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<DATE>2015-02-18</DATE>
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<NAME>Kate Allen</NAME>
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<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P>LIGHT In the WAY TO PARADISE: WITH OTHER OCCASIONALS.</P>
<Q><P>Light is &s;owen for the Righteous, <BIBL><HI>P&s;al. 97.11.</HI></BIBL></P>
<P>In the way of righteou&s;ne&s;s is life, <BIBL><HI>Pro. 12.28.</HI></BIBL></P></Q>
<P>By <HI>D&V;DLEY</HI> the 2^d^. late L^d^. <HI>NORTH.</HI></P>
<P><HI>LONDON,</HI> Printed for <HI>William Rogers</HI> at the Sign of the <HI>Sun</HI> over-again&s;t St. <HI>Dun&s;tan</HI>'s Church in <HI>Fleet-&s;treet,</HI> 1682.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="preface">
<PB REF="2">
<PB REF="2">
<HEAD>THE INTRODUCTION.</HEAD>
<P>LIGHT exteriour is the mo&s;t preci|ous emanation that floweth from any body natural. It is the guide of our acti|ons, the &s;pur to our indu&s;try, and the com|fort of our life, and the inward light of rea|&s;on in the mind is no le&s;s con&s;iderable, be|ing the directour of our re&s;olutions, the re|&s;olver of our doubts, and (in its perfection) that which differenceth Men from Bea&s;ts. If light external and light internal be of &s;uch excellence, what &s;hall we &s;ay of light eternal flowing from the Sun of righte|ne&s;s, which lighteth every man that com|eth into the world? This is the life of our Souls, which rai&s;eth us up from the un|clean &s;epulchre of Sin, and indueth us with new faculties of mind, giving us al&s;o pow|er to di&s;cern &s;piritual things, with fre&s;h ap|petite to de&s;ire them. Our light in the way to Paradi&s;e (at the be&s;t) is but a reflexi|on
<PB REF="3">of this righteous Sun's rays, yet in its nature of &s;uch importance, as it is fitte&s;t to be managed by tho&s;e who have been train|ed up in &s;chools of the Prophets, and there|fore it may be deemed a pre&s;umption in me, who am neither Prophet nor the Son of a Prophet, to undertake the governance of it, in which re&s;pect there may need &s;ome Apology for &s;uch intru&s;ion. In my younger days I &s;pent &s;ome time in an Army, where it is the duty of every common Sol|dier to fight, though the main ordering of martial encounters belong to the Com|manders. And if &s;uch common &s;oldier e&s;|py any advantage again&s;t the enemy, and make u&s;e of that opportunity to advance his Prince's &s;ervice, he de&s;erveth not much more blame than did <HI>Jonathan</HI> with his Armour-bearer, when he defeated the <HI>Phi|li&s;tins</HI> without taking directions from <HI>Saul</HI> his Prince and Father. <HI>As the race is not to the &s;wift, nor the battel to the &s;trong,</HI> &amp;c. &s;o is not per&s;wa&s;ion confi|ned to the Rhetorician, nor finding out of truth to the learned, or to any particular
<PB REF="3">condition of men. In the art of Phy&s;ick re|cour&s;e is chiefly had to Doctors, and to &s;uch per&s;ons as have been trained up in the &s;tu|dy of it, yet if Empiriques (a contempti|ble rank of People) and even Women, &s;hould be wholly barred the u&s;e of their Medicines, it might be the lo&s;s of many mens lives. All Chri&s;tians are not Church|men, but we are all members of the Church, and as much concerned in the overthrow of our great enemy, as they. If I were ca|pable of writing with as much &s;trength as was the Great <HI>Grotius,</HI> and &s;ome other eminent Scholars of the Laity, I might de&s;erve prai&s;e as well as they. In the&s;e re|&s;pects the Sin (if it be Sin) of bringing light to confound the Prince of Darkne&s;s with his Legions, can be no more than ve|nial. The truth is, my approaches to the choice of this Subject were not without re|luctation, con&s;idering not only, that it was more proper (as hath been &s;aid) for per&s;ons of another robe, but al&s;o that upon the matter it is the bu&s;ine&s;s of every Mini&s;ter in his Pulpit. Yet at la&s;t I fixed upon it
<PB REF="4">as fitte&s;t for the farewell of my Pen, for both Reading and Writing are now grown &s;o trouble&s;ome to me, as I have rea&s;on to di&s;po&s;e my &s;elf to a re|treat, with a confinement to that &s;tudy which is only nece&s;&s;ary to aged per&s;ons, <HI>viz.</HI> the holy Bible with &s;ome Commenta|tours upon it. Now I &s;uppo&s;e there will be divers objections again&s;t this little Work. As fir&s;t, that it is too void of Learn|ing for &s;uch a Subject. To this my an&s;wer is, that though my reading have not been much, yet I have not herein affected to &s;hew that little whereof I am po&s;&s;e&s;t, for I write not &s;o much to the Learned, as to the rational part of men, and I confe&s;s that the u&s;e of Rea&s;on is my be&s;t weapon, which if I can &s;o manage, as to per&s;wade any con|&s;iderable number of per&s;ons to goodne&s;s and piety, it &s;hall fully &s;atisfie me, without gaining the lea&s;t reputation to my &s;elf by writing. Another objection may be, that for &s;o &s;erious a Subject, this di&s;cour&s;e is &s;ome|what too Poetical, by fiction of Mounts, Plains, Waters, Rocks, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> But I &s;hall
<PB REF="4">pre&s;ume that who&s;oever hath con&s;idered the whole book of <HI>Canticles,</HI> and S. <HI>Paul</HI>'s expre&s;&s;ions, <HI>of the Buckler of Faith, Sword of the Spirit,</HI> and &s;uch like, will ea&s;ily pardon this fault, and the rather, becau&s;e he who de&s;ires to win upon the opi|nion of others in writing, mu&s;t endeavour to add &s;ome delight to his more &s;erious matter. Some may perhaps mi&s;take my di|&s;tribution of the whole way of Righteou&s;|ne&s;s and Holine&s;s into parts, as if I meant all tho&s;e particulars nece&s;&s;ary to Salvati|on, but that is an&s;wered in the &s;econd Chapter, where Fundamentals are &s;aid to be few, or as if that Method were only to be u&s;ed in treading the path, making Faith the la&s;t &s;tep, which as the <HI>primum ne|ce&s;&s;arium</HI> ought to come fir&s;t. As to this it may be ob&s;erved, that in great Solemni|ties the chief per&s;ons come in the la&s;t place, but le&s;t this an&s;wer may be thought trivial, let it be noted that S. <HI>Paul</HI>'s order is the &s;ame, <HI>1</HI> Cor. <HI>13.13.</HI> where he &s;aith thus, <HI>And now abideth faith, hope, and charity, the&s;e three, but the greate&s;t of
<PB REF="5">the&s;e is charity.</HI> How&s;oever, in our di&s;tri|bution there is meant only priority of or|der, and not of honor; and if good ob&s;erva|tion be made in reading, faith will be found to be fitly placed, in divers re&s;pects. But what&s;oever our order is, we all know that God calleth at what hour &s;eemeth good to him, and u&s;eth his own Method, accepting of that which is really intended, rather than of that which is acted. If there be yet further exception, it is likely to be at my rough and unplea&s;ant Style; But every man is not born to have a <HI>Ciceronian</HI> vein, and a fluency of Expre&s;&s;ion, neither is curio&s;ity of Language nece&s;&s;ary upon a Subject of this nature, where (as I con|ceive) if the Authour have words to ex|pre&s;s his matter clearly and fully, it ought to be accepted of. Likely it is that there are many other faults and imperfections, but it would be hard for me to find them, &s;ince we are all too &s;ubject to be dark-&s;igh|ted in judging our &s;elves, and therefore as well I as my errours, mu&s;t &s;tand expo&s;ed to a free cen&s;ure.</P>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="text">
<PB N="1" REF="5">
<HEAD>LIGHT IN The Way TO PARADISE.</HEAD>
<DIV2 N="1" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. I. <HI>The way to Paradi&s;e is that of Holine&s;s and Righteou&s;ne&s;s.</HI></HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">This way ea&s;ie in it &s;elf to be found.</HEAD>
<P>TO find out the way leading to Beatitude, and to tread in it, is (according to Na|ture) the bu&s;ine&s;s of every wi&s;e Man's life; and thus much the Heathen Philo&s;ophers ea&s;ily found out by the light of Rea&s;on, but their under&s;tandings were &s;o darkned by Self-love,
<PB N="2" REF="6">as they made their ble&s;&s;edne&s;s the on|ly end of their life, whereas it is, indeed, but the con&s;equent of an End more true and precious, which is the &s;erving of God. We are all Creatures, and made as well for our Creator, as by him, who&s;e goodne&s;s is &s;uch, as our per&s;onal felicity is no whit the le&s;s &s;ure to us by being po&s;t-po&s;ed, for it is utterly im|po&s;&s;ible, that a faithfull and per&s;evering &s;er|vant of God &s;hould fail of attaining everla&s;t|ing happine&s;s. The only pa&s;&s;age to it is through Holine&s;s and Righteou&s;ne&s;s, and it is a high violation of divine Providence to affirm acce&s;s to the&s;e to be very difficult. Since it cannot be, that goodne&s;s infinite &s;hould hold concealed from rea&s;onable Creatures that which is nece&s;&s;ary to them, as the prime in|tent of their Creation. But here &s;ome Texts &s;eem to overthrow our opinion, as <HI>Matth.</HI> 7.14. <HI>Strait is the gate and narrow the way that leadeth to life, and few there be that find it.</HI> And <HI>Luke</HI> 13.24. <HI>Strive to enter into the &s;trait gate, for many I &s;ay, will &s;trive to enter in, and &s;hall not be able.</HI> But the Learned <HI>Grotius</HI> &s;heweth the difficulty to lie in the Per&s;ons, and not in the gate, or way, for upon the words, <HI>few there are that find it,</HI> he &s;aith, <HI>Et quare non a&s;&s;equuntur? quia de rerum finibus vii&s;&abque; ad finem non recte judicant, neque ut recte ju|dicare po&s;&s;int operam dant; And why do they not find? Becau&s;e they judge not right of the end of things, and of the way to that end, neither en|deavour
