from Sin I advance higher and place it in a well-setled Habit of Righteousness And I believe they will be as little dissatisfied with me for this as I am with them for asserting the Perfect Man freed from Sin For as Mr. Barclay expresses himself I think he has in reality no Adversaries but Antinomians and Ranters As to That Perfection which is magnified by Mistical Writers some of Them have only darken'd and obscured the plain Sense of the Gospel by figurative and unintelligible Terms Those of Them which write with more Life and Heat than other Men ordinarily do recommend nothing but that Holiness which begins in the Fear and is consummate in the Love of God which enlightens the Mind purifies the Heart and fixes and unites Man to his Soveraign Good that is God And I am sure I shall not differ with These There are I confess almost innumerable sayings of the Fathers which sufficiently testifie how little Friends they were to Perfection in such a Notion of it as is too generally embraced in the Church of Rome The Primitive Spirit breathed Nothing but Humility It was a professed Enemy to All self-Confidence and Arrogance to Supererogation and Merit and it invited Men earnestly to reflect upon the Sins and Slips of Life and on that Opposition which the Law of the Body maintains against the Law of the Mind in some Degree or other in the Best Men. This Consideration forced the Bishop of Condome to that plain and honest Confession Itaque Justitia Nostra licet per Charitatis Infusionem sit vera c. though our Righteousness because of that Love which the Spirit sheds abroad in our Hearts be Sincere and Real yet is it not absolute and consummate because of the Opposition of Concupiscence So that it is an indispensable Duty of Christianity to be perpetually bewailing the Errors of Life Wherefore we are oblig'd humbly to confess with St. Austin That our Righteousness in this Life consists rather in the pardon of our Sins then in the perfection of our Virtues All this is undoubtedly true but concerns not me I never Dream of any man's passing the Course of Life without Sin Nor do I contend for such a Perfection as St. Austin calls Absolute which will admit of no Increase and
Things appear to us and the more the Mind rejoyces in the Lord the oftner 'tis rapt up into Heaven and as it were transfigured into a more glorious Being by the Joy of the Spirit and the Ardours of Divine Love the more flat and insipid are all earthly and carnal Satisfactions to it Another Effect that attends our shaking off the Dominion of Sin and our devoting our selves to the Service of God is our being purified from Guilt The Stains of the past Life are washed off by Repentance and the Blood of Jesus and the Servant of God contracts no new ones by wilful and presumptuous Sin Now therefore he can enter into himself and commune with his own Heart without any Vneasiness he can reflect upon his Actions and review each day when it is past without inward Regret or Shame To break off a vicious Course to vanquish both Terrours and Allurements when they perswade to that which is mean and base to be Master of ones self and entertain no Affections but what are wise and regular and such as one has Reason to wish should daily increase and grow stronger these are things so far from meriting Reproach and Reproof from ones own Mind that they are sufficient to support it against all Reproaches from without Such is the Beauty such the Pleasure of a well established Habit of Righteousness that it does more than compensate the Difficulties to which either the Attainment or the Practice of it can expose a Man Lastly He that is free from Guilt is free from Fear too And indeed this is the only way to get rid of all our Fears not by denying or renouncing God with Atheists but by doing the things that please Him He that is truly Religious is the only Man who upon rational Ground is raised above Melancholy and Fear For what should he fear God is his Glory his Boast his Joy his Strength and if God be for him who can be against him neither things present nor to come neither Life nor Death can separate him from the Love of God in Christ Jesus There is nothing within the Bounds of Time or Eternity that he needs fear Man cannot hurt him he is incompassed with the favour and loving kindness of God as with a Shield But if God permit him to suffer for Righteousness sake happy is he This does but increase his present Joy and future Glory But what is most considerable Death it self cannot hurt him Devils cannot hurt him the sting of Death is Sin and the strength of Sin is the Law but thanks be to God who giveth us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. For there is no Condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit These Considerations prove the present Condition of a Servant of God happy Happy in Comparison of the Loose and Wicked but in Comparison with what he shall be hereafter he is infinitely short of the Joy and Glory of his End In this respect indeed he is yet in a state of Tryal and Trouble of Discipline and Probation in this respect his Perfection and Happiness do but just peep up above the Ground the Fulness and Maturity of both he cannot enjoy till he come to Heaven And this is § 4. The Last Fruit of Christian Liberty That Heaven will consist of all the Blessings of all the Enjoyments that Human Nature when raised to an Equality with Angels is capable of that Beauties and Glories Joys and Pleasures will as it were like a fruitful and ripe Harvest here grow up there in all the utmost Plenty and Perfection that Omnipotence it self will e're produce is not at all to be controverted Heaven is the Master-piece of God the Accomplishment and Consummation of all his wonderful Designs the last and most endearing Expression of boundless Love And hence it is that the Holy Spirit in Scripture describes it by the most taking and the most admired things upon Earth and yet we cannot but think that this Image though drawn by a Divine Pencil must fall infinitely short of it For what temporal things can yield Colours or Metaphors strong and rich enough to paint Heaven to the Life One thing there is indeed which seems to point us to a just and adequate Notion of an Heaven it seems to excite us to strive and attempt for Conceptions of what we cannot grasp we cannot comprehend and the labouring Mind the more it discovers concludes still the more behind and that is the Beatifick Vision This is that which as Divines generally teach does constitute Heaven and Scripture seems to teach so too I confess I have often doubted whether our seeing God in the Life to come did necessarily imply that God should be the immediate Object of our Fruition or only that we should there as it were drink at the Fountain Head and being near and dear to Him in the highest Degree should ever flourish in his Favour and enjoy all Good heap'd up press'd down and running over I thought the Scriptures might be easily reconciled to this sense and the Incomprehensible Glory of the Divine Majesty inclin'd me to believe it the most reasonable and most easily accountable Injoyment and especially where an Intelligent Being is the Object of it seem'd to imply something of Proportion something of Equality something of Familiarity But ah what Proportion thought I can there ever be between Finite and Infinite what Equality between a poor Creature and his incomprehensible Creatour what Eye shall gave on the splendours of his essential Beauty when the very Light He dwells in is inaccessible and even the Brightness he vailes himself in is too dazling even for Cherub and Seraphs for ought I know to behold Ah! what Familiarity can there be between this Eternal and inconceiveable Majesty and Beings which He has formed out of nothing And when on this occasion I reflected on the Effects which the Presence of Angels had upon the Prophets and saw Human Nature in Man Sinking and dying away because unable to sustain the Glory of one of their Fellow-Creatures I thought my self in a manner obliged to yield and stand out no longer against a Notion which though differing from what was generally received seemed to have more Reason on its side and to be more intelligible But when I called to mind that God does not disdain even while we are in a state of Probation and Humility of Infirmity and Mortality to account us not only his Servants and his People but his Friends and his Children I began to question the former Opinion and when I had survey'd the Nature of Fruition and the various Ways of it a little more attentively I wholly quitted it For I observed that the Enjoyment is most transporting where Admiration mingles with our Passion where the beloved Object stands not upon the same Level with us but condescends to meet a Vertuous and aspiring and ambitious Affection Thus the happy Favourite enjoys
we courted till we be possess'd of a Habit of that Vertue which is a direct Contradiction to it and take as much pleasure in the Obedience as ever we did in the Transgression of a Divine Command 2ly There are some Sins of that provoking Nature so criminal in their Birth and mischievous in their Consequences That one single Act or Commission of one of these is equivalent to a Habit of others such is Murther Idolatry Perjury Adultery these cannot be committed without renouncing Humanity as well as Christianity without resisting the Instincts and Impulses of Nature as well as the Eight of the Gospel and the Grace of the Spirit We must break thorough a great many Difficulties and Terrors e're we can come at these Sins we must commit many other in order to commit one of these we must deliberate long resolve desperately and in Defiance of God and Conscience and what is the Effect of Habit in other Instances is a necessary Preparative in these that is Obduration In this Case therefore the unhappy Man that has been guilty of any one of these must not look upon himself as set free when he is come to a Resolution of never repeating it again But then when he loaths and abhors himself in Dust and Ashes when he has made the utmost Reparation of the Wrong he is capable of when if the Interest of Vertue require it he is content to be oppress'd with Shame and Sufferings when in one word a long and constant Course of Mortification Prayers Tears and good Works have washed off the Stain and Guilt 2. We must be free not only from a Habit but from single Acts of deliberate presumptuous Sin The Reason is plain Mortal Sin cannot be committed without wounding the Conscience grieving the Spirit and renouncing our Hopes in God through Christ for the time at least The wages of Sin is Death is true not only of Habits but single Acts of Deliberate Sin Death is the penalty the Sanction of every Commandment and the Commandment does not prohibit Habits only but single Acts too Nor is there indeed any room for Doubt or Dispute here but in one Case which is If a Righteous Man should be taken off in the very Commission of a Sin which he was fallen into Here indeed much may be said and with much Uncertainty But the Resolution of this Point does not as far as I can see minister to any good or necessary End and therefore I will leave it to God In all other Cases every thing is clear and plain For if the Servant of God fall into a presumptuous Sin 't is universally acknowledg'd that he cannot recover his Station but by Repentance If he repent presently he is safe but if he continue in his Sin if he repeat it he passes into a state of Wickedness widens the Breach between God and his Soul declines insensibly into a Habit of sin and renders his Wound more and more incurable 'T is to little purpose I think here to consider the vast Difference there is in the Commission even of the same sin between a Child of God and a Child of Wrath because a Child of God must not commit it at all if he do though it be with Reluctancy though it be as it were with an imperfect Consent and with a divided Soul though the Awe of Religion and Conscience seems not utterly to have forsaken him even in the midst of his sin though his Heart smite him the very Minute it is finish'd and Repentance and Remorse take off the Relish of the unhappy Draught yet still 't is Sin 't is in its Nature Damnable and nothing but the Blood of Jesus can purge