what they deserve to be desir'd and what is due to the Persons desirous of them is not easily discovered Partly in that the aspiring after Dignity is in the universal consent of Men an argument and indication of a sublime Spirit whereas the modest refusal of it exposes to Infamy as if the refuser had a Leaden Soul whose Body is rather its Sepulchre than its Instrument And the Heart is the arch-deceiver the most partial parasite and its natural falseness is fomented by the artificial Flatteries of servile Spirits Every Man is a stranger to himself as the Eye sees things without but is blind as to the seeing it self Men study to know more of others than of themselves and therefore know less In curing the Diseases of the Soul we are directed by the method of curing the Diseases of the Body which is sometimes by Medicines contrary to their Nature and sometimes by those which are like to it The Feverish Heat is not only quench'd by cooling Juleps but by Cordials that fortifie the Vital Heat which consumes the peccant Humours that foment the Fever 1. Consider those things which may allay the tumor of Pride and Vanity Reason is the perfection of Man and the knowledge of God and our selves is the perfection of Reason From hence proceeds the magnifying God and vilifying our selves God is the eternal Jehovah and there is none besides him He alone has an independent and infinite Existence All other things are from his Efficiency Every spark of Life and degree of Being is from him Without the least strain of his Power he made the World and as easily upholds it All created things have but an appearance and shew of Being in him alone is the solidity and stability of Being for ever He dwells in Light unapproachable not only to mortal Eyes but to the immortal Angel He is the only Wise and Good and Immortal Being In the present state great and small are not words of absolute but comparative signification with respect to the various conditions of Men as one Pearl is called great respectively to another though small in it self But there is none absolutely great but God who is truly infinite In Heaven where the blessed Spirits have the most immediate and fullest view of the Deity the Lord alone is exalted 2. Consider that the whole World intellectual and sensible compar'd to God are but as the drop of the bucket and the dust of the ballance And what part are we of that drop and dust If we consider Men in the state of primitive Nature it is an evident Principle written in their Hearts with characters of the clearest Light That 't is their most reasonable Duty entirely to renounce themselves and to devote themselves to the Glory of God But if we consider them as Creatures and Sinners that can assume nothing as their own but their Sins and Miseries the penal consequents of them this will humble us below the Brutes who never transgress'd the order of their Creation We are less than the least of all God's Mercies and our Sins deserve the heaviest of his Judgments Consider the Men that most excel others are as naked of Natural Good as destitute of Moral and Spiritual Good as others Every good and perfect gift comes from the Father of Lights And as those are the best Gifts that come from him in that notion so they are most depending upon him and are continued by irradiations from him There is a difference between the impressions of Sounds and the emanations of Light in the Air. Sounds are propagated by successive motion from one part of space into another after the first cause the sounding instrument is silent But a line of Light extended through the Air depends intirely and necessarily upon the original point of Light from whence it proceeds The Rays of Light that fill the Air in the first instant that the Sun withdraws from the Horison all vanish Thus all Spiritual Gifts depend continually upon the influxive presence of God Now how can we be proud of his most precious Gifts of which we make a forfeiture and cannot possess without Humility The most eminent advantages which some have above others are the shining marks of his Bounty How absurd is it for one to boast of Wealth who daily lives upon Alms The more we receive the higher are our Obligations and the more heavy will be our account The Mind is darken'd with the thickest dregs of ignorance that no Light can penetrate that arrogates the Honour of his free Favours and bountiful Hand to the Creature To be more instructive let us Consider what are the usual Incentives of Pride and we shall discover that Ignonorance and Vanity are always mixt with them Women by Mens Wretched Idolizing them are vainly proud of their Beauty and more jealous lest their Faces be deform'd than their Souls Now what is Flesh and Blood but a mixture of Earth and Water What is Beauty a superficial Appearance a Flower blasted by a thousand Accidents How soon are the Colours and Charms of the Face vanisht How often does it betray them to those Sins that are signally punisht with the foulest deformity and rottenness The most beautiful are not less Mortal than others they must shortly be the prey of Death and pasture of Worms and can such a fading Toy inspire Pride into them Some are swell'd with the Conceit of their Riches but this is very unreasonable for no external accession can add real value to a person Fools only worship a Golden Calf If any air of Pride rises in a Rich Possessor it may as justly provoke God to recal his Blessings as he liberally bestowed them Others presume upon the Nobility of their Extraction but whoever our more immediate Parents be if we ascend in our thoughts we must come to our grand Progenitor Adam the Son of the Earth and Fountain of Mankind All are Streams from him if some slide along in the low Grounds and some are received in Marble Repositories they all flow from the same Original How often do the Honourable tarnish the Colour and Lustre of their Blood by degenerous Actions How often are the Rich and Great forsaken of their Dependents and only attended by a train of Miseries maintain'd by their Expences Such Revolutions are not more strange than Eclipses are to the Moon Some are rais'd to the heighth of Secular Honour and there is nothing sends up more hot fuming and intoxicating Spirits than Soveraign Power Humility in a state of the highest Honour is a very rare vertue But there are many things which duly consider'd will lower the train of Pride even in Kings The Pre-eminence of external Order is seldom joyn'd with the Pre-eminence of inherent Excellencies How many wear Royal Crowns that are Slaves to their Lusts and govern others who cannot govern themselves Besides there is no Heighth and Eminence upon Earth but is encompast with precipices and perils The Throne leaves some and
of the other This is pernicious Hypocrisie The subtilty and strength of Satan are imployed to deceive Men by an airy Religion by an opinionative Goodness to prevent their being awakened from their drowsie and deadly state 'T is worthy of notice The Tempter has a double operation in the Minds of Men He deceives the hypocritical with false hopes by concealing or extenuating their Sins to induce them to presume of the Favour of God and to secure his quiet possession of them He troubles the sincere with vain Terrors by concealing their Graces to discourage their progress in the way to Heaven He is an envious Explorator and searches to find out their defects to accuse them to God and he defames God to them as if he would not spare his Sons that serve him He is triumphant in the unsanctified and militant in the Saints 3. Some hide their crying Sins under the colourable appearance of Vertues and pretend to Holiness that they may sin with less suspicion and more security He will speak of those Sins in others with severity which he freely indulges in himself The Characters of Religion are drawn in his Countenance but his Lusts are deeply ingraven in his Heart These our Saviour compares to painted Sepulchres that within contain sordid dust and rottenness This is perfect Hypocrisie a deadly pollution that wounds the Vitals sears the Conscience quenches all Goodness in the Will for this Hypocrite is voluntarily so Hypocrisie in the Heart is like Poyson in a Spring that spreads it self through all the veins of the Conversation This Sin our Saviour never speaks of but with detestation For this he denounc'd such a heavy Woe against the Pharisees that used Religion as a masking habit to appear glorious in the Eyes of Men and disguised their Worldly Aims in Devotions and made long Prayers to be esteem'd of Men. This is so odious to God that he forbids all the emblems and resemblances of it to the Jews Linsy-wolsey Garments and miscelain Corn. Our Defects acknowledged with ingenuity excite his Compassion but counterfeit Vertues excite his Indignation For what can be more provoking than to appear to be like God in Holiness the Glory of the Deity for this end to be secretly wicked and to affront his Omniscience as if he could not discern them through all their close and dark concealments A Hypocrite is fearful of Men but faces God Pride mix'd with Hypocrisie was the Devil's original Sin he abode not in the Truth and Religious Hypocrites are his Natural Children The hottest climate in Hell will be their habitation For our Saviour threatens some Sinners their portion with Hypocrites that is aggravated Damnation This Sin is difficultly cured in that 't is not easily discovered by Men and does not expose to shame but is subservient to many carnal ends Men cannot dive into the Hearts of others and cannot discern between the Paint of Hypocrisie and the Life of Holiness The mixture of beautiful Colours in the Countenance may be so artificial that at distance it may be thought to be natural Besides Hypocrisie turns the Remedy into Poyson For the frequent exercise of Religious Duty which is the means to sanctifie us confirms and hardens Hypocrites The effectual means to cure it is a stedfast belief of the pure and flaming Eye of God who sees Sin where-ever it is and will bring it into Judgment A Hypocrite may hide his Sin from the Eyes of others and sometimes from his own Conscience but can never impose upon God And as nothing so confounds Men with shame as to be found false and perfidious in their dealings how much more will the Hypocrites be cover'd with confusion at the great day when they shall appear naked with their loathsome Ulcers before innumerable Angels and Saints They will desire the Rocks to hide them from that glorious Assembly The stedfast belief of this great Truth will cause frequent and solemn thoughts of God as our Inspector and Judge I have set the Lord always before me he is at my right-hand I shall not be moved This was the effect of David's Faith This will produce Sincerity in Religion unrespective to the Eyes of Men and preserve us from secret Sins 'T is the prescription of our Saviour Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees which is Hypocrisie For there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed neither hid that shall not be known Whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light and that which ye have spoken in the Ear in closets shall be proclaimed on the house tops 3. Envy at the Good of others and Malice wishing them Evil is a deep pollution of the Spirit This absolutely alienates Men from the Nature and Life of God For the clearest conception we have of the Deity is that he is Good and does Good This is contrary not only to supernatural Grace but to natural Conscience and turns a Man into a Fiend This Vice is immediately attended with itâ— Punishment The envious Man is his own tormentor and has the Vipers â—ate in the Fable that in biting the File wounded it self Besides this stops the descent of Divine Blessings and turns the Petitions of the Envious into Imprecations against themselves To finish this Head 't is observable nothing more discovers the necessity of Renovation than the defilements of the Spirit As Birds by incubation hatch their brood so from sinful Thoughts and Desires actual Sins proceed Our Saviour tells us Out of the Heart proceed Murders Adulteries Fornications Thefts False-witness Blasphemies which defile a Man 'T is above all things necessary to keep the Heart for the issues of Death â—low from it The design contrivance and consent to sin are in the Heart the Body is only the Instrument of Sin To enforce this Counsel there are many Motives 1. God is infinitely dishonour'd and displeas'd by the Sins of our Spirits For the Soul is of near alliance with God and of incomparable more value than the vile Body Therefore the defiling it is highly provoking The Soul is the place of his special residence and the entertaining Sin in it is as a fouler Indignity than the bringing Dung into the Chamber of Presence of a King We should be more careful to approve our Thoughts and Desires to God than our Words and Actions to Men. 2. They are more easily contracted than those which are acted by the sensitive Faculties They secretly insinuate into the Soul External Sins require â—it time and place and means for their commission and are often hinder'd by the moral restraints of Fear and Shame But speculative Sins may be committed without convenient circumstances In whatever place or company Men are they may retire into their Hearts and please themselves with vicious thoughts and desires of future Sins and devices how to make provision for the Flesh with carnal representations and complacency of the Sins they have committed They may personate the Pleasures of Sin
be damned We cannot make Laws to be the Rule of God's Judgment but must receive them However some may flatter Erring Persons in their Security it will be found in the great Day that Infidelity in the Light of the glorious Gospel will have no Excuse before God The Doctrine of the Gospel is like the Pillar of Cloud and of Fire that was darkness to the Egyptians but inlightned the Israelites in their Passage out of Egypt 't is conceal'd from the Proud and reveal'd to the Humble The Humane Mind is imperious and turbulent and averse from submitting to God's Authority who Commands the Wise and most Understanding to yield full Assent to his Word as the meanest Capacities The Natural Man receives not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discern'd There is no proportion between the Faculty and the Object You may as well see an Angel by the Light of a Candle as see the great Mysteries of the Gospel by the Natural Mind their reality beauty and excellency so as savingly to believe them Faith is the Fruit of the Spirit who is stil'd the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation who discovers the Object and inlightens the Mind to see it and by free preventing Grace inclines the Will to embrace it The Holy Spirit alone can pull down strong holds and cast down Imaginations and every high thing that exalts it self against the knowledge of God and bring into Captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. The Spirit overcomes the Pride of the Natural Understanding by the Authority of the Revealer and inlightens the Ignorance of it by the Infallible Revelation Violence and Temporal Respects may by Terrors and Allurements make Men Hypocrites but cannot make them sincere Believers there will be a Form of Religion without and Atheism within 'T is special Grace inspires the Elect of God with Light to see Spiritual things and requires special Thankfulness Let us Humbly pray to the Father of Mercies and of Lights that he would reveal the Mysteries of his Kingdom to the Minds of Men. If the Gospel be hid 't is hid to those that are lost in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them who believe not lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the Image of God should shine into them CHAP. VII The Power of Faith to overcome all that is opposite to our Salvation A Speculative Assent to Supernatural Truths is not Saving The Efficacy of Faith against the Temptations of the World proceeds from the Nature of its Objects and the degrees of Assent and the frequent application of them to our Hearts There is an incomparable difference between the good and evil things that are present and those that are future The Evidence and Importance of future good things and our interest in them fixes our Assent and makes it effectual Justifying Faith consider'd in its Nature and Purifying Virtue Faith in the disposals of Divine Providence is a Fundamental Principle from whence many Practical Consequences are derived The Heathens had very disparaging Conceits of God's Providence The Scripture declares that nothing happens without the knowledge the Will either permissive or approving and the Ordering Providence of God This is very influential to the Lives of Men. 4. I Will now Consider the Power and Efficacy of Faith to overcome all that is opposite to our Salvation I shall premise there is a common delusion that has a pernicious Influence into the Minds and Lives of many that those are true Believers who yield a dry and barren Assent to the Mysteries of the Gospel without the practical Belief of them They do not foment and authorise doubts by the pretence of Reason nor excite revolts in their Minds and entertain Objections against supernatural Truths but they never felt the spirit and power of Faith in raising them above the low descents of Carnal Minds and setting their Affections on things above The Love of the present World like a stupifying Wine causes in them a forgetfulness of Heaven and that which is the most dangerous Idolatry in the sight of God is seated in their Hearts The Understanding submits to divine Revelation but the Will is Rebellious against the divine Commands They believe what is necessary to believe but not what is necessary to do They are satisfied with a speculative Faith that costs nothing and will go with them to Hell for the Devils believe supernatural Truths They are rich in the Notions of Faith but poor in the Precepts of Obedience Now in the Language of Scripture saving Faith and knowledge of divine things are productive of such Affections and Actions as are correspondent to the Nature of the things believed If the Head be inlightned and the Heart in Darkness if one professes never so fully his Assent and Adherence to all the Articles of Faith and the Beams of Faith are not visible in his Conversation he is an Infidel He that sayes I know Christ or which is Equivalent believe in him and keeps not his Commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him Every habitual Sinner is an Unbeliever Unfeigned Faith receives the Word of God in all its parts Doctrines Commands Promises not only as Infallibly true but Superlatively good and precious and intirely embraces them with a despising of all things that may come in Competition with them and expresses the esteem and love of them in the practise The two inseparable properties of Saving Faith are 't is Humble and Submissive to divine Revelation 't is Dutiful and Obedient to divine Precepts This being premis'd I will consider the power of Faith proceeding 1. From the Nature of the Objects upon which 't is exercis'd 2. From the degrees of its Assent and Adherence to them 3. From the serious and frequent Application of the Objects to our Heart 1. From the Nature of the Objects upon which 't is exercis'd now between them and the most enticeing good things and the most fearful evil in this present state there is an incomparable difference The Apostle tells us This is the victory that overcomes the World even our Faith Victory supposes a Fight and a Fight supposes an Enemy The Enemy is declar'd the VVorld including the Men of the VVorld and the things of it This Enemy is in Combination with the Devil and the Flesh. He is stil'd the Prince of this World that manages the Temptations of it for the ruine of Souls He tryes his poisons according to the dispositions of Men in hopes of working in them He presents to some a charming Cup to intoxicate them with the pleasures of Sin he tempts others with things of Lustre with Titles of Honour and Dignity that dazle their Minds that they cannot give a true and safe judgment of things he allures others with Riches And as heat is doubled by reflexion so he enforces his