<PB N="3" REF="6">to judge rightly.</HI> And upon the words, <HI>&s;trive to enter and &s;hall not be able,</HI> he &s;aith, <HI>Nemo e&s;t qui immortalitatis cupiditate non tene|atur, &s;ed non tanti e&s;t ut propterea velint carere hujus vitae commodis; There is no man who is not po&s;&s;e&s;t with a de&s;ire of immortality, but it is not &s;o precious, as for its &s;ake they will want the good things of this life.</HI></P>
<P>The &s;weetne&s;s of that divine Providence appeared manife&s;tly at fir&s;t in our Paradi&s;e terre&s;trial, where the tree of Life (which Typically repre&s;ented life Eternal) was no more under interdict, than any other fruit in the Garden. The freedom given concerning this tree of Life, and the re&s;t, &s;et in ballance again&s;t one onely tree of Knowledge, cannot but much aggravate the offence of our fir&s;t Father; yet I am per&s;waded, that the chief aggravation lay in his pre&s;umptive emulating the divine Perfection, for the Serpent's chief argument to &s;educe him lay in that. By this tran&s;gre&s;&s;ion, <HI>Adam</HI> for him&s;elf and his po&s;teri|ty contracted much weakne&s;s and di&s;ability to walk in the right path, yet &s;ince the &s;ame tran&s;cendent goodne&s;s in the Deity hath conti|nuance (not being capable of the lea&s;t dimi|nution) we may well conceive, that the way it &s;elf is not perplexed with any greater diffi|culties than before; but lea&s;t of all can it be conceiv'd, that finding of the right path &s;hould be made to depend upon curio&s;ity of know|ledge, &s;ince the tran&s;gre&s;&s;ion it &s;elf was ground|ed
<PB N="4" REF="7">upon an affectation of knowledge. This is well &s;et forth in the 10th to the <HI>Romans</HI> about the 6th. Ver&s;e and downwards, where after &s;hewing the unnece&s;&s;arine&s;s of &s;ome curious que&s;tions, it is &s;aid, <HI>The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that is the word of faith which we preach. That if thou &s;halt confe&s;s with thy mouth the Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t, and &s;halt believe in thy heart, that God hath rai&s;ed him from the dead, thou &s;halt be &s;aved.</HI> And in the <HI>Jewi&s;h</HI> Church, the way was ea&s;ie enough, for if their Ceremonial Law were full of My&s;tery, it concerned their Cler|gy and Scribes only, but for the People in ge|neral, no more was required of them, but an expectation of the promi&s;ed Seed or <HI>Me&s;&s;ias,</HI> ob&s;ervance of the Decalogue (which with them was per&s;picuous enough, being to be un|der&s;tood in the literal &s;en&s;e, and not as our Interpreters have made it, by deduction of innumerable particulars out of every precept, impo&s;&s;ible for the Vulgar to retain in memory) the payment of Tithes, providing of materi|als for Sacrifice, and their attendance at known Fe&s;tivals; all which carried little difficulty as to the knowing what was to be done. Here I cannot well omit a Religion (for &s;o I may call it) allowed by the <HI>Jewi&s;h Rabins</HI> to the <HI>Noachidae</HI> or <HI>Gentiles,</HI> meaning all &s;ave the de&s;cendents of <HI>Jacob</HI> called the Children of <HI>I&s;rael.</HI> They term it <HI>Jus naturale,</HI> or the law of Nature, which they &s;uppo&s;e to have
<PB N="5" REF="7">been impre&s;&s;ed by God in the heart of man at the fir&s;t;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Selden <HI>de jure Nat. Lib.</HI> 7. <HI>Cap.</HI> 10.</NOTE> and the <HI>Jews</HI> held, that by a due ob&s;ervation of this, as the Law of God, the <HI>Gentiles</HI> became capable of future reward, though not in mea|&s;ure any thing proportionable to that which was prepared for them&s;elves. This Law con|&s;i&s;ted of &s;even Principal Heads or Chapters, and becau&s;e they are not known to us, like the Ten Commandments, I &s;hall give a Catalogue of them, 1. <HI>de cultu extraneo,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 1. <HI>Cap.</HI> 10.</NOTE> <HI>or a pro|hibition of &s;erving fal&s;e Gods.</HI> 2. <HI>de maledictione nominis Alti&s;&s;imi, again&s;t cur&s;ing or prophanation of God's name.</HI> 3. <HI>de homici|dio, again&s;t Man-&s;laughter.</HI> 4. <HI>de revelatione turpitudinis ex concubitu, again&s;t Ince&s;t, and &s;uch unlawfull cohabitations.</HI> 5. <HI>de furto &amp; ra|pina, again&s;t Theft and Rapine.</HI> 6. <HI>de regimi|ne foren&s;i &amp; obedientia civili, for e&s;tabli&s;hing of Judicatories and obedience to them.</HI> 7. <HI>de membro animalis viventis non comedendo, a|gain&s;t eating the member of a creature while it is living,</HI> by which is al&s;o intended mercy to &s;en&s;ible creatures. The&s;e Heads are but few, and many of them fall within the <HI>Decalogue,</HI> &s;o as the ob&s;ervation could not be &s;o difficult as was the <HI>Jewi&s;h</HI> Law, which is the only rea&s;on why I named them.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="2" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="6" REF="8">
<HEAD>CHAP. II. <HI>Of Fundamentals Po&s;itive and Negative.</HI></HEAD>
<P>BY that which hath been delivered in the fir&s;t Chapter, may appear, that the way to Salvation is not involved in much difficulty, and thence it mu&s;t follow, that the Fundamen|tals of Religion are neither many, nor ab|&s;tru&s;e, I mean not Fundamentals in the &s;trict|e&s;t &s;en&s;e, for &s;o <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> is the only Fundamen|tal, proved 1 Cor. 3.11. <HI>For other foundation can no man lay, than that is laid, which is Je|&s;us Chri&s;t;</HI> but in a &s;en&s;e le&s;s re&s;trained, yet Fundamentals without which there can be no Salvation. The&s;e are either <HI>Credenda,</HI> matters of faith, or <HI>Agenda,</HI> matters of action, the for|mer kind comprizeth all nece&s;&s;ary points of belief, whereof it is hard to limit the number, and the latter only obedience to God, in lieu of which he is plea&s;ed to accept a re&s;olution to obey, a thing &s;o nece&s;&s;ary, as a man can no more be &s;aved without it, than a per&s;on in actual Rebellion is capable of his Princes par|don till he con&s;ent to &s;ubmit him&s;elf. The points of Faith according to our &s;uppo&s;ition, are neither many, nor hard to be found. Yet I dare not affirm (as &s;ome have attempted to prove) that they can be attained by &s;trength of rea&s;on, for if it were &s;o, then were it a
<PB N="7" REF="8">very rational conclu&s;ion, that divine Revela|tion is unnece&s;&s;ary, and certainly none of God's works are &s;o. I confe&s;s that the prime fundamental of Faith, which is the being of a God, and not only &s;o, but the being of one God in oppo&s;ition to the <HI>Polythei&s;ts,</HI> is perfect|ly deducible from rea&s;on, but this cannot be &s;ufficient for us Chri&s;tians, who are po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed of the divine Oracles to direct us. True it is, that my charity will not permit me to con|clude under Eternal damnation tho&s;e Heathen Philo&s;ophers and others, who in their rea&s;on having found out that there is a God, have applied them&s;elves to doe Ju&s;tice, love Mercy, and walk humbly with the Deity. I cannot deny but mo&s;t of them were Idolaters, yet certainly the learnede&s;t of them (as the <HI>Plato|ni&s;ts</HI>) held that there was but one Eternal being, or Omnipotent; and as for other inferiour Dei|ties, they wor&s;hipped them only as Repre&s;en|tatives of the divine Attributes, which may be made appear by particulars, <HI>Pallas</HI> and <HI>Apollo</HI> repre&s;enting the divine Wi&s;edom, <HI>Ve|nus</HI> the Beauty, <HI>Diana</HI> the Purity, <HI>Bacchus</HI> and <HI>Ceres</HI> the Bounty, <HI>Mars</HI> the Power, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> And how they doing &s;o &s;hould be more cul|pable, than &s;uch per&s;ons as adore the Images of Saints departed, who are known to have been mere creatures, it is not ea&s;ie to imagine; and yet the more moderate of our Divines do not conclude tho&s;e Image-wor&s;hippers to be ab&s;olutely lo&s;t. But I would not be under&s;tood