the Guilt 3. The Perfect Man may be supposed not only actually to abstain from Mortal Sin but to be advanced so far in the Mortification of all his inordinate Affections as to do it with Ease and Pleasure with Constancy and Delight For it must reasonably be presumed that his Victory over ungodly and worldly Lust is more confirm'd and absolute his Abhorrence of them more deep and sensible more fixt and lasting than that of a Beginner or Babe in Christ The Regenerate at first fears the Consequence of sin but by Degrees he hates the Sin it self The Purity of his Soul renders him now incapable of finding any pleasure in what he doted on before and the Love of God and Vertue raiseth him above the Temptations which he was wont to fall by old things are past away and all things are become new 4. Lastly The Perfect Man's Abstinence is not only more easie and steady but more entire and compleat also than that of others He has a regard to the End and Design of the Law to the Perfection of his Nature to the Purity and Elevation of his Sowl and therefore he expounds the Prohibitions of the Law in the most enlarg'd Sense and interprets them by a Spirit of Faith and Love He is not content to refrain from Actions directly criminal but shuns every Appearance of Evil and labours to mortifie all the Dispositions and Tendencies of his Nature towards it and to decline whatever Circumstances of Life are apt to betray the Soul into a Love of this World or the Body he has crucified the World and the Body too That Pleasure that Honour that Power that Profit which captives the Sinners tempts and tries and disquiets the Novice is but a burthen a trouble to him he finds no Gust no relish in these things He is so far from Intemperance so far from Wantonness so far from Pride and Vanity that could he without any Disadvantage to the Interest of Religion he would imitate the Meanness the Plainness the Laboriousness the Self-denial of our Saviour's Life not only in Disposition and Affection of his Soul but even in his outward State and Deportment and would prefer it far above the Pomp and Shew of Life In one word he enquires not how far he may Enjoy and be Safe but how far he may deny himself and be wise he is so far from desiring forbidden Satisfactions that he is unwilling and afraid to find too much Satisfaction in the natural and necessary Actions of an animal Life I need not prove this to any one who has read the foregoing Chapters for it is what I have been doing throughout this Treatise It is nothing but what is consonant to the whole Tenour of the Scripture and to the Example of the best Times And 't is conformable to what the best Authors have writ who have any thing of Life and Spirit in their Works or have any true Notion of the great Design of Christian Religion which is an heavenly Conversation Let any one but cast his Eye on St. Basil or any other after him who aim'd at the same thing I now do the promoting Holiness in the World in the Beauty and Perfection of it and he will acknowledge that I am far from having carried this matter too high I
Number and Strength of Temptations the deplorable Falls of the greatest Saints and the Conscience of our own Weakness will not fail to work in us Let us then not only begin but also perfect Holiness in the Fear of God Blessed is he that feareth always Secondly The Steadfastness of Hope of Hope that waits and longs for the Coming of our Lord. This will invite us often to take a View of Canaan this will fill the Mind often with the Beauties and the Glories of Eternity this will often call to our Thoughts and Security the Rest the Transports of another World the Love of God and of Jesus incorruptible Crowns the Hallelujah's of Angels the Shouts of Victory the Fruit of the Tree of Life the Streams that water the Paradise of God And every such Object will chide us out of our Weakness and Cowardise every such Thought will upbraid us out of our Laziness and Negligence We shall hear always Sounding in our Ears the Words of Jesus to his Disciples What can ye not watch with me one hour and yet do you expect to reign with me for ever Or those to the Church of Laodicea to him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me upon my Throne as I have overcome and am sate down with my Father on his Throne And now Reader if you find I have done you any Service if you think your self under any Obligation to me the Return I beg from you is that you will first offer Praise and Thanks unto God and next whenever you are in the Vigour of the Spirit in the Ardors of Faith and Love before God in Prayer put up these or the like Petitions for me which I now offer up for my self O My God and my Father increase the Knowledge of thy Word and the Grace of thy Spirit in me Enable me to Perfect Holiness in thy Fear and to hold fast the steadfastness of my Hope unto the End Pardon all the Sins and Errors of my Life and accept of my imperfect Services though Jesus Christ And because though after all we can do we are unprofitable Servants thy Infinite Bounty will yet certainly recompense our sincere Endevour to promote thy Glory let me find my Reward from thee or rather do thou thy self vouchsafe to be my Reward I should have ever thought my self unworthy to have put up this Petition to thee O thou glorious and incomprehensible Majesty had not thine own Goodness thine own Spirit kindled this Ambition in me Behold what manner of Love is this that we should be called the Sons of GOD these are the Words of thy Servant St. John And now therefore my Soul can never be at rest till I awake at the last Day after thy Likeness I can never be satisfied till I behold thy Glory which vouchsafe me I beseech thee by thy Mercy and thy Faithfulness by the Sufferings and Intercession of thy Dearly Beloved Son FINIS Several Books Published by Dr. Lucas Vicar of St. Steven's Coleman-street and Sold by Sam. Smith and Benj. Walford at the Princes Arms in St. Paul's Church-Yard PRactical Christianity Or an Account of the Holiness which the Gospel Enjoyns with the Motives to it c. Fourth Edition 1693. An Enquiry after Happiness in several Parts Vol. I. The Second Edition Corrected and Enlarged 1692. Human Life or a Second Part of the Enquiry after Happiness Second Edition 1696. Religious Perfection or a Third Part of the Enquiry after Happiness 1696. The Duty of Apprentices and Servants with some Prayers and Directions for the worthy Receiving the Holy Sacrament 1685. Price One Shilling Six Pence The Plain Man's Guide to Heaven Containing 1st His Duty towards God 2ly Towards his Neighbour with proper Prayers Meditations and Ejaculations designed chiefly for the Country-man Tradesman Labourers c. 1691. Price One Shilling Christian Thoughts for every day of the Month 12. Price One Shilling Several Sermons Preached before the Queen Lord Mayor Assizes c.
is exempt from Defects and Errors Though on the other hand I confess I cannot but think some carry this matter too far and while they labour to abate the Pride and Confidence of man give too much incouragement to Negligence and Presumption I cannot see how frequent Relapses into Deliberate Acts of Wickedness can consist with a well setl'd and establish'd Habit of Goodness The Heat of Dispute in some and a sort of Implicite Faith for their Authority in others has produced many unwary Expressions and I doubt very unsound and pernicious Notions about this matter CHAP. III. Inferences deduced from the Notion of Perfection HAving in the two former Chapters fix'd the Notion of Religious Perfection and prov'd it consonant to Reason and Scripture and not so only but also made it appear that it is countenanced by the Unanimous Consent of All who have ever handled This Subject I have nothing now to do but by way of Inference to represent the Advantages we may reap from it 1. It is from hence plain That Perfection must not be placed in Fantastick Speculations or Voluntary Observances but in the solid and useful Virtues of the Gospel in the Works of Faith the Labour of Love and the Patience of Hope in the Purity and Humility of a Child of Light in the Constancy and Magnanimity which becomes one who has brought the Body into subjection and has set his Affections on things above This state of Perfection is well enough described by the Rule of St. Bennet Ergo his omnibus Humilitatis Gradibus ascensis Monachus mox ad Charitatem c. The Monk having passed through these several Stages of Humility or Mortification will arrive at that Love of God which casteth out fear by which he will be enabled to perform all things with Ease and Pleasure and as it were Naturally which before he perform'd with Reluctancy and Dread being now moved and acted not by the terrors of Hell but by a delight in Goodness and the force of an excellent Habit Both which Christ by his Spirit Vouchsafes to increase and exalt in his Servant now cleans'd and purg'd from all Sin and Vice 2. This Notion of Perfection proves all Men to lie under an Obligation to it For as All are capable of an Habit of Holiness so is it the Duty of All to endeavour after it If Perfection were indeed an Angelical State if it did consist in an Exemption from all Defects and Infirmities and in such an Elevation of Vertue to which nothing can be added then I confess all Discourses of it and much more all Attempts after it would be vain and insolent too If again it did consist in some Heroick Pitch of Vertue which should appear to have some thing so Singular in it as should make it look more like a Miracle than a Duty it were then to be expected but once in an Age from some Extraordinary Person called to it by Peculiar Inspirations and Extraordinary Gifts But if Christian Perfection be as I have proved only a well confirmed Habit of Goodness if it differ from Sincerity only when Sincerity is in its Weakness and Infancy not when grown up then 't is plain that every Christian lies under an Obligation to it Accordingly the Scripture exhorts All to perfect Holiness in the fear of God to go on to Perfection Heb. 6. And it assigns This as one great end of the institution of a standing Ministry in the Churches of Christ namely the perfecting the Saints the edifying the Body of Christ till we all come in the Vnity of the Faith and of the Knowledge of the Son of God unto a Perfect Man unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ Eph. 4.12 13. And hence it is that we find the Apostles pursuing this great End by their Prayers and Labours earnestly contending and endeavouring to present all Christians Perfect before God 1 Thess 3.10 Night and Day praying exceedingly that we might see your face and might perfect that which is lacking in your Faith Col. 1.28 Whom we preach warning every Man and teaching every Man in all wisdom that we may present every Man perfect in Christ Jesus see 1 Pet. 5.10 Coll. 4.13 Nay further the Scripture frequently puts us in mind that they are in a State of Danger who do not proceed and grow in Grace and press on towards Perfection Now all this is very easily accountable taking Perfection for a well setled Habit of Holiness but on no other Notion of it 3. This Account of Perfection removes Those Scruples which are often started about the Degrees of Holiness and Measures of Duty and are wont to disturb the Peace clog the Vigour and damp the Alacrity of many well Meaning and Good People Nay many of Acute Parts and Good Learning are often puzled about this Matter Some teaching that Man is not bound to do his best others on the quite contrary that he is so far bound to it that he is always oblig'd to pursue the most Perfect Duty to choose the most Perfect Means and to exert the utmost of that Strength and act according to the utmost of that Capacity with which God has endowed him Now all these things when we come to apply these General Doctrines to Particular Instances and a vast variety of Circumstances have so much Latitude Ambiguity and Uncertainty in them that Men of Tender Consciences and Defective Understanding reap nothing from such high flown Indefinite Discourses but Doubts and Scruples It requires a Strong and Penetrating Judgment to resolve what is the utmost Extent of our Power and Capacity What the best Mean and what the most Perfect Duty when many present themselves to us and all variously circumstantiated But now as I have stated Matters we are bound indeed to pursue and labour after Growth and Improvement in the Love of God and Charity towards our Neighbour in Purity Humility and the like And this we shall certainly do if we be Sincere in other Matters we are left to our Prudence and if the Error of our Choice proceed only from an Error in Judgment not a Corruption in our Hearts we are safe enough 4. 'T is very easie to discern now where we stand in reference to Perfection how remote we are from it or how near to it For the nature of an Habit being plain and Intelligible the Effects and Properties of it obvious to the Meanest Capacity 't is easie to determine upon an Impartial Examination whether we be Habitually Good or not or what Approaches we have made towards it And because this is a Matter of no small Importance and Men are generally backward enough to advance too far into such Reflections and Applications as may breed any Disturbance to their Peace or any Diminution of their Good Opinion for themselves though neither the one nor the other be too well grounded I shall not think my time mispent if I here take this task upon me and endeavour by
