reduced to this Head Thou shalt love the Lord thy God saith he with all thy Heart Matth. 22 37 38 39. with all thy Mind with all thy Soul and with all thy Strength and thy Neighbour as thy Self Hereby implying that we should make that Return of Duty unto God as to Love and Honour Worship and Obey him with all the Powers and Faculties of our Souls and Members of our Bodies That we should so love our Neighbours viz. the whole Race of Mankind as to be just and charitable to 'em in our whole Entercourse and Dealings with them That we should have that tender Regard to our own present and eternal Welfare 1 Cor. 6.20 Jam. 1.17 as to glorifie God both in our Souls and Bodies and to keep our Selves unspotted in this world These are the indispensible Duties of Religion which God expects and requires from us and the certain Conditions of our Happiness which being faithfully and conscientiously perform'd will dispose and qualifie us for all the Blessings and Priviledges of the Gospel I shall therefore treat of these Duties severally and distinctly by which I hope to acquit and discharge my self of that Task I 've undertaken And we begin 1st More particularly Of true saving Faith With our Duty to God And hereby we are oblig'd to Believe and Confess That there is but one God and that there 's no other besides Him That he is an infinite and immortal Spirit without Beginning and without End That by his infinite Power Wisdom and Goodness he has made all things visible and invisible the Heavens the Earth the Sea and all that in them is We must believe also that he that made 'em doth preserve them in this excellent Beauty and Order wherein they do now consist that they might all minister to his Glory and the mutual Benefit of one another We must believe That he knows all Things and is intimately present in all Places and that he is the Fountain and Original of all Happiness and Perfection of Grace and Glory That he is a God of infinite Power Justice Mercy Truth Goodness c. and therefore abundantly able and freely willing to protect our Persons and reward all our Endeavours with Temporal Spiritual and eternal Blessings But we are oblig'd more particularly to believe and confess That God has made us Men by Creation Christians by Redemption and Candidates of Grace and Glory by Sanctification Father Son and Holy Ghost three distinct Persons in the Unity of the Divine essence after a secret and inconceivable Manner which we must believe but cannot understand Again we must believe and confess That all things contain'd in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the Word and Will of God reveal'd to the Sons of Men by his holy Spirit That all the Affirmations thereof are true both as to the Doctrinal and Historical parts of them and we must acknowledge 'em to be so tho' they be above our Reason and beyond the reach of our humane Capacities that all God's Commandments are holy just and reasonable and necessary to be observ'd and obey'd tho' they may seem opposite to our natural Tempers and visible Interests in this World That all the Promises and Threatnings in Scripture which concern the present and future Welfare and Misery of Mankind upon the performance or neglect of the Duties and Conditions on which they are grounded shall most certainly and inevitably come to pass For our God is of infinite Veracity faithful and just in his Dealings with us Heaven and Earth shall pass away Mat. 5.18 but not one Iota of his Word shall fail till all these things be fulfilled But herein we must be cautious that we do not mistake a naked Assent to the Truth of these Mysteries for a Principle of saving Faith Jam. 2.19 For the Devils do believe all these things to be true and tremble to think of it But that Faith by which we Christians through the infinite Mercies of God and the alone Merits of Christ do expect Salvation The Properties of a saving Faith must appear in the powerful Effects and excellent Fruits of it 't is a lively active Faith if it be sincere most ready to comply with and willing to obey the whole Will of God And the effects of it will appear And this is the first Instance of Duty which we owe unto God Namely to believe in him 2dly As a necessary and natural Result of a justifying and saving Faith We are oblig'd to Love him above all things 1. By our love to God This is another Branch of Christian Piety and an indispensible Condition of our supreme Happiness For if we do not love God sincerely and devoutly with our whole Hearts Wills and Affections in this Life 't is morally impossible that we should enjoy him in the other Now the Motives by which we are induc'd to love the things of this World with any competent Delight and Satisfaction are either the excellent Qualities of the Things themselves or 't is for the sake of the Benefits and Advantages which we receive from them and by them But we are most especially oblig'd to love God in both Respects Whom we must love For the sake of his own Exlencies And 1 Because he is most amiable and lovely in himself For