<PB N="8" REF="9">by this my tenderne&s;s to condemn, as if I &s;ubmitted not to the full deci&s;ions (even in that particular) of the Church either Ancient, or Modern. It is time to leave this digre&s;&s;ion, and to return to our <HI>Credenda,</HI> touching which, unle&s;s we confine our &s;elves (as our Church of <HI>England</HI> doth) to &s;ome few Creeds of great antiquity, which are otherwi&s;e generally re|ceived, I know not whither we may be car|ried. For Churches prevalent for the time being, will never fail to impo&s;e &s;uch things to be believed as tend to the &s;upportation of their authority and received tenets, as ap|pears fully by the power lately a&s;&s;umed, and exerci&s;ed by the Church of <HI>Rome,</HI> which pre|tends as much, as any other can doe, to a warrant in Scripture for their Innovations. Thus much of fundamentals of Faith. Some extend the word Fundamental &s;o far, as they make a peremptory Negation of any thing de|livered in Scripture, or by other unque&s;tion|able authority for Truth, to be de&s;tructive, and this they call a Negative Fundamental. They illu&s;trate this by part of the Apo&s;tles Creed, wherein it is &s;aid, that <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> &s;uffered under <HI>Pontius Pilate,</HI> That he &s;uffered is a po|&s;itive Fundamental, but that he &s;uffered under <HI>Pontius Pilate,</HI> is no nece&s;&s;ary point of Faith; yet if any will peremptorily deny the truth of this, it becomes damnable to him; and upon that ground the Learned Doctor <HI>Hammond</HI> pro|nounceth a negation of the <HI>Athana&s;ian</HI> Creed
<PB N="9" REF="9">to be de&s;tructive. I concieve this too large for the word Fundamental, yet take it thus, and it is not difficult for any man to forbear &s;uch denial of that which he knoweth not. The Fundamental <HI>circa Agenda, viz.</HI> a re&s;o|lution of full obedience to God, is a tree that will produce the good fruit of a holy life, which is nece&s;&s;ary in the way of Salvation. In this I would not be mi&s;conceived, as if I thought there were any meritorious cau&s;e of Salvation, but our <HI>Saviour</HI> and his &s;atisfaction; for we and ours are always imperfect, and have no acceptation but in him; yet &s;ince the Scrip|ture &s;aith, that <HI>without holine&s;s none &s;hall &s;ee God,</HI> and that <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> &s;hall &s;alute the ju&s;t, &s;ay|ing, <HI>Come ye ble&s;&s;ed of my Father inherit the kingdome prepared for you before the foundation of the world, for I was hungry and ye gave me meat, &amp;c.</HI> Mat. 25.34. it can be no derogation to term our good life a &s;econdary cau&s;e.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="3" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. III. <HI>Of Sen&s;uality an impediment in the way of holine&s;s, and of &s;ea&s;onable morti|fication its antidote.</HI></HEAD>
<P>THE way of holine&s;s and righteou&s;ne&s;s (as we &s;ee) is ea&s;ie to be found, and yet it is &s;eldom travelled in, which makes me call to
<PB N="10" REF="10">mind a &s;aying which was u&s;ual with an ancient Lady, and this it is; <HI>How ea&s;ie conveniencies are to be found, and yet how hard it is to find them:</HI> This &s;eemeth frivolous, yet carrieth a con&s;iderable &s;en&s;e with it, for things very ob|vious in them&s;elves appear not to an eye en|combred with weakne&s;s, or to a mind per|plexed. The former needeth no in&s;tance, and for the latter, I conceive, it may be illu&s;tra|ted in the Hi&s;tory of <HI>Balaam,</HI> who when an Angel &s;tood directly in the way to oppo&s;e his pa&s;&s;age, di&s;cerned him not, and yet the An|gel was vi&s;ible to his poor A&s;&s;e, a &s;tupid crea|ture by nature; and from this may be con|cluded, that the Prophet was then di&s;turbed with ambitious, and impetuous thoughts, which for the pre&s;ent deprived him of u&s;ing, even his &s;en&s;es, much more ea&s;ie it is to have a mi&s;t ca&s;t before us, (as to our Intellect) both by our &s;elves and others. I know nothing that doth more blind us, than Sen&s;uality, eve|ry thing which in that kind cro&s;&s;eth our de|&s;ires appearing full of difficulty. By that in|clination we give to the Body a &s;overeignty over the Soul, &s;o as the faculties of it are al|mo&s;t extingui&s;hed, as <HI>Horace</HI> expre&s;&s;eth con|cerning Diet.</P>
<Q><L>&mdash;Corpus onu&s;tum</L>
<L>He&s;ternis vitiis animum quo&abque; praegravat una</L>
<L>At&abque; affigit humo divinae particulam aurae.</L></Q>
<PB N="11" REF="10">
<Q><L>Exce&s;s in Body makes the Soul decline,</L>
<L>And choaks with earth a &s;hare of breath di|vine.</L></Q>
<P>Corporeal plea&s;ures are &s;o agreeable to our depraved nature, as per&s;ons of a Sanguine complexion (which is the be&s;t) are ea&s;ily captivated to them, and, as I conceive, this is a cau&s;e of the great encrea&s;e of the <HI>Maho|metan</HI> Profe&s;&s;ion, which is &s;o compo&s;ed to win &s;en&s;ual per&s;ons, as the perfection of their &s;uppo&s;ed and hoped for Paradi&s;e is &s;et forth in a promi&s;e of Satiety in that way. Our Chri|&s;tian Divines of all Sects run a quite contrary way, and preach up Mortification with great vehemency. Certainly this is excellent Phy|&s;ick for that di&s;ea&s;e, but not a Catholicon, for different di&s;ea&s;es require a different way of cure. Catharticks and Phlebotomy are only fitting for bodies Plethorick and Cacochymi|cal, but many are Con&s;umptive by nature, and Cordials are as beneficial to the&s;e, as the former are de&s;tructive. And &s;ome per&s;ons op|pre&s;&s;ed with Melancholy would be (and &s;ome|times are) lo&s;t for want of con&s;tant and inno|cent diverti&s;ement, for nothing is &s;o mi&s;chie|vous to them, as a multitude of &s;erious thoughts. I have &s;aid thus much to &s;hew, that good Phy|&s;ick may be mi&s;applied, e&s;pecially when there is danger on both &s;ides. The way of Sen&s;ua|lity is the more frequent, but that of extreme
<PB N="12" REF="11">ab&s;tinence and &s;olitude the more dangerous, or el&s;e Satan would never have &s;ought advan|tage again&s;t our ble&s;&s;ed <HI>Saviour</HI> at &s;uch a time; and Hi&s;tories deceive us, if Solitude by Mo|na&s;tical life, hath not heretofore tempted and prevailed with many per&s;ons to apply them|&s;elves to execrable &s;tudies. It is therefore wi&s;e|dom, to ob&s;erve our own inclinations, and finding the Ve&s;&s;el &s;waying it &s;elf to one &s;ide, we mu&s;t carry weight to the other. Certain it is, that per&s;ons given over to plea&s;ure, can never attain Heaven till a change. But it is error to conceive, as Zealots in mo&s;t Profe&s;&s;i|ons do, that God is delighted in the &s;ufferings that we ca&s;t our &s;elves into, till it become a kind of torment; for it can not be believed, that God hath furni&s;hed this World with &s;o much delicacy and delight, intending that a moderate u&s;e of his Creatures &s;hould be &s;infull. He requires only a life temperate, and pure, full of humility, in which condition men are al|ways fitly di&s;po&s;ed to the exerci&s;e of Devotion, but in ca&s;e of rebellion in the fle&s;h, the exerci&s;e of due and &s;ea&s;onable Mortification is very ne|ce&s;&s;ary; but otherwi&s;e it is in the nature of Phy&s;ick, which continually taken becometh not only offen&s;ive, but hurtfull. And &s;uch occa&s;ional mortification quickneth the &s;en&s;es, and uncloggeth the under&s;tanding, &s;o as it re|turneth to a capability of clearly di&s;cerning the right way.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="4" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="13" REF="11">
<HEAD>CHAP. IV. <HI>Of Pride.</HI></HEAD>
<P>ANOTHER mi&s;t ca&s;t by our &s;elves to blind our under&s;tandings is Pride, a kind of &s;elf-Idolatry. For the de&s;cription of the men addicted to this vice, I &s;hall borrow an expre&s;&s;ion of my own, in a piece, which made publick in &s;ome mea&s;ure otherwi&s;e, is not likely to &s;ee the Pre&s;s, and this it is, <HI>They ar|rogate to them&s;elves a kind of Divinity, in think|ing their own encrea&s;e of glory and advantage to be the only fit object of all their intentions and actions.</HI> The&s;e men are odious in the &s;ight of God, for <HI>Solomon</HI> &s;aith, <HI>Pro.</HI> 16.5. <HI>The proud in heart are an abomination unto the Lord;</HI> and both St. <HI>Peter</HI> and St. <HI>James</HI> u&s;e the &s;ame words, <HI>God re&s;i&s;teth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble,</HI> Pet. 5.5. and James 4.6. and the word <GAP DESC="foreign">, &s;ignifieth a re&s;i&s;tance more than ordinary, as being &s;et in battel again&s;t them. Invocation or Prayer is a great part of God's &s;ervice, and how the proud man &s;hould be fit for it, I cannot &s;ee, unle&s;s it be with the Phari&s;ee to give God thanks for being better than other men, which Pray|er hath little acceptance. I confe&s;s there is a kind of Pride &s;piritual, as if tho&s;e mentioned by <HI>I&s;aiah</HI> 55.5. who &s;ay, <HI>Come not near me,