is All the claim the Sinner lays to Pleasure is confin'd to the Present Moment which is extreamly short and extreamly uncertain the Time that is Past and to Come he quits all Pretention to or ought to do so As to the time Past the thing is self evident For the Sinner looking back sees his Pleasures and Satisfactions the Good Man his Tryals and Temptations past and gone The Sinner sees an end of his Beauty and his Strength the Good Man of his Weaknesses and Follies the one when he looks back is encountred with Sin and Folly Wickedness and Shame the other with Repentance and Good Works Guilt and Fear haunt the Reflections of the one Peace and Hope attend those of the other As to the time to come the Atheist hath no Prospect at all beyond the Grave the Wicked Christian a very dismal one the weak and Imperfect a doubtful one only the Wise and Perfect an assured joyful and delightful one And this puts me in mind of that which is the proper Fruit of Perfection and the truest and greatest Pleasure of Human Life that is Assurance assurance of the Pardon of Sin assurance of the Divine Favour assurance of Immortality and Glory Need I prove that Assurance is an unspeakable Pleasure One would think that to Man who is daily engag'd in a Conflict with some Evil or other it were superfluous to prove that it is a mighty Pleasure to be rais'd though not above the Assault though not above the Reach yet above the Venom and Malignity of Evils To be fill'd with Joy and Strength and Confidence to ride triumphant under the Protection of the Divine Favour and see the Sea of Life swell and toss it self in vain in vain threaten the Bark it cannot sink in vain invade the Cable it cannot burst One would think that to Man who lives all his Life long in Bondage for fear of Death it should be a surprizing Delight to see Death lie gasping at his Feet Naked and Impotent without Sting without Terror One would finally think that to Man who lives rather by Hope then Enjoyment it should not be necessary to prove that the Christian's Hope whose Confidence is greater its Objects more glorious and its Success more certain than that of any worldly Fancy or Project is full of Pleasure and that it is a delightful Prospect to see the Heavens opened and Jesus our Jesus our Prince and Saviour sitting at the Right Hand of God Thus I have I think sufficiently made out the Subserviency of Perfection to the Happiness of this present Life which was the thing propos'd to be done in this Chapter Nor can I imagine what Objections can be sprung to invalidate what I have said unless there be any thing of Colour in these two 1. To reap the Pleasure will some one say which you have discrib'd here it requires something of an exalted Genius some Compass of Understanding some Sagacity and Penetration To this I Answer I grant indeed that some of those Pleasures which I have reckon'd up as belonging to the Perfect Man demand a Spirit rais'd a little above the Vulgar But the richest Pleasures not the most Polish'd and Elevated Spirits but the most Devout and Charitable Souls are best capable of Such are the Peace and Tranquility which arises from the Conquest and Reduction of all inordinate affections the satisfaction which accompanies a sincere and vigorous discharge of Duty and our Reflections upon it the Security and Rest which flows from Self-resignation and Confidence in the Divine Protection And lastly the Joy that springs from the full assurance of Hope But 2ly It may be Objected 't is true all these things seem to hang together well enough in Speculation but when we come to examine the matter of fact we are almost tempted to think that all which you have said to prove the ways of Wisdom ways of Pleasantness and all her Paths Peace amounts to no more then a pretty Amusement of the Mind and a Visionary Scheme of Happiness For how few are there if any who feel all this to be truth and Experiment the Pleasure you talk of How few are they in whom we can discover any signs of this Spiritual joy or fruits of a Divine Tranquility or Security I answer in a word The examples of a perfect and mature Vertue are very few Religion runs very low and the Love of God and Goodness in the Bosoms of most Christians suffers such an allay and mixture that it is no wonder at all if so imperfect a State breed but very weak and imperfect Hopes very faint and doubtful joys But I shall have occasion to examine the force of this Objection more fully when I come to the Obstacles of Perfection CHAP. V. Of the Attainment of Perfection Particularly an account of the Manner by which Man Advances or grows up to it I Have in the first second and third Chapters explain'd the Notion of Religious Perfection In the fourth Chapter I have insisted on two effects of it Assurance and Pleasure My method therefore now leads me to the Attainment of Perfection Here I will do too things 1st I will trace out the several Steps and Advances of the Christian towards it and draw up as it were a short History of his Spiritual Progress from the very Infancy of Vertue to its Maturity and Manhood 2ly I will discourse briefly of the Motives and Means of Perfection Of the Christian's Progress towards Perfection Many are the Figures and Metaphors by which the Scripture describes this alluding one while to the Formation Nourishment and Growth of the Natural man another while to that of Plants and Vegetables One while to the dawning and increasing Light that shines more and more to the perfect Day Another while to that succession of Labours and Expectations which the Husbandman runs through from Plowing to the Harvest But of all the Similes which the Spirit makes use of to this end there is one especially that seems to me to give us the truest and the liveliest Image of the Change of a Sinner into a Saint The Scripture represents Sin as a state of Bondage and Righteousness as a state of Liberty and teaches us that by the same steps by which an enslaved and oppressed People arrive at their Secular by the very same does the Christian at his Spiritual Liberty and Happiness First then as soon as any Judgment or Mercy or any other sort of Call awakens and penetrates the Sinner as soon as a clear Light breaks in upon him and makes him see and consider his own state he is presently agitated by various Passions according to his different Guilt and Temper or the different Calls and Motives by which he is wrought upon One while Fear another while Shame one while Indignation another while Hope fills his Soul He resents the Tyranny and complains of the Persecution of his Lusts he upbraids himself with his folly and discovers a meanness and shamefulness in
clearer does the Vnderstanding grow and the more absolute its Authority The Grace of God if it be complied with and obeyed while it renders us more like God renders us more dear to him too and one Favour if it be not our own fault qualifies us for another Whoever shall observe the Scriptures will find that Holiness and Illumination advance with equal steps and grow up by the same degrees of Maturity That as we pass on from the Infancy to the Manhood of Vertue so do we from the first Rudiments of Wisdom to the Heights and Mysteries of it But on the other hand Lust obscures and eclipses the Light within Sin depraves and corrupts our Principles and while we renounce our Vertue we quench or chase away the Spirit Into a malicious Soul Wisdom shall not enter nor dwell in the Body that is subject unto Sin For the holy Spirit of discipline will flee deceit and remove from thoughts that are without understanding and will not abide when unrighteousness cometh in Wisd 1.4 5. 4. We must frequently and constantly address our selves to God by Prayer for the Illumination of his Grace There is nothing that we do not receive from above and if the most inconsiderable things be the Gift of God from what Fountain but from him can we expect Illumination The Raptures of Poets the Wisdom of Law-givers the noblest Pieces of Philosophy and indeed all Heroick and Extraordinary Performances were by the Pagans themselves generally attributed to a Divine Inspiration And the Old Testament ascribes a transcendant skill even in Arts and Trades to the Spirit of God It is not therefore to be wondered at if Illumination be attributed to Him in the New Wisdom and Vnderstanding are essential Parts of Sanctity and therefore must proceed from the sanctifying Spirit We must therefore constantly look up to God and depend upon Him for Illumination we must earnestly Pray in the Words of St. Paul That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Glory would give unto us the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation Eph. 1.17 This Dependance upon God in Expectation of his Blessing on our search after Knowledge puts the Mind into the best Disposition and Frame to attain it because it naturally frees and disengages it from those Passions Prejudices and Distractions which otherwise entangle and disturb it and render it uncapable of raised sedate and coherent Thoughts But what is more than this there are repeated and express Promises made it so that it can never fail of Success Ask and it shall be given you seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be opened to you The Reason of which is added If ye then being evil know how to give good Gifts unto your Children how much more shall your Father which is in Heaven give good things or as it is Luk. 11. the Holy Spirit to them that ask him Mat. 7.7 11. If any of you lack Wisdom let him ask of God that giveth to all Men liberally and upbraideth not and it shall be given him Jam. 1.5 nor do I doubt but every good Man has these Promises verified to him There are suddain Suggestions unexpected Manifestations extraordinary Elevations of Mind which are never to be accounted for but by a Divine Principle Nor does this Doctrine of Spiritual Illumination or Irradiation in the least diminish the Power and Excellence of the Gospel of Christ no more than the Instruction of the Gospel does supersede that of the Spirit For we must not think that the Spirit does now Reveal any new Truth of general Use or Importance since the Canon of Scripture would on this supposal be but a defective Rule of Faith and Manners But first the Spirit may assist us in making a fuller Discovery of the Sense of Scripture Secondly the Spirit may help us to form clearer and distincter Notions of those things we have yet but an imperfect and general Knowledge of and to fix and imprint them in more lasting as well as more legible Characters in our Minds or it may recal to our Remembrance such things as are obliterated and forgotten Or finally it may produce in us a more earnest and steady Application to the Truth of God Thirdly I see no Reason why the Spirit may not vouchsafe us particular Impulses Directions and Intimations upon extraordinary Occasions and suddain Emergencies where Holy Writ affords us no Light and Human Prudence is at a Loss Nor does any thing that I attribute to the Spirit in all this detract or derogate from the Dignity or the Efficacy of the