his impendent Suffering exprest a great perplexity Now is my soul troubled and what shall I say The fearful expectation of the just and heavy punishment due for our Sins perplex'd his Holy and Humane Nature he address'd a Request to God Father save me from this hour but it was with a Revocation but for this cause came I to this hour it was subordinate to his main desire Father glorifie thy Name When he was seized by his bloody Enemies and Peter struck with his Sword one of them he repress'd his rash Zeal with that Consideration The Cup which my Father has given shall I not drink of it He regarded his Soveraign Will in giving it and with Submission drank of the dregs of it How instructive is this to us to take the hottest and bitterest Potion that God our Father and Physician prepares for us 2. Prayer is an Effectual Means to obtain an increase of Spiritual Blessings 'T is the Law of Heaven that Blessings are to be obtain'd by Prayer for this is most Honourable to God and Beneficial to us 'T is the Supreme Act of Religious Worship discover'd by the Light of Nature to the Heathens Prayer is the Homage due to his Eternal Greatness the most glorious acknowledgement of his All-sufficiency that he is Able and Willing to relieve our Poverty from his immense Treasures notwithstanding our unworthiness for we are less than the least of his mercies and deserve the severe inflictions of his Justice 'T is the setting our Seal to his Truth that he is a God hearing Prayer 'T is very beneficial to us for it engages us to receive his Benefits with Adoration and Thankfulness and prepares us to receive new Favours and by our obtaining Blessings in this way we have a more Clear and Comfortable Sense of his Love that gives the sweetest Tincture and Relish to them 'T is true Prayer is not requir'd to inform God or to incline him to be Gracious and sometimes from his exuberant Goodness he prevents our desires but we cannot regularly expect his Blessings without the Sense of our Wants and Prayer to supply them Now all Blessings are originally from God but some are immediately from him As the Sun inlightens the World by its presence in the Day and the Moon and Stars inlighten it in the Night by Light borrowed from the Sun St. James tells us Every good and perfect gift descends from above from the Father of Lights All Blessings in the order of Nature the Qualities of the Body Beauty Strength Health or the Endowments of the Mind Knowledge Wit Eloquence are his Gifts all Temporary Talents Riches Power Dignity are from him by the mediation of second Causes but there are more precious and perfect Gifts that come from him immediately as the Father of Lights Sanctifying Graces and Spiritual Comforts by the Illumination and Infusion of the Holy Spirit The first sort of Blessings we are not to pray for absolutely for they may be pernicious by our abuse of them to our Souls and are often bestowed upon Reprobate Sinners But the other kind saving Graces deserve our most ardent desires As the hart pants after the water-brooks our Souls should seek after the Favour of God and Sanctifying Grace the infallible Testimony and effect of it We must pray for them unsatisfiedly not content with any thing else nor without excellent degrees of them David breaks out his ardent desires O that my wayes were directed according to thy Statutes O that my Soul may be baptiz'd with the Holy Ghost as with Fire to purifie and refine me from all my dross that as Gold taken from a vein of Earth receives such a lustre from the Fire as if it were the sole product of Fire so my renovation by the Spirit may be so intire that all Carnality may be abolish'd Our Prayers should be for our perseverance in well-doing Perseverance is a most free Gift of God a new Grace superadded to what we have received without it we shall forsake God every Hour God promises to give the sanctifying Spirit as a permanent Principle of Holiness in his People to cause them to walk in his Statutes and declares for this I will be enquired of by the house of Israel We must imitate Jacob who wrestled with the Angel and would not let him go till he had blest him This is an Emblem of fervent Prayer wherein we strive with the strength and sinews of our Souls and as it were offer violence to the King of Heaven to bestow Spiritual Blessings upon us Carnal Men are intemperate greedy and passionate in their desires of Temporal Blessings tho' Reason Religion and Experience of their Vanity should regulate them They are impatient and insatiable and will bear no denial nor delay but with regret and reluctancy But how remiss and cold are their desires for spiritual and eternal Blessings they invite a denial Their Prayers are defective in the Principle they do not understand the value and their want of them Divine Grace the gift of God's saving Mercy the dear purchase of the Sufferings of Christ the precious fruit of his Holy Spirit are of little price in their esteem Our Saviour tells the Samaritan Woman If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that asks thee Give me to drink thou wouldst have asked of him and he would have given thee living water We are encouraged to be earnest and resolved Suppliants for the Graces of God's Spirit because we are assur'd he is most willing to bestow them Our Saviour sometimes encourages us from the resemblance of a Father who cannot so unnaturalize himself and devest his tender Affections as to renounce his own off-spring to deny a Child necessary Food for his subsistence Will he give him a stone for bread or a serpent for a fish If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more shall your heavenly Father give the holy Spirit to them that ask it Sometimes he excites us to pray and not to faint from the Parable of an incompassionate Stranger a Judge that was overcome by importunity to afford relief to one in distress God delights to hear and answer those Prayers that are for his best Blessings When Solomon prayed for Wisdom to Rule his People God was so pleas'd that he gave him Wisdom in an Eminent Degree and as an accession Riches and Honour If we imitate Solomon in his Prayer we shall have his Acceptance St. James directs us If any man wants wisdom let him ask it of God who gives liberally and upbraids no man the Wisdom to manage Afflictions that may be for his Glory and our Spiritual Advantage He gives Liberally which either respects the Affection of the Giver or the Measure of the Gift or the repeated Acts of Giving and upbraids not neither with their unworthiness nor the frequency of their Addresses Liberality among men is a costly Vertue and but
few have a Natural Generosity or Christian Mercy and Means to express and exercise it The Necessities of others do not affect Men with so quick a sense as the parting with their Money to relieve them As the Balsam Tree does not drop its healing Liquor till the Bark is Cut. Sometimes the great number of Suiters is a pretence to excuse from the exercise of Bounty None of these can be Conceived of God There is nothing more Divine in the Deity and becoming his Nature than his Inclination to do good As the Mother with equal Pleasure nourishes the Child with her Milk as the Child draws it For the breast is uneasie till emptied God much more rejoices in doing Good than we in receiving it We are also assur'd of obtaining Spiritual Blessings by the Intercession of the Mediator The dignity of his Person who is higher than the Heavens the Son of his Love the Merits of his Obedience and Sufferings assure us of his Power with God He takes us by the hand and brings as to the Father perfumes and presents our Requests to obtain a favourable Reception When we are under impressions of Fear that God will deny our Prayers for Spiritual Blessings 't is as if there were no Love in the Mediator nor prevalency in his Mediation Besides the Spirit of Holiness is plenteously Conveyed under the Dispensation of the Gospel The gift of the Spirit in the richest degrees was reserved as an Honour to Christ in his Ascension 'T is said The Holy Ghost was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified The Blood of Christ was liberally shed that the Spirit might be liberally poured forth But the bestowing of the Spirit was at the Triumphant Ascension of Christ. Thou hast ascended on high thou hast led captivity captive and received gifts for men that is from the Father as the Reward of his Victory that he might dispense them to Men. The Principal Gift is the Holy Ghost comprehensive of all good things The Promise is perform'd under the Gospel I will pour forth of my Spirit the Spirit of grace and supplication upon all flesh There were some Sprinklings of it under the Law and confin'd to a separate Nation but now showers are poured down upon all Nations to purifie them and make them fruitful in Good Works The Apostle declares the admirable Efficacy of the Gospel The Law of the Spirit of Life has freed me from the Law of Sin and Death The Spirit of the Fiery Law so call'd with respect to its Original and Operations convinc'd of Sin and constrain'd Conscience to inflict tormenting impressions on the Soul the Presages of Future Judgment but afforded no Spiritual Grace to obey it Therefore 't is said to be weak and unprofitable But the Gospel conveys Supernatural Strength to obtain Supernatural Happiness 'T is foretold concerning the state of the Church in the times of the Gospel He that is feeble among them shall be as David and the house of David shall be as God as the Angel of the Lord before them Add farther the Holy Spirit directs our desires and God knows the mind of the Spirit who makes intercession for us according to the will of God Christ is our Advocate in Heaven and the Spirit in our Hearts by inflaming our Affections and exciting in us filial Trust in the Divine Mercy They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength If we are impotent in resisting Temptations and in doing the Will of God when Divine Assistance is ready upon our desires to confirm us our Impotence is voluntary and does not excuse us from Consequent Sin but is an antecedent Sin The sharpest Reproof we read from our Saviour to his Disciples was for their guilty Impotence Jesus answer'd and said O faithless and perverse generation How long shall I be with you How long shall I suffer you He had given them Power to heal Diseases and expel Evil Spirits but they had not used the means of Prayer and Fasting that was requisite for the exercise of that Power How justly do we deserve that stinging Reproach who notwithstanding the Gospel is the ministration of the Spirit do not by continual fervent Prayer apply our selves to God to partake of a rich abundance of Grace from the Holy Spirit I shall only add that as Prayer is a means to obtain more Grace by impatration so by the exercise of Grace in Prayer 't is increas'd Frequent Prayer has a cleansing Vertue in that as those who often come into the King's Presence to speak to him are careful to be in decent Habits that they may not be disparag'd in his sight so those who draw near to God will cleanse themselves from Sin that they may be prepar'd to appear before his Holy Majesty Humility Faith Reverence Love Zeal Resignation to the Divine Will Compassion to the Afflicted and other excellent Graces are exercised in Prayer as the sphere of their activity and as acquir'd Habits so infused are improved by exercise Frequent shooting not only makes persons more skilful in directing the Arrow to the Mark but more able to draw a stronger Bow None are more holy in Conversation than those that give themselves to Prayer Our Saviour prayed himself into Heaven and a Divine Lustre appear'd in his Countenance By our drawing near to God the beauty of Holiness will be impress'd upon us and brighten our Conversations Briefly according to the raised operations of Grace in Prayer we shall obtain more excellent degrees of it from Heaven for in bestowing the first Grace God is a pure Giver but in dispensing new degrees of Grace he is a Rewarder according to the Promise To him that hath shall be given 3. Frequent and attentive Hearing and Reading the Word and serious Meditation of it is a means appointed by the Divine Wisdom and Goodness for our growth in Grace The conception and propagation the sustaining and increasing the Spiritual Life is by the Word of Truth 'T is therefore compar'd to those things that are the productive and preserving Causes of the Natural Life 'T is the incorruptible Seed and Food to beget and nourish the Spiritual Life 'T is Milk for Babes Wine for the faint and strong Meat to confirm those of maturer Age. There is an objective Vertue in it whereby 't is apt and sufficient to regenerate us and to increase the vigour and activity of the new Life The Apostle calls it The Power of God to our Salvation The word of Grace is able to build us up to an inheritance among them that are sanctified 'T is a kind of Miracle in Nature that a Sience of a good Tree grafted into a sowre Stock draws the vital Moisture from the Root and converts it for the producing generous and pleasant Fruit The ingrafted Word being a Divine Doctrine over-rules the Carnal Nature and makes the Mind Will Affections and Actions holy and heavenly answerable to its quality The Commands of
it are clear and pure directing us in our universal Duty the Promises are precious encouraging us by the prospect of the Reward the Threatenings terrible to preserve us from Sin There is an instrumental fitness in the Word preached to perfect the Image of God in us for the manner of conveying the Revelation to us has a congruity to work upon the subject to whom 't is revealed The first insinuation of Sin was by the Ear the first inspiration of Grace is by it Through the Ear was the entrance of Death 't is now the gate of Life In Heaven we shall know God by sight now by hearing When a Minister of the Gospel is inlightened from Heaven and zealous for the Salvation of Souls he is fitter for this Work than if an Angel were a ministring Spirit in this sense and imployed in this holy Office For he that Preaches has the same interest in the Doctrine declar'd by him his everlasting Happiness is nearly concern'd and therefore is most likely to affect others When a holy fire is kindled in the Breast it will inflame the Lips the Mind convinces the Mind and the Heart perswades the Heart But we must consider that as the Instrument cannot effect that for which 't is made without 't is directed and applyed for that end so without a superiour influence of the Holy Spirit that gives vital Power to the preaching of the Word 't is without efficacy What our Saviour speaks of the Natural Life is applicable to the Spiritual Man lives not by Bread alone but by every Word that proceeds from God's mouth A Minister with all his Reason and Rhetorick cannot turn a Soul from Sin to Holiness without the Omnipotent Operation of the Spirit The Apostle tells the Thessalonians that the Gospel came not to them in Word only but also in Power and in the Holy Ghost The Gospel then comes only in Word when it pierces no further than the Ear that is the sense to try Words and distinguish different Sounds and Voices But the Truth of God directed and animated by the Spirit doth not stop at the Ear the door of the Soul but passes into the Understanding and the Heart that make a change so real and great in the qualities of Men as is express'd by substantial productions 'T is therefore said We are begotten and born again by the incorruptible seed of the Word The Word becomes effectual for the increase of Holiness when 't is mix'd with Faith which binds the Conscience to entire Obedience 'T is the Word of God our King Law-giver and Judge the Rule of our present Duty and of future Judgment in the great day of decision The Divine Law is universal and unchangable and the Duties of it are not necessary for some and needless for others but must be obeyed without partiality notwithstanding the repugnance of the Carnal Passions When 't is seriously believed and considered the hearers are induced to receive it with preparation and resolution of yielding to it There is no Truth more evident nor injur'd than this that perfect Obedience is due to the Will of God declar'd in his Word This all profess in the general but contradict in particulars when a Temptation crosses the Precept Now the first act of Obedience to the Truth is the believing it with so stedfast an assent wrought by the Spirit that it purifies the Heart and reforms the whole Man 2. With Faith there must be joyn'd an earnest desire to grow in Holiness This is declar'd by St. Peter As new born babes desire the sincere milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby In the Natural Life there is an inseparable Appetite of Food to maintain it the inward sense of its necessities causes a hunger and thirst after suitable supplies to preserve and improve it This is experimented in every one that is born of the Spirit they attend and apply the Word of God to them not merely to prevent the sharp reflections of Conscience for the impious neglect of their Duty for that proceeds from Fear not from Desire but to grow in Knowledge and Holiness not in an aiery flashy Knowledge that is only fruitful to increase Guilt and Punishment but substantial and saving Knowledge that is influential upon practice Hearing is in order to doing and doing is the way to Happiness 'T is not the forgetful hearer but the doer of the Word shall be blessed in his deed The bare knowledge of Evil does no hurt nor the bare knowledge of our Duty without practice does no Good Feeding without digesting the Food and turning it into Blood and Spirits affords no Nourishment nor Strength The most diligent hearing and comprehensive knowledge of our Duty without practice is not profitable The enemy of our Souls is content that Divine Truths should be in our Understandings if he can intercept their passage into our Hearts and Conversations He practices over continually the first Temptation to induce us by Guile to choose the Tree of Knowledge before the Tree of Life We are therefore commanded to be doers of the Word not hearers only deceiving our own Souls 3. That the Spiritual Life may be increased by the Word it must be laid up in the Mind and Memory and hid in the Heart David says I have hid thy Word in my Heart that I may not sin against thee His Affection to the Word caused his continual Meditation of it that it might be a living Root of the Fruits of Holiness in their season If there were the same care and diligence in remembring and observing the Rules of Life prescrib'd by the Wisdom of God in the Scriptures as Men use in remembring and practising Rules for the recovery of the Health of their Bodies and 't is justly requisite there should be more since the Life of the Soul infinitely excels the Life of the Body how holy and blessed would they be The Advice of the Roman Physician that is conducive for the Health of the Body is applicable to the Soul After a full Meal abstain from laborious Actions that the heat of the Spirits may be concentered in the Stomach for Digestion otherwise if diverted and imployed in Labour the Stomach will be filled with Crudities Thus after hearing the Word our thoughts should not be scattered in the World but we should recollect and revolve it in our Minds that it may be digested into practice 'T is said of the Virgin Mary She kept thâ—se sayings and pondered them in her heart There are powerful Motives to ingage us to a conscientious attendance upon this Duty Our Saviour tells us He that hears me that is with subjection of Soul hath Eternal Life And in one Instance he has declar'd how much approv'd and acceptable it was to him For when Martha was imployed about entertaining him and Mary was attentive to receive his Instructions he said Mary has chose the better part that shall not be taken from her His feeding Mary was more
Spiritual Perfection Unfolded and Enforced FROM 2 COR. VII 1. Having therefore these Promises dearly beloved let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit perfecting Holiness in the fear of God By WILLIAM BATES D. D. LONDON Printed for Jonathan Robinson at the Golden Lyon in St. Paul's Church-Yard and Brabazon Aylmer at the Three Pigeons in Cornhill 1699. Gulielmus Batesius S. S. Theol Prof Aetat 73. Nov 1608. THE PREFACE THE great Design of God in his saving Mercies is to transform us into the Image of his unspotted Holiness We are elected to be holy redeem'd to be holy call'd to be holy and at last we shall be receiv'd into Heaven and made glorious in Holiness without spot or blemish It was worthy of the descending Deity into this lower World to instruct and perswade Men by his perfect Rules and Example to be holy as God is holy in all manner of Conversation The Enemy of Souls in combination with the Carnal Mind use all their Arts to cool our endeavours in following Holiness and raise an army of Objections to dismay us and stop our progress to Perfection Sometimes the Deceiver inspires a Temptation with so soft a Breath that 't is not discern'd He suggests the Counsel of Solomon Be not Righteous over-much The intention of the wise Preacher is to direct us in the exercise of compassionate Charity towards others and not to censure them with Rigor and Severity for humane Frailties the Tempter perverts his meaning to make us remiss in Religion and shy of strict Holiness Moral Men value themselves upon their fair Conversation they are not stain'd with soul and visible Pollutions but are externally sober and righteous and they will advise that Men should not take a surfeit of Religion but rise with an appetite that 't is Wisdom to use so much of Religion as may quiet the Clamours of Conscience secure Reputation and afford some colour of Comfort But 't is a spice of Folly to be over-religious and justly exposes Persons to derision as vainly nice and scrupulous They commend the golden mean and under the pretence of temper luke-warmness The Objection in some part of it is specious and apt to sway the Minds of Men that do not attentively consider things To discover its false Colour and to make a true and safe Judgment of our Duty it will be useful to consider 'T is true there is a mediocrity between vicious extreams wherein the essence of inferiour Moral Vertues consists for they are exercised upon Objects of limited Goodness and must be regulated both in our Affections and Actions correspondently to the degrees of their Goodness Thus Fortitude is in the middle between base Fear and rash Boldness and the more firm and constant the habitual quality of Fortitude is the more eminent and praise-worthy it appears But in spiritual Graces that raise the Soul to God whose Perfections are truly infinite there can be no excess The divinest degrees of our Love to God and fear to offend him our endeavours in their heigth and excellency to obey and please him are our Wisdom and Duty That part of the Objection That strict Holiness will expose us to Scorn is palpably unreasonable Did ever any Artist blush to excel in the Art that he professes Is a Scholar asham'd to excel in useful Learning And shall a Christian whose high and holy Calling obliges him to live becoming its dignity and purity be asham'd of his accurate Conversation Can we be too like God in his Holiness his peculiar Glory Can that be matter of Contempt that is the supreme honour of the intelligent Creature A Saint when despised with titles of Ignominy by the Carnal World should bind their Scorns as a Diadem about his Head and wear them as beautiful Ornaments The Apostles rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of Christ. What Reproaches did the Lord of Glory suffer for us And what Pride and Folly is it that we should desire to be glorified by his suffering Reproaches and not willingly endure Reproach for his Glory Our continual and ardent endeavours to rise to Perfection commend us to our Soveraign and Saviour A cold-dead Heathen is less offensive and odious to him than a luke-warm Christian. It is a common Objection That to live in all things according to Rule to walk circumspectly and exactly to be confin'd to the narrow way will not only infringe but destroy our Liberty This is so precious a possession that Men will defend their Liberty with their Lives An ingenuous Person will rather wear a plain Garment of his own than a rich Livery the mark of Servitude But if Men will appeal to their Understandings they will clearly discern that the word Liberty is abus'd to give countenance to Licentiousness There is a free subjection and a servile liberty The Apostle tells the Romans When ye were the servants of Sin ye were free from Righteousness and being made free from Sin ye became the servants of Righteousness The Soul has two Faculties the Understanding and Will The Object of the Understanding is Truth either in it self or appearance the Object of the Will is Goodness either real or counterfeit Liberty is radically in the Understanding which freely deliberates and by comparative Consideration directs the Will to choose Good before Evil and of Good the greater and of Evil the less When the Understanding is fully illuminated of the absolute Goodness of an Object without the least mixture of Evil and represents it to the Will it is an act retrograde in Nature and utterly repugnant to the Rational Appetite to reject it The indifference of the Will proceeds from some defects in the Object or in the apprehension of it but when an infinite Good is duely represented to the Will the choice is most clear and free Of this there is an illustrious Example in the Life of Moses He refused to be called the Son of Pharaoh's Daughter choosing rather to suffer Affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of Sin for a season Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater Riches than the treasures of Egypt For he had an Eye to the recompence of Reward His inlightened Mind considerately ponder'd the Eternal Reward with the transient pleasure of Sin and his Judgment was influxive on his VVill to choose the glorious Futurity before the false Lustre of the Court VVhat is the goodly appearance of the present tempting VVorld but like the Rainbow painted Tears The heavenly Felicity is substantial and satisfying Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is Liberty He dispels the darkness of the Mind and by its illuminating guidance turns the VVill to accept and embrace those Objects that exceedingly satisfie its vast desires and capacity This is an eminent part of the divine Image engraven on the Soul in its Creation For God is soveraignly free and does all things according to the Counsel of his Will Our Servitude