<PB N="14" REF="12">for I am holier than thou;</HI> and &s;o &s;ome in the&s;e our days have been elated in mind, finding them&s;elves able to pray extempore, and to be endued with a readine&s;s in performance of other &s;piritual exerci&s;es, which they term an immediate a&s;&s;i&s;tance of the Spirit. I acknow|ledge this to be <HI>gratia gratis data,</HI> but it hath been proved to us by &s;ad experience, that &s;uch gifts may be abu&s;ed to publick di&s;turbance. This Pride is an offence of the highe&s;t na|ture, and &s;o is Spiritual pride in any other kind, being mo&s;t oppo&s;ite to the way of holy|ne&s;s, which above all things requireth an hum|ble &s;pirit. Our Chronicles relate unto us out of <HI>Beda,</HI> how the ancient Chri&s;tians of <HI>Ban|gor</HI> refu&s;ed to give the right-hand of Fellow|&s;hip to <HI>Au&s;tine</HI> the Apo&s;tle of <HI>Kent,</HI> becau&s;e he did not receive them with that humility, which was proper to be u&s;ed by one brother to another, concluding him thence (upon rules gi|ven by a Hermite) to be a proud per&s;on, a qua|lity incompatible with Chri&s;tianity, as they &s;uppo&s;ed. Certain it is, that the oppo&s;ition between him and them was a great hindrance to the then propagation of Chri&s;tianity, though afterwards the difficulties were happily over|come under his governance, which &s;hewed God's ble&s;&s;ing to be upon his endeavours, &s;o as po&s;&s;ible it is, the old Chri&s;tians might be faulty as well in concluding him guilty of Pride, as in their own being contentious. The <HI>Nova|tian</HI> Here&s;ie was known to have been ground|ed
<PB N="15" REF="12">upon pride, by an exaltation of per&s;ons of that &s;ect in their own thoughts, for &s;teadine&s;s in time of Per&s;ecution, when others failed, which cau&s;ed a denial of Communion, though te&s;timony of Repentance were given. And I conceive, we may &s;ay, that elation of mind in the Here&s;iarchs, or Founders, hath been cau&s;e of mo&s;t (if not all) other here&s;ies. I cannot willingly pretermit a &s;ect of the&s;e our times, unheard of in former ages, who&s;e cha|racter of difference from others is this. That they will not &s;hew re&s;pect to any man as their Superiour, by which it &s;eems they con|ceive, that God has been as liberal to them, as to any other, for parts of mind, and other graces in the way of perfection. I cannot &s;ay that the&s;e men are proud, becau&s;e it appears not, but they may think them&s;elves as mean in every kind, as any other; but &s;urely there is not the lea&s;t &s;pace with them for humility, which is a mo&s;t Chri&s;tian vertue, for they mu&s;t not acknowledge the lea&s;t inferiority in them&s;elves. We all know, that Pride cau&s;ed the fall of Angels, and it is not ea&s;ie to con|ceive, how tho&s;e, who are guilty of that Lu|ciferian &s;in, can think well of any way, that requires &s;elf-denial, &s;o as we may &s;afely con|clude that vice to be one of the chief mi&s;ts to cloud our under&s;tanding.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="5" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="16" REF="13">
<HEAD>CHAP. V. <HI>Of Prejudicacy.</HI></HEAD>
<P>MANY other impediments there are within our &s;elves, which hinder a choice of the right way, but I &s;hall content my &s;elf with a &s;pecification of tho&s;e two. The chief hindrance ari&s;ing from others is Prejudice or Prejudicacy, not ea&s;ie to be avoided, for we receive it by education and <HI>quo &s;emel e&s;t im|buta recens &s;ervabit odorem te&s;ta diu,</HI> and full ve&s;&s;els are uncapable of receiving addition. An hone&s;t well meaning Gentleman of my Kin|dred would frequently &s;ay, <HI>I was born a Pro|te&s;tant, and by the grace of God I will dye in that profe&s;&s;ion.</HI> The expre&s;&s;ion of &s;uch re&s;o|lution is unu&s;ual, but the thing very common. Our <HI>Roman Catholique</HI> mu&s;t not hear any ar|gument tending to a change of his Profe&s;&s;ion; and the <HI>Mahometans</HI> are &s;aid to be directed by their <HI>Alcoran,</HI> to draw Sword upon any man, who &s;hall per&s;wade them to for&s;ake their Pro|phet. As for my &s;elf, I am &s;o far from &s;hut|ting my eyes to keep out truth, as I am wil|ling to hear all, and when I am really con|vinced in judgment as to matters of Faith, I hold my &s;elf bound to profe&s;s the &s;ame out|wardly. This &s;eemeth favourable to our new lights, and to argue levity, but I believe my
<PB N="17" REF="13">&s;elf to be &s;o well grounded in matters of Re|ligion, as it will be very hard to change me; and what&s;oever I have &s;aid, I &s;hall never be &s;o injurious to the profe&s;&s;ion whereunto I &s;tand yet engaged, as to change without a full hear|ing, and perpending, of that which can be &s;aid by the mo&s;t eminent profe&s;&s;ors of the Doctrine which is a&s;&s;aulted. And this was my practice being very young, for in <HI>Italy</HI> I was in continual di&s;turbance by a Gentleman of our own Nation, who laboured very much to win me to the <HI>Romi&s;h</HI> profe&s;&s;ion, and would not de&s;i&s;t, till I a&s;&s;ured him that I would ne|ver for&s;ake the Religion wherein I was trained up, without a full hearing what would be &s;aid by our Divines, which was impo&s;&s;ible to be effected there. By that which hath been &s;aid, you may &s;ee, what it is to be prepo&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed by education. But, as I conceive, the hold is no le&s;s firm, when a per&s;on for&s;akes his fir&s;t principles after long con&s;ideration. As it was with a Mini&s;ter's wife in the days of King <HI>James,</HI> who&s;e husband having been mi&s;led, &s;ome <HI>Jews</HI> perverted his wife al&s;o, with whom the new Doctrine took &s;o fa&s;t hold, as her husband returning afterwards to his fir&s;t grounds, could never by all his be&s;t arguments recover his wife, who continued her infidelity. Con&s;idering the husband's return home, I acknowledge that this may very properly be imputed to the per|tinacy of that Sex, and if it be true, which &s;ome have ob&s;erved, that upon Marriage be|tween
<PB N="18" REF="14">per&s;ons of different profe&s;&s;ion in Reli|gion, the Wife for the mo&s;t part draweth the Husband to hers. It may very fitly &s;tigma|tize the Male &s;ex, which &s;hould have the commanding rea&s;on, as it hath command otherwi&s;e. The government of our judge|ment in the way of Religion is attempted by all Sects, and having gained Pro&s;elytes they ju&s;tifie a &s;eparation by this Tenet. That the Con&s;cience is obliged again&s;t a communica|ting <HI>in Sacris</HI> with tho&s;e of the Religion pub|liquely profe&s;&s;ed, which they conceive to be overcome with error, and the chief Standard|bearers with us are the <HI>Roman Catholiques,</HI> and the <HI>Non-conformi&s;ts.</HI> There was living in the reign of Queen <HI>Elizabeth,</HI> the Progeni|tor of a very honourable and potent Family now in being, who having been bred a Soul|dier, and not taking matters of Religion into very &s;erious con&s;ideration, was accu&s;tomed to &s;ay, that there are two ways leading to Hea|ven, one by <HI>Rome,</HI> and the other by <HI>Geneva,</HI> whereof either might &s;erve the turn. But either he &s;pake in je&s;t, or con&s;idered not, that the Profe&s;&s;ors of the&s;e are re&s;olved upon an oppo&s;ition in lines &s;o parallel, as they can ne|ver meet in any one point, and therefore will not lead to the &s;ame place. By the&s;e differ|ent ways and the prejudicacy wherein they en|gage people, it appears that &s;ome guide is ne|ce&s;&s;ary, but as to the choice, we mu&s;t refer it to the Chapters following, where there will be more place for it.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="6" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="19" REF="14">
<HEAD>CHAP. VI. <HI>Of Government in Spiritual matters.</HI></HEAD>
<P>WHO, or what is to govern <HI>in Spi|ritualibus,</HI> is a matter, which hath troubled the principal Divines in every Age. It hath been treated of by the mo&s;t Learned, but hath not yet been cleared, and therefore I, who pretend not to any great Reading, or Schollar&s;hip, mu&s;t not hope to work any great effect; yet being a Chri&s;tian, and having a Soul to be &s;aved, I cannot but have con&s;i|dered the point; and &s;ince it may be pre&s;u|med, that what leadeth one rational man may be prevalent with many others, I &s;hall offer &s;ome words concerning it, and leave them to judgment. Government in that kind, is either <HI>in foro interiori,</HI> or <HI>exteriori,</HI> as for the <HI>forum interius,</HI> or Con&s;cience, it mu&s;t be ru|led according to the <HI>judicium privatae di&s;cretio|nis,</HI> or private judgment, for every man believes as grounds are offered to convince him. And as for this, the holy Scriptures, which on all &s;ides are acknowledged to be the Word of God, are the fitte&s;t Judge; for the Church of <HI>Rome</HI> it &s;elf, which claimeth a Superiority over the Scripture, abhorreth being thought to determine any thing contrary to it. But the Scriptures are &s;aid to be but a dead Let|ter,