Scripture This then I conceive is what the Spirit does in the Work of Illumination But how it does it is not necessary nor I doubt possible to be determined Nor ought our Ignorance of this to be objected against the Truth of Divine Illumination We are sure we understand and remember and exercise a Freedom or Liberty of Will in our Choices Resolutions and Actions but the Manner how we do this is an Enquiry that does hitherto for ought I can see wholly surpass and transcend our Philosophy I will here close this Chapter with a Prayer of Fulgentius Lib. 1. cap. 4. After he has in the beginning of the Chapter disclaimed all Pretences to the fetting up himself a Master Doctor or Dictator to his Brethren he breaks out into these devout and pious Words I will not cease to Pray that our true Master and Doctor Christ Jesus either by the Oracles of his Gospel or by the Conversation of my Brethren or Joint-disciples or else by the secret and delightful Instruction of Divine Inspiration in which without the Elements of Letters or the sound of Speech Truth speaks with so much the sweeter as the stiller and softer Voice would vouchsafe to teach me those things which I may so propose and so assert that in all my Expositions and Assertions I may be ever found conformable and Obedient and firm to that Truth which can neither Deceive nor be Deceived For it is Truth it self that enlightens confirms and aids me that I may always obey and assent to the Truth By Truth I desire to be informed of those many more things which I am ignorant of from whom I have received the few I know Of Truth I beg through preventing and assisting Grace to be instructed in what ever I yet know not which conduces to the Interest of my Vertue and Happiness to be preserved and kept steadfast in those Truths which I know to be reformed and rectified in those points in which as is common to Man I am mistaken to be confirmed and established in those Truths wherein I waver and to be delivered from those Opinions that are erroneous or hurtful I beg lastly that Truth may ever find both in my Thoughts and Speeches all that sound and wholesome Doctrine I have received from its Gift and that it would always cause me to utter those things which are agreeable to it self in the first place and
an Heavenly Influence they naturally shoot up into good works Vertue has a Coelestial Original and a Coelestial Tendency from God it comes and towards God it moves and can it be otherwise than amiable and pleasant Vertue is all Beauty all Harmony and Order and therefore we may view and review consider and reflect upon it with Delight It procures us the Favour of God and Man it makes our Affairs naturally run smoothly and calmly on and fills our Minds with Courage Chearfulness and good Hopes In one word Diversion and Amusements give us a Fanciful Pleasure an Animal sensitive Life a short and mean one Sin a deceitful false and fatal one Only Vertue a pure a rational a glorious and lasting one And this is enough to be said here the Loveliness of Holiness being a subject which ever and anon I have occasion to engage in 2. I am next to shew that Deliverance from Sin removes the Impediments of Vertue This will easily be made out by examining what Influence selfishness sensuality and the Love of this World which are the three great Principles or Sources of Wickedness have upon the several Parts of Evangelical Righteousness 1. The first Part is that which contains those Duties that more immediately relate to our selves These are especially two Sobriety and Temperance By Sobriety I mean a serious and impartial Examination of things or such a state of Mind as qualifies us for it By Temperance I mean the moderation of our Affections and Enjoyments even in lawful and allowed Instances From these proceed Vigilance Industry Prudence Fortitude or Patience and Steadiness of mind in the Prosecution of what is best Without these 't is in vain to expect either Devotion towards God or Justice and Charity towards Man Nay nothing good or great can be accomplished without them since without them we have no ground to hope for either the Assistance of Divine Grace or the Protection and Concurrence of Divine Providence Only the pure and chast Soul is a fit Temple for the Residence of the Spirit and the Providence of God watches over none or at least none have Reason to expect it should but such as are themselves vigilant and industrious But now how repugnant to how inconsistent with those Vertues is that Infatuation of Mind and that Debauchery of Affections wherein Sin consists How incapable either of Sobriety or Temperance do selfishness Sensuality and the Love of this World render us What a false Estimate of things do they cause us to form How insatiable do they render us in our Desire of such things as have but false and empty Appearances of Good and how imperiously do they precipitate us into those Sins which are the Pollution and Dishonour of our Nature On the contrary let man be but once enlightned by Faith let him but once come to believe that his Soul is himself that he is a Stranger and Pilgrim upon Earth that Heaven is his Country and that to do good Works is to lay up his Treasure in it let him I say but once believe this and then how Sober how Temperate how Wise how Vigilant and Industrious will he grow And this he will soon be induced to believe if he be not actually under the Influence of vicious Principles and vicious Customs When the Mind is undeceived and disabused and the Affections disengaged 't is natural to Man to think calmly and to Desire and Enjoy with a Moderation suited to just and sober Notions of worldly things for this is to think and act as a Man A Second Part of Holiness regards God as its immediate Object and consists in the Fear and Love of Him in Dependance and Self-Resignation in Contemplation and Devotion As to this 't is plain that whoever is under the Dominion of any Sin must be an Enemy or at least a Stranger to it The Infidel knows no God and the Wicked will not or dares not approach one Their Guilt or their Aversion keeps them from it Selfishness Sensuality and the Love of the World are inconsistent with the Love of the Father and all the several Duties we owe him They alienate the Minds of Men from Him and set up other Gods in his room Hence the Covetous are pronounced guilty of Idolatry Col. 3.5 and the Luxurious and Vnclean are said to make their Belly their God and to glory in their shame Phil. 3.19 But as soon as a poor Man discerns that he has set his Heart upon false Goods as soon as he finds himself cheated and deceived in all his Expectations by the World and is convinced that God is his proper and his Sovereign Good how natural is it to turn his Desires and Hopes from the Creature upon the Creator How natural is it to contemplate his Greatness and Goodness to thirst impatiently for his Favour and dread his Displeasure And such a Man will certainly make the Worship of God a great part at least of the Business and Employment of Life With this he will begin and with this he will end the Day nor will he rest here his Soul will be ever and anon mounting towards Heaven in Ejaculations and there will be scarce any Action any Event that will not excite him to praise and adore God or engage him in some wise Reflections on his Attributes But all this will the Loose and Atheistical say may be well spar'd 't is only a vain and idle Amusement War and Peace Business and Trade have no Dependance upon it Kingdoms and Common-wealths may stand and flourish and sensible Men may be rich and happy without it But to this I answer Religion towards God is the Foundation of all true Vertue towards our Neighbour Laws would want the better part of their Authority if they were not enforced by an Awe of God the wisest Counsels would have no Effect did not Vertue and Religion help to execute them Kingdoms and Common-wealths would be dissolved and burst to pieces if they were not united and held in by these bonds and Wickedness would reduce the World to one great Solitude and Ruin were it not tempered and restrained not only by the Vertues and Examples but by the Supplications and Intercessions too of devout Men. Finally this is an Objection fit for none to make but the Sottish and the Ignorant Men of desperate Confidence and little Knowledge For who ever is able to consider by what Motives Mankind has ever been wont to be most strongly affected by what Principles the World has ever been led and governed how great an Interest even Superstition has had either in the Civilizing and Reforming Barbarous Nations or the Martial Successes of the first Founders of Monarchies and the like whoever I say is able to reflect though but slightly on these things can never be so silly as to demand what the use of Religion is or to imagin it possible to root up its Authority in the World The Third Part of Holiness regards our Neighbour and consists
serve Him whom Angels serve to whom all things in Heaven and in Earth do bow and obey 't is the highest Prerogative we can derive from Grace or Nature to be capable of serving Him His Divine Perfections transcend the Conceptions of inferiour Creatures and can be known contemplated and adored by none but such as are made but a little lower than the Angels such as are endued not only with the Light of Reason but with a far brighter that of the Spirit of God This is indeed our utmost Perfection and must be our utmost Ambition this alone makes us considerable who are in all other Respects but mean and contemptible for we draw but a precarious and dependant Breath and the World we inhabit is a dark and tempestuous one full of Folly and Misery But even this will serve for a further Confirmation of what I further contend for For being indigent and needy standing at an infinite Distance from self-Sufficiency 't is plain that what we cannot find within us we must seek without us Some All-sufficient Good we must find out something we must rest in and repose our selves upon and this will be our God this we shall serve and adore And what shall this be shall we serve Evil Spirits These are our avowed and inveterate Enemies and go about like a roaring Lion seeking whom they may devour Shall we serve the Good this were to dishonour our Nature to serve our Fellow-Creatures and Fellow-Servants Besides that such will never Sacrilegiously usurp their Maker's Honour nor admit that Service which is due to Him alone Shall we then serve Man Alass the Breath of great Ones is in their Nostrils their Life is but a Vapour tossed to and fro with restless Noise and Motion and then it vanishes they dye and all their Thoughts and Projects perish What then shall we at length be reduced to serve our Lust this is worse than Pagan Idolatry Stocks and Stones indeed could not help or reward their Votaries but our Lusts like wild and Savage Tyrants destroy where they rule and oppress and overwhelm us with Ruins and Mischiefs while we servily court and flatter them I have not done yet I have proved it indeed to be our Duty and Honour to serve God but these with some are cold and lifeless Topicks I will now prove it to be our Interest and Happiness and this too laying aside at present as I promised the Consideration of a future Reward and the Joys springing from it To make good this Assertion it will be necessary briefly to examine two things First the Design or End and Secondly the Nature of this Service If we enquire after the End of it 't is evidently our own Advantage and Happiness The Lusts or the Humours the Wants and Necessities of Man may put him upon invading our Liberty or purchasing and contracting with us for our Servitude But God is All-sufficient to himself and has no need of our Service When He will be glorified by us 't is that we may enjoy his Protection and Bounty When He obliges us to obey his Commands 't is in order to perfect our Natures and purifie and qualifie us for the Enjoyment of Spiritual and Divine Pleasures When He enjoyns us Prayer 't is because it does exalt and enlarge our Minds and fit us for the Blessings it obtains When He prescribes us self-Resignation 't is because he will choose for us and manage our Affairs better than we can our selves Let us in the Next place consider the Nature of this Service To