all the scatter'd Excellencies which we are apt to love and admire in the Creatures are but Emanations from and imperfect Adumbrations of that infinite Perfection which the boly Angels and Saints glorified do contemplate in God a Happiness which above all things we should aspire to and desire to enjoy How should our Souls be charm'd and delighted with the incomparable Excellencies of the Divine Nature how should we be ravisht and transported with Exstasies of Joy and Wonder since we may upon certain easie Conditions more fully comprehend and perfectly enjoy all those wonderful Endearments of Love and Beauty hereafter which even now shine so conspicuously in all God's glorious Attributes and Actions 2 God is not only infinitely lovely in himself And for the Benefits bestowed which should oblige us to love and admire him even for the sake of his own Excellencies above all the transitory Delights Riches and Honours of this World But we must love him above all things because he is most beneficial and bountiful to us Psal 100.3 in bestowing his innumerable Blessings and Benefits upon us To instance in a few amongst many Particulars And First On our Bodies Man is the Epitome of the whole Creation a Compound of Heaven and Earth Psal 139.14 little lower than the Angels and yet far transcending all the rest of the Creatures Psal 8.5 6. He is fearfully and wonderfully made as to the curious and admirable Structure of his Body for which the divine Providence has made a liberal Provision for its support and comfort not only for its Being but also for its Well-being And we of
we may have the stronger Gust and Relish of that Spiritual Food on which we should desire to live for ever And thus the Primitive Christians denied themselves the Delicacies of this World that their Souls being weaned from them they might be taught beforehand to live on the Delights of beatified Spirits and never desire to return again to their Bodies till they come to be glorified together in the happy Resurrection to the Life Eternal And here 't will be necessary to consider on the contrary The Mischiefs of this Sin that all manner of Excess in Drinking is extremely pernicious to and destructive of the Weal and Happiness of the Body both in this and a future Life For intemperate Drinking is the Fewel of all sensual and filthy Lusts it makes Men's Bodies sottish and unweildy and disposes them rather to Sleep and Idleness than a prudent Watchfulness and a religious Care over themselves In these extravagant Fits Jerem. 5.8 Rom. 13.13 't is no wonder to see Men like sed Horses neigh after their Neighbours Wives For St. Paul adds Chambering and Wantonness as the necessary Consequence and Effect of Rioting and Drunkenness And 't is notoriously evident that the most Drunkards Blaspheme Swear Lie Rail against and Back-bite their innocent Neighbours engage many times in irreconcilable Quarrels and do often kill one another so that in this Carrier of Drunkenness Men I should rather say Beasts seldom stop at any Sin which falls in their Way This is the most compendious Method for spending their Estates and ruining their Reputations and hereby they seldom fail of contracting an ill habit of Body and laying a sure Foundation for all lingering and mortal Diseases But that which is yet more fatal and mischievous an habitual Drunkenness doth so dull the Edge impair the strength and cloud the discerning Facultie of their Reafon and Judgement that 't is impossible for the customary Drunkard to practice any Virtue or Duty aright or resist the power and prevalence of any evil Appetite or Temptation Besides this sort of Extravagance is wholly inconsistent with the Gifts and Graces of God's holy and blessed Spirit and 't is utterly impossible saith St. Hierom that a Man should be filled with strong Drink and God's sanctifying spirit at the same time The Holy Ghost has always put them as Opposites in Scripture be not Drunk with Wine saith the Apostle wherein is excess Eph. 5.18 but be filled with the Spirit And how is it possible that any Man should serve these two arbitrary Masters whose Commands are so contradictory to each other To all which we might add the Consideration of those future and eternal Torments which must certainly be the Portion of intemperate and debaucht Persons in another World See and consider those apposite Texts of Scripture Luke 21.34 Gal. 5.21 c. Since then Temperance and Moderation in Eating and Drinking is a great Step to all other Virtues and seing the Consequences and Effects of this kind of Excess are so pernicious and destructive to the Souls and Bodies of Men both in this and another Life How are we oblig'd to keep our Appetites within the due bounds of Sobriety that we may enjoy the Benefits of the one and be exempted from the Inconveniencies and Mischiefs of the other And to this End I would advise my Reader to consider that short Rule of Pythagoras Above all things saith he be sure that you make your selves Masters of your Bellies And that you may do it to the purpose cut