<PB N="20" REF="15">which in it &s;elf is unactive; &s;o are Colours and other accidents to the outward &s;en&s;es, and yet when upon view the Eye concludeth the Gra&s;s to be green, there is no further enquiry made. So it is with the Under&s;tanding, when the Text is clear, but when a doubt ari&s;eth, an Interpreter is &s;ought, yet after he hath been heard, the judgment mu&s;t be mine, whether or no he hath made a right interpre|tation. And if the terms be clearly out of my reach, I de&s;erve to be judged very imprudent, if I acquie&s;ce not in the judgment of that Church under which I live; as it is in ca&s;e of colours with a per&s;on who&s;e &s;ight is vitiated with the Jaundi&s;e, or any &s;uch di&s;ea&s;e, who hath no way to conclude but by the judge|ment of others. And &s;o it mu&s;t be with tho&s;e to whom the u&s;e of Scripture is denied, which is the mo&s;t probable cau&s;e of refu&s;ing it to Laiques in the Church of <HI>Rome,</HI> for by that means their Clergy becomes Oraculous. As for the <HI>forum exterius,</HI> con&s;i&s;ting of Doc|trines to be made publique, I know no re|medy, but it mu&s;t be directed by the Church-national for the pre&s;ent, and in ca&s;e of fur|ther doubts, it is very happy when by con|&s;ent the Divines of &s;everal National Churches are a&s;&s;embled together to &s;ettle the matters in debate. Of this nature were tho&s;e which are received by the name of General Councils, though indeed they were not truly &s;o, but called Oecumenical in re&s;pect of <GAP DESC="foreign">
<PB N="21" REF="15">or the <HI>Roman World,</HI> which then contained well near all Chri&s;tendom, and was within one Empire, who&s;e Prince or Princes might a&s;&s;emble and di&s;&s;olve them at plea|&s;ure. But as for a Council truly general of the whole World, it is impo&s;&s;ible there &s;hould be any &s;uch, for there neither is, nor can be any means of a&s;&s;embling them. And &s;o much concerning Judgment in general, as to matters of Faith. In the next place we may take in|to con&s;ideration tho&s;e per&s;ons, or collective bodies, who are pretenders to a guidance in the Spiritual way.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="7" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. VII. <HI>Of the Papal claim to Government in Spirituals.</HI></HEAD>
<P>THE fir&s;t that offereth it &s;elf is the Church of <HI>Rome,</HI> or rather the <HI>Levia|than</HI> of that Church, the Pope, who pretends to an univer&s;ality and infallible guidance in <HI>Spiritualibus,</HI> by rea&s;on of his Chair, and Suc|ce&s;&s;ion from St. <HI>Peter.</HI> But &s;hall we receive that Chair to be Infallible, wherein (though it were famous for purity of Doctrine and Martyrdom in the Churches infancy) have been placed per&s;ons, who &s;ub&s;cribed their names
<PB N="22" REF="16">for confirmation of Heretical Doctrines, as <HI>Liberius</HI> did in the ca&s;e of Ariani&s;m, witne&s;|&s;ed by &s;everal Fathers, and &s;o far confirmed by <HI>Platina,</HI> as he affirms him <HI>&s;en&s;i&s;&s;e cum Ari|anis;</HI> and which Chair hath al&s;o frequently been po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed by per&s;ons guilty of notorious habitual &s;ins, giving little hope of their Salva|tion, as is generally confe&s;&s;ed by Romi&s;h Do|ctors; which Chair hath al&s;o buoyed it &s;elf to &s;uch a height above all other power what&s;o|ever, and this by a con&s;tant encroachment up|on the Empire, which Empire without offence taken by former holy Bi&s;hops, con&s;tantly u&s;ed the Power of calling and di&s;&s;olving Coun|cils? Shall we think that pretended Spiritual dignity to be of God, or as it calleth &s;elf the Vicariate of <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> who &s;aid his Kingdom was not of this world, and who&s;e Succe&s;&s;ors glo|ried in Poverty and Martyrdom, whereas this aboundeth in Riches and exterior power above any thing now extant in the Chri&s;tian World? The managing of controver&s;al Polemiques is a burthen too heavy for my &s;houlders, and there|fore I leave it to our Prote&s;tant Divines, who have very &s;ufficiently impugned the Doctrines, wherein they differ from ours; yet I may be pardoned if I offer &s;ome rea&s;ons, which are prevalent with me &s;o far, as never to hold &s;piritual communion with them, till a change of their chief tenets, of which change there is very little hope. I take the two principal points to be the&s;e: That of the <HI>Pope</HI>'s Supre|macy,
<PB N="23" REF="16">and that of Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation in the Sacrament, and I cannot concur with them in the&s;e, becau&s;e they are ab&s;olutely oppo&s;ite to common rea&s;on. As for a Supremacy over the Church, which Church is (or may be) di&s;per&s;ed over the whole World, it is impo&s;&s;i|ble that any &s;uch Supremacy &s;hould be held by any, but <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> him&s;elf, who is God Om|ni&s;cient and Omnipotent. For how can any one per&s;on know, what is done in all parts of the World, or hold &s;uch corre&s;pondence as to receive intelligence and convey orders Univer|&s;ally, &s;ince a great part of the Earth is yet undi&s;covered, and we know little or nothing of that which is already di&s;covered? There might be &s;ome &s;eeming nece&s;&s;ity of &s;uch a Supremacy in Spirituals, as a means of Union in the <HI>Roman</HI> World (as it was u&s;ually called) which was under one Prince, or in any &s;uch large tract of ground under &s;everal Princes, &s;o as the office of a Patriarch might &s;eem rea&s;onable. But there appeareth little &s;en&s;e for an univer|&s;al Bi&s;hop, the exerci&s;e of who&s;e Juri&s;diction mu&s;t be impracticable. I may profe&s;s, that upon conference with very con&s;iderable per|&s;ons of the <HI>Romi&s;h,</HI> Faith, I could never re|ceive &s;atisfaction to this Objection, and I be|lieve that none can be given. The other point of the <HI>Euchari&s;t,</HI> is as contrary to rea|&s;on, as it is unnece&s;&s;ary to be believed; for how can it be thought, that at the fir&s;t admi|ni&s;tration of that Sacrament by our <HI>Saviour</HI>
<PB N="24" REF="17">him&s;elf, the Bread and Wine delivered by him could be Tran&s;ub&s;tantiated, when his Body repleni&s;hed with Blood was pre&s;ent at the Ta|ble, and in&s;trumental in the delivery? And why &s;hould this be believed, when Tran&s;ub|&s;tantiation takes wholly away the &s;ign, which is an e&s;&s;ential part of the Sacrament, <HI>viz.</HI> Bread and Wine, which are ab&s;olutely taken away in their &s;ub&s;tance, as the Romi&s;h Doc|tors fully declare? And to &s;ay nothing of car|nal Manducation, which &s;o offended the <HI>Ca|pernaitans,</HI> what fruit can there be of eating without faith, for &s;o <HI>Judas</HI> did, and peri&s;hed? The chief u&s;e therefore of this, and the other Sacrament (or more, if any there be) is Spi|ritual, and may be pre&s;erved without an or|dinary working of Miracles. I mu&s;t upon the&s;e grounds conclude again&s;t &s;uch a guide, unle&s;s he were indeed Infallible, the contrary whereof doth &s;o fully appear.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="8" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. VIII. <HI>Of the</HI> Presbyterian <HI>claim.</HI></HEAD>
<P>ANOTHER Government there is cal|led <HI>Presbyterian,</HI> and received by many of the Reformed Churches, con&s;i&s;ting of a &s;ub|ordination of mixt A&s;&s;emblies, containing per|&s;ons
<PB N="25" REF="17">both Spiritual and Laique, founded upon Parochial Congregations, with &s;ucce&s;&s;ive ap|peals from thence. This Government by preparatives to the <HI>Euchari&s;t</HI> a&s;&s;umeth a power, and pre&s;&s;eth as much (or more) upon Con|&s;cience, as that of the Romi&s;h Prelate. This affirmeth it &s;elf to be grounded upon Divine Right, and yet was altogether unknown to the Ancients, having little or no foundation in Scripture, for the Text mo&s;t in&s;i&s;ted upon by the a&s;&s;ertors of it, which is, <HI>Let the Elders that rule well be counted worthy of double ho|nour, e&s;pecially they who labour in the word and doctrine,</HI> 1. Tim. 5.17. concludeth nothing for Lay-elders, &s;ince it is mo&s;t naturally inter|preted, by a difference in point of indu&s;try between per&s;ons Eccle&s;ia&s;tical. It is a Govern|ment which &s;eemeth adju&s;ted to the latitude of a Democracy, and not to the altitude of a Monar|chy, for in a Democracy where the &s;upreme power re&s;ideth in many, and tho&s;e being per&s;ons not taking any great State upon them, the State&s;|men may ea&s;ily di&s;per&s;e them&s;elves, and have an influence upon tho&s;e A&s;&s;emblies by private con|ference with the Leaders; whereas in a Monar|chy the Sovereign dealeth better with &s;ingle per&s;ons, as the Bi&s;hops, in whom the common people have not &s;o particular an intere&s;t, as they may have in tho&s;e mixt bodies. The Emperor <HI>Caligula</HI> meant &s;omething, when he wi&s;hed that the people of <HI>Rome</HI> had but one Neck that he might with ea&s;e cut it in two.