was by Seduction Eve being deceived was in the Transgression Our Liberty is restor'd by Light The Truth makes us free The necessity that proceeds from external Compulsion and from the indeliberate and strong sway of Nature that determines to one thing is inconsistent with Liberty The Understanding is a free Faculty in the apprehension of Objects the VVill free in the election of them But in the consequent choice of the VVill that infallibly proceeds from Light and Love the perfection of its freedom consists VVhen God and his Commands are duely represented in their amiable excellencies the Love of the Law-giver and his Laws certainly produces Obedience to it with Choice and Complacency David expresses his Affection to the Divine Law and the principal motive of it I love thy Law because 't is pure As the Hands are free when they are directed by the Eyes and VVill so a Saint that with understanding and voluntary veneration worships God and obeys his Precepts which is our reasonable Service exercises and enjoys the truest sweetest and most honourable Liberty If the Son make you free ye are free indeed Freedom and Felicity are inseparable Servitude is the fatal concomitant of Vice VVhen a Philosopher was ask'd what Advantage he had obtain'd by the Study of Philosoyhy he replyed This among others that if all the Laws were cancell'd a Philosopher would live as uniformly according to the Rules of Decency and Honesty as before A Christian that has an inward Principle of Divine Knowledge and Love without the constraint of Paenal Laws will from a clear Judgment and Election obey God with delight and constancy There is a servile Liberty There are three mistakes in the VVorld of eternal destructive consequence to the Souls of Men concerning VVisdom and Folly Happiness and Misery Liberty and Servitude Some are seeming wise whose Ignorance is esteemed Judgment Such are the worldly wise who contrive and labour to lay up treasures for themselves here but are not rich towards God Our Saviour gives them a true Character They are Fools Others are esteemed happy in enjoying what they love whereas if they set their Love upon those Objects that deserve not that principal Affection but are pernicious to their Souls they are truly miserable in the fruition of them 'T is the sign of God's severe displeasure to give Men up to satisfie their vile Affections Some are seeming free whose Bondage is esteem'd Liberty Carnal Men presume of their Liberty because they follow the swinge of their Appetites But they serve divers Lusts and Pleasures and are under the dominion of Satan taken captive by him at his Will As if a Horse that takes a career in a pleasant Plain were free when the Bridle is in his Mouth and he is carb'd by the Rider at his pleasure The Apostles say of Idolaters That what they sacrific'd to Idols they sacrific'd to Devils 'T is equally true that when Men serve their Lusts they serve the Devil constructively doing things pleasing to them VVhen Man turn'd Rebel against God he became an absolute Slave His Understanding is now in the Chains of Darkness under Ignorance and Errors his VVill is inflav'd by infamous Lusts his Affections are fetter'd by insnaring Objects If no Man can serve two Masters how wretched is their Condition whose numerous and fierce Passions exact things contrary and are their Tyrants and Tormenters continually St. Peter speaks of impure Persons Their Eyes are full of the Adulteress they cannot cease from Sin This is true of all Sinners whose Hearts are possess'd by any kind of Lusts. They are hurried by them against the Reason and Rest of their Minds to the commission of Sin which is the most cruel and contumelious Bondage and the more shameful because voluntary But they are insensible of those subtle Chains that bind the Soul and think themselves to be the only free Men As when the Angel awaken'd Peter to release him from Prison he thought he saw a Vision so when they are excited to go out of their dark Prison they think the freedom of Duty the gracious Liberty of the Sons of God to be a mere Imagination Like one in the Paroxism of a Fever who sings and talks high as if he were in perfect Health but after the remission of the Disease feels his Strength broken with Pains and himself near Deaths Thus within a little while when the furious precipitancy of their Passions is cool'd and check'd by Afflictions they will feel and sink under the weight of their woful Bondage Another Objection and pernicious Fallacy of the Tempter whereby he frights many young Persons from the strictness of a holy Life is That Religion is a sowre Severity they must renounce all Delights turn Capuchins if they seriously engage themselves in a Religious Course and resolve to strive after pure and perfect Holiness But there is neither Truth nor Terror in this Suggestion to the inlighten'd Mind 'T is impossible true Holiness should make Men joyless and in the least degree miserable which is in the highest Perfection in God who is infinitely joyful and blessed Religion does not extinguish the joyful Affections but transplant them from Egypt to Canaan The Pleasures of Sin which are only forbidden in the first taste ravish the Carnal Senses But like Jonathan's Honey they kill by tasting when the Sweetness is vanish'd the Sting remains Whereas the Joy that proceeds from the exercise and improvement of Divine Grace and the Love of God shed abroad in the Heart by the Holy Ghost the Eternal Comforter the present Reward of it is vital and reviving the foretaste of Eternal Life 'T is true Carnal Men are strangers to this Joy they cannot relish Divine Delights but the Spirit of God like a new Soul inspires the sanctified with new Thoughts new Inclinations new Resolutions and qualifies them that Spiritual Objects are infinitely pleasing to them And whereas Carnal Pleasures are but for a season and within a little while dye and end in bitter distaste Amnon's excessive Love was suddenly turned into more excessive Hatred Spiritual Joys are increasing and ever-satisfying Now 't is an infallible Rule to direct our choice that is true Happiness which the more we enjoy the more highly we value and love I thought it fit to shew the Unreasonableness of these Objections that are perverse and poysonous which if not remov'd would blast my Design and desir'd Success in the subsequent Discourses But 't is more easie to prove our Duty to follow Holiness than to perswade Men to practice it I shall only add that the Reward of Holiness being so Excellent and Eternal our Zeal should encounter and overcome all Difficulties that oppose our obtaining it The strongest and swiftest Wings are too slow to dispatch our way to Heaven The Lord give his Blessing to make Sacred Truths effectual upon the Souls of Men. ERRATA PAge 15. Line 13 14. for Love read Law p. 29. in the Margent for iras
carentur r. irascarentur p. 29. l. 24. for content r. concent p. 34. l. 19. for last 1. worst p. 84. in the Margent dele audeo dicere Aug. p. 103. l. 〈◊〉 dele as p. 135. l. 7. for a 〈◊〉 in p. 164 in the Margent for aequanimitur imperitas r. aequanimiter imperitus for insolentur r. insolenter p. 181. l. 21. for never r. ever 2 COR. VII 1. Having therefore these Promises dearly beloved let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit perfecting Holiness in the fear of God CHAP. 1. The Coherence opened The inconsistency and danger of the Communion of Christians with Infidels The dignity of Believers prohibits it The Promise of Divine Communion obliges them to separate from contagious Converse with Unbelievers The Inference from those Motives The cleansing from all Pollutions and perfecting Holiness Purifying themselves is the Duty of Christians A Principle of Holiness actuated by the supplies of the Spirit is requite to enable Christians to purifie the 〈◊〉 The Pollutions of the Flesh 〈◊〉 the desiring and the angry Appetiâ—â—â—ey defile and debase Humane 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 difficulâ—… makes an easie entrance into the Soul He seems to devest himself of his Apostolical Commission and in the mildest and most tender manner mixes intreaties with his Authority as in a parallel place I beseech you brethren by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ c. 1 Cor. 1. 10. 2. The matter of the Address The cleansing us from all pollution of Flesh and Spirit and the changing us into the unspotted Image of God's Holiness These are the comprehensive sum of renewing Grace and are inseparable The Holy Spirit works both together in the Saints as the Sun by the same emanation of Light dispels the darkness of the Air and irradiates it But they are not merely different notions but different parts of Sanctification For the corruption of Nature is not a mere privation of Holiness as Darkness is of Light but a contrary inherent quality the Principle of all sinful Evils We are commanded to put off the old man and to put on the new To cease to do evil and to learn to do well We must purifie our selves from the pollutions of Flesh and Spirit The Soul and Body in the state of depraved Nature are like two Malefactors fastened with one Chain and by their strict union infect one another The pollution is intimate and radical diffusive through all the Powers of the Soul and Members of the Body The Spirit of the Mind the supreme Faculty with the Will and Affections want renewing We are commanded to perfect Holiness to aspire and endeavour after our original Holiness and to be always advancing till we arrive at the final consummate state of Holiness in Heaven In the fear of God That Grace has an eminent causality and influence in this Sanctification of Christians It is a powerful restraint from Sins in thoughts and acts in solitude and society to consider God's pure and flaming Eye that sees Sin wherever it is in order to Judgment Holy Fear excites us to exercise every Grace and perform every Duty in that manner that we may be approv'd and accepted of God 3. The Motive arises from the excellency of the Promises and the qualifications requisite for the obtaining them 'T is promised that God will dwell in us and walk in us whose gracious presence is Heaven upon Earth Strange Condescension that the God of Glory should dwell in Tabernacles of Clay far greater than if a King should dwell in a Cottage with one of his poor Subjects He will adopt us into the Line of Heaven I will be your Father and ye shall be my Sons and Daughters The qualifications are the purifying our selves from all defilements and striving to be entirely holy By the order of God every Leper was to be excluded from the Camp of Israel and will he have Communion with the Souls of Men over-spread with the Leprosie and covered with the Ulcers of Sin There is a special emphasis in the words saith the Lord Almighty Without the cleansing and renewing of Sinners Omnipotence cannot receive them into his Favour and Family There are fatal bars fix'd which the unholy cannot break through The Proposition that arises from the words is this The Promises of the Gospel lay the most powerful obligations on Christians to strive for the attainment of pure and perfect Holiness In the management of this Subject I will first consider the Duty as acted upon our selves 2. The parts of it The cleansing from Sin and perfecting Holiness 3. The force of the Motives the precious and unvaluable Promises of the Gospel And make Application of them 1. We are commanded to cleanse our selves which is our Duty and implies an ability deriv'd from Christ to perform it It may seem strange that Men in their depraved state should be excited to renew themselves Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean not one yet this Duty is frequently inculcated upon us Wash ye make ye clean put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes O Jerusalem wash thy heart from wickedness how long shall vain thoughts lodge within thee Cleanse your hearts ye sinners purifie your hearts ye double-minded A clear answer may be given to this 1. There is no productive Principle of Holiness in Man's corrupt Nature but strong aversions from it and inclinations to what is contrary to it There is a miserable impotency to all spiritual Good better express'd with tears than words 'T is natural and hereditary more difficultly cur'd than what is accidental God is the sole efficient in the regeneration of the Soul and the first infusion of Grace and the principal in the growth and improvement of it The Holy Spirit does not work Grace in us as the Sun forms Gold in the Earth without any sense in our selves of his operations but we feel them in all our Faculties congruously to their Nature inlightning the Mind exciting the Conscience turning the Will and purifying the Affections 2. After a Principle of Life and Holiness is planted in us we are by a continual supply of strength from Christ assisted to exercise it in all the acts that are proper to the Divine Life There is a resemblance between the Fruits of the Earth and the Graces of a Christian Seed must be first sowed in the Earth before it springs out of it and when 't is sowed the natural qualities of the Earth Coldness and Driness are so contrary to fructifying that without the Influences of the Heavens the heat of the Sun and showers of Rain the Seed would be lost in it Grace is drawn forth into flourishing and fruitfulness by the irradiating and warm influx of the Spirit But we are subordinate agents in carrying on the work of Grace to Perfection The Apostle exhorts us to work out our own Salvation with fear and trembling for 't is God works in us to will and to do
make stubborn Spirits complyant Indeed some are so perverse in their Passions that the mildest words will incense them no submission no satisfaction will be accepted their Anger causes mortal and immortal Hatred But these are so far from being Christians they are not Heathens but devested of all Humanity 3. If Anger has rush'd into the bosom that it may not rest there cancel the remembrance of the Provocation The continual reflecting in the thoughts upon an Injury hinders Reconciliation The art of Oblivion if practic'd would prevent those resentments that eternize Quarrels For this end let us consider what may lessen the Offence in our esteem In particular if very injurious words are spoken against us by one in a transport of Anger they should be more easily despised when they seem more justly provoking for they proceed from Rage not from Reason and no Person that is of a wise and sober Mind will regard them but as words spoke by a sick Man in the height of a Calenture Now to make us careful to prevent or allay this Passion it will be requisite to consider the inclination and sway of our Natures some as soon take fire as dry thorns and retain it as knotty wood Now 't is a fundamental Rule of Life that our weakest part must be guarded with the most jealousie and fortified with the strongest defence There we must expect the most dangerous and frequent assaults of Satan There he will direct his Battery and place his Scaling-ladders Let therefore the following Considerations settle in our Hearts How becoming an understanding Creature it is to defer Anger For the Passions are blind and brutish and without a severe command of them a Man forfeits his natural dignity What is more unreasonable than for a Man deeply to wound himself that he may have an imaginary satisfaction in revenging an Injury Into what a fierce disorder is the Body put by Anger The Heart is inflamed and the boiling Spirits fly up into the Head the Eyes sparkle the Mouth foams and the other symptoms of Madness follow Inwardly the angry Man suffers more Torments than the most cruel Enemy can inflict upon him A Man of Understanding is of a cool Spirit It was the wise Advice of Pyrrhus to those whom he instructed in the Art of Defence that they would not be angry For Anger would make them rash and expose them to their Adversary He that hath not Rule over his own Spirit is like a City broken down and without Walls and consequently exposed to Rapine and Spoil by every Enemy Satan hath an easie entrance into them and brings along with him a train of Evils We are therefore directed to watch against Anger and not to give place to the Devil Eph. 4. Consider how honourable it is to pass by an Offence 'T is a royalty of Spirit an imitation of God in whose Eyes the ornament of a meek and quiet Spirit is of great price The greater the Offence the greater the Glory of pardoning it How pleasant it is The Soul is possess'd in Patience 't is cool and quiet there is a Divine and Heavenly Content of the Mind the Will and Affections The Breast of a dispassionate Man is the Temple of Peace Besides let us frequently remember our want of the Divine Compassion There is no Man so innocent unless he absolutely forgets that he is a Man and his many Frailties but desires that the cause of his Life in the day of Judgment may be tryed by the Tribunal of Clemency for no Man can then be saved but by Pardon The due Consideration of this will make us more hardly provoked and more easily appeased with those who offend us Let us pray for the descent of the Dove-like Spirit into our Bosoms to moderate and temper our Passions Meekness is the fruit of the Spirit Gal. 5. 22. There is a Natural Meekness the product of the Temperament of the Humours in the Body this is a rare Felicity There is a Moral Meekness the product of Education and Counsel this is an amiable Vertue There is a Spiritual Meekness that orders the Passions according to the Rule of the Divine Law in conformity to our Saviour's Example This is a Divine Grace that attracts the esteem and love of God himself This prepares us for Communion with the God of Peace here and in Heaven To obtain this excellent frame of Spirit let us be humble in our Minds and temperate in our Affections with respect to those things that are the incentives of Passion The false valuations of our selves and the things of this World are the inward causes of sinful Anger Contempt and Disdain either real or apprehended and the crossing our desires of worldly enjoyments inflame our Breasts Our Saviour tells us he is meek and lowly and Meekness is joyned with Temperance as the productive and conservative cause of it He that doth not over-value himself nor inordinately affect temporal things is hardly provoked and easily appeased 3. I will consider the two other vicious Affections joyned by St. John with the Lusts of the Flesh the Lust of the Eyes and Pride of Life from which we must be purged or we are uncapable of the blessed relation of God's Children and of his Favour The infamous Character of the Cretians is proper to the ambitious covetous and voluptuous That they are evil beasts and slow bellies Covetousness is a diffusive Evil that corrupts the whole Soul 'T is radically in the Understanding principally in the Will and Affections vertually in the Actions 1. 'T is radically in the Understanding Men are first inchanted in their Opinion of Riches and then chained by their Affections The Worldly-minded over-value Riches as the only real and substantial Happiness the Treasures of Heaven which are spiritual and future are slighted as Dreams that have no existence but in the imagination They see no convincing charms in Grace and Glory the lustre of Gold dazles and deceives them they will not believe 't is Dirt. Gold is their Sun and Shield that supplies them with the most desireable good things in their esteem and preserves them from the most fearful Evils Gain is their main design and utmost aim their contrivances and projects are how to maintain and improve their Estates and the most pleasant exercise of their thoughts is to look over their Inventory 2. Covetousness is principally in the Will the place of its residence 't is called the love of Money There is an inseparable relation between the Heart and its Treasure We are directed If Riches increase set not your Hearts upon them 'T is observable that the eager desire to procure Riches is often subordinate to other vicious Affections either to Prodigality or Pride Prodigality excites to Rapine and Extortion from the violent motive of Indigence that is its usual attendant and from the conspiring Lusts of Sensuality which languish unless furnish'd with new supplies and nourishment Or Pride urges to an excessive