serve God what is it but to love what is infinitely lovely to follow the Conduct of infinite Wisdom and to repose our Confidence in that Being whose Goodness is as boundless as his Power to serve God 't is to pursue the great End of our Creation to act consonant to the Dignity of our Nature and to govern our Lives by the Dictates of an enlighten'd Reason How wisely has Our Church in one of her Collects expressed her Notion of the Nature of God's Service whose service is perfect Freedom The Devil maintains his Dominion over us by infatuating our Vnderstandings by enfeebling and fettering our Will by deluding and corrupting our Affections But on the quite contrary the more clear and impartial our Vnderstandings the more free and absolute our Wills the more unbyass'd and rational our Affections the fitter are we to worship God nay indeed we cannot worship Him at all as we ought to do unless our Souls be thus qualified Therefore is the Service of God called a Rational Service 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Word of God is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sincere Milk to signifie to us that in the Service of God all is real and solid Good Such is the Perfection of our Natures the might and Joy of the Spirit the Protection and Conduct of Providence and all the great and precious Promises of God in Christ are yea and Amen But in the Service of Sin all is Cheat and Imposture and under a pompous shew of Good the Present is Vanity and the Future Repentance but such a Repentance as does not relieve but increase the Sinners Misery This is enough to be said of the Nature of God's Service And by the Concessions I made my Objector about the Beginning of this Head I am restrained from taking notice of the more glorious Effects of it Yet some there are very great and good ones that fall not within the Compass of the Objection which I will but just mention The first is Rest. While Religion regulates the Disorder and reduces the Extravagance of our Affections it does in Effect lay a storm and compose a Mutiny in our Bosoms Whilst it Enlightens our Minds and teaches us the true Value that is at least the comparative Worthlesness of Worldly things it extinguishes the Troubles which present Disappointments and Losses and prevents those Fears which the Prospect of future Changes and Revolutions is wont to create in us A Mind that is truly enlighten'd and has no Ambition but for Immortality and Glory whose Humility with reference to these temporal Things is built upon a true Notion of the Nature of them this Soul has entered already into its Rest. This is the Doctrine of our Lord and Master Matth. 11.28 29. Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden that is all ye that are oppressed by the Weight of your own Cares and Fears that are fatigued and toil'd in the Designs and Projects of Avarice and Ambition and I will give you rest Take my Yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your Souls I need not I think here shew that the more we fear and serve God the more we love and admire Him the more clear is the Vnderstanding and the more pure the Heart For the more we converse with solid and eternal Good the more insignificant and trifling will temporal
this Chapter is grown much too big already And to the consideration of the Fruit of this Liberty which I have so long insisted on nothing more needs to be added but the Observation of those Rules which I shall lay down in the following Chapters For whatever Advice will secure the several Parts of our Liberty will consequently secure the whole I will therefore close this Chapter here with a brief Exhortation to endeavour after Deliverance from Sin How many and powerful Motives have we to it Would we free our selves from the Evils of this Life let us dam up the Source of them which is Sin Would we surmount the Fear of Death let us disarm it of its Sting and this is Sin Would we perfect and accomplish our Natures with all excellent Qualities 't is Righteousness wherein consists the Image of God and Participation of the Divine Nature 't is the cleansing our selves from all Filthiness of the Flesh and Spirit and the perfecting Holiness in the fear of God that must transform us from Glory to Glory Would we be Masters of the most glorious Fortunes 't is Righteousness that will make us Heirs of God and Joynt-Heirs with Christ 't is the Conquest of our Sins and the abounding in good Works that will make us rich towards God and lay up for us a good Foundation for the Life to come Are we ambitious of Honour let us free our selves from the servitude of Sin 'T is Vertue only that is truly honourable and Praise-worthy and nothing surely can entitle us to so noble a Relation for this allies us to God For as our Saviour speaks they only are the Children of Abraham who do the Works of Abraham the Children of God who do the Works of God These are they who are born again not of the Will of the Flesh or of the Will of Man but of God These are they who are incorporated into the Body of Christ and being ruled and animated by his Spirit are entitled to all the blessed Effects of his Merit and Intercession These are they in a word who have overcome and will one day sit down with Christ in his Throne even as He also overcame and is set down with his Father in his Throne Rev. 3.21 Good God! how absurd and perverse all our Desires and Projects are We complain of the Evils of the World and yet we hugg the Causes of them and cherish those Vices whose fatal Wounds are ever big with numerous and intollerable Plagues We fear Death and would get rid of this Fear not by disarming but sharpning its Sting not by subduing but forgetting it We love Wealth and Treasure but 't is that which is Temporal not Eternal We receive Honour one of another but we seek not that which comes from God only We are fond of Ease and Pleasure and at the same time we wander from those Paths of Wisdom which alone can bring us to it For in a word 't is this Christian Liberty that makes Men truly free not the being in bondage to no Man but to no Sin not the doing what we list but what we ought 'T is Christian Liberty that makes us truly great and truly glorious for this alone renders us Serviceable to others and Easie to our selves Benefactors to the World and delightsome at home 't is Christian Liberty makes us truly prosperous truly fortunate because it makes us truly happy filling us with Joy and Peace and making us abound in hope through the Power of the Holy Ghost CHAP. IV. Of Liberty as it relates to Original Sin WHatever Difficulties the Doctrine of Original Sin really be involved in or seem at least to some to be so they will not concern me who am no further obliged to consider it than as it is an Impediment of Perfection For though there be much Disputes about Original Sin there is little or none about Original Corruption the Reality of this is generally acknowledged though the Guilt the Sinfulness or Immorality of it be controverted And though there be Diversity of Opinions concerning the Effects of Original Corruption in Eternity yet there is no Doubt at all made but that it incites and instigates us to actual Sin and is the Seed-plot of Human Folly and Wickedness All Men I think are agreed that there is a Byass and strong Propension in our Nature towards the Things of the World and the Body That the subordination of the Body to the Soul and of the Soul to God wherein consists Righteousness is subverted and overthrown That we have Appetites which clash with and oppose the Commands of God not only when they threaten Violence to our Nature as in the Cases of Confession and Martyrdom but also when they only prune its Luxuriancy and Extravagance That we do not only desire sensitive Pleasure but even to that Degree that it hurries and transports us beyond the Bounds that Reason and Religion set us We have not only an Aversion for Pain and Toil and Death but to that Excess that it tempts us to renounce God and our Duty for the sake of Carnal Ease and Temporal safety And finally that we are so backward to entertain the Belief of revealed Truths so prone to terminate our Thoughts on and confine our Desires within this visible World as our Portion and to look upon our selves no other than the mortal and corruptible Inhabitants of it that this makes us selfish and sordid proud and ambitious false subtle and contentious to the endless Disturbance of Mankind and our selves That this I say is the state of Nature that this is the Corruption we Labour under all Men I think are agreed And no wonder for did a Controversie arise about this there would be no need to appeal any further for the Decision of it than to ones own Experience this would tell every one that thus it is in Fact and Reason if we will consult it will tell us why it is so for what other than this can be the Condition of Man who enters the World with a Soul so dark and destitute of Divine Light so deeply immerced and plung'd into Flesh and Blood so tenderly and intimately affected by Bodily Sensations and with a Body so adapted and suited to the Things of this World and fastened to it by the Charms of Pleasure and the Bonds of Interest Convenience and Necessity This Account of Original Corruption agrees very well with that St. Paul gives us of it Rom. 7. and elsewhere And with that Assertion of our Lord and Master on which he builds the necessity of Regeneration by Water and the Holy Spirit Joh. 3.6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit Having thus briefly explained what I mean in this Chapter by Original Sin I am next to consider these two Things 1. How far this Distemper of Nature is curable 2. Which way this Cure is to be effected As to the first Enquiry I would
which affirms concerning Original Sin thus And this Infection of Nature doth remain yea in them that are regenerated whereby the Lust of the Flesh called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which some do expound the Wisdom some sensuality some the Affection some the Desire of the Flesh is not subject to the Law of God For this must not be understood surely as if the Flesh did always Lust against the Spirit in the Regenerate but only that the Regenerate themselves are liable and obnoxious to these Lustings which on supposal that the Perfect Man were here thought upon by the Compilers of this Article imports no Contradiction to any thing I have delivered The Truth is I have asserted no more concerning the Cureableness of Original Corruption than what is necessary to secure the Interest of Holiness as well as the Honour of the Word and Spirit I have too often had occasion to observe that the stating our Obligation to reduce Original Corruption too laxly ministers not a little to the Carnal Confidence of supine and careless Persons How greedily do some imbibe and how fond are they of this Notion that the Flesh even in the Regenerate does always Lust against the Spirit and the next thing is to look upon their darling Errors as unavoidable Infirmities flowing from the uncurable Distemper of Original Sin To the end therefore that under Colour and Pretence of the Impossibility of a perfect Cure and Restitution of our Nature to perfect Innocence and unspotted Purity we may not sit down contented in an impure State and never advance to those Degrees of Health and Innocence which we may and ought actually arrive at I think fit here to guard the Doctrine of Original Sin with this one general Caution That we be very careful not to mistake Contracted for Natural Corruption not to mistake a Super-induced Nature defaced by all the Slime and Mud which popular Errors and Fashions leave upon it for Original Nature or Nature in that State in which it enters the World 'T is I doubt a very hard thing to find but one arrived at any Maturity of Years in whom Nature is the same thing now that it was in the Womb or the Cradle in whom these are no worse Propensions than what necessarily flow from the Frame and Composition of his Being Alas our Original Depravation be it what it will is very betimes improved by false Principles and foolish Customs by a careless Education and by the Blandishments and Insinuations of the World and every Man is so partial to himself that he is very willing to have his Defects