<PB N="26" REF="18">If therefore it were lawfull for a State to fit a Church Government to its own con&s;titution, I conceive that Monarchies and Democracies might &s;peedily accommodate them&s;elves in a choice. I confe&s;s that the <HI>Presbyterian</HI> Go|vernment, by rea&s;on of the la&s;t Appeal, is very good for Unity, which is a precious thing, and much to be de&s;ired, but in no man|ner (to my be&s;t ob&s;ervation) promi&s;ed by our ble&s;&s;ed <HI>Saviour,</HI> for he intimated the con|trary <HI>Luke</HI> 12.51. &s;aying, <HI>Suppo&s;e ye that I am come to give peace upon earth? I tell you, nay, but rather divi&s;ion,</HI> &amp;c. Princes and States (as we know, and as very Learned men af|firm) have a great power in ordering Eccle&s;i|a&s;tical government, for <HI>Con&s;tantine</HI> the Great, when he &s;tiled him&s;elf <HI>Epi&s;copum extra Eccle|&s;iam,</HI> meant not by that word the office of <GAP DESC="foreign"> among the Heathen, having no Ec|cle&s;ia&s;tical relation, but one who had a very high power, to order matters of that nature. And as to the Exerci&s;e of that power, it may mini&s;ter &s;ome occa&s;ion of wonder, that any Prince &s;hould either enjoin or permit the <HI>Pre&s;|byterian</HI> government in his dominions (con|&s;idering what hath been &s;aid), as it was in <HI>Scotland</HI> not many years pa&s;t, and as it is now under &s;ome <HI>German</HI> Princes, but the marvail is not &s;o great that it &s;hould be e&s;tabli&s;hed in popular States. There are among us many other Sects well known, as <HI>Anabapti&s;ts, Browni&s;ts,</HI> &amp;c. which oppo&s;ing them&s;elves
<PB N="27" REF="18">again&s;t all Government, cannot be well &s;tiled pretenders to any particular; but to avoid that imputation rendring them odious, they may &s;helter them&s;elves under another Sect which a&s;&s;umeth the name of a Government, and hath entrails capable to receive and &s;helter them all. It is the Sect of <HI>Independents,</HI> or Con|gregationals, who are very &s;trict in point of di&s;cipline, but it is within their own Con|gregation, wherein they are &s;aid to unite them|&s;elves by a particular Covenant, differing ac|cording to the &s;en&s;e of &s;everal Pa&s;tors. They deny a Church Univer&s;al, as a Body that can any ways produce activity, being impo&s;&s;ible to be Congregated. And they will not ad|mit of Appeal to any National-Church, or Council con&s;i&s;ting of divers Nations, which gives their Pa&s;tors an authority little le&s;s than <HI>Papal.</HI> But the thing wherein this Sect mo&s;t glorieth, is their moderation, in not pre&s;&s;ing upon the Con&s;cience of any per|&s;on without the limits of their Congregati|on, which very much preventeth a taking offence by others. And thus much con|cerning our <HI>Non-conformi&s;ts,</HI> who &s;eem to be but ill Directors.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="9" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="28" REF="19">
<HEAD>CHAP. IX. <HI>Of the Church Government e&s;tabli&s;hed by Law.</HI></HEAD>
<P>HAVING be&s;towed &s;ome Paper in &s;peak|ing of our <HI>Non-conformi&s;ts,</HI> it were ve|ry injurious to tho&s;e eminent Divines, who were directors in the Reformation of our <HI>Eng|li&s;h</HI> Church, and to the Church government it &s;elf, not to &s;ay &s;omewhat of it. As to our Reformers, none can de&s;erve more prai&s;e than they, if it be commendable to u&s;e modera|tion. The Doctrinal part is not capable of moderation to be u&s;ed, for Truth in every Antithe&s;is of que&s;tions is but one, like to the God of truth. And I believe no man can affirm, that they have not gone to the very extremity of the Line in oppo&s;ition to the Church of <HI>Rome,</HI> in matters Controver&s;al; but in point of Di&s;cipline, where certainly there is much liberty left to Prudence, they have u&s;ed great moderation, retaining &s;ome Cere|monies which are lea&s;t liable to offence, with a de&s;iring to win the <HI>Roman Catholiques,</HI> if it were po&s;&s;ible; by complying with them, where&s;oever it might lawfully be done. But this is laid to their charge as Antichri&s;tian, when Heatheni&s;m might as well have been imputed to primitive Chri&s;tians, who dealt
<PB N="29" REF="19">&s;o with the Heathen, as <HI>Ca&s;aubon</HI> hi&s;torical|ly relateth in his original of Idolatries, though not approving the thing, and &s;urely by that means many of the Heathens were gained. And &s;o the primitive Fathers may be thought to have dealt al&s;o with the <HI>Jews,</HI> and in com|pliance with them to have in&s;tituted annual Fe&s;tivals, &s;et up Altars in Churches, taken the office (though not the name) of a Bi|&s;hop, who in his Dioce&s;s quadrates with the <HI>Jewi&s;h</HI> high Prie&s;t, and to have ordered their Cathedral Churches an&s;werable to the Tem|ple, with Parochial Churches analogous to Synagogues. And may it not be &s;aid, that the holy Apo&s;tles, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> complied with the <HI>Jews</HI> in the fir&s;t Council at <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> by a tem|porary prohibition to the <HI>Gentiles</HI> of eating things &s;trangled and blood? And as for our Church Liturgy it is now criminated by ma|ny, as Idolatrous, becau&s;e in &s;ome things it re&s;embleth the <HI>Ma&s;s,</HI> though not in the main. But this charge is mo&s;t unrea&s;onable, for the <HI>Ma&s;s</HI> in it &s;elf ought not to have been rejected, but for the Idolatrous part of it. And I profe&s;s my &s;elf, &s;o far from being &s;wayed by their Judgment, as to me it &s;eems a great com|mendation of the <HI>Common prayer book,</HI> to &s;ay that it complieth with Antiquity as far as lawfully may be done. Another A&s;per&s;ion is by them ca&s;t upon the Church of <HI>England,</HI> for retaining of Ceremonies, by re&s;embling it to the Church of <HI>Laodicea,</HI> which was neither
<PB N="30" REF="20">hot nor cold, but certainly that heat, and coldne&s;s had reference to want of Zeal and fervency in Religion, and not to di&s;cipline, (&s;ince di&s;cipline in the Churches infancy mi|ni&s;tred little occa&s;ion of di&s;pute) which may &s;tand for a &s;ufficient an&s;wer in that particular. I confe&s;s, that no Reformation or Liturgy can be &s;o perfect, as to be liable to no ju&s;t excep|tion, unle&s;s all were guided immediately by the Spirit of God. But will this ju&s;tifie a Sepa|ration? Certainly upon the &s;ame foundation we mu&s;t &s;eparate our &s;elves from all Chri&s;tian Churches what&s;oever. Will any man affirm, that if all particulars now excepted again&s;t in the book of <HI>Common-prayer,</HI> were altered with approbation of the mo&s;t approved <HI>Non-confor|mi&s;t,</HI> the World would be &s;atisfied with it? I believe not, and I may do &s;o with good rea&s;on, for there are many among us, per&s;ons of eminency in that way, who declare all &s;et Forms what&s;oever to be unlawfull, which they call a quenching of the Spirit, if they be enjoyned, &s;o as a rational man cannot find any way to give general &s;atisfaction. For example, were not all &s;et Forms of Prayer taken away by the late a&s;&s;embly of Divines in their Directory, and yet within that a&s;&s;em|bly were there not di&s;&s;enting Brethren to mo&s;t of their re&s;olutions? I &s;hall conclude all with that I received from the learned Lord <HI>Herbert</HI> of <HI>Cherbury,</HI> being then Amba&s;&s;adour in <HI>France,</HI> how a very learned <HI>French</HI> Gentleman of the
<PB N="31" REF="20">reformed Religion affirmed, that he thought ours the be&s;t tempered and ordered, of any reformed Church in Chri&s;tendom, and that he was heartily &s;orry the con&s;titution of the reformed in <HI>France</HI> was &s;uch, by their King's being of an oppo&s;ite Profe&s;&s;ion, as they could not conform their Di&s;cipline to ours, for he did verily believe, that the <HI>French</HI> Divines would readily embrace an Union with us in all things, if it could be done.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="10" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. X. <HI>Preparatives for the Journey to Paradi&s;e.</HI></HEAD>
<P>NOW I hope that we may be &s;atisfied, that there is no need of better guides in this way of holine&s;s than our own Governors, who are not likely to build upon other grounds, than tho&s;e which were laid at the time of Re|formation, for it will be their intere&s;t &s;o to doe; If that be true, which I received be|fore our great troubles from a per&s;on, who is now a very Reverend Father in our Church, and Head of a Dioce&s;s, which is this; <HI>That our Clergy is the happie&s;t of any in Chri&s;ten|dom, being free from many burthens to which the Papal Clergy is &s;ubject by means of frequent vi&s;itations,</HI> &amp;c. It is the cu&s;tome of tho&s;e
<PB N="32" REF="21">who undertake Journeys to disburthen them|&s;elves of &s;uch things, as may be cumber&s;ome upon the way, and &s;o it will be fit for us to doe. But this voyage is far different from others, for here the burthens are not without us, but within us, as our ble&s;&s;ed <HI>Saviour</HI> &s;peaketh of defilements <HI>Matt.</HI> 15.18. It is not our riches that we mu&s;t ca&s;t off (for that were but a har&s;h advice) but covetous de|&s;ires, and tru&s;t in riches <HI>Matt.</HI> 10.24. Not our honours, but our ambition, for riches and honour may be helps in the way of doing good, if they be not abu&s;ed, and &s;o it is with mo&s;t other outward advantages. It is u&s;ual al&s;o with travellers to provide them&s;elves of Cordials to carry with them, and we can have no better cordials, than a re&s;olution to make God's glory the chief end of all our actions, and a full &s;ubmi&s;&s;ion to him in all things, pre|ferring his will before our own, for the&s;e will &s;weeten unto us all outward cro&s;&s;es that can befall us, while we are in this pilgrimage; &s;o it was with our ble&s;&s;ed <HI>Saviour</HI> Matt. 26.39. <HI>Neverthele&s;s not as I will, but as thou wilt;</HI> and with his holy Apo&s;tles, who were &s;o far from repining at their &s;ufferings for our Ma|&s;ter, as they gloried in them: and &s;o it mu&s;t be with us, if we intend to receive the re|ward due for faithfull &s;ervice in the conclu|&s;ion.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="11" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="33" REF="21">