all must leave the Throne The greatest Monarchs and the most proud of their Greatness must descend into the Grave without their Scepters and Flatterers and be Confin'd to a dark Solitude where they shall have no other State or Carpets but the Worms to cover them and Corruption under them There is but one Kingdom that cannot be shaken and one Immortal King In the next World they must stand upon a level with the meanest Wretches and be accountable to the High and Everlasting Judge for their management of his Vicegerency There is nothing Man value themselves more than upon the account of their Understandings Knowledge puffs up But how little do we know Pride is the effect of great Presumption and little Knowledge Suppose one by experimental Curiosity and Inquiries could know all things in the Latitude of the sensible Creation this were but a refin'd kind of Vanity and could not afford satisfaction to an Immortal Spirit In short suppose a person eminently endowed with Divine Qualities wherein the resemblance of God consists there cannot be the least reason of Pride for they are all Graces dispenc'd from the Soveraign unaccountable pleasure of God who makes the most excellent Saint to differ from others 2. It will be an Excellent Means to Cure Pride to convince the Minds of Men what is true Honour and direct their Desires to it The Wisest of Kings has told us that before Honour is Humility Pride is a degenerous passion debases a Man and brings him into miserable Bondage enslaves him to the ignorant multitude Dependance upon the opinion and applause of the People whose Humors are very changeable is so uneasie that the Ambitious often Bite their heavy Chains though sometimes they Kiss them because they are gilded But Humility preserves the True and Noble Freedom of the Mind of Man secures his dear Liberty and peaceful Dominion of himself This is the effect of Excellent Wisdom 3. Humility is the most precious Ornament in God's Sight and to be approved by the Divine Mind and accepted by the Divine Will is the highest Honour most worthy of our Ambition 'T is like the precious Balm that mixt with other Liquors sinks to the bottom but then 't is visible and most amiable in the Eyes of God The Apostle's ambitious Labour was whether present or absent to be accepted of him Now what is the vain esteem and fading breath of Men compar'd with the acceptance of God Doth a Learned Man value the praise of the Ignorant given to his Composures and disregard the approbation of the Learned the proper Judges of it Is Worldly Honour a certain indication of real worth or can it satisfie the desires of the Soul A piece of rotten Wood shines in the Dark but when the Day-Light appears forfeits its Lustre so in the darkness of this World Titles of Honour seem Glorious but in the morning of Eternity they loose their flaming Brightness and vanish for ever 'T is true Magnanimity to despise the praise of men and to seek and value the honour that comes from God only After this short Life Men are dead for ever to the pleasure of their Fame I shall Conclude this part of our Subject with observing that Humility is a Vertue not known to the Philosophers who thought it to be opposite to Magnanimity but 't is especially recommended in the Gospel as a most Amiable and Excellent Grace We are Commanded to do nothing through strife or vain-glory but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than themselves This may seem an unreasonable Lesson and inconsistent with Sincerity But although the difference between Men in Civil things and Intellectual Perfections be clear yet in Moral Qualities we knowing our own Defects and secret Faults may prefer others whose conceal'd Excellencies are visible to God before our selves The Apostle Paul though he so excellently represented the King of Saints in his Life acknowledged himself to be the chief of Sinners 'T is observable that St. Peter in the account of his Fall and Repentance Recorded by St. Mark who wrote the Gospel by his Direction aggravates his Sin more than is exprest in the Gospel of St. Luke and St. John where his Denial is related but not his Cursing and Swearing saying I know not this man and his Repentance is not so fully declar'd for the other Evangelists tell us he wept bitterly in the reflection upon his denial of Christ but 't is onely said in Mark when he thought on it he wept Many Excellent Promises are made to the Humble They are declar'd blessed by our Saviour who are not Rich in Treasures but poor in Spirit God will revive the Spirit of the humble He will give Grace to the humble and hear their Prayers We are assur'd though the Lord be high yet he has a respect to the lowly He sets his Esteem and Love on them regards and relieves them Humility attracts the Eye and Heart of God himself Job was never more accepted of God than when he abhorr'd himself I shall add this Consideration that should be of Infinite weight with us The Son of God came down from Heaven to set before us a pattern of Humility He does in a special manner instruct us in this Lesson Learn of me I am meek and lowly Never could Glory ascend higher than in his Person nor Humility descend lower than in his Actions There are the deepest imprinting passages of Humility in the whole Course of his despised Life and Ignominious Sufferings What can be more Honourable than to imitate the Humble King of Glory CHAP. IV. Infidelity Hypocrisie Envy are in a special Sense pollutions of the Spirit The unreasonableness of Infidelity Hypocrisie Consider'd it sometimes proceeds from Ignorance and Error Sins are hid under the appearance of Virtues The stedfast belief of God's pure Eye an effectual means to Cure it Envy at the good of others with Malice wishing them Evil. The necessity of Regeneration evident from the consideration of inward defilements Motives to cleanse the Spirit God is highly dishonour'd by them They are more easily contracted and more frequently Committed than those that are acted by the Sensitive Faculties They are more incurable The Injections of Satan distinguisht from those Sinful Thoughts that arise from the Hearts of Men. They are our Infelicities I Shall now proceed to Consider some other Sins that in a special Sense are the pollutions of the Spirit It has been Observed already that in Carnal Sins the Spirit is the principal Agent but of other Sins 't is the Subject Such are Infidelity Hypocrisie Envy and Malice by which the Mind becomes dark and impure Infidelity whether proceeding from secret Atheism or open Deism rejects reveal'd Religion as unnecessary and groundless But the Arguments that are drawn from the clear and living Springs of Nature to prove the Being of God are of such Convincing Evidence that none but those whose Interest it is that there were no Supreme
in his dying Hour A sincere Life is attended with a happy Death and that is attended with a more happy Life God is the Rewarder of Moral Vertues with Temporal Blessings but he is the Eternal Reward of Godly Sincerity This is the first Notion of perfect Holiness in the present state 2. There is an Integral Perfection of Holiness that is an entire conjugation of all those Sanctifying Graces of which the Image of God Consists The New Creature in its forming is not like the effects of Art but the living productions of Nature A Sculptor in making a Statue of Marble finishes the Head when the other part is but rude stone But all the parts of a Child in the Womb are gradually form'd together till the Body is complete The Holy Spirit in renewing a Man infuses a universal habit of Holiness that is Comprehensive of all the variety of Graces to be Exercis'd in the Life of a Christian. As the Corrupt Nature stil'd the Old Man is complete in its Earthly Members all the Lusts of the Flesh both of the desiring and angry Appetite and disposes without the corrective of Restraining Grace the Natural Man to yield to all Temptations he will be Fierce with the Contentious Licentious with the Dissolute Intemperate with the Drunkard Lascivious with the Impure Impious with the Scorners of Religion Thus the Divine Nature stil'd the New Man is complete in all Spiritual Graces and inclines and enables the Sanctified to do every good Work The fruit of the Spirit is Love Joy Peace Long-suffering Gentleness Goodness Faith Meekness Temperance Although they are distinguisht in their Activity and particular Objects yet they always are joyn'd in the same Subject and Concentre in God who is Immutably Holy and One. They are mixt in their Exercise without Confusion As in a Chorus the variety of Voices is Harmonious and Conspiring Spiritual Graces according to the degrees of their Perfection such is the degree of their Union Every real Saint is conform'd to Christ of whom he receives grace for grace There are Spiritual Gifts of Arbitrary Dispensation the word of Wisdom the word of Knowledge the gifts of Healing the works of Miracles are separately given But when the Spirit prepares a Soul for his Habitation he purifies it from Sin and adorns it with every Grace if there be a defect of any Grace the opposite Sin in its power remains in the Soul and makes it impossible for the Holy Spirit to dwell there 'T is to be observed that when a Promise is made to any particular Grace in Scripture that Grace is to be considered in union with other Graces Our Saviour tells us Whoever believes shall be saved And St. Paul inspired by the Spirit of our Saviour saith That Faith separate from Charity is of no avail for Salvation Though I have all Faith so that I could remove mountains and have not Charity I am nothing A Faith that does not work by Love and is not productive of Obedience is of no saving efficacy St. James puts the Question What doth it profit my Brethren though a Man says he hath Faith and hath not Works Can Faith save him 'T is evident it does not For nothing asserts or denies more strongly than a Question He that does not by Faith in the Son of God live a holy Life must dye for ever St. John assures us That we are in a state of favour with God if we love the Brethren We know that we have passed from Death to Life because we love the Brethren But the sincerity of our Love to the Children of God is proved by our Love to God and keeping his Commandments and is inseparable from it Where-ever Salvation is promised to a particular Duty it must be understood in a collective sense We read Whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved But a prevailing Prayer must proceed from a holy Person that keeps the Commands of God and does those things that are pleasing in his sight The Prayer must be mix'd with Faith and Fervency The effectual fervent Prayer of a righteous Man avails much The connexion of saving Graces cannot be broken St. Peter excites us to give all diligence to add to our Faith in the Mysteries of Godliness Vertue an active power to render it lively and operative otherwise Faith is a mere speculative dead assent To Vertue Knowledge Prudence to direct its exercise in the seasons wherein and the manner how our Duties are to be performed To Knowledge Temperance to regulate our Appetites and Enjoyments in the use of things pleasing to the Senses To Temperance Patience to endure the Evils to which we are exposed in this lower state which is equally if not more necessary and excellent For Humane Nature is more affected and tempted by sharp Pains and Grief than delighted with Pleasure Without the exercise of these Graces our Religion will be by fits and flashes with interrupting intervals To Patience Godliness that is a respect to the Commands of God as our Rule and his Glory as our End that is distinguish'd from mere Morality that proceeds only from Humane Reason and respects the civil Happiness To Godliness Brotherly-kindness A sincere Love to all of the same Heavenly Extraction in whom the Image of God shines And to Brotherly-kindness Charity That extends to all the partakers of our common Nature All Spiritual Graces take their residence together in the Soul not one singly enters and keeps entire possession Our Saviour tells the young Man who had lived so regularly that he was lovely in his Eyes If thou wilt be perfect go and sell all and give to the Poor and come follow me He wanted Charity and Self-denyal to make his Obedience entire 3. There is a comparative Perfection This in Scripture is Intellectual or Moral 1. Intellectual Perfection The Apostle excites the Hebrews Wherefore leaving the Doctrine of the beginning of Christ let us go on to Perfection To more eminent degrees in the Knowledge of the Gospel both of the supernatural Doctrines of the Gospel or the Duties contained in it Of the first the Apostle is to be understood We speak Wisdom among those that are perfect That is declare Divine Mysteries to those who are prepared to receive them The Light of Nature declares the Being of God and his Essential Perfections Wisdom Power and Goodness shining in his Works but not his Counsels in order to our Salvation No Man hath seen God at any time The only begotten which is in the bosom of the Father he hath declared him There are some notices of Good and Evil of Vertue and Vice by the instructive Light of Reason but not sufficient to inform us of our full Duty The discovery of the purity and perfection of the Moral Law is from God The Gospel like a clear and equal Glass that discovers the beauties and blemishes of the Face makes known to us what defiles and
why to Believe and what things are reveal'd as objects of Faith To believe and not to understand the reason of our belief is to turn Faith into Folly and Extravagance The Men of Samaria were first induced to believe in Christ for the testimony of the woman that told them Come and see the man that has told me all that ever I did but when they heard Christ speak they said Now we believe not for thy words for we have heard and know that he is the true Saviour of the World The Understanding is convinc'd by reason of the Divinity of the Scriptures and as a pole supports a Vine but does not give Life and Vertue to its Root so Reason assists Faith in directing it to the Scriptures the Rule of it but Faith in the Mysteries of the Gospel derives its Life from God the Author of them By Reason we discover the relation order distinction and dependence of Reveal'd Truths and reject the vain opinions of Men when propos'd as Divine Oracles and the fruits of Fancy that are propos'd as Mysteries of Faith 4. God reveals himself to us in Scripture by Humane Expressions according to our Capacity of receiving the Knowledge of Divine things and we are to understand them in their apparent sense unless the precise litteral sense contains an evident Contradiction to what is certainly known by Reason and disparaging the Divine Perfections The sure Rule of interpreting them is to separate whatever is defective in them and apply them to God in the highest degree of Perfection We read of the Hands and Eyes of God in Scripture which signifie the perfection of God's Knowledge and Power they are the Organs by which Men do and know things but 't is Infinitely unworthy of God to think that the Divine Operation has need of such Instruments Thus the Communicating of the divine Nature from the Father to the Son is express'd by Generation which is the most Noble Production of one Living Creature from another especially of an Intelligent Creature with all its properties but who can declare his generation We must not conceive it with the Imperfection of Humane Generation wherein the Effect is separate from the Cause and successive to it For 't is a contradiction that God should beget a Son in his most perfect Image but he must be Eternal as the Father otherwise he would be defective in the resemblance of the first perfection of the Deity All resemblances of God in Scripture have their disparity and defects which must be separated from him But excepting such Cases the Word of God is to be understood in its proper sense For we must suppose that God speaks to us with an intention that we should understand him otherwise it were not Just to require us to believe it Our Minds could not firmly Assent to his Word but would be floating between Faith and Doubts And if God intends we should understand his Meaning how can we reconcile his Wisdom with his Will if he does not speak to us in the same sense as Men do to one another 5. We are obliged to believe supernatural Doctrines no farther than they are reveal'd God does not require our Assent to an Object beyond the Merit of it that is the degrees of its Revelation We cannot see an Object more fully than 't is visible The truth of Evangelical Mysteries is clearly reveal'd the manner of them is not discover'd To attempt the Comprehensive knowledge of them is perfectly vain for 't is Impossible Impertinent and of Dangerous Consequence 1. 'T is Impossible Supernatural Truths cannot be primarily and immediately discover'd by Reason but are only known to the Divine Mind and communicated to Created Understandings according to the pleasure of God No man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father has declar'd him The Gospel is called the Mystery of Christ the mystery of God the Father and of Christ. Because God and Christ is the Author and Revealer of it God Contrived in the secret of his Eternal Wisdom the design of our Redemption and reveal'd it in his own time 'T is therefore call'd the Mystery of his will 'T is call'd the Mystery of Faith that is 't is received by Faith 'T is call'd the Mystery of the Kingdom of God conceal'd from the World and only known in the Church The sublime Doctrines of the Gospel it is impossible for the clearest spirits of Men to discover without special Revelation were they as pure as they are corrupt and as sincere as they are perverse This Word Mystery is never applied to the Revelation that God has made of his Wisdom in the Framing the World and in the Effects of his Providence because since the Creation it has been expos'd to the sight of all Reasonable Creatures Men were not commanded to believe in order to Salvation till by Experience they were Convinced of the Insufficiency of Reason to direct them how to be restored to the Favour of God The Apostle declares for after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe The Doctrine of the Trinity is purely supernatual for the internal distinction of the Persons in the Divine Nature by their incommunicable Characters is only proper to God The Counsels of the Divine Will are above any Created Understanding Who knows the things of a man but the spirit of a man so none knows the things of God but the Spirit of God The Angels are superior Spirits to us and excel us in sublimity and perspicacity of Understanding but they could never know the Decrees of God though in his immediate Presence but as gradually reveal'd 't is said of the Mysteries of his Counsels they desire to look into them We cannot form a Conception in our Minds but what takes its rise from sensible things 2. The attempt is Impertinent for God has reveal'd those great Mysteries sufficiently for saving Faith though not to satisfie rash Curiosity There is a knowledge of curiosity and discourse and a knowledge of doing and performance The art of Navigation requires a knowledge how to govern a Ship and what Seas are safe what are dangerous by Rocks and Sands and terrible Tempests that often surprise those who Sail in them but the knowledge of the Causes of the Ebbing and Flowing of the Sea is not necessary To believe savingly in Christ we must know that he is the Living and True God and True Man that dyed for our Redemption but 't is not necessary that we should know the manner of the Union of his two Natures 'T is prudent to Confine our inquiries to things which are possible and profitable to be known The discovery of the manner of Divine Mysteries is not suitable to the nature of Faith for 't is the evidence of things not seen the obscurity of the Object is