off all the unnecessary Supplies of Meats and Drinks and the Siege cannot last long Avoid and abandon the Conversation of debaucht and intemperate Persons Let neither their smooth Language nor their Scoffings and Railings against you allure or perswade you to a compliance with their inhumane and beastly Immoralities lest they perswade you to run with them to the same Excess of Riot 1 Pet. 4.4 These are the Devils Engines which he frequently sets on Work to precipitate inconsiderate Men from the Throne of Grace and Virtue And alas how many thousands have complain'd in their last Agonies that these Inchantments have decoy'd them into those Sins which they must eternally smart for Again it will be of great Use to consider how acute those Twinges of Conscience are which will rack and torment the Drunkard that has any Conscience at all of the Sin if he should outlive the extravagant Fit How must he who is so grievously perplext as the most Drunkards are with a yesternights Debauch be rackt and tormented if ever in a sober Mind with the dreadful apprehensions of those future and approaching Judgements How shall those bruitish Sensualists who have wallow'd in a Sea of delicate Liquors brook the peremptory refusal of a Cup of cold Water to cool their Tongues Luk. 16.24 Consider impartially those Woes denounced against this Sin by the Prophet Isa 5.11 12. And if neither the fear of God nor the Pleasures nor Advantages of this Virtue of Temperance can influence you into a compliance with it and perswade you to the practice of it yet let the consideration of those present and future Mischiefs oblige you to fly from the Wrath to come Matth. 3.7 and if all these Arguments will not awake you from your senseless Stupidity you must perish in your Sins and the Bloud be upon your own Heads 3dly The next Branch of Sobriety which concerns our Selves is the temperate and moderate Use of Apparel which is indispensably requir'd in both Sexes In the moderate Use of Apparel And if we consider the Ends for which Cloths are ordain'd I see no reason why Men and Women should be so curious and make use of so many strange Artifices to deck and beautifie their Bodies For 1 the Original Institution of Apparel after the Fall of Man was to cover their Nakedness and preserve them from the Violence and Extremity of Wind and Weather Which Consideration should rather humble us than by decking our Bodies imprudently and sinfully Act. 25.23 to glory in those things which are the Ensigns of our Shame and Sorrow 2 In the use of Apparel there must be a Distinction according to the Law of Nature and the Custom of all Nations between Men and Women That there be no design of Levity nor incentive to Lust in our Habiliments when we meet together 3 That both Men and Women should keep within their Faculties and Callings And tho' there be some difference allow'd between Persons of a higher and lower Rank yet there should be that Sobriety in the Habits of both that there be nothing of Novelty or Vanity or Superfluity which may tempt themselves or others to Lust or Pride or vain Glory Hence we may remarque that 't is most unbecoming Christians especially to use those disingenuous and unlawful Arts of Patching Painting and Perfuming their Bodies a vanity too much practic'd by those of the weaker Sex to the great scandal
't is better for a man saith Solomon to be Master of his own Passions than to conquer an Army Temperance in Eating and Drinking with Fasting and Labour are powerful Expedients to subjugate the Flesh and bring under the Body St. Paul made use of 'em to subdue his own Appetite and recommends the same Duties to us as the best instruments to further us in the great Work of Mortification and Self-denial To which we should not fail to joyn our earnest Prayers to God for the Assistance of his Grace and Spirit that we may obtain this comfortable Victory and Conquest over our Selves For our blessed Saviour who best understood our Frailties recommends this Duty to us as the most successful Expedient and without which all our other natural and moral Endeavours will prove ineffectual and to no purpose Now if all these Means will not secure our Chastity but that our Appetites are still headstrong and unruly then 't will be necessary to make use of lawful Marriage which God has been pleas'd to institute and allow to pare off the Excrescencies of corrupt Nature and to secure us from the Guilt and Punishment of our fleshly Lusts Yet herein we must consider that there 's a Temperance and Moderation to be used even in the Pleasures of lawful Wedlock and as all Embraces and Contact are simply forbidden with others so we must not abuse our own Allowances but preserve our Vessels in Sanctification and Honour 1 Thes 4.4 and keep our selves within the due Bounds of Justice and Modesty By these Hints we may understand how much this Virtue of Chastity will conduce to the Interest and Satisfaction not only of the outward but the inward Man for no man shall ever repent that he has liv'd chastly and virtuously