<HEAD>CHAP. XI. <HI>Of the &s;uppo&s;ed decree of Reprobation of Pre&s;cience and Free-will.</HI></HEAD>
<P>NOW to pro&s;ecute the Subject of our Di&s;cour&s;e, the next thing &s;hould be to &s;et forth the places (or at lea&s;t the mo&s;t con|&s;iderable of them) to be pa&s;&s;ed in this holy and righteous way, but it will be nece&s;&s;ary fir&s;t to take into con&s;ideration a Paradox, which if true, may prevent the occa&s;ion of endeavouring to journey at all. This Para|dox is the opinion of fatal nece&s;&s;ity in all things that come to pa&s;s, as well in the way of Salvation as otherwi&s;e. If this nece&s;&s;ity be true, (as a decree of Saving or Damning all particular per&s;ons, makes it in the main point) many will be apt to &s;ay, <HI>let us u&s;e this Worlds delights, while we may, for Judgment is al|ready pa&s;s'd,</HI> and the Argument were not ir|rational. Now &s;ince there are learned Di|vines, who a&s;&s;ert Free-will in oppo&s;ition to this opinion, I &s;hall take for granted, that there are very many texts of Scripture, which may fitly be produced for each &s;ide; and therefore not being able to &s;ound the <HI>Abi&s;&s;us</HI> of this con|trover&s;ie as a Divine, I &s;hall only expre&s;s how my own rea&s;on is governed in it. I fir&s;t lay
<PB N="34" REF="22">for a ground, that God is ju&s;t, and in &s;uch away ju&s;t, as is con&s;onant to that which he hath in|fu&s;ed into the heart of man concerning the principles of Ju&s;tice, whereof one undeniable maxim is this, That no man is to be condem|ned, but he who hath wilfully offended, upon which ground very young children and mad|men are to be exempted from &s;uch condemna|tion; from this it mu&s;t follow, that every per|&s;on capable of being &s;o &s;entenced, mu&s;t have freedom of will, and not be bound up by any nece&s;&s;ity to perpetrate the evil which he com|mitteth. And how can this &s;tand with a de|cree of reprobation? The maintainers of this decree accu&s;e the a&s;&s;erters of Free-will, as inju|rious to God, for taking away by that means his fore-knowledge, which (as they &s;ay) mu&s;t be grounded upon &s;ome certainty, and comes not any ways &s;o &s;ure, as by a decree. And further they affirm, that it argues imperfecti|on in God, if he fore-knew not both what is to be elected by the will, and all other things; for otherwi&s;e &s;omething mu&s;t come to pa&s;s, which is new to him, and not con&s;i&s;tent with his All-&s;ufficiency. For my part I will never either &s;ay, or conclude in my thoughts, that God hath not a perfect Pre&s;cience, becau&s;e there may be grounds of his fore-knowledge out of the reach of my imperfect under&s;tand|ing; but I mu&s;t freely confe&s;s, I cannot &s;ee, how the determinations of our will &s;hould be fore-known at all. To me it &s;eems altogether
<PB N="35" REF="22">as derogatory to the attribute of God's pow|er, to &s;ay, that by no means he can e&s;tabli&s;h a contingency, which contingency cannot, as I conceive, con&s;i&s;t with fore-knowledge, whereunto nece&s;&s;ity is always attendant. And as to the above-mention'd Objection of No|velty to God, it mu&s;t be &s;o however, for when any fore-known thing comes to pa&s;s, the exi&s;tence of it is new to him that fore|knew it; as for example, The Prophet <HI>Eli&s;ha</HI> fore-knew and fore-told the plenty in <HI>Samaria,</HI> 2 <HI>King.</HI> 7. yet when the plenty came by means of the <HI>Syrians</HI> flight, the being of it was new to him, as well as to others; for the fir&s;t exi&s;tence of every thing is actually new, notwith&s;tanding any former <HI>Idea,</HI> as a hou&s;e newly built is new to the Architect, and for the Deity to receive it otherwi&s;e than it is, were certainly an imperfection. And that the election of the will be new, gives no impe|diment to God's providence in governing the World, for it concerneth only the divine Ju|&s;tice, as to rewarding or puni&s;hing the good or evil election, all action what&s;oever being only in the power of God, and not &s;ubject to any man's will. Be&s;ides this, why &s;hould it be greater imperfection not to fore-know a thing, to which God hath given the nature of not being fore-knowable, than to want ability of making a thing not to be, then when it is? I mu&s;t therefore conclude, that every man hath freedom of Will, to elect
<PB N="36" REF="23">what he &s;hall doe, or el&s;e there can be no ground either for &s;in, or for puni&s;hment.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="12" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. XII. <HI>Of Obedience to Magi&s;trates Eccle|&s;ia&s;tical or Civil.</HI></HEAD>
<P>NOW we come to the particular places or pa&s;&s;ages in the way to <HI>Paradi&s;e,</HI> which by our Hypothe&s;is are far from being level, but not unplea&s;ant, for Countries con|&s;i&s;ting of ri&s;ings and de&s;cents, are e&s;teemed the mo&s;t delightfull. I &s;hall take my method from the <HI>Decalogue,</HI> making the places rela|tive to Holine&s;s, and to Righteou&s;ne&s;s. Yet adventuring to invert the order by beginning with the righteous part, and re&s;erving that which relateth to holine&s;s to conclude with, as fitter to come up clo&s;e to <HI>Paradi&s;e</HI> it &s;elf. It mu&s;t not here be expected that I &s;hould bring any thing that is new, for the way hath been always the &s;ame &s;ince Chri&s;t's <HI>con&s;umma|tum e&s;t,</HI> and is known to all able Divines, with who&s;e writings the World abounds; but becau&s;e there is much difference in limitati|ons, and illu&s;tration of particulars, I &s;hall apply my &s;elf to &s;et forth &s;ome of them. Our
<PB N="37" REF="23">fir&s;t pa&s;&s;age is by the plain of Obedience, and I mu&s;t &s;eat it in a Plain, becau&s;e the way of an obedient per&s;on is ea&s;ie, and clear. For where there is mi&s;under&s;tanding, the offence cannot properly be called Di&s;obedience, and contrariwi&s;e the paths of per&s;ons di&s;po&s;ed to rai&s;e doubts, are always rugged and perplexed; and I mean Obedience as it relateth immediate|ly to Man, for there can be no que&s;tion about Obedience to God. Here I lay as a foundation, that Obedience is due for con&s;cience-&s;ake to Pa|rents natural, and to Magi&s;trates either Ec|cle&s;ia&s;tical or Civil, in all things indifferent; by which indifferency, I mean matters left free by the law of God. This is a block in the way of all our <HI>Non-conformi&s;ts,</HI> who have a po&s;ition directly contrary, which is this; That it is an impardonable pre&s;umption (e&s;pecially in per&s;ons Eccle&s;ia&s;tique) to violate the Church|liberty left by our <HI>Saviour,</HI> wherein they com|prize all that is neither commanded nor forbid|den by Divine Law, and to confirm this, they alledge the Text, <HI>Stand fa&s;t therefore in the liberty wherewith Chri&s;t hath made us free;</HI> which were of &s;ome importance, but that in the Ver&s;e immediately following, St. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;pe|cifieth Circumci&s;ion, and generally in the new Te&s;tament the word Liberty &s;tandeth oppo|&s;ed to <HI>Jewi&s;h</HI> Ceremonies, which are aboli&s;h|ed, as we all know. And I appeal to com|mon rea&s;on, whether or no, Governors of the Church ought not to give rule in things in|different,
<PB N="38" REF="24">without which they are nothing at all in the way of Government, for they have no power in things either commanded or for|bidden by God, but only with their eye to &s;ee the rules ob&s;erved. Since the Liberty above challenged will not admit them to pu|ni&s;h, unle&s;s the way be expre&s;ly directed in holy Writ. Nay, if I mi&s;take not very much, they affirm, that matters &s;o indifferent in their own nature, as they their &s;elves would other|wi&s;e doe them, become unlawfull by the very commandment of Superiours, and I believe that this po&s;ition hath &s;carcely been known in any Church but ours. Wherefore our Go|vernours cannot be ju&s;tly blamed, if they &s;uppre&s;s it as far as they &s;hall be able. I ac|knowledge the truth of another rule taken up by them, That no per&s;on is bound to doe any thing that is contrary to his Con&s;cience, <HI>for what&s;oever is not of faith is &s;in;</HI> but every man oweth that right to him&s;elf, to be inform|ed carefully and fully in all things required by the Magi&s;trate, and in ca&s;e he cannot be &s;ati&s;|fied, that Obedience in that particular is law|full, then to &s;ubmit him&s;elf to puni&s;hment. And another que&s;tion there is, which con|cerns the Temporal Magi&s;tracy, about Penal Laws, whether or no they bind the Con&s;ci|ence, &s;ince the penalty &s;eems to be &s;et in bal|lance again&s;t the tran&s;gre&s;&s;ion. As for this, I &s;hall go no further in the way of &s;atisfaction, than by affirming, that the very end of making
<PB N="39" REF="24">inhibitory laws is this, That the particulars forbidden, &s;hould be forborn, and therefore Obedience is required ab&s;olutely, though the penalty be added as a Spur towards it, and thus much of Obedience.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="13" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. XIII. <HI>Of Ju&s;tice.</HI></HEAD>
<P>OUR next remove is over the Mount of Ju&s;tice. I intend not Ju&s;tice in the large&s;t acception; for &s;o it is as comprehen&s;ive as Righteou&s;ne&s;s (or rather convertible with it) containing a di&s;tribution of all, that in any kind can be due, as obedience to God him&s;elf, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> But I take it as relating only to the Creature, and I give it habitation up|on a Hill, that it may have a fair and large pro&s;pect, for no man can be ju&s;t, but he mu&s;t acquaint him&s;elf with circum&s;tances, and the condition of him with whom he is to deal. The rule of Ju&s;tice is to give every man his due, and much more that which is his own in property, but this mu&s;t not be done to a madman, who may de&s;troy him&s;elf and others by delivery of his weapon to him. Ve|racity al&s;o (or truth-telling) is generally due for pre&s;ervation of Society, but this holdeth