Faith contemplate the Judge upon a white Throne the Emblem of his Holiness whom none can surprise or resist Let Faith make that day as present when there will be no place for Repentance when the Fountain of Mercy to Sinners will be sealed for ever when the Books of Eternal Life and Death shall be opened and all Men shall receive an irrevocable Judgment a Judgment so fearful that Sinners how great and terrible so ever they were in this World to others shall call to the Mountains to fall on them and the Hills to cover them from the Wrath of the Lamb For his day is come A Judgment so strict that the Righteous shall scarcely be saved Now what impressions of tormenting Fear or reviving Hopes will the strong Belief of the Eternal Judgment and the Consequences of it make in us when Heaven and Hell shall divide all Men according as we are prepared or unprepared for the Tryal of that deciding Day How will it make us circumspect and cautious to avoid Evil active and ardent in doing Good for every thing must be brought in Judgment How ambitious and diligent to be accepted of our Judge Let Faith open a Window into Heaven and represent the Saints in their Sun-like Brightness their Glory and Joy and triumphant Felicity in the Eternal Kingdom where God is all in all How will the believing view of this rectifie our Minds and convince us that nothing deserves our high Esteem and Love but the Favour and Fruition of the blessed God Let Faith open the fatal Gates of Hell that are never shut upon the Damned and discover the Scenes of Woe the Sights of Horror the tormenting Passions of Reprobates their desperate Sorrow for the loss of Heaven and fierce indignation that others enjoy it both which are implyed in their weeping and wailing and gnashing of Teeth How powerful will this representation be to keep us in awe and order to controle the Lusts and Licentiousness of Carnal Appetites How would this double Vision make us esteem all the good things here as vile as dross and all the evil as light as Feathers in comparison of eternal things How would this inspire us with resolutions to take Heaven by violence and to fly from the Wrath to come 3. The efficacy of Faith proceeds from the serious and frequent application of Eternal Objects to our Minds and Hearts All that are Christians in Profession prefer in the Idea and Speculation Eternal Things before Temporal but in Practice and Choice the most prefer Temporal before Eternal Present and sensible things strongly affect the Carnal Faculties and excite the Natural Inclinations that were dormant in the absence of alluring Objects but when awaken'd they distract and scatter the Mind from a just comparing of things present and things future and the Will applyes the Thoughts to what is delightful to the carnal part and the application determines the choice The interposition of Earthly things eclipse the Light of Faith and weakens the reflections of that Light upon the Mind A strong Temptation defaces the impression of things future though infinitely great and consequently the Passions prevail and Faith is vanquish'd What Man that has Heaven and Hell in his view and considers that the Day of Death and Judgment are equally uncertain as to the fix'd time and equally certain as to the event and that this short Life must issue either into rivers of Pleasure for ever or into an abyss of endless Misery can be doubtful a moment what to choose and what to avoid Yet 't is evident that vast numbers of Men that are between two Eternities are indifferent and unconcerned into which their Lot shall be determined The inchanting World darkens the remembrance and damps the desire of Heaven and extinguishes the fear of Hell Transient Thoughts of future things cannot excite and influence the Affections nor regulate the Will and Actions according as the moment of them requires Moses despised the Pomp and Pleasures of the Egyptian Court and chose Afflictions with the People of God because he had an intent and fix'd Eye upon the future Reward Paul had a Heavenly Vision the Idea of which was always bright in his Memory and a Heavenly Conversation Now Faith supplies the want of Vision and if its acts are not interrupted by Earthly Objects deadness will continually inspire us with suitable affections to eternal things Above all other means let us fly to Prayer that the Holy Spirit by his illuminating guidance would direct our Minds and actuate our Faith We have received the Spirit that we may know the things given us of God That the Spirit would be our Remembrancer and strongly impress eternal things upon us Without his Influence our Consideration will be cold and ineffectual 2. There is a justifying Faith The Apostle declares Being justified by Faith we have Peace with God This is very clearly open'd in the Gospel yet there have been lately publish'd some Contentious Writings about it mix'd with such Railleries and Contumelies that have opened a Scandalous Scene and exposed Religion to the Derision of Libertines and profane Spirits and affected the Godly with sorrowful impressions and with earnest longings after the Kingdoms of Light and Love where Ignorance and Strife are abolish'd for ever Injurious Language convinces none but renders the Minds of Men more averse from Instruction We are not likely to discover the Truth in a mist of Passion but when Truth is calmly convey'd the Mind is more attentive to receive it and its convincing and perswasive Power insinuates into us Christian Love would lessen the number and allay the heat of our Controversies I have discours'd elsewhere concerning Justifying Faith and shall now very briefly glance at some things wherein its Nature and purifying Vertue consists Justification is an Act of God as supreme Judge invested with the Relation of a Father wherein his Majesty and Mercy are equally illustrious in pardoning our Sins and conferring upon us a right to Eternal Life for the Satisfaction and Merits of Christ's Righteousness imputed to us and received by Faith Faith is the Condition that qualifies us to have Pardon applyed to us and its Nature consists in receiving Christ upon the terms of the Gospel that is our unfeigned accepting him as our Prince and Saviour and intire relyance upon him The general belief of the Gospel is not Justifying Faith but our regular trust in the pardoning Grace of God necessarily includes our performing the Condition of the Promise that is a relyance on Christ joyn'd with a sincere resolution to obey him A particular perswasion that our Sins are pardoned is not Justifying Faith We are commanded to believe that we may be pardoned Many sincere Believers have distracting Doubts about their Pardon The matter being of infinite importance they are fearful in the inquiries of their Title to it And others are deceived with Presumption in stead of Faith in Christ and Security in stead of
his actual concurrence For every Creature is maintain'd by a successive continual production To affect us consider the preserver of Men brought us safely into the World through the dark Valley of Death where thousands are strangled in the birth We are born by him from the belly and carried from the womb How compassionate was his Goodness to us in our Infancy the state of wants and weakness when we were absolutely incapable of procuring supplies or securing our selves from many dangers surrounding us The preparing the Milk for our Nourishment is the work of the God of Nature The Blood of the Mother by the secret channels of the Veins is transfused into the Breasts and is a living Spring there They are but two because 't is the ordinary Law of Nature to have but two Children at a Birth They are planted near the Heart which is the Forge of Natural Heat and transforms the Blood collected in the Breasts into Milk And there is a mystery of Love in it for the Mother in the same time nourishes her Child with delight regards and embraces it From Infancy his Mercy grows up with us and never forsakes us He is the God of our Lives He draws a Curtain of Protection and Rest about us in the Night and repairs our faint Faculties otherwise our Bodies would soon decay into a dissolution He spreads our Table and fills our Cup. He is the length of our days There is such a composition of Contrarieties in the Humours of the Body so many Veins and Arteries and Nerves that derive the vital and animal Spirits from the Heart and Head to all the parts we are exposed to so many destructive accidents that were not the tender Providence of our true Father always watchful over us we should presently fail and dye The Lord is a Sun and a Shield As the Sun is a universal Principle of Life and Motion and pours forth his treasures of Light and Heat without any loss and impoverishing Thus God communicates his Blessings to all the progeny of Men. He is a Shield protecting us from innumerable Evils unforeseen and inevitable without his preventing Goodness Were we only kept alive and sighed out our days in Grief and Pain were our passage to the next State through a barren Wilderness without any refreshing Springs and Showers this were infinite Mercy For if we duely consider his Greatness and our Meanness his Holiness and Justice and our Sinfulness it would cause us to look up to God with admiration and down to our selves with confusion that our Lives so frail and so often forfeited are preserved The Church in a desolate state acknowledges 'T is the Lord's Mercy that we are not consumed because his Mercies are renewed every morning 'T is Mercy upon Mercy all is Mercy Our Saviour with respect to his humble state says I am a Worm and no Man but we are Serpents and no Worms And as 't is usual to destroy venomous Creatures in the egg before they have done actual mischief we that are Children of Wrath by Nature whose Constitution is Poyson might have been justly destroyed in the Conception This ravish'd the Psalmist into an extasie of Wonder whilst he contemplated the glorious Lights of Heaven What is Man that thou art mindful of him or the Son of Man that thou shouldst regard and relieve him He bestows innumerable and inestimable Benefits upon a race of Rebels that boldly break his Laws and abuse his Favours He not only suspends his Judgments but dispenses his Blessings to those that infinitely provoke him Now can we be unaffected with his indulgent Clemency his immense Bounty his condescending and compassionate Goodness Why does he load us with his Benefits every day but for his Goodness sake and to endear himself to us For he is always ready to open his bountiful Hand if we do not shut our Breasts and harden our Hearts not to receive his Gifts His Mercy is like the Widows miraculous Oyl that never ceas'd in pouring out while there was any Vessel to receive it Then the flowing Vein was stop'd How is it possible such rich and continued Goodness should not insinuate it self into our Souls and engage our Love to our blessed Benefactor Can we degenerate so far from Humane Nature nay below the Sensitive for the dull Ox and stupid Ass serve those that feed them as to be Enemies to God How prodigious and astonishing is this degeneracy 3. The Love of God appears in its full Force and Glory in our Redemption The Eloquence of an Angel would be very dis-proportion'd to the dignity and greatness of this Argument much more the weak Expressions of Men. That we may the more distinctly conceive it I will briefly consider the greatness of the benefit and the means of obtaining it Man in his state of unstain'd Innocence was furnisht with power to persevere but left in the hand of his own Counsel He was drawn by a soft Seducer to eat of the forbidden Tree and in that single Instance was guilty of universal Dis-obedience He was ingaged in a deep Revolture with the Apostate Spirits and incurr'd the Sentence of a double Death both of the Body and of the Soul Now where was the Miraculous Physician to be found that could save us from Eternal Death Who could Appease God and Abolish Sin God was affected with tender pity at the sight of our Misery and though the morning Stars that fell from heaven are now wandring Stars for whom the blackness of darkness is reserv'd for ever yet he was pleased to recover Man from that desperate state in a way becoming his Perfections This was the Product of his most free Love God's Will and Christ's Willingness were the Springs of our Redemption for he might have pari jure with the same just Severity have dealt with us as with the Rebellious Angels There was no legal constraint upon our Saviour to dye for us for he was holy harmless undefiled and separate from Sinners There was no violent Constraint for he could with one Word have destroy'd his Enemies The depth of his Wisdom the strength of his Power the Glory of his Holiness and Justice were illustriously reveal'd in this great work but Love was the Regent Attribute that call'd forth the other into their distinct Exercise and acts Most Wise Omnipotent and Holy Love saved us What the Psalmist speaks of the Divine Perfections in making us I am fearfully and wonderfully made is in a nobler Sense verified in our Salvation we are fearfully and wonderfully Redeem'd by the Concord of those seeming irreconcileable Attributes Vindictive Justice and Saving Mercy Our Rebellion was to be expiated by the highest perfection of Obedience and thereby the honour of God's Moral Government to be repair'd For this end the Son of God dis-rob'd himself of his Glory and put on the Livery of our frail Flesh and in the form of a Servant became obedient to the Death of the Cross to rescue us
Carnal Satisfaction What sweeter reflection can there be of Conscience the only true and internal Comforter than upon Innocence and Victory 2. The discovery of our progress in Holiness is made by the habitual frame of the Heart and the fixed regularity of the Life There cannot be a true Judgment of a Christian either when he is best disposed or when he is worst disposed One that has less Grace may sometimes in the use of the Ordinances feel high and holy Affections in an unusual manner An excellent Saint in time of temptation may feel the power of Corruption strangely great A strong Man in a fainting Fit is weaker than another a weak Man in a Fever is stronger than two But we may judge of the degrees of Grace by the spiritual frame of the Heart and the actions flowing from it The character and denomination of Men in Scripture is from two Principles the Flesh and Spirit The Apostle tells us That they that are after the Flesh do mind the things of the Flesh and they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit Those who are not distinguish'd from the Carnal in the Resurrection of Grace shall not be separated from them in the Resurrection of Glory The Carnal are under the prevalent influences of the outward Senses their Minds and Wills their Imaginations and Affections their Discourses and Actions are all pointed on the Earth their weak Eyes are dazzled with the false lustre of worldly things their Hearts are ravish'd with them With what an accent and emphasis do they express their desires Who will shew us any good The World is the principal Object of their Esteem and Love they labour continually they sweat and freeze and move in a circle of toilsome Employments their desires are uncessant and unsatisfied without obtaining it and their acquiring one thing kindles desires after another But how slow and slack are their endeavours after eternal things They use God to enjoy the World But the Saints are spiritual in their Principles Objects and Ends. God is a pure Spirit and the more we are spiritualiz'd the more we partake of the Divine Nature and are pleasing in his sight This discovers it self by our Esteem Affections and Conversations When the Mind is purified from Carnal Prejudices and Passions then the beauty and goodness of God all his amiable excellencies appear and powerfully attract the Thoughts and Affections The Christian that can say with the Spirit of the Psalmist Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none upon Earth I desire beside thee and in the Expression of the Church The Lord is my portion saith my Soul he is spiritually-minded He places his Happiness in the Favour and Fruition of God His temporal affairs are subordinate to his main design He prosecutes with the greatest resolution diligence and delight his blessed End He uses the World to enjoy God Riches is principally valued by him as he sees God's Love in them and shews his Glory by them Now 't is an infallible Rule as we are affected towards God and those things that have the nearest resemblance to him accordingly we may judge of the degrees of our Spirituality More particularly 1. The Divine Law is a clear Glass wherein the Wisdom the Rectitude the Goodness and Holiness of God are evident and consequently according to our Valuations and Love to it there is a sure sign of a Divine Temper and its prevalency in the Soul David the Man after God's own Heart declares it to be his incomparable Treasure his dearest Enjoyment 'T was the pleasing Object of his Mind and Will 'T was his meditation all the day He expresses his Love to it in the highest degree by intimating 't is inexpressible Oh how I love thy Law He loved it because 't was pure The Holiness of God so conspicuously shin'd in its Precepts that it was as strong an ingagement to his Affections as the Majesty of God by its Sanction oblig'd his Conscience to obey it 2. When the Worship of God in its purity and simplicity is the Object of our Esteem and Love 't is the effect of a spiritual frame of Soul During the Levitical Dispensation the Service of God was perform'd with Pomp and Lustre suitable to the Church in its minority when Faith did need the assistance of the Senses But now the Church is come to mature Age and brought to nearer Communion with God the gaudy allurements of Sense are taken away Men are naturally under the dominion of Sense of this there is the most clear and palpable Proof in the Heathen World that would rather worship visible Idols than the true invisible God 'T is a certain indication of Mens Carnal Minds that they are pleased with Carnal Service that lavishly runs out in Formalities which by sympathy works upon them This affects the Eye and is far more easie than Spiritual inward Worship that issues from the strength of the Soul and is performed with attention and ardency This is very disparaging to the Nature of God for it proceeds from the conceiving of him to be like themselves who are not Heavenly and Spiritual to be pleased with an Earthly Bodily Service The introducing Theatrical Ceremonies into the Service of God is directly opposite to the simplicity of the Gospel Whatever pretences are made that they set a gloss upon the plainness of Christian Worship and make it more amiable and venerable they are like the artificial Painting of natural Beauty that corrupts and does not commend it The productions of Humane Minds are imperfect at first and are polish'd and arrive to perfection by degrees But Divine Institutions are compleat in their kind at first and the more they recede from their original they lose of their purity and perfection How acceptable those parts of Worship are not chosen and commanded by God we may clearly understand by considering that the enjoyning such new Rites is a tacit presumption that the Reason of Man knows better how God should be honour'd than himself does and how unprofitable they are to us is evident for being used without his Warrant and Promise we cannot expect the conveyance of his Grace and obtaining his Favour by them Only Spiritual Religion the inward reality is of value in his esteem When the Understanding is spiritually inlightened it esteems the simplicity of Gospel-worship to be its true Beauty 'T is like the nakedness of Paradise the indication of the unstained Purity of our first Parents in that state 'T is true in the Worship of God we are to glorifie him with our Bodies to behave our selves in such a manner as may express Reverence and excite Affection but the joining Humane Devices upon that pretence is the snare of Conscience and has been fatal to the Peace of the Church 3. The Mind when spiritually illuminated sees the true worth of the Saints though in an obscure condition and accordingly honours and loves them 'T is the character of one that
shall dwell in the holy hill of God that in his Eyes a vile person is contemned but he honours them that fear the Lord. Carnal Men are struck with outward Splendour but inward Beauty is not within their prospect They despise the holy who are poor and mean in their outward circumstances But the Spiritual Man looks upon those who are lofty and lawless with Contempt as beneath Men in an ignominious bondage to their Lusts But the godly who are dignified with the glorious Titles of the Saints and Sons of God are most precious and dear to him It is easie to know a Picture well drawn if we are acquainted with the Person whom it represents Those who know what Holiness is in God know what it is in Men. Holiness is the essential purity of his Nature whereby he is infinitely opposite to all Moral Evil. Accordingly those who are undefiled with sinful Evils are certainly his Children David stiles them The excellent in whom is all his delight It argues a clearer Spirit and more sacred Temper to discover the shining excellencies of the Saints notwithstanding their eclipse by the interposing medium of their Afflictions The Apostle tells us of some that wandred in sheeps-skins and goats-skins being destitute afflicted tormented confined to dens and caves of whom the World was not worthy The Divine Image is renewed in the Saints and shines in their Lives and makes them amiable in God's Eyes and so dear to him that he gives them in charge to the Angels the Armies of Light those bright and vigilant Guardians to secure them from Evil. They are glorious within tho' often disguised and shaded by Poverty and Afflictions Without an internal Light their value is not known 3. To preserve an equal temper of Mind and tenor of Conversation in the various turns and changes of the present state argues an excellent degree of Holiness The condition of Men in this World is like the Sea the Theatre of Inconstancy Their Affections are like the Wind some are Turbid others Serene and Chearful some Warm and Comforting others Cold and Sharp some Placid and Gentle others Stormy and Furious and 't is as difficult to regulate the Affections as to order those discordant Spirits in the Air. They are the most depraved Faculties in Man there are some sparks of Light and Purity in the Natural Conscience but the Passions are the Fountains of Sin and Folly By their unruly Insurrection the understanding is depos'd and Men are brought into a brutish Servitude They are sometimes Jealous to Rage Sad to Despair Dead with Fear Drunk with Joy and fond Hopes of conceited Happiness To free us from their Vanity and Tyranny is the most Noble effect of Grace Now these dark Powers are never more unruly and turbulent than in the change of Conditions whether Prosperous or Calamitous The observation of Hippocrates that the change of Seasons breeds Diseases in the Body is equally true in the change of Mens Conditions with respect to the distempers of the Mind especially if two Circumstances are joyn'd that the Changes be great and sudden as 't is an insufferable violence to Nature to pass immediately from one Extreme to another 'T is argued on both sides whether sudden and great Calamities do more disorder the Mind by Despair or sudden and great Prosperity by vain Presumption This may be said that Afflictions are more apt to restore Reason that was lost in Prosperity as is visible by frequent Experience and in sudden Prosperity many have lost the Understanding they had in a low Condition 'T is a point of high and holy Wisdom little understood and less practis'd to manage Prosperity with Humility and Discretion and bear Adversity with Patience to possess the Soul and guide it by clear and steddy Rules becoming every Condition St. Paul declares I have learn'd in whatsoever state I am to be content I know how to be abased and I know how to abound every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and to suffer need In Prosperity he was lowly and temperate ready to resign all at the first call of the Giver In Adversity he was content as if he had a secret Treasure a conceal'd Fountain issuing from within he was Rich in his deep Poverty for 't is not acquiring Possessions but the retrenching our Desires that makes us truly Rich. All the Gold and Silver of the West-Indies and the Pearls and Jewels of the East cannot truly enrich the Soul This Lesson he had learnt in the School of Heaven and by Experience and Exercise made it Familiar to him as our Saviour learnt obedience by his Sufferings This is a Duty as difficult as excellent therefore a wise and holy Man either conscious of his own weakness or suspicious of his strength so earnestly deprecated the Extremes Give me neither poverty nor riches feed me with food convenient for me lest I be full and deny thee and say who is the Lord Or lest I be poor and steal and take the name of the Lord in vain He was not without doubt or danger lest he should be corrupted by Prosperity or foil'd by Adversity There is great hazard in either but more in Fulness than in Want as was touch'd on before He that rows in a Shallop near the shore needs not the Skill and Courage of a Pilot that directs a Ship through Tempestuous Seas and with his ill-govern'd Ship must sink to the bottom The Temptations of Prosperity are more numerous a swarm of Flyes come to sweet things and are very grateful to the sensual Appetites the Temptations of Adversity are troublesome and grievous and at their appearance Nature recoils from them and accordingly the Tempter manages them he insinuates into the Heart like a Serpent by Pleasures and transfuses his poison indiscernibly but like a Roaring Lion he pursues the Afflicted Experience instructs us that many have made an easie forfeiture of their Integrity when Prosperous and in sharp Afflictions have been recover'd But in heavy Calamities we are apt either to be fir'd with Discontent and constructively to dispute with God about the Righteousness of his proceedings or to faint and languish by bleeding inwardly Vexation and immoderate Sorrow hinder the free Exercise of Reason and Religion and Mens sufferings occasionally increase their sins As when Physick does not work well it improves the Disease and brings Death more speedily and painfully Now 't is rare to a wonder to see a Person wisely to manage these wide extreams and that there is not such a variation of Scenes in the Passions according to External accidents If the Sun should make a search it would discover but few among the numberless number of Christians that enjoy prosperity without Insolence or suffer Adversity without Impatience or such dejection as exceeds the Rule of the Passions To endure the burning Line and frozen Pole without distempering the Blood and