as the Contraries are most pernicious to and destructive of both My designed brevity will not suffer me to enlarge further on these Heads And therefore I must leave it to your Prudence and Conscience to collect the rest 3dly The last Virtue which concerns the Body is the sober and moderate use of those Riches and Estates which the divine Providence has been pleas'd to allow us for our Support and Accommodation in this Life which is known by the name of Contentedness Which Virtue consists in the inward voluntary and universal Submission of our Wills and Desires to God's gracious and wise Disposal of us in every Estate and Condition of Life For if our Condition be prosperous this true Christian Contentment will oblige us to rest satisfied with what we have without the trouble of an anxious Care and carking Desire of getting more If we be poor this will teach us to be satisfied with that little Portion which God has given us without coveting of or murmuring and repining at the flourishing Estate and Condition of other Men. But this peaceable and innocent Composure of Mind and Spirit is only peculiar to the sound Christian For tho' the Heathens did pretend to it yet they were not Masters of it They could indeed comport with the want of Riches and were sometimes affected with a simple Poverty But if they happen'd to fall into Disgrace or Contempt then they esteem'd it an heroical act to kill themselves which in such Cases they usually did and a Demonstration of a magnanimous Spirit Lib. de Civit. Dei Cap. 10. But St. Aug. in the Case of Cato Vticensis and Lucretia detects the folly and madness of this Conceit and fully shews that this Fool-hardiness does rather proceed from an impotent and cowardly Spirit And doubtless 't is the greatest Fortitude to be Masters of our selves to conquer our own Passions and to entertain all Events with a submissive Patience Contentedness and Aequanimity Especially if we consider that God Almighty has been pleas'd to appoint a state of sufferings to be the more sutable Dispensation for the promoting of his own Glory and our Good Therefore it must hence follow that the chief and adequate Object of our Christian Contentment in which the Mind of Man can only be satisfied and without which all the Enjoyments of this World will prove empty and evanâ—â—d is the alone infinite and immutable God and the full enjoyment of him by Faith and Love in Christ our Mediator John 17.3 For that pious and gracious Soul that makes God his only Substance and Portion rusts fully satisfied in his Mercy and Goodness tho' the things of this World should fall cross and run counter to his natural Desires and Expectations The Truth whereof will more evidently appear if we consider these few Things And 1 Nothing â—ess than this infinite and Vniversal Good which fills all the Faculties can terminate the Desires and Aspirations of the Soul after an endless and blissful Immortality Pleasant sounds may delight the Ear but not the Eye beautiful Colours may please the Eye but not the Ear But that divine and excellent Spirit which injoys the Favour of God in Christ has an Universal Satisfaction and shall abound with the perfection of Parts in this Life and Degrees in the future to his unspeakable and endless Comfort 1 Pet. 1.8 Whom having not seen they love c. 2 This Vniversal Good must be powerfully imprest upon and have its residence in the Cabinet of the Heart which is the Fountain and Principle of all rational and religious Thoughts and Actions Now all the Pleasures Riches and Honours of this vain and transitory World do only rove and fluctuate in the Fancy and have no Communication nor Intercourse with the Soul for they are like the Armour of Saul to David too wide and unfit for it But the true sense of God's Love in Christ does replenish every Corner of the Heart with Grace and Truth and gives that substantial Pleasure and Contentment that there 's no Joy on Earth like that of resting satisfied with the Enjoyment of God the Supreme Good 3 This only is the Complement and Perfection of all other Virtues but especially of this Christian Contentment Nothing less then the Supreme Good can replenish the Soul and in the midst of all temporal Enjoyments there 's still a plus ultra something to be desir'd and pursued which is yet superior far more excellent Moses could not be satisfied 'till he came to the Top of Pisgah that he might see the beauty and fruitfulness of the promised Land But a Believer's Rest and Contentment is only in Heaven and without a certain Prospect of and Title to those future Rewards all the puny Delights on Earth will prove nauseous and unsavory to him 4 'T is the Property of this supreme Good which can only afford the rational Powers of the Soul plenary Contentment to be permanent and of everlasting continuance For tho' we should enjoy all things even to our wishes yet the very apprehension of a future change as we see in the more favourable Intervals of chronical Distempers would stifle or diminish our present Ease and Contentment