<PB N="40" REF="25">not with Children, Fools, and Madmen, who are not capable of perfect &s;ociety; &s;o as we may &s;o far digre&s;s occa&s;ionally from the &s;trict rules of Truth, as to affirm to them that which is far different from the reality of being &s;o, and yet the affirmation de&s;erveth not the in|famous name of a Lye. And as it &s;eems, we under&s;tand that no Ju&s;tice is due to Brutes, whom we de&s;troy at plea&s;ure, and ju&s;tifie our &s;o doing, by the empire or ab&s;olute com|mand, which God hath given us over them: I confe&s;s we may ju&s;tify our de&s;troying them, for defence of our &s;elves and others; upon which ground we kill Serpents and other crea|tures, that &s;eem to profe&s;s enmity to Man|kind, or we may de&s;troy them in defence of our goods, which becomes a ruine to Foxes and &s;uch cattel, extending even to Wa&s;ps and Flies, much more are we ju&s;tified in taking away the lives (even of innocent creatures) to provide meat for the nece&s;&s;ary &s;u&s;tentation of our bo|dies. But certainly God hath given to harm|le&s;s creatures a right in their life and well-be|ing, &s;o as to kill, or maim them is inju&s;tice, and to take plea&s;ure in doing &s;o is inhumanity. Upon the tribunal of Ju&s;tice there &s;itteth with her an Adjutant or Coa&s;&s;e&s;&s;or called <HI>Equity,</HI> who always crieth out unto her, <HI>Summum jus e&s;t &s;umma injuria, The extremity of Ju&s;tice is high injury,</HI> putting her in mind, that a per|&s;on who falleth within the verge of Ju&s;tice pu|nitive or di&s;tributive, whereby he is likely to
<PB N="41" REF="25">be ruined, without having wilfully offended, or without a wilfull forbearing of that which &s;hould have been done, ought to be relieved. And thus far for pre&s;ervation of Equity the common Ju&s;tice of this Kingdom hath provi|ded, but the rule is &s;uch, as in Con&s;cience, and without publique Coertion, it ought to be ob&s;erved in dealings between man and man. Ju&s;tice is that which &s;upports all Government what&s;oever, and there was a &s;hadow of this heretofore in the Kingdom of <HI>Arragon,</HI> where at the King's Coronation, and at &s;ome other &s;olemn times, there was a publique declaration made in the King's own hearing, <HI>That Ju&s;tice was Superiour to him,</HI> but tho&s;e Kings beco|ming Monarchs of <HI>Spain,</HI> thought this Ceremo|ny derogatory to their Greatne&s;s, and &s;o have aboli&s;hed it, though they their &s;elves &s;till &s;ub|&s;i&s;t by Ju&s;tice. There is a breach of Ju&s;tice, wherewith we have been too far acquainted in this latter age, which is an a&s;&s;uming of pow|er over others without any lawfull authority, either from God or man, and this for &s;ome time brought upon our Nation &s;uch confu|&s;ion, as it may well be hoped, the people will never hereafter admit the lea&s;t encroach|ment of that nature. Within the purlieu of this vertue are comprized mo&s;t naturally the four la&s;t Commandments of the ten &s;ave one, &s;o as near half the Decalogue belongeth to it. And Ju&s;tice is &s;o important in Chri&s;tianity, as he who meriteth the name of a Ju&s;t Man,
<PB N="42" REF="26">is under&s;tood to be a per&s;on exactly religious. A chief benefit ari&s;ing from this vertue to tho&s;e who are ble&s;&s;ed with the habit of it, is freedom from horror of Con&s;cience, which is more frequently &s;tirred up to di&s;quiet by inju&s;tice, than by any other offence what&s;o|ever; and this exemption is more precious, becau&s;e a troubled Con&s;cience is the greate&s;t unhappine&s;s that can befall any man in this life.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="14" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. XIV. <HI>Of Temperance.</HI></HEAD>
<P>AT foot of the mount of Ju&s;tice, &s;tands the hou&s;e of Temperance, a frame built and &s;ituated rather for conveniency than curio&s;ity, but wanting nothing that is u&s;efull. The entertainment of Strangers is like to the hou&s;e it &s;elf, affording nothing of exce&s;s, and yet that which is convenient in every re&s;pect. This Lady and her family lead a life mo&s;t con|tented, being not acquainted either with re|pining for want, or with extravagant de&s;ire of attaining more than they enjoy. Their &s;leep is &s;weet, and they are not much in danger of di&s;ea&s;es, becau&s;e mo&s;t &s;ickne&s;&s;es ari&s;e from di&s;temper, and overclogging the Stomach. In
<PB N="43" REF="26">this family no good thing is forbidden, but the moderate u&s;e commanded. I find not in the ten Commandments, either Temperance literally enjoyned, or the contrary forbidden, but certainly it is greatly in&s;trumental in the way of Religion. It pre&s;erves the faculties of the body and mind, in their full &s;trength, as to all good duties, and therefore mu&s;t be a very fit preparative for Devotion, and to &s;uch per&s;ons Mortification is of no u&s;e. As in mo&s;t (if not in all) vertues there is error in defect, as well as in exce&s;s, &s;o it is in this, though Governors find not immoderate ab&s;tinence &s;o u&s;ual, as to provide again&s;t it, for the exhor|tations in all profe&s;&s;ions of Religion to ab&s;ti|nence and mortification, are without limits; yet St. <HI>Paul</HI> advi&s;eth <HI>Timothy</HI> to a moderate u&s;e of Wine in re&s;pect of his frequent infirmi|ties, and in the art of Phy&s;ick it is a maxim, That di&s;ea&s;es coming by Inanition are le&s;s re|coverable, than tho&s;e grounded upon Reple|tion. I cannot deny but the way of Exce&s;s is much more frequent, and it is hard to find a name bad enough for it, Bruti&s;h or Be&s;tial coming &s;hort, &s;ince &s;carcely any creature is noted for it, but Doggs and Swine. Now let us compare this vertue of Temperance with &s;ome others. The Ju&s;t man by doing his du|ty, may be expo&s;ed to the malice of per&s;ons conceiving them&s;elves injured. Fortitude may call a per&s;on to the hazard of his life; nay, require the laying down of it. Liberality and
<PB N="44" REF="27">Charity draw on &s;ome diminution of his for|tunes, but Temperance is &s;ecure from danger, and occa&s;ioneth no damage, yet it only concerns a man's own per&s;on, whereas Ju&s;tice and the re&s;t have their influence upon others, and in that re&s;pect are to have a preference by a rule gene|rally received, which is this, <HI>Bonum quo com|munius eo melius,</HI> which may bear this &s;en&s;e, <HI>Good things the more communicative they are, the better;</HI> but now it may be time for us to pro&s;ecute our journey beyond the hou&s;e of Temperance, taking notice of her two fair daughters, So|briety and Cha&s;tity, and ob&s;erving her habi|tation to be fitly placed near to the Mount of Ju&s;tice, &s;ince Temperance is a kind of Ju&s;tice to a man's own body, di&s;tributing to it a due &s;hare of refection, and &s;o pre&s;erving it in the advantages which Nature hath given.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="15" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. XV. <HI>Of Fortitude.</HI></HEAD>
<P>THE next eminent thing in our way that offereth it &s;elf to view, is the man&s;ion of Chri&s;tian Fortitude, which is a Ca&s;tle &s;ituated upon ground rai&s;ed &s;omewhat above the re&s;t near it. This place had need to be defen&s;ible, for that precious trea&s;ure of truth &s;eemeth to
<PB N="45" REF="27">tru&s;t her &s;elf in it, and where can &s;he be with more &s;afety than in Cu&s;tody of tho&s;e who will lay down their life for her defence? This Fort hath arms offen&s;ive and defen&s;ive, &s;ince For|titude cannot want the fire arms of holy Zeal &s;upplying arguments &s;ufficient to maintain truth, and the armour of Patience is always at hand, enabling to receive and bear without giving ground, the violent a&s;&s;aults of Error and Here&s;ie. And within this Ca&s;tle there may be &s;up|po&s;ed to be kept a Record or Regi&s;ter of tho&s;e eminent per&s;ons, who have either &s;pent their lives in actual re&s;i&s;tance again&s;t Inva&s;ions made upon the Church by <HI>Pagans, Saracens,</HI> &amp;c. or laid down their lives by &s;uffering as Mar|tyrs for the true Faith. But here may ari&s;e a que&s;tion how far war only offen&s;ive is law|full in Chri&s;tianity, I conceive their opinion to be faire&s;t, who are ab&s;olutely again&s;t all war offen&s;ive, and it is hard in that re&s;pect, for the King of <HI>Spain,</HI> and Duke of <HI>Florence,</HI> to ju&s;tifie them&s;elves in their fixed re&s;olution, not to have peace, treaty, or commerce with the <HI>Turks.</HI> Peaceable &s;ociety between man and man by the law of Nature is to be had when|&s;oever it may; and &s;urely Chri&s;tianity, which exalteth peace and amity above all other religions, will not contradict &s;uch a law. Be&s;ides this, very learned men conclude Kil|ling to be unlawfull (even in War it &s;elf) unle&s;s it be in defence of per&s;on or po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ions, and in &s;uch ca&s;es War becomes defen&s;ive,
<PB N="46" REF="28">though it be to recover that which is lo&s;t for the pre&s;ent. Thus it was with <HI>Ahab</HI> for <HI>Ra|moth Gilead,</HI> and he is no ways reproved for it, either by the Prophets, or by the pious King <HI>Jeho&s;aphat</HI> his a&s;&s;ociate in that War. The like may be &s;aid in ju&s;tification of War made by union of many States, or Princes again&s;t any one, who by continual encroach|ments rendreth his Neighbour incapable of &s;in|gle re&s;i&s;tance. But it is not the being defen|&s;ive of a War, that can ju&s;tify an armed oppo|&s;ition by Subjects again&s;t their Sovereign, or &s;upreme Magi&s;trate, and lea&s;t of all for de|fence of Religion, for this is diametrically op|po&s;ite to the practice of primitive Chri&s;tians, who&s;e cu&s;tome was, rather to &s;ubmit their bodies to Martyrdom, than to make oppo&s;i|tion to their Prince by force; And lea&s;t it &s;hould be &s;aid they did &s;o for want of power, there was Ten thou&s;and Souldiers martyred at one time under <HI>Adrianus,</HI> and a whole Le|gion &s;uffered it &s;elf to be decimated under <HI>Maximinianus,</HI> which always con&s;i&s;ted of above Six thou&s;and men. The nece&s;&s;ity of Fortitude may appear, by the inconveniences and danger of the contrary, which is fearful|ne&s;s. This taketh away the perfection of judging for the pre&s;ent, and expo&s;eth a per&s;on to mi&s;chief, as appeareth by Scripture, <HI>Rev.</HI> 21.8. where the fearfull are &s;et in the front of tho&s;e, who <HI>&s;hall have their part in the Lake, which burneth with fire and brim&s;tone.</HI> Both
<PB N="47" REF="28">kinds of Fortitude active and pa&s;&s;ive (though otherwi&s;e precious) may be abu&s;ed in Patro|nizing an evil Cau&s;e, but the pa&s;&s;ive hath one great advantage