pardon externally the most provoking Injuries but internally quench all inclinations to revenge now it will require our Noblest Care and most Excellent Endeavours to practice these high Rules If there were an extract of the Corrupt Morals in the Philosophy of the Heathens it would be visible how defective it is to restore Man to his primitive Holiness They were Idolaters not merely by Temptation but by Principle and Resolution it was their Maxim that a Wise Man should Conform to the Worship practis'd in the places where they lived Their Moral Philosophy ascended no higher than to instruct us how to act as Men for it considers in them only Humane Qualities and directs their Actions in a respective order to Natural Felicity To do justly to dye generously to allay the fiery agitations of the Passions that make Men miserable in themselves and vexatious to others is the highest pitch to which this Heathen Philosophy pretends They had some glimmering confus'd Notions of their Duty towards God but like the thin appearance of some Stars in a dark Night without Efficacy But the Gospel reveals our Duty so as it may be clearly known and strongly imprest on us There are various Duties in the compass of a Christians practise and 't is an advantage to have them reduc'd to some comprehensive Heads that may bring them often to our Minds The Apostle gives us the bright sum of our Duty The grace of God that brings salvation hath â—ppâ—â—â—'d unto all â—â—n teaching us thâ—â— dâ—nying ungodliness and worldly lusts 〈◊〉 should liâ—â— godly righteously â—nd soberly in the prâ—â—â—â—t world There is no Rule more eâ—â—â—â—â—â—ve and influential into the Life of a Christian thâ—â— to walâ— worthy of God becoming our Relation to him 〈◊〉 ouâ— Heavenly Father and our Union with his Son as our Spiritual Head and the Supernatural Happiness reveal'd in his Word We are commanded to â—â—lâ— ciâ—â—â—mspectly and â—â—â—ctly not as fools bâ—◠〈◊〉 wiâ—â— Sometimeâ— there is a particular eâ—umeration of our Duties Finally brethren whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are jâ—sâ— whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good râ—port if therâ— be any vertue any praise think on these things From what has been said of the Obligation of the Evangelical Rule 't is evident how destructive the Doctrine of the Church of Rome is that many things prescribed in the Gospel are Counsels of Perfection not Universal Laws A Doctrine fatally fruitful of many pernicious Consequences of Spiritual Pride the poison of the Soul They depress the Divine Law while they Assert a more Excellent Holiness in uncommanded Works and they exceed the rule in matters of Supererogation It induces slothfulness for they securely allow themselves in the neglect of their duty and not only contradict the Gospel in their Practises but supplant it in their Principles And as they relax our obligation to the Precepts of the Law so by other Doctrines they release Men from the fear of the Sanction and Penalty for the Doctrine of Purgatory takes away the fear of Hell and the Doctrine of Indulgences the fear of Purgatory 2. The Gospel propounds to us Examples of Perfection to raise us to the best heighth 1. We are Commanded to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect There are some Attributes of God that are not the Object of our Desires and Imitation but of our highest Reverence and Veneration Such are his Eternity Immensity Omnipotence Immutability There are other Attributes his Moral Perfections that are imitable Holiness Goodness Justice Truth which are purely and fully declar'd in his Law and visibly in the Works of Providence This Command as was before explain'd is to be understood not of an equality but resemblance He is Essentially Transcendently and Unchangeably Holy the Original of Holiness in understanding Creatures There is a greater disproportion between the Holiness of God and the unspotted Holiness of the Angels than between the Celerity of the motion of the Sun in the Heavens and the slow motion of the shadow upon the Dial that is regulated by it It should be our utmost Aim our most earnest Endeavour to imitate the Divine Perfection As Wax is to the Sâ—al so is the Spirit of Man to his End the same Characters are ingraved in it The Soul is God-like when the principal leading Powers the Understanding and Will are influenc'd by him The Heathen Deities were distinguished by their Vices Intemperance Impurity and Cruelty and their Idolaters sinâ—d boldly under their Patronage The true God commands us to be holy as God is holy to be followers of him as dear Children For Love produces desires and endeavours of likeness 2. The Life of Christ is a Globe of Precepts a Model of Perfection set before us for our imitation This in some respect is more proportionable to us for in him were united the Perfections of God with the Infirmities of a Man He was hâ—ly harmless undâ—filed and separate from Sinners His Purity was absolute and every Graoe in the most Divine degree was express'd in his Actions His Life and Death were a compounded Miracle of Obedience to God and Love to Men. Whatever his Father order'd him to undertake or undergo he entirely consented to He willingly took on him the form of a Servant 't was not put upon him by compulsion In his Life Humility towards Men infinite descenâ—s below him Self-denial Zeal for the Honour of God ardent Desires for the Salvation and Welfare of Men were as visible as the Flame discovers Fire In his Sufferings Obedience and Sacrifice were united The willingness of his Spirit was victorious over the repugnance of the Natural Will in the Garden Not my Will but thine be done was his unâ—lterable choice His Patience was iâ—â—â—perable to all Injuries He was betrayed by a Disciple for a vile Price and a Muâ—therer was preferr'd before him He was scorn'd as a false Prophet as a feigned King and deceitful Sâ—viour He was spit on scourg'd crown'd with Thorns and crucified and in the heigth of his Sufferings never express'd a spark of Anger against his Enemies nor the least degree of Impatience that might lessen the value of his Obedience Now consider it was one principal Reason of his Obedience to instruct and oblige us to conform to his Pattern the certain and constant Rule of our Duty We may not securely follow the best Saints who sometimes through Ignorance and Infirmity deviate from the narrow way but our Saviour is the Way the Truth and the Life What he said after his waâ—hing the Disciples Feet an Action wherein there was such an admirable mixture of Humility and Love that 't is not possible to conceive which excell'd for they were both in the highest Perfection I have given you an Example that what I have done to you so do you is applicable to all the kinds of Vertues and Graces exhibited in his Practice He instructs us to do by his Doings and to suffer by
Saints that eminently distinguish them from others and these we should especially regard Enoch walked with God His Life was a continual regard of God therefore he was translated into his glorious Presence Abraham's Faith was illustrious in that without reluctancy he address'd himself to offer up his beloved Son a Command so heavy that God would not permit his performing it Moses Self-denial was truly admirable in choosing to live in a solitary naked Desert rather than in the Egyptian Court wherein was the heigth of Pomp and the centre of Pleasure Job's Patience was unparallel'd when encompass'd with the sharpest Affliction Daniel prefer'd a Den of Lyons to Darius's Palace rather than neglect one day his desired Duty of Prayer to God Whom would it not inflame to read the Narrative of the Tryals of the excellent Saints recorded in the 11th to the Hebrews They were persecuted and patient afflicted and resign'd they were victorious over the blandishments of the alluring World and the terrors of the enraged World From those Instances the Apostle exhorts us to run our race with Patience looking to Jesus the author and finisher of our Faith The Knowledge that is in our view from the practice of others will make Obedience more easie and best lead us to practice These excellent Examples should make us blush with Shame and bleed with Grief that notwithstanding there is a more copious communication of Grace by the Gospel than under the Law and a more clear revelation of the glorious Reward we are so many degrees below them Nothing will convince us more of our Negligence than comparative and exemplary Instruction There is an envious Emulation among those that are in Publick Places 't is not so pleasing to see many below them as 't is uneasie and grievous to see any above them This seems to be one of those Plants that in its native Soil is poisonous but transplanted into another Climate and under another Heaven is not only innocent but healthful 'T is a noble Emulation worthy the breast of a Saint to strive to excel others in Holiness 5. Our present Joy and future Glory are improved according as we rise to Perfection here The Life of a Saint may be compar'd to the Labour of the Bees who all the day either fly from their Hives to the Flowers or from the Flowers to their Hives and all their art and exercise is where there is fragrancy or sweetness In divine Worship the Soul ascends to God by holy thoughts and ardent desires and God descends into the Soul by the communication of Grace and Comfort 'T is true the Carnal Man cannot see nor taste the divine delight that a Saint has real Experience of for a lower Nature is incapable of the perceptions and enjoyments of an higher A Plant cannot apprehend the pleasure of Sense nor a Beast the pleasures of Reason and Reason must be prepared and elevated to enjoy the pleasures of Holiness which makes all the charming Contents of this World insipid and nauseous For according to the excellency of the Objects and the capacity and vigour of the Faculties exercised upon them such is the delight that results from their union The holy Soul is a Heaven inlightened with the Beams of the Sun of Righteousness a Paradise planted with immortal Fruits the Graces of the sanctifying Spirit and God walks in it communicating the sense of his Love Are not Life and Light and Liberty productive and preservative of Joy And consequently as the natural Life the more lively and vigorous the more pleasant it is so the spiritual The more we are like God the more we are loved of him and the more clear revelations of his Love are communicated to us The more we are freed from the chains of Sin and bondage of Satan the more joyful and glorious is our Liberty Indeed the Saints are sometimes in darkness but their Sorrows are from their defects in Holiness from their not improving the means of Grace whereby they might rise to Perfection For as when Sadness oppresses us the vital Spirits retire to the Heart and are shut up in their springs that Nature does not perform its operations with delight so when the Holy Spirit the Eternal Comforter is grieved by our quenching his pure Motions he withdraws his comforting Influences and the Soul is left desolate The Experience of all the Saints is a demonstration that Religion the more it fastens us to our Duty and to God by the bands of Love the happier we are and that the state of a renewed Christian is so far from being gloomy and melancholy that 't is the joyful beginning of Heaven By excelling in Holiness our future Glory will be increas'd The life and order of Government consists in the dispensing Rewards and Punishments God will recompence the wicked according to the Rule of Justice and their Desert and the future Happiness of the Saints will be in degrees according to the degrees of their Holiness Not as if there were any Merit in our Works to procure the Eternal Reward which is the Gift of his most free Love but his Love rewards us according to his Promise that they who sow bountifully shall reap bountifully and in proportion as the Graces of the Saints are exercised here their Glory will be in Heaven In this the Goodness of God is admirable he works all in us and rewards his own work His Service is the best for he that commands works and he that obeys reigns If we respect the Glory of God and our own let us endeavour to be compleat in Holiness 'T is true God bestows his Favours as a free Lord and liberal Benefactor variously but he distributes Rewards in the next Life as a Governour according to the inviolate Rule establish'd by his Wisdom in his Word As the quality of the Reward is according to the kind of our Works so the degrees are according to the measure of them To imagine that a Carnal Man may be saved without Holiness is as unreasonable as to think that a Man may be made miserable without Sin It is to attribute an irregular Clemency to him We must distinguish between the desert of the Reward and the order of dispensing it There is no possibility or shadow of Merit for the Grace of Obedience is antecedent to the Grace of the Reward CHAP. XII The effectual means to rise to Perfection in Holiness Unfeigned Faith in our Saviour who is the efficient and exemplary cause of inherent Holiness Prayer a means to obtain an increase of Holiness Frequent and attentive hearing reading and meditation of the Word a means of growth in Grace The Word must be mix'd with Faith and an earnest desire to improve Grace by it It must be laid up in the Mind and Memory It must be sincerely received The Religious Use of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper an excellent means to increase Grace Repentance Faith and Love are improved by it The renewing our
Covenant with Christ in that Ordinance is of great use for the advancing of Grace The Religious Observation of the Lord's day makes us more holy The frequent discussion of Conscience is very instrumental to increase Holiness It must be distinct in comparing our Actions with the Rule serious and sincere as previous to divine Judgment with resolution to reform what is amiss and frequent I Will now proceed to declare the means that are effectual for our obtaining Holiness in degrees of eminence 1. Unfeigned Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ who is the meritorious efficient and exemplary Cause of inherent Holiness and Actions flowing from it The Death of Christ was our Ransom not only to release us from the Curse of the Law but the dominion of Sin These were inseparable in the design of our Redeemer and are in the accomplishment of it None are pardon'd but they are sanctified If the reimpression of the Image of God in us had been only requisite for the restoring us to his Favour our Saviour's dying had been unnecessary his Instruction and Example with the sanctifying Spirit 's Operations had been sufficient But till our Guilt was expiated the Fountain was sealed no emanations of Divine Grace flow'd forth Christ gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie us to himself a peculiar People zealous of good works Christ is the efficient Cause of our Holiness We receive from God the Author of Nature the Natural Life with all its Faculties and by the concurrence previous and concomitant of his powerful Providence we act in the order of Nature But the Supernatural Life is conveyed to us from the Son of God the Mediator Of his fulness we receive Grace for Grace Our increase is from our Head the Fountain of Spiritual Sense and Action The Holy Spirit who inspires us with the divine Life confirms and improves it was purchased by his Sufferings and is confer'd in his Exaltation As in the operation of the sensitive Faculties though the Eye be clear and qualified for sight yet 't is necessary there be a supervenient Light to irradiate the Air and actuate the visive Spirits that there may be a discovery of Objects Thus after the Soul is renewed by habitual Grace there is necessary the exciting assisting Grace of the Spirit to draw it forth into exercise every hour The Sun is the heart of the World from which all vital cherishing Influences are derived Thus from the Sun of Righteousness with healing in his wings continual Influences proceed without which the Life of Grace would languish and decay In this there is a disparity between the visible Sun and the spiritual though the fruitfulness of every Plant is from his vital Heat and descending Influences yet the quality and kinds of the Fruits is from the Sap that distinguishes them Grapes are from the Vine and Peaches and Apples are from several Trees but every Grace in the Saints is from the descending influences of Christ. Now Faith is the means by which we receive the emanations of Grace from Christ. The Apostle tells us The Life that I live in the flesh is by Faith in the Son of God The first plantation of Holiness and the highest perfection of it attainable in the present Life is by Faith that unites us to Christ. A sincere reliance on him for continual supplies of Grace gives vertue and efficacy to the means prescribed in the Word We are commanded to grow in Grace and in the experimental knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ the effectual means to obtain it 3. Contemplate our Saviour as the exemplary Cause of our Holiness His Pattern is not only a powerful one which is considered before but means to bring us to Perfection We are directed to look to Jesus the author and finisher of our Faith that we may run the race set before us till we come to its period and perfection In the Gospel there is a divine representation of the Obedience and Sufferings of our Saviour wherein every Grace that adorns the Children of God is exactly represented and all the Afflictions and tender Tryals wherewith God exercises them in order to their Glory were consecrated by his Example This is not a dead Object proposed to our view but has a vital efficacy to transform us into his Likeness as the sight of the Brazen Serpent conveyed a healing Vertue to the wounded Israelites The Apostle tells us that we all with open Face beholding as in a glass the Glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from Glory to Glory as by the Spirit of the Lord. The Gospel is the Glass wherein there is a permanent Image of Christ in his Life and Death a full manifestation of all his Vertues and this sight by the operation of the Spirit changes us into his Likeness from Glory to Glory that is by several degrees of Grace to a full conformity to him in Glory As a Painter often fixes his Eye upon the Object to form in his Imagination the Idea that guides his Hand in the designing and colouring the Face that the Copy may resemble the truth of Nature in the original So we should consider the Holiness and Perfection of our Saviour's Actions and draw the first Lines of Resolution to imitate him and every day endeavour to fill and compleat them in Actions till Christ be form'd in us Let us often compare our Lives with the Life of Christ that we may see our Imperfections in his Excellencies which will discover them and how to correct them Now in that particulars are most instructive I will consider two Examples of our Saviour for our Imitation in Duties of difficult practice The first is the Duty of Admonition wherein great Prudence is requisite mix'd with tender Love lest the Reproof be taken for a Reproach and the Person be provok'd and not reform'd and with Zeal that may give efficacy to our Counsel A Reproof must be managed like binding of a wounded part which must be neither too strait nor too slack lest it should oppress and exasperate the Wound or lest there be not a close application of the Medicine Of this mixture of Affections we have a clear discovery in our Saviour's carriage towards his Enemies 'T is related in the Gospel That a Man with a wither'd hand was present in the Synagogue and some watched whether our Saviour would heal him on the Sabbath-day that they might accuse him of profaning it And when he propounded the question whether it were lawful to do good or evil on the Sabbath-day they maliciously held their peace which occasion'd his looking on them with Anger being grieved for the hardness of their Hearts This exact Pattern we should follow joining mild Severity with melting Compassion in reproving offenders The other instance is how to Compose our Spirits and resign our Wills to God in the approaches of very afflicting Evils Our Saviour in the apprehension of