and Errors pass under the Name of Natural and unavoidable ones because this seems to carry in it its own Apology This is a fatal Error and continues Men in their Vices nay gives them peace in them too to their Lives End for why should not a Man forbear attempting what he despairs of effecting To prevent which I earnestly desire my Reader to consider that all who have treated this Doctrine of Original Sin with any Solidity or Prudence do carry the Matter as far at least as I have done They teach not only that Original Corruption may be Prun'd and Lop't but that it may be cut down mortified and dried up That since no Man can assure himself how far he may advance his Conquest over his natural Corruption and the Interest of every Man's safety and Glory obliges him to advance it as far as he can he must never cease fighting against it while it fights against him That since every Sin is so far Mortal as it is voluntary and has as much Guilt in it as Freedom every Man ought to be extreamly jealous least he be subject to any vicious Inclination that is in Reality the Pruduct not of Nature but of Choice And Lastly since though much less than habitual Goodness may constitute a Man in a State of Grace yet nothing less can produce Perfection or a constant Assurance of Eternal Happiness therefore no Man ought to acquiesce while he sees himself short of this and every Man should remember that his Goodness ought to consist in a Habit of those Vertues to which he is by Nature the most averse I have now dispatched My first Enquiry and resolved how far Original Sin is curable The Next is § 2. How this Cure may be effected And here 't is plain what we are to aim at in general for if Original Righteousness consists as I think it cannot be doubted in the Subordination of the Body to the Soul and the Soul to God and Original Corruption in the Subversion of this Order then the Cure must consist in restoring this Subordination by the weakning and reducing the Power of the Body and by quickning and strengthening the Mind and so re-establishing its Soveraignty and Authority The Scriptures accordingly let us know that this is the great Design of Religion and the great Business of Man 1 Cor. 9 25. And every Man that striveth for the Mastery is temperate in all things Now they do it to obtain a corruptible Crown but we an incorruptible And this St. Paul illustrates and explains by his own example in the following Words I therefore so run not as uncertainly so fight I not as one that beateth the Air But I keep under my Body and bring it into Subjection The Preference given to the Cares and Appetites of the Body or of the Mind is the distinguishing Character which constitutes and demonstrates Man either Holy or Wicked they that are of the flesh do mind the things of the flesh and they that are of the Spirit the things of the Spirit Rom. 8.5 And the Threats of the Gospel belong to the Servants of the Flesh its Promises to the Servants of the Spirit For if ye live after the flesh ye shall dye but if ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the Body ye shall live Rom. 8.13 He that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting Gal. 6.8 I grant that in these Places and elsewhere very commonly as by the Spirit is meant the Mind enlightened and aided by the Grace of God so by the Body or Flesh is meant our inferiour Nature not just such as it proceeds out of the Womb but as it is further depraved by a Carnal and Worldly Conversation However since Original is the Seed or Root of Voluntary or Customary Corruption these Texts do properly and directly enough serve to the Confirmation of the Doctrine for which they are alledg'd This then is the great Duty of Man this is the great End which he is always to have in his Eye the mortifying the Body and entirely subjugating it to the Reason of the Mind Here the Christian Warfare must begin and here end for he who has crucified the Body with the Lusts and Affections thereof has entered into rest as far as this Life
and allures us and 't is our Consent to its Enticements that gives Being to Sin and defiles us with Guilt From all this now put together 't is easie to conclude what sort of a Description we are to form of Mortal Sin 'T is such a Transgression of the Law of God as is vicious in its Original deliberate in its Commission and Mischievous in its Tendencies or Effects The Heart is corrupted and misled by some Lust or other and so consents to the Breach of the Moral Law of God a Law of Eternal and Immutable Goodness or if the Sin consists in the Breach of any Positive Law it must yet imply in it some moral Obliquity in the Will or in the Tendency of the Action or both So that Presumptuous or Mortal Sin call it by what Name we Will is a Deliberate Transgression of a known Law of God tending to the Dishonour of God the Injury of our Neighbour or the Depravation of our Nature Such are those sins which the Prophet Isaiah exhorts those who will repent to cease from And such are those we have a Catalogue of Eph. 5. Gal. 5. and elsewhere Now the Works of the Flesh are manifest which are these Adultery Fornication Vncleanness Lasciviousness Idolatry Witchcraft Hatred Variance Emulations Wrath Strife Seditions Heresies Envyings Murders Drunkenness Revellings and such-like These are the sins of which as of so many Members the Body of sin consists These constitute the old Man These are sometimes called the filthiness of the Flesh and Spirit Vngodliness Wickedness Iniquity the Lusts of the Flesh worldly Lusts and such-like These and the like sins have as I said in them very apparent Symptoms of Malignity and Mortality They are always the Effect of some carnal and worldly Lusts prevailing over the Law of the Mind and they imply a contempt of God Injustice to our Neighbour and some kind of Defilement and Pollution of our Nature And that these are the plain Indications of such a Guilt as excludes a Man from Heaven and the Favour of God is very plain from the account which the Scripture gives us both of the Origine and Influence of sin from the Care it takes to fortifie the Heart against all Infection from the constant Representations it makes us of the shamefulness and the Mischief of sin even in Reference to this World as well as the other I cannot see any thing further necessary to the Explication of Deliberate or Presumptuous sin unless it be here fit to add That it is Mortal though it proceed no further than the Heart There is no need at all that it should be brought forth into Action to render it Fatal and Damnable This is evident not only from the Nature of Divine Worship which must be entire sincere and spiritual and therefore can no more be reconciled to the Wickedness of our Hearts than of our Actions but also from the express words of our Saviour Out of the Heart proceed Fornication Adultery Theft c. And elsewhere he pronounces the Adultery of the Heart Damnable as well as that of the Body Mat. 5.28 But I say unto you that whosoever looketh upon a Woman to lust after her hath committed Adultery already with her in his Heart S. 2. I am next to give some account of the Liberty of Perfect Man in reference to the sin I have been discoursing of I shall not need to stop at any General or Preliminary Observations as That Abstinence from sin regards all the Commandments of God alike and to do otherwise were to mutilate and maim Religion and to dishonour God while we pretend to worship and obey Him For the Breach of any single Commandment is a manifest Violation of the Majesty and Authority of God whatever Observance we may pay all the rest For he that said do not commit Adultery said also do not kill Now if thou commit no Adultery yet if thou kill thou art become a transgressor of the Law Jam. 2.11 That the Restraints Man is to lay upon himself relate no less to the Lusts of the Soul than the Actions of the Body Except your Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees you shall by no means enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 5.10 That to begin well will avail us little unless we finish well too Universality Sincerity and Perseverance are generally acknowledged to be essential and indispensable Properties of Saving Justifying Faith These things therefore being but just mentioned I proceed to the Point to be enquir'd into and resolve 1. To be free from the Dominion and Power of Mortal Sin is the first and lowest step this is indispensable to sincerity and absolutely necessary to Salvation Let not Sin reign in your mortal Bodies to fulfil the Lusts thereof Rom. 6.12 And the advancing thus far does I acknowledge constitute Man in a state of Grace For in Scripture Men are Denominated righteous or wicked not from single Acts of Vice or Vertue but from the Prevalence and Dominion from the Habit or Custom of the one or the other know ye not that to whom ye yeild your selves Servants to obey his Servants ye are to whom ye obey whether of Sin unto Death or of Obedience unto Righteousness Rom. 6.16 But then I must here add two Remarks by way of Caution 1st We must not presume too soon of Victory over an Habitual Sin An evil Habit is not soon broken off nor is it an easie Matter to resolve when we have set our selves free from the Power of it Sometimes the Temptation does not present it self as often as it was wont or not with the same Advantages sometimes one Vice restrains us from another sometimes worldly Considerations or some little Change in our Temper without any thorough Change in our Minds puts us out of humour for a little while with a darling Sin and sometimes the Force and Clearness of Conviction produces some pious Fits which though they do not utterly vanquish a Lust do yet force it to give way and retreat for a while and interrupt that Love which they do not exstinguish All this may be and the work not yet be done nor our Liberty yet gain'd If therefore we fall though but now and then and though at some Distance of time into the same sin we have great reason to be jealous of its Power and our Safety Nay though we restrain our selves from the outward Commission of it if yet we feel a strong Propension to it if we discern our selves ready to take fire on the Appearance of a Temptation if we are fond of approaching as near it as we can and are pleas'd with those Indulgencies which are very near a kin to it we have reason to doubt that our Conquest is not yet entire Nay the Truth is we cannot be on good Grounds assured that we are Masters of our selves till we have a setled Aversion for the sin which before we doted on and shun the Occasions which before