brings to our remembrance the Death of Christ in that lively Sacramental Representation and seals the pardoning Mercy of God to our Souls and conveys all the precious Fruits of it to us A lively Faith on our suffering Saviour makes him ours by an intimate and inseparable union and fruition We dwell in him and he in us How many drooping Souls have been raised how many wounded Spirits have been healed how many cloudy Souls have been inlightened in that Ordinance Here the comforting Spirit breaths our Saviour shews his reviving Countenance God speaks Peace to his People A Believer tasts the hidden Manna and the Love of Christ that is sweeter than Wine The bruised Reed becomes a strong Pillar in the Temple of God the smoaking Flax is cherish'd into a purer and more pleasant Light than springs from the Sun in its brightness 3. Love to Christ is increas'd by partaking of this Ordinance wherein his bloody Death is represented Greater Love could not be express'd than in his dying for us and lesser Love could not have saved us from perishing for ever He dyed not only to satisfie his Father's Justice but his own Love to us 'T is said by the Prophet He shall see of the travel of his Soul and be satisfied The travel of his Soul implies his Affection and Affliction the strength of his Love and his immense Sorrows Now nothing is more repugnant to the Principle so deeply engraven in Humane Nature than not to return Love for Love Our Saviour by the dearest titles deserves our Love not only for his high Perfections but his deep Sufferings He was without Form and Comeliness in the Eyes of the Carnal VVorld when disfigured by his Sufferings But can he be less lovely in his Sufferings wherein he declar'd his dearest Love Astonishing Love appeared in his dying Countenance flam'd in his quenched Eyes flowed from his pierced Side To a spiritual Eye he is as amiable with his Crown of Thorns as with his Crown of Glory Our Love to Christ like Fire out of its sphere must be preserved by renewing its Fewel or it will decline Now there is nothing more proper to feed it than Christ's Love to us and in this Ordinance the sacred Fire is maintained The Eye affects the Heart The mournings the longings and delights of Love are most sensible in spiritual Communion with our Saviour at this Feast The inflamed Spouse in a Rapture of Admiration and Complacency breaks forth I am my beloved's and he is mine St. Paul who was rap'd up to the third Heavens and heard unspeakable things declares Christ crucified to be the most excellent Object of his Knowledge his most precious Treasure and dearest Joy 'T is true the carnal receiver of the Elements is a stranger to this Love and Joy that is only felt by Faith and Experience There are many Christians in title that never felt any vital emanations from Christ in this Ordinance The most content themselves with Sacramental Communion without Spiritual and feel no correspondent Affections to his extream Sufferings for us But if there be a spark of Life in the Soul if all be not cold and dead within the remembrance of Christ's bleeding and dying Love will inexpressibly endear him to us Now our Sanctification was a principal end of his Death The Apostle declares that Christ loved his Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it by the washing of the water and by the word That he might present to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish Can we allow any Sin in our Hearts and Lives and defeat the design of his Love and disparage the vertue of his Sufferings Can we endure any Sin to reign in us that was the cause of his Death so full of Ignominy and Torment He has declared how precious our Sanctification is in his esteem 't is one of the richest Veins in the whole Mine of Grace and can we slight it Can we imagine that his Death obtain'd for us an impure Indulgence for our Lusts when the end of it was our absolute Purity Can we content our selves with low degrees of Holiness when he paid so dear a Price for our Perfection The comfortable assurance that he was crucified for us arises from our being crucified with him to all the Vanities of the world Indeed the external receiving this Ordinance is not beneficial to an Unbelieveâ— no more than that the setting a Feast before a dead Body that is uncapable of feeding and nourishment Men must believe before they can receive spiritual nourishment by it and have the Life of Grace before they can feed on the Bread of Life But the unfeigned Believer finds his inward Man renewed by it I will add to what has been said that in this Ordinance the Covenant of the Gospel is sealed by the contracting Parties God ratifies his Promise of Grace and we seal our Duty of Obedience 'T is true we are bound by an antecedent right and higher obligation than our own consent the Command of God binds us to take this Covenant and to keep it We are bought with a price and are not our own Now if the Blood of the Son of God be our Ransom from the bondage of Sin and Death and we in the Sacrament partake of his Blood and by that solemn Right dedicate our selves to him That whether we live we live to the Lord or whether we dye we dye to him how constraining is this to make us diligent in accomplishing the sacred ends of Christ's Institution How just is it that since he dyed for our Salvation we should live to his Glory and when we renew our Right in the Blessings of the Covenant we should sincerely renew our Obligations to the Duties of it If after our holy Engagement we renounce our Allegiance to our Prince and Saviour by entertaining his Enemies the Lusts of the Flesh we incur a double Guilt not only by transgressing the Law of God but by violating our Oath of Fidelity and double Guilt will bring double Damnation That the renewing our Coâ—â—â—ant aâ— the Lord's Supper may be more effectual let us consider 1. That holy Resolutions and Engagements are the immediate Principle of Obedience Till the Convictions of our Duty are wrought into Resolutionâ— they are of no efficacy 2. They must proceed from the dâ—liberate Judgment and determin'd Will. The Apostle declares The love of Chriâ—â— constrains us we thus judge if one dyed for all then were all dead and the consequence is strong that we should live 〈◊〉 him who dyed for us Empty valleitâ—â—â— are no volitions faint and waveâ—â—â—â— Purposes have no force Believers aâ—â— exhorted with full purpose of Hâ—art 〈◊〉 â—leave to the Lord. 3. The renewing our holy Engaâ—â—ments are very necessary for perseveraâ—â—â— in our Duty Our Hearts are false 〈◊〉 foolish and apt to fly from God thâ—â— are as changable
and by a Temporal Holy Rest are prepar'd for an Eternal Glorious Rest. The observing this Command enables us to do the rest for the Duties of it are Divine and Spiritual and have a powerful influence in the Souls of Men for the exercise of Grace by a proper efficacy increases it and in their sanctifying that day God sanctifies them and liberally bestows the Treasures of Grace and Joy the consequent Blessing of the divine Institution The Profaners of that Holy Time do vertually renounce their Allegiance to the Crâ—ator and Redeemer they will not attend upon his Oracles but despise the Persons and Office of the Ministers of Christ and their Contempt reflects upon him They make the Sabbath their delight in another sense than the Commandment intends they make it a Play-day Others who are call'd and counted Christians who are good in every thing but wherein they should be best they are Just and Merciful Temperate and Chaste Affable and Obliging to Men but wretchedly neglect the duties of Piety to God and the sanctifying his day That precious and dear interval to a Saint from the business of the World is a galling restraint to Carnal Men from their secular Employments 'T is true they will go to the publick Worship either for seculary respects Custom or the Coertion of the Laws or the impulse of Conscience that will not be quiet without some Religion but they are glad when 't is done and by vain discourses dash out of their minds the instructions of the Word of God They spend a great part of the day as if it were unsanctified time in curious dressing in Luxurious Feasting in Complemental Visits in Idleness and sometimes in Actions worse than Idleness The certain Cause of this Profaneness is they are not partakers of the divine Nature that inclines the Soul to God and raises our esteem of Communion with him as a Heaven upon Earth and from hence it follows that they come and go from the Publick Ordinances neither cleansed from Sin nor chang'd into the divine Image But those who conscientiously employ that day in Duties proper to it in Prayer and Hearing and Reading the Scriptures and spiritual Books in holy Conference whereby Light and Heat is mutually Communicated among the Saints and in the Meditation of Eternal things whereby Faith removes the Vail and looks into the Sanctuary of Life and Glory as Moses by Conversing with God in the Mount came down with a shining Countenance so a divine Lustre will appear in their Conversations in the following Week 5. The frequent discussion of Conscience and review of our Ways is an effectual Means of rising to Perfection in Holiness This Duty is difficult and distastful to Carnal Persons for Sense is prevalent and fastens their Thoughts upon External Objects that they are unfit for reflecting upon themselves for the proper and most excellent operations of the Reasonable Soul wherein they are rais'd to the Rank of Angelical Spirits and to a resemblance of the Deity who Eternally Contemplates with Infinite Delight the Perfections of his Nature and the Copy of them in his Works They are insensible of the Nobility of their Nature and cannot sequester themselves from Worldly things and enter into the Retirements of their Souls They are afraid and unwilling to look into their Hearts lest they should be Convinc'd and over-argued by Conscience of their woful Condition Home is too hot for them Their study is to Charm their Cares and not to be disturb'd in their Security But the Duty is indispensable requir'd of us We are commanded to stand in awe and sin not and commune with our own hearts to search and try our wayes and turn to the Lord to prove our own work The benefit resulting from it is worth our Care and should make us to digest all difficulties in the performance David declares I thought on my wayes and turned my feet to thy testimonies He first reflected on his ways and then reform'd them Conscience must be awaken'd by Grace or Judgment to Self-reflection The examen of Conscience either regards our spiritual State or our Actions in their Moral Qualities of Good and Evil. The first is of infinite moment that we may understand whether we are in the state of polluted Nature or in a renewed state and consequently whether in the present Favour of God or under his Displeasure and accordingly what we may expect in the next World a blessed or miserable Eternity But as was before observed Men are very averse from the severe tryal of their state for fear the issue will be perplexing the exact inquiry into their Lives is like the Torment on the Rack Or if sometimes they turn their thoughts inward to consider themselves they do it slightly not with sincere Judgment and though their spiritual state be uncertain or apparently evil yet they are resolved not to doubt of it This neglect is fatal to many who comfort themselves with their Company because the most are in no better condition than they are This I shall not insist on but consider the survey of Mens Actions Conscience is the centre of the Soul to which all Moral Good and Evil has a tendency 't is an internal supervisor and guardian which a Man always carries in his Bosom To perform its Office it must 1. Be inlightened with the clear knowledge of the Divine Law in its Precepts for Duties unknown cannot be practised and Sins unknown and unconsider'd cannot be loathed and forsaken The Law like a clear and equal glass that reflects the Beams according to their incidence discovers the beauties and spots of the Soul There are contain'd in it general Rules that respect all and particular Precepts that concern the several relations of Men. 2. The discussion of Conscience that it may be effectual must in the manner of it be regulated by the matter of the discussion that is good and evil Actions which are of eternal Consequence and the end of it the making us better Accordingly it must be 1. Distinct in comparing our Actions with the Rule that we may understand the defects of our best Duties and the aggravations of our Sins The Law enjoyns the Substance and Circumstances of our Duties and forbids all kinds and degrees of Sin The more particular the discussion is the more perfect 2. It must be serious and with sincere Judgment as previous to our Tryal at God's Tribunal This Consideration will excite the Conscience which is the directive and applicative Mind to be vigilant and impartial in sifting our selves that no Sin of omission or commission may be past over for what a high strain of Folly is it to be subtle to conceal any Sin from our selves which are open to the all-seeing Eyes of God Men are apt to be insensible of Sins of omission but there is no mere Sin of omission for it proceeds from a dislike of the commanded Duty which exposes to Judgment The more the Mind
Man sowed Tares He did not by Force enter into the Field 'T is not so much from Impotence as Carelesness that Temptations are let into the Heart and Corruptions break out 'T is not so much the stock of Habitual Grace that secures us but Grace in its vigorous Exercise Surely David in his Youth had seen as exquisite Beauties as Bathsheba and was preserv'd by Watchfulness but the neglect of his Duty was fatal to his Purity and Peace Therefore the Duty is so often inculcated upon us We must be watchful to fly from Temptations He that prays Lead me not into Temptation and leads himself into it mocks God despises the danger plays upon the hole of the Asp and walks upon the brink of a Precipice He provokes God justly to desert him If a General commands a Soldier to fight a single Combat with an Enemy he will furnish him with Armour of proof and secure him from Treachery but if one be Fool-hardy and engages himself he may dearly pay for his rashness If by the order of Providence one be brought into tempting Circumstances he may Pray in Faith for Divine Assistance that the Lord will be at his right hand and he shall not be moved but if one ventures into Temptation he will hardly escape We are directed to be sober and vigilant against our spiritual Enemies Vigilance discovers the Temptations and Temperance substracts the Materials of them Adam by Intemperance stain'd his Innocence and forfeited his Felicity We must be clad with the armour of Light to oppose the powers of darkness Strange Armour that is transparent and may be seen through The Graces of the Spirit are Armour and Ornament the Strength and Beauty of the Soul They are call'd The Armour of God for he furnishes us with them and teaches us to use them and makes us Victorious We must not only Watch but Pray against Temptations We are preserved by the Intercession of Christ in Heaven and the Spirits Illumination and Protection in our Spiritual Warfare There are some things that directly strengthen our Enemies all tempting Objects that excite and influence Fleshly Lusts that war against the Soul Some things indirectly strengthen them whatever diverts us from Prayer and other Holy Ordinances disarms us whatever distracts the Mind and dissolves the firmness of the Will exposes us more easily to be overcome To be careless and secure as if we were in a safe Sea when there are so many visible Shipwrecks is unaccountable Folly 'T is our Duty and Wisdom to keep a Jealous Watch over our Hearts to suppress the fix'd Inclinations to Sin Thoughts and Desires are the Seeds of Action and to guard our Senses that we may not be suddenly corrupted Lot's Wife by a lingering Look after Sodom was turn'd into a Pillar of Salt to make us fearful by her Example of the occasions of Sin Especially we must direct our Care to prevent our being surpriz'd against the Sins that so easily encompass us and whereby we have been often foil'd If a besieged City has one part of the Walls weaker and more liable to be taken Care will be taken to strengthen it and to double the Guards there Let us be watchful against small Sins if we desire to be preserv'd from greater for we are train'd on by sins of weaker evidence to sins of greater Guilt Some are so Confirm'd in Holiness that the Devil does not tempt them to transgress the Law in a notorious manner but lays Snares for them in things of lesser moment Besides there are Sinners of different degrees yet they all finally perish Some with a full Career throw themselves head-long into Hell Others go slowly step by step but certainly drop into it To Conclude if we desire to be preserv'd from Sin let us avoid engaging Company many Persons would resist the force of Natural Inclination but when that is excited by the Examples of others they are easily vanquish'd A pure Stream passing through a Sink will run thick and muddy On the contrary Society with the Saints is a happy Advantage to make us like them As Waters that pass through Medicinal Minerals derive a Healing Tincture from them In short the present World is a continual Temptation and we should always be employed in those things either in our General or Particular Callings that either directly or virtually may preserve us from its Contagion We are in a state of Warfare though not always in Fight yet always in the Field expos'd to our Spiritual Enemies that War against our Souls and our Vigilance and Care should be accordingly 2. The Duty of Watchfulness respects the doing good in its season and with the Circumstances proper to it To him that orders his Conversation aright I will shew the Salvation of God Order in an Army contributes to Victory more than Numbers The acceptable Performance of a Duty must depend upon its season The Beauty of it is impair'd when done out of its proper time I will instance in one Duty very influential unto a Holy Life We are commanded to Watch unto Prayer that is to preserve a Holy Frame of Spirit suitable to this Duty and to redeem time from the Vanity and Business of the World for Prayer This Duty is as necessary for the Spiritual Life as breathing for the Natural and 't is a part of Wisdom so to order our Affairs that we may have chosen Hours for Communion with God And we are to watch in Prayer against distraction and indevotion We are commanded to draw near to God with reverence and godly fear for our God is a Consuming Fire to those who disparage his Majesty by Coldness and Carelesness in his Service There must be a strict Guard to prevent the excursion of our Thoughts in Divine Worship The Soul should ascend to God on wings of Fire with all possible Ardency of Affections The effectual fervent Prayer of a righteous Man avails much Watchfulness respects both the time and degrees of our Duties We are commanded as we have opportunity to do good unto all Men especially to the houshold of Faith and to shew Mercy with chearfulness We should not lose the golden opportunity of relieving the Objects of Charity and be diligent in our Business and to cut off superfluous Expences that we may be liberal We should be careful to keep every Grace in its vigorous exercise In short the Soul is a principle of Life to the Body from its first Being to its last Breath guides its motions prevents the dangers to which 't is liable provides for its welfare How much more reasonable is it that it should be a Soul to it self vigilant and active to improve every Advantage for its Happiness and Perfection 6. A due regard to the Duties of our several Relations is very necessary in order to our perfecting of Holiness Relations may be consider'd under three general Heads Domestical Sacred Civil Domestical between Husband and Wife Parents and Children Masters and Servants There is
most sensible Relishes of his Love in Communion with him We read of the Lame Man from his Birth that upon his Miraculous Healing when he felt a new current of Spirits in his Nerves and his Feet and Arms were strengthen'd that he entred with the Apostles into the Temple Walking and Leaping and Praising of God This is a resemblance of the Zealous Affections of new Converts when they feel such an admirable Change in them they run in the wayes of God's Commandments with enlarged hearts they have such flashes of Illumination and Raptures of Joy that engage them in a Course of Obedience The Holy Spirit inspires them with new Desires and affords new Pleasures to endear Religion to them 'T is not only their Work but Recreation and Reward But aâ—as how often are the first Heats allayed and stronger Resolutions decline to Remisness Our Saviour tells the Church of Ephesus I have somewhat against thee bâ—cause thou hast left thy first love Remember from whence thou art fallen and repent and do thy first works 'T is said of Jehosaphat that he walk'd in the first ways of his father David intimating there was a visible declension in his Zeal He was not so accurate in his Conversation afterward The Converted are many times not so frequent and fervent in God's Service and though by the constraining Judgment of Conscience Duties are not totally omitted yet they are not perform'd with that Reverence and Delight as at first They are more venturous to engage themselves in Temptations and more ready to comply with them They are tir'd with the length of their Travel and the difficulties of their Way and drive on heavily We should with Tears of Confusion remember the disparity between our Zealous Beginnings and slack Prosecution in Religion we should blush with Shame and tremble with Fear at the strange decay of Grace and recollect our selves and re-inforce our Will to proceed with Vigorous Constancy And when the Saints are ready to enter into the Unchangeable State when the Spirit is to return to God that gave it how intire and intent are they to finish the Work of their Salvation How Spiritual and Heavenly are their Dispositions With what Solemnity do they prepare for the Divine Presence How exactly do they dress their Souls for Eternity and 〈◊〉 their Lamps that they may be admitted into the Joys of the Bridegroom How is the World vilified in their Esteem and unsavoury to their Desires The Lord is exalted in that day The nearer they approach to Heaven the more its Attractive Force is 〈◊〉 When the Crown of Glory is in their view and they hear the Musick of Heaven and are refresh'd with the fragancy of Paradise what a blaze of Holy Affection breaks forth When Jacob was Blessing his Sons upon his Death-bed he in a sudden Rapture Addresses himself to God O Lord I have waited for thy salvation As if his Soul had Ascended to Heaven before it lest the Body O when shall I appear before God! was the fainting desire of the Psalmist If Communion with God in the Earthly Tabernacle was so precious how much more is the immediate Fruition of him in the Coelestial Temple If one day in the Courts below be worth a thousand an hour in the Courts above is worth ten thousand Let us therefore by our serious Thoughts often represent to our selves the approaches of Death and Judgment This will make us Contrive and Contend for Perfection in Holiness The Apostle Exhorts the Romans to Shew forth the Power of Godliness from the Consideration of the Day of Grace they Enjoy and the Day of Glory they Expect for now is Salvation nearer than when you believed Let us do those things now which when we come to dye we shall wish we had done Thus doing we shall be Transmitted from the Militant Church to the Triumphant with a Solemn Testimony of our having adorned the Gospel in our Lives with the Victorious Testimony of Conscience that we have fought the good fight kept the Faith and have finished our Course and received with the glorious Testimony of our Blessed Rewarder Well done good and faithful Servant Enter into the Joy of thy Lord. FINIS BOOKS Writ by William Bates D. D. THE Harmony of the Divine Attributes in the Contrivance and Accomplishment of Man's Redemption by the Lord Jesus Christ Or Discourses wherein is shewed how the Wisdom Mercy Justice Holiness Power and Truth of God are glorified in that great and blessed Work Considerations of the Existence of God and of the Immortality of the Soul with the Recompences of the Future State To which is now added the Divinity of the Christian Religion c. The Four Last Things Death and Judgment Heaven and Hell practically considered and applied in Octavo The same is also Printed in Twelves and proper to be given at Funerals Ten Sermons Preach'd upon Several Occasions in Octavo Sermons upon Psalm CXXX verse 4. But there is Forgivness with thee that thou mayest be feared in Octavo The Danger of Prosperity discovered in several Sermons The great Duty of Resignation in Times of Affliction c. A Funeral-Sermon on Dr. Thomas Manson who deceased October 18 1677. With the last publick Sermon Dr. Manton preached The sure Trial of Uprightness opened in several Sermons upon Psal. 18. v. 23. A Description of the blessed Place and State of the Saints above on John 14. 2. Preached at the Funeral of Mr. Clarkson The way to the highest Honour on John 12. 26. Preached at the Funeral of Dr. Jacomb The speedy Coming of Christ to Judgment on Rev. 22. 12. Preached at the Funeral of Mr. Benj. Asbhurst A Sermon on the Death of the Late Queen Mary In regno nati sumus parere Deo est regnare In virtute posita est vera felicitas Sen. de Vita Beata Col. 3. Isa. 1. Job 14. 4. Isa. 1. Jer. 2. Jam. 4. Jam. 4. 8. Gal. 5. 19 20 21. Col. 3. 5 8. Psal. 4â— Sen. de brevit vit Eccl. 7. 26 27 28. Prov. 1. Nox amor vinumque nihil moderabile suadent Illa pudore caret liber amorque metu Ovid. Ezek. 36. â—1 Repugnante Natura nihil Medicina proficiet Cels. Mark 10. 2â— 2 Pet. 1. 4. Nesciâ— utrum magis detestabile vitium sit ac deforme Sen. de Ir. Idem esse sibi Consilium adversus hostem quod plerisque medicis contra vitia corporum â—amâ— potius quam ferro superandi Quare fert agri rabiem phenetici verba Nempe quia nescire videntur quid faciant Sâ—n. l. 3. de Ira. Ne iras careâ—tur Ira enim perturbat artem Et qua noceat tantum non qua careat aspicit Sen. de Ir. Nec est quisquam cui tam valde innocentiae sua placeat ut non stare in conspectu Clementiam paratam Humanis erroribus gaudeat Sen. de Clem. Job 31. 25 Avaro tam deest quod habet quam quod non habet Mat. 6. Luke