slighting the blood of the Covenant and grieving the Holy Spirit all which we do by willful Sin is a Guilt that will sink down the obstinate Sinner into the lowest Hell and render his Condition more intolerable that that of Tyre and Sidon Sodom and Gomorrah 2. The Second Effect of the firm Belief of these Gospel Truths is that it begets in us a Contempt of this World and all the things of it To him that Beelieves How short is Time compar'd to Eternity How false how empty are the Pleasures of Sin compared with those of Heaven how insignificant the Esteem or Love of Man to that of God How worthless are all our worldly Hopes and Pretensions in respect of an Interest in Jesus Now the Soul that is once possess'd thoroughly with these Notions what will it not do what will it not suffer rather than fall short of or forfeit its Crown In what state will it not be contented nay in what state will it not abound in Joy whilst it holds fast the steadfastness of its Hope and is secure of the Love of Jesus Here begins that Purity of Heart which is the Fountain of true Epicureism that Greatness of Mind which alone is true Honour and Fortitude But that Faith may have these Effects upon us it must not be only a true but a lively Faith therefore my 2. Second Rule or if you please another Branch of the former Rule shall be this They that will be free indeed must not only believe the great Truths of the Gospel but must frequently and seriously ponder them till they have imprinted in themselves as clear distinct and perfect Ideas of them as we are capable of This will soon mortifie the Appetites of the Body corrrect our false Opinions of worldly Things and baffle all the Sophistry and Confidence of Lust A lively Faith is a Faith that imports the most clear and natural the most full and enlarg'd Notions of its Objects a Faith that not only looks upon the Articles of our Creed as true but beholds them in a manner as present and so represented and drawn to the Life that they fill the Soul with great and moving Considerations This Faith does not only Believe that there is a God but it beholds Him and walks before Him as present it sees Him array'd in all his Glory and in all his Majesty in all the Power and all the Terrors in all the Beauties and all the Graces of the Divine Nature it does not only believe that there are Rewards and Punishments but is extreamly sensible of the Terrors of the one and Attractions of the other and looks upon both as at the door It does not only acknowledge a Mediator but takes a full view of the Misery of that state wherein we lay through Sin and of the Blessedness of that into which we are translated by the Redemption which is in Jesus It Contemplates this Mediatour in all the several steps of Condescension and Humiliation in all the Tenderness and Transports of his Passion in all the melancholy Scenes of his Sufferings and the bright and chearful ones of his Glory This is the Faith that sets us free 3. We must not stop in Faith till it be made perfect in Love We must meditate Divine Truths till they have fired our Souls till they have enkindled our Affections till we be possess'd by an ardent Love of God of Jesus of Righteousness and of Heaven till all our other Desires and Passions be converted into and swallowed up of Love till God becomes the Center of our Souls and in Him we rest in Him we glory and in Him we rejoyce O Love how great and glorious are the things that are said of thee 'T is thou who dost impregnate and animate Faith it self 't is thou who dost surmount the Difficulties of Duty and make the Yoke of Christ easie and his Burthen light 't is thou who dost cast out Fear and make Religion full of Pleasure 't is thou that dost make us watchful against Temptations and impatient under the Interruptions of Duty 't is thou that makest us dis-relish the Pleasures of this World and long to be dissolved and to be with Christ Here is the Liberty of the Sons of God Blessed are they even in this World who attain it But one Caution I must here add That our Love must not be a Flesh a Bit but a steady and well setled Affection an Affection that has the Warmth of Passion and the Firmness of Habit. We must therefore by repeated Meditations and Prayers daily nourish this Flame of the Altar and not suffer it to go out 4. We must never be at rest till we have possess'd our Minds with a perfect Hatred of the sin which we are most subject to The Love of God his Long-suffering and forbearance the Sufferings of Jesus the struglings of the Spirit the Peace and Pleasure of Holiness the Guilt and Vexation the Shame and Punishment of Sin its ill Influence on our present Perfection and Happiness on our Peace and Hopes are proper Topicks to effect this A thorough Hatred of Sin once setled and rooted in us will produce that Sorrow that Indignation that Watchfulness that Zeal which will remove us far enough not only from the Sin but also from the ordinary Temptations to it and place us almost without the Danger of a Relapse To this former Rule I should add this other that when once a Man has resolved upon a new Course of Life whatever Difficulties he finds in his Ways whatever Baffles he meets with he must never quit the Desgn of Vertue and Life he must never give over Fighting till he Conquer The reason is plain for he must either Conquer or Dye But this belonging rather to Perseverance in Vertue than the Beginning of it therefore I but just mention it 5. It will not be imprudent in this Moral as in Physical Cures to observe diligently and follow the Motions and Tendencies of Nature Where there are Seeds of Generosity and Honour the Turpitude and Shame of Sin the Baseness and Ingratitude of it the Love of God and of Jesus and such like are fit Topicks to dwell upon Where Fear is more apt to prevail there the Terrors of the Lord are the most powerful Motive And so whatever the Frame and Constitution of Nature be it will not be difficult to find Arguments in the Gospel adapted to it which will be so much the more prevalent as they are the more natural 6. Lastly We must use all Means to obtain the Spirit of God and to increase and cherish his Influence We must ask and seek and knock i. e. we must pray and Meditate and Travel with Patience and with Importunity that our Heavenly Father may give us his Holy Spirit And when we have it we must not grieve it by any Deliberate Sin nor quench it by Security or Negligence by sensual Freedoms and Presumption but we must cherish every Motion improve every
often repeated breeds a kind of Indifference or Lukewarmness and soon passes into Coldness and Insensibleness and this often ends in a reprobate Mind and an utter Aversion for Religion 2ly We must endeavour some way or other to compensate the Omission of a Duty to make up by Charity what we have defalc'd from Devotion or to supply by short Ejaculations what we have been forc'd to retrench from fix'd and regular Offices of Prayer And he that watches for Opportunities either of Improvement or doing Good will I believe never have Reason to complain of the want of them God will put into his hands either the one or the other and for the Choice he cannot do better than follow God's 3ly A single Omission must never proceed from a sinful Motive from a Love of the World or Indulgence to the Body Necessity or Charity is the only just and proper Apology for it Instrumental or Positive Duties may give way to moral ones the Religion of the Means to the Religion of the End and in Moral Duties the less may give way to the greater But Duty must never give way to Sin nor Religion to Interest or Pleasure Having thus briefly given an account what Omission of Duty is and what is not sinful and consequently so setled the notion of Idleness that neither the careless nor the scrupulous can easily mistake their Case I will now propose such Considetations as I judge most likely to deter Men from it and such Advice as may be the best Guard and Preservative against it 1. The First Thing I would have every one lay to heart is That a State of Idleness is a State of damnable Sin Idleness is directly repugnant to the great Ends of God both in our Creation and Redemption As to our Creation can we imagine that God who created not any thing but for some excellent End should Create Man for none or for a silly one The Spirit within us is an active and vivacious Principle our rational Faculties capacitate and qualifie us for doing Good this is the proper Work of Reason the truest and most natural Pleasure of a rational Soul Who can think now that our wise Creatour lighted this Candle within us that we might oppress and stifle it by Negligence and Idleness That he contriv'd and destin'd such a Mind to squander and fool away its Talents in Vanity and Impertinence As to our Redemption 't is evident both what the Design of it is and how opposite Idleness is to it Christ gave himself for us to Redeem us from all Iniquity and to purifie to himself a peculiar People zealous of good Works Tit. 2.14 and this is what our Regeneration or Sanctification aims at We are God's Workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good Works which God has before ordained that we should walk in them Eph. 2.10 How little then can a useless and barred Life answer the Expectations of God What a miserable Return must it be to the Blood of his Son and how utterly must it disappoint all the purposes of his Word and Spirit But What need I argue further the Truth I contend for is the express and constant Doctrine of the Scriptures is not Idleness and fulness of Bread reckoned amongst the Sins of Sodom what means the Sentence against the barren Fig-tree Luke 13.7 but the Destruction and Damnation of the Idle and the Sluggish the Indignation of God is not enkindled against the Barrenness of Trees but Men. What can be plainer than the Condemnation of the unprofitable Servant who perished because he had not improved his Talent Matt. 25.38 and how frequently does the Apostle declare himself against the idle and disorderly and all this proceeds upon plain and necessary Grounds Our Lord was an Example of Vertue as well as Innocence and he did not only refrain from doing Evil but he went about doing good We can never satisfie the Intention of Divine Precepts by Negative Righteousness when God prohibits the Filthiness of the Flesh and Spirit he enjoyns the perfecting Holiness in his Fear when he forbids us to do evil he at the same time prescribes the learning to do well What need I multiply more Words Idleness is a flat Contradiction to Faith Hope Charity to Fear Vigilance Mortification and therefore certainly must be a damning Sin These are all active and vigorous Principles but Idleness enfeebles and dis-spirits manacles and fetters us These are pure strict and self-denying Principles but Idleness is soft and indulgent These Conquer the World and the Body raise and exalt the Mind but Idleness is far from enterprising any thing from attempting any thing that is good it pompers the Body and effeminates and dissolves the Mind and finally whatever Innocence or Inoffensiveness it may pretend to it does not only terminate in Sin but has its Beginning from it from Stupidity and Ignorance from Vanity and Levity from Softness and Sensuality from some prevailing Lust or other 2. Next after the Nature the Consequences of Idleness are to be considered and if it be taken in the utmost Latitude there is scarce any Sin which is more justly liable to so many tragical Accusations for it is the Parent of Dishonour and Poverty and of most of the Sins and Calamities of this mortal Life But at present I view it only as it is drawn with a half Face and that the much less deformed of the two I consider it here as pretending to Innocence and flattering it self with the Hopes of Happiness And yet even thus supposing it as harmless and inoffensive as it can be yet still these will be the miserable Effects of it It will rob Religion and the World of the Service due to both it will bereave us of the Pleasure of Life and the Comfort of Death and send us down at last to a cursed Eternity For where are the Vertues that should maintain the Order and Beauty of Human Society that should relieve and redress the Miseries of the World where are the Vertues that should vindicate the Honour of Religion and demonstrate its Divinity as effectually as Predictions or Miracles can do where are the bright Examples that should convert the unbelieving part of Mankind and inflame the believing part with a generous Emulation Certainly the lazy Christian the slothful Servant can pretend to nothing of this kind As to the Pleasure of Life if true and lasting if pure and spiritual 't is easie to discern from what Fountains it must be drawn Nothing but Poverty of Spirit can procure our Peace nothing but Purity of Heart our Pleasure But ah how far are the Idle and Unactive from these Vertues Faith Love and Hope are the Seeds of them Victories and Triumphs Devotion Alms and good Works the Fruits of them But what a stranger to these is the Drone and Sluggard Then for the Comfort of Death it must proceed from a well spent Life he that sees nothing but a vast Solitude and Wilderness behind him
disturb and indispose the Body many are the things which distract and clog the Mind from both which because we shall never be utterly free in this World therefore our Devotion will never be so constant and uniform but that it will have its Interruptions and Allays and Dulness and Lifelessness will sometimes seize upon the best of Christians But then if this spiritual Deadness in Religious Exercises be fixt constant and habitual it must needs be a Proof of a corrupt Mind For 't is impossible that there should be a true Principle of Grace within which should never or very rarely shew it self in the Sincerity and Fervency of our Devotion How is it possible that that Man who is generally slight and superficial in his Confession should have a true Compunction and sincere Contrition for Sins How is it possible that he who is generally indifferent formal and cold in his Petitions should have a just Sense either of his Wants or Dangers or a true Value for the Grace and Favour of God The Sum is Deadness in Duty is either General or Rare Common or Accidental If it befalls us Commonly 't is an Argument of an unregenerate Heart if Rarely 't is not But if the Returns of Life and Deadness in Duty be so frequent and unconstant that 't is impossible to determin whether the one or the other prevail most then 't is plain that the State also of such a Man is very dubious 2. Duty must never be Destitute of Sincerity though it may of Pleasure and Transport it must never be without Seriousness and Concernment though it may be very defective in the Degrees of Love and Ardency Thus in Prayer the Tenderness and Contrition of the Soul dissolv'd in Love and Sorrow is a Frame of Spirit much above what the Penitent commonly arrives at But an Aversion for Sin a firm Resolution to forsake it and a hearty Desire to be enabled by the Grace of God so to do is what he must not want So again Joy and Transport the Ardor and Exultancy of Mind is the Effect of a clear Understanding an assur'd Conscience a Heart enflam'd with Love and a strict Life Whoever therefore falls short in the one will generally fall short in the other too But every Christian that is truly such must have a true Sense of his Wants a hearty desire to please God a true Notion of his Goodness and a steady Dependance upon it thorough Christ And these things are sufficient to unite our Hearts and our Lips in the same Petitions to make us in earnest in all the Duties we perform and careful to intend the main end of them 3. The Prayer of the Perfect Man is generally offer'd up with the tenderest and most exalted Passion and a holy Pleasure mingles it self in every part of his Office his Petitions and Praises his Confessions Deprecations and Confidences are all of them Expressions of warm and Delightful Passions And how can we well conceive it otherwise must not those Praises and Magnificates be full of Joy and Transport which flow from a full Assurance of the Divine Favour from a long Experience of his Love and from the glorious Prospect of a blessed Eternity can those Deprecations and Confidences want a heavenly Calm and Tranquility of Spirit which rest upon the Mediation of Jesus the Promises of an immutable God and the Pledge of his Spirit can those Confessions want Contrition that have all the Tenderness that holy Zeal and the humblest Reflections can inspire them with which are powered forth by a Soul enlightn'd purify'd strong in the Faith rooted and grounded in Love by a Soul consequently that has the liveliest Sense of the Deformity and Danger of Sin of the Beauty and Pleasure of Holiness of the infinite Goodness of God and of that Love of Christ that passeth Knowledge Can finally those Petitions want Desire and Flame which are offer'd up by a Soul that hungers and thirsts after Righteousness that counts all things but dung and dross in comparison of Jesus that pants after God that long◠to be dissolv'd and to be with Christ And as we may thus from the Nature of things collect what kind of Prayers those of the Perfect Man generally are so may we from the Example of the Royal Psalmist and others demonstrate all this to be no vain Speculation but real Matter of Fact 'T is true Weight and Dignity of Matter Gravity and Significancy of Expression are the Characters most conspicuous in Publick Offices in the best and most ancient Prayers and particularly in the Lord's Prayer We find in them few or no Figures of Speech no Vehemence of Expression But it is true too That the Devotion of a Soul disengag'd as it were from the Body retir'd from the World collected within it self raised by daily Contemplation and accustom'd to Converse with Heaven flows naturally and easily Those great Ideas which such a Prayer as that of our Lord's Composure present to the Mind inflame the Desire awaken all the Passions of the Holy Man without any Labour of Imagination or Artifice of Words Thus have I considered the Nature of Lukewarmness and shew'd how far the Perfect Man is remov'd from it My next business is to perswade and exhort Men to quit it and become sincere and zealous Only I must First take notice by the way That besides Idleness and Lukewarmness there is sometimes a Third Cause or occasion of Unfruitfulness which deserves never to be slighted that is Fickleness Vnsteadiness or Inconstancy Many there are who often purpose project and resolve great Matters but never bring forth any Fruit to Perfection What they Build one day they throw down another They put on as many various moral Forms as Proteus in the Poets does natural ones sometimes they are in a fit of Zeal at other times nothing but Coldness and bare Form sometimes they are in the Camp of Vertue sometimes in that of Vice In a word they halt like the Israelites between God and Baal and are divided and distracted between a Sense of Duty and the Love of the World and the Body between the Checks and Incitements of Conscience on the one hand and some foolish Inclinations on the other This State I have had an Eye too very often nor shall I forget it here but shall propose such a Method for the Cure of Lukewarmness and Formality as may be also of very good use to all such as fall short of the main End of Religion being not truly and thoroughly changed but are only almost perswaded to be Christians and only not altogether so far from the Kingdom of Heaven as others This being premised I proceed and 1. I will Enquire into the Causes from whence Lukewarmness and all abortive Attempts after Vertue flow 2. I will shew the Folly Guilt and Danger of a Laodicean State § 1. Of the Causes c. These are generally Four 1. Men finding themselves under great Difficulties in coming up to
for ever Need I invite and exhort Man to Humility need I guard him against spiritual Pride one would think 't were altogether useless to attempt it Is it possible that the Creature should think himself so independent of his Creator that he should be able to pay him more Service than were due to him Is it possible that Man should set such a rate upon his own Righteousness as to think it capable of deserving the utmost Rewards that an Infinite God can bestow upon him Is it possible in a word that Man poor frail sinful Man Man that can do nothing that is good but by the Assistance of Divine Grace Man deprav'd and corrupted in his Nature and but a very ill husband of Grace is it possible I say that Man should be proud towards God towards that glorious and incomprehensible Being who is the Creator and Lord the Monarch and Patron the God and Father of Heaven and Earth But as absurd as this is universal Experience teaches us that Humility true Humility is a hard Lesson and that very excellent Persons are not out of the Danger of falling into vicious Elations of Mind In order therefore to promote the one and secure us against the other I will propose these two or three Considerations 1. There never was meer Man yet that did not fall short of his Duty 2. Man is the Creature of God depends upon Him and has receiv'd all from him and therefore let him do the utmost he can he does no more than his Duty 3. God stands in no Need of our Service and 't is our own not his Interest we promote by it 1. There never was mere Man yet c. For Proof of this I will not flie to Original Corruption or Sins of Infirmity Alas I need not The Apostle Rom. 1. and 2. lays the Foundation of Justification by Faith in the universal Defection and Depravation of Mankind They are altogether gone out of the way there is none that doth Good no not one And what Sins he there charges the World with the Catalogue he gives us of them will inform us But are we no better than they I answer the Light of the Gospel and the preventing Grace of God has undoubtedly given a great Check to the Progress of Sin in the World but since no Man can be Justified but through Faith in the Blood of Jesus 't is plain that we too must be concluded under Sin And though our Sins may not in the Number or Scandal of them equal theirs yet we ought to remember too that every Sin is the more provoking the more voluntary it is and the greater the Grace is which it resists and despises But what need I compare our Selves with the Jew or Gentile what need I prove by Argument and Authority that no Man ever yet liv'd or will live without Sin I mean Mortal Sin Who ever yet look'd back diligently into his past Life and did not meet with Stains and Deformities enough when I consider what Legions of Sins are rang'd under those two Banners of the Devil the Filthiness of the Flesh and of the Spirit when I call to mind Envy Discontent Murmuring Distrust Pride Covetousness Ambition Wilfulness Contention Forwardness Passion Dissimulation Falshood Flattery and a thousand other Sins and when I reflect upon the Weaknesses and Prepensions of Nature and the almost innumerable Temptations to which we are exposed I must confess I am not at all surprised to think that no Flesh can be Justified in the Sight of God by a Covenant of Works And when ever I find any upon a Death-bed as I do some acquitting themselves from the Guilt of any Deliberate Wickedness I rather admire their Ignorance and Partiality than their Innocence And yet after all a good Man is not to examine himself only concerning the Evil that he has done but also concerning the Good which he has omitted He must enquire how far he has fallen short of that Poverty of Spirit and Purity of Heart which he ought to have come up too and how far he has been wanting in those Duties which a thorough Zeal would have push'd him on too And when he has done this let him be proud if he can 2. Man is the Creature of God depends upon him and has receiv'd all from Him And therefore let him do the utmost he can he does no more than his Duty and strictly speaking cannot merit of him He that will pretend to Merit must be his own Master he must have a Right over his own Actions he must be free to dispose of his Affections and Services as he pleases For if he be antecedently bound if he have no Liberty no Freedom no Right to dispose of himself or any thing he is possessed of 't is plain such a one cannot merit And this is the direct Case between God and Man God is the great Lord the great Proprietor of Heaven and Earth He that gives Alms does but restore a part of what God lent him he that takes patiently the Loss of Goods or Health or Friends does but give back what he had no right to retain he was but Tenant at Will and had no Right to any thing longer than God thought fit to continue it And in all other Instances of Duty the Case will be still plainer If he adore and worship God there is infinite Reason that he should for he depends upon him for his Being and Preservation If he love God never so much God has deserv'd much more than he can pay Him not only the Enjoyments of Life but even Life it self being derived from Him From this Argument it will follow that it is impossible for a Creature to merit of its Creator Angels themselves never could For might it not be said with as much Truth concerning them as concerning Man who made thee to differ or what hast thou which thou didst not receive and if thou hast received it why dost thou boast as if thou hadst not received it 1 Cor. 4.7 And the same may be concluded concerning Adam in Paradise For I demand had he kept the Covenant of God had he done this by Divine Grace or by his own Strength ' If by the Grace of God as Divines generally hold then may we apply the Expression of St. Austin to Adam as well as to any one now under the Dispensation of the Gospel That when God rewards the works of Man he does only crown in him his own Gifts But suppose he had done this by his own natural Strength were not the Endowments of Nature as much the Gifts of God as the Endowments of Grace the one were Natural the other Supernatural Gifts both Gifts still though of a different kind If it be here Objected if this be so how comes St. Paul to affirm to him that worketh is the reward due not of Grace but of Debt Rom. 4.4 I answer First God seems when he enters into Covenant with Man to suspend or lay