Flesh is like the flower of the Grass so despicably mean and fading A Family that is distinguish'd by an illustrious Lineage if not qualified with internal vertuous Dispositions becoming their Extraction is of no value but in the vain fancies of Men But the Relation to God as our Father confers an Honour substantial and durable in comparison whereof all the magnificent Titles in this World are but Shadows and Smoak and Dreams We are in a state of Union with the incarnate Son of God and in that respect dignified above the Angles for their Lord is our Brother We are made partakers of the Life and Likeness of God and Heirs of his Kingdom This Dignity is truly divine and of more value than Soveraignty over the Principalities and Powers of Darkness Our Saviour speaks to his Disciples In this rejoice not that Spirits are subject to you but rather rejoice that your names are written in Heaven 2. The Happiness of this Relation will appear in the Priviledges that are consequent and comprehensive of all Blessings 1. The title of a Son has annex'd to it the promise of the Pardon of Sin This is declar'd by God himself I will spare them as a Father spares his Son that serves him There are spots in the best of God's Children 'T is equally impossible there should be absolutely pure Vertues in the state of Grace as unmixed Elements in the state of Nature But our Frailties lamented and striven against rather move his Compassion than severe Displeasure Sins of a heinous Nature presumptuously committed retracted by Repentance are not excepted from his pardoning Mercy Of this there is the most comfortable assurance in David's case For after his complicated Sin when he was melted in Tears of Contrition God sealed his Pardon and sent the notice of it by Nathan the Prophet God was so entirely reconcil'd to him that after his Death he gave this Testimony of him That David did that which was right in the sight of the Lord and turned not from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his Life except in the matter of Uriah He would not name that Sin of so high a Provocation The Pardon of Sin is attended with all the most excellent Blessings the testimonies of his Favour Guilt seals the fountain and stops the current of Mercies it exposes us to the Terrors of the Lord. If Sin be pardon'd Peace of Conscience is a Rain-bow of Tranquility in the storms of outward Evils If Guilt be not abolish'd a Sinner in the most shining Prosperity has fearful darkness within 2. This Relation gives us an adoptive freedom and joyful access to God in Prayer God upon his Throne of Glory or his Throne of Judgment strikes us with Terror but upon the Throne of Grace as our Father invites our Addresses The Apostle incourages us to come with boldness to the Throne of Grace or Grace upon the Throne dispensing Grace and Mercy in time of need We stand in need of Mercy to pardon and Grace to preserve us from Sin of Counsel and Comfort in our various Exigencies and our Heavenly Father is able and ready to grant our Requests 'T is the Law of Heaven that Blessings are to be obtained by Prayer for that is the homage due to God's eternal Greatness 't is the acknowledgment of his All-sufficiency that he can supply all our Wants satisfie our Desires allay our Sorrows subdue our Fears 't is the glorifying his Mercy that inclines him to relieve the miserable and unworthy of his Benefits The whole Trinity affords incouragement to our Faith in humble Prayer The Mercy of the Father who receives them the Merits of the Son who presents them and the assistance of the Holy Spirit who indites them If we come jealous as Strangers or fearful as Slaves and not with a Filial freedom and relyance we disparage his Love and Power A regular trust of Benignity in the giver and distant from all presumption of Merits in the receiver is very honourable to God and beneficial to us Our Saviour confirms our Hope by a powerful Argument If you that are evil know how to give good gifts to your Children how much more shall your heavenly Father give good things to them that ask him The deduction is with convincing force and evidence If the Natural Love of a Father be so deeply planted in his Heart that 't is prodigious if any deny necessary support to their Children can you suspect that God will not supply the wants of his Children An Earthly Parent may be unnatural or unable to relieve a Child but in our Heavenly Father Love and Power are truly infinite The stedfast belief of this is the soveraign Cure of piercing Cares the great Composer of our distracted Passions 'T is the Apostle's Counsel Be in nothing careful but let your requests be made known with thanksgiving and the Peace of God that passes understanding shall keep your hearts There is no Blessing so great no Evil so small but we may pray in Faith to God to bestow the one and remove the other Unvaluable Priviledge He protects them from Dangers relieves them in their Troubles and releases them out of Troubles His Eye is intent upon the Righteous his Ear is open and inclined to hear their cry his Hand is as ready as powerful to deliver them from Death David saith I have set the Lord always before me He is at my right-hand I shall not be moved In all his Combats God appear'd as his second When his Dangers were extream the sorrows of Death incompassed him he dispatches a Prayer to Heaven for speedy relief and God appear'd in Arms for his defence I shall add for our Direction and Comfort that the Love and Providence of God is often as visible to the inlightned Mind in denying some Petitions of his Children as in granting others Sometimes they play for temporal things unbecoming their alliance with God and their interest in his special Favour 'T is recorded of that Wise Theban Epaminondas that when a Friend greatly in his Esteem requested his Favour to release a mean Fellow imprisoned for a Crime he denyed him and afterward released him at the desire of a despicable Person and gave this Reason That was not a Favour in proportion to the Dignity of Pelopidas but suitable to the Quality of the other Petitioner Thus the Children of this World who believe no other Happiness but the enjoyment of temporal things sometimes obtain their Desires but the Children of Light are not heard in their Prayers for them they being unsuitable to their Heavenly Dignity and not the sure signs of God's Favour Sometimes by mistakes they pray for things prejudicial to their Salvation and it would be a severe Judgment if God should bestow them We read of the possess'd Person in the Gospel that the evil Spirit made use of his Tongue to request our Saviour that he would not torment him that is not expel him
from his habitation Thus the Carnal part incens'd by the Tempter is often clamorous to obtain as a Benefit that which would be hurtful to the Soul and God is merciful in the denyal We know not what to ask but our Heavenly Father knows what to give Sometimes God bestows equivalent or better Blessings than what his Children pray for If God gives Contentment with Poverty 't is equivalent to Riches if Patience with Sickness 't is better than Health if eternal Life in Heaven 't is infinitely better than a long Life on Earth He did not preserve the Martyrs from the Flames nor forsake them in the Flames but in those fiery Chariots convey'd them to Heaven Briefly God never denies or delays to grant the Petitions of his Children but for a greater Good to them He always hears their main Desires that is bestows such Blessings as are most conducive for his Glory and their Good This is the principal Petition of the Saints in conformity to Christ in his exigency he prayed to be saved from the approaching hour of his terrible sufferings but subordinately to a higher request Father glorify thy name Lastly The Relation of Children to God is not an Empty Title but includes an Interest in the Eternal Inheritance The Apostle infers If sons then heirs heirs of God co-heirs with Christ. The Sons of Earthly Parents cannot all inherit the Eldest is the Heir to maintain the Splendour and State of the Family and the Younger have often but thin Provision If a Kingdom be the Inheritance 't is appropriated to one the Throne is incommunicable When Pharaoh made Joseph Viceroy of Egypt he reserv'd the Throne to himself In the throne I will be greater than thou But all the Saints are Kings Our Saviour comforts his Disciples fear not little flock 't is your Fathers good pleasure to give you the Kingdom and his Power is equal to his Pleasure They are the Children of the King and Kingdom of Heaven The Kingdom with a Note of Excellency in Comparison of it all the Kingdoms of this World in their blazing Glory are but a faint Figure and a Foil Transcendent Priviledge Infinite Bounty All the Conceptions we can form of Happiness are eminently in God He is the Glory the Joy the Perfection the Satisfaction of Intelligent Creatures He alone can fill the Capacity of Comprehensive Immortal Spirits He is their Eternal and Entire Inheritance possess'd equally by all without diminution to any As the Light of the World is enjoyed by all without prejudice to any according to the Apostles Expression The Inheritance of the Saints in Light The Eternal Enjoyment of God excludes all Fears of losing it there is a perpetual security from all change and separation and excludes all possible desires of a better State Without Divine Revelation we could never have had any discovery of this Super-natural Blessedness The Apostle prays for the Ephesians that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Glory would give unto them the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the knowledge of him the eyes of their understanding being inlightned that they may know what is the hope of his calling and what is the riches of the glory of his Inheritance in the Saints God is infinitely Rich in his Perfections in Mercy in Wisdom and Power and as the Father said to his Son in the Gospel Son all that I have is thine so all his Attributes are exercis'd for the happiness of his Children The difference is observable between an Earthly Inheritance and the Heavenly For Estates and Honours conveyed by Descent are not possess'd till the death of the Fathers but we partake of the heavenly Inheritance because our Father lives and we must dye that we may enjoy it for flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of Heaven What manner of love is it that we should be the Sons of God When Pharaoh's Daughter compassionately preserved Moses an expos'd Infant and adopted him to be her Son 't was rare and wonderful Goodness The Priviledge was so high that the Self-denial of Moses is Recorded with this Illustrious proof of it that he refus'd to be call'd the son of Pharaohs daughter But she had no Son of her own Adoption is a Legal Supply for the want of Natural Progeny But God had an Eternal Son the Heir of his Love and Glory the adequate Object of his Complacency yet he raised us to so near an Alliance Men adopt Sons for their Support and Comfort and usually those in whom some praise-worthy qualities appear God did not want a Son but we wanted a Father in thee the fatherless find mercy There was nothing in us but Sin and Misery an occasion of his Mercy 'T is added by the Apostle we are coheirs with Christ. This may seem to be a Usurpation upon his Prerogative who is invested with the Supremacy of Heaven But this is easily clear'd by considering that Christ has a double Title to the Inheritance 1. A Natural Title as the Son of God in a transcendent and peculiar manner From Eternity there was a mutual Possession of the Father and the Son wherein their Blessedness consists This Title is singular and incommunicable 2. An acquir'd Title by his Meritorious Obedience and Sufferings Therefore God has exalted him above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is nam'd not only in this world but in that to come And such is his astonishing Love he associates us with him in this Title he communicates a right to us in his Kingdom by the Merits of his Death and introduces us into Possession by his Mediation His Glory is consistent with ours and inseparable from ours for when the Head is Crown'd the Members Reign The Saints sit down with him in his throne as he is set down on his Fathers Throne 2. Let us now consider how influential this Priviledge is to make us intirely Holy 1. 'T is most worthy of observation that God who might by meer Empire and Authority command us to do our Duty is pleased by gracious inducements to endear our Duty to us He might by Dominion and Power Constrain us but he is pleased by the sweetest Affections to allure us A wise Prince according to the Rules of true Policy will rather govern by Love than Fear for his Safety and Tranquility is more preserv'd by it Fear may secure him from open Rebellions and Assaults but Love from secret Underminings from Treachery and Poison 'T is true there is no such Motive inclines God to allure our Love but his design is to gain our hearts to Obey him that he may Crown our Obedience Fear restrains us from provoking him but Love makes us Active and Chearful to please him Now what can be a more powerful Obligation to Love him than the receiving us into the high and dear Relation of his Children If we look up to God and down upon our selves we shall be struck with
most reverent observance is due 'T is revocable in its Nature but not to cease without the Will of the Legislator either expresly declar'd or vertually by the ceasing of the end of it As the Ceremonial Law is abolish'd by the same Authority that ordain'd it the end of the Institution being obtain'd But this Ordinance is by our Saviour commanded to continue till his Second Coming in Glory the end of it being the revival of the memory of his Death I will not insist upon the several Conformities between the Natural Food and the Spiritual for the principal Comparison and resemblance is in the End for which food is necessary and appointed without which there can be no subsisting Life but consider how the Life of the Soul is strengthened in this Ordinance which is not a naked sign of his Sufferings for us but the seal of the Covenant of Grace and wherein our Saviour though his bodily Presence be confin'd to Heaven yet does really and spiritually exhibit himself with all his saving Benefits to sincere Believers Consider how Repentance Faith and Love are increas'd by this Ordinance 1. Repentance is a Vital Operative Grace not only in mortifying Sin but in bringing forth many excellent Fruits suitable to it All the Terrors at Mount Sinai in giving the Law cannot make such an impression on the Conscience of the righteous and fearful Anger of God for Sin as the infliction of Wrath upon our dying Saviour He receiv'd into his Breast the Arrows of the Almighty that drank up his Blood and Spirits though in himself he was perfectly Holy Surely he has born our griefs and carried our sorrows he was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are heal'd We read that Nathan was sent from God to David when insensible of his Guilt of Murder and Adultery to awaken him to review his Sin he for that end us'd a very moving Parable of a Rich Man that had many Flocks yet to entertain a Stranger rob'd a Poor Man of his only Lamb and drest it for him This David so resented that he threatned the severest Revenge for such an unrighteous and unmerciful action And when Nathan turned the point of the Parable against his Breast charging him Thou art the man in what Agonies and Confusion was he surpriz'd as his mournful Complaint declares When we read in the Narrative of our Saviour's Sufferings of the Treachery of Judas the Malice of the Priests the Fury of the People the Cowardise of Pilate and the Cruelty of the Soldiers how apt are we to conceive Indignation against his Murderers but when Conscience like the true Prophet shall with a piercing Reproach charge us that our Sins Condemn'd and Crucified him how will this open the Springs of Godly Sorrow and looking on him whom we have pierced cause us to Mourn as those that mourn for a first-born How will the Contemplation of him in his Sufferings excite Indignation with Zeal and Revenge against our selves for our choosing and committing those Sins that were the meritorious Cause of his Sufferings Since he bore our Sins 't is just we should simpathize in his Sorrows How instructive and exemplary was insensible Nature as if capable of Knowledge and Affection in the time of his Sufferings It was disorder'd in the Heavens and simpathiz'd in the Elements The Sun was obscur'd against all possibility of Nature for the Moon was opposite and in the Full and in the twinkling of an Eye past half the Circle of the Heavens and being empty of Light towards the Earth by its interposition hid the body of the Sun behind it The Air was as dark at mid-day as at mid-night The Earth trembled the Rocks rent Have the Rocks softer Bowels than obdurate Sinners 'T is a greater prodigy that those whose Sins made his Death necessary are unaffected with it than that Nature seemed to have changed its Principles and Properties to signifie its resentment of it God's Anger darkens the Sun and shakes the Earth and shall sinful Men be unrelenting If by Faith and Consideration we transport our selves to Mount Calvary and with the blessed Virgin stand at the foot of the Cross when our Saviour was dying we shall feel the working of her Affections when a Sword pâ—erc'd through her Soul Now in the Sacrament there is a representation of Christ Crucified before our Eyes which is the most powerful motive of Godly Sorrow and the inseparable consequent of it the destructive hatred of Sin and of holy Resolutions that as he dyed for Sin we will dye to it 2. Faith that is the Root from whence other Graces spring and flourish is increas'd and confirm'd by the use of this Ordinance As by the looking on the mysterious Brazen Serpent there was an Antidote conveyed to heal the Israelites stung by the Fiery Serpents so by the looking on Jesus in his Sufferings our wounded Spirits are healed The dignity of his Person the depth of his Sufferings and his voluntary yielding of himself to them are the supports of Faith The Sin-Offerings under the Law were entirely consumed in their Consecration to Divine Justice and no part was reserved to be eaten by the Offerers To signifie their Imperfection and Inefficacy to reconcile God to Sinners and to pacifie their accusing Consciences The Beasts by substitution suffer'd Death for those who offer'd them but could not purchase Life for them Our Saviour is as truly given to us to communicate Life as he was given for us in his Death When he offer'd himself the most solemn Sacrifice on the Cross he was not consum'd His Body and Blood are the Feast of Love upon his Sacrifice the clearest assuring sign of God's being reconcil'd to us The Blood of the Lamb the true Winâ— has rejoic'd the Heare of God and Man Our High Priest continually presents his Father in the Coelestial Sanctuary his bloody Sacrifice of which there is a Commemoration on the Holy Table If God remember our Sins we remember his anointed Priest to expiate them If the timerous Conscience be in anxiety for the number and heinousness of Sins and the number of Sinnerâ— who must perish for ever without this Miracle of Mercy as if one Sacrifice were not sufficient to abolish their Guiâ—â— let it be consider'd that his Death is of infinite value and what is infinite cannot be divided he was intirely offer'd for every penitent unfeigned Believer The weakest has as full an Interest and Benefit in it as if it had been offer'd solely for him and may apply and appropriate it to himself with as true solid Comfort as if he had been present at our Saviour's Crucifixion and heard him speaking the words of Life I give my self for thee His Blood cleanses from all Sin and is a propitiation for the Sins of the world These are no fictions of Fancy but the real operations of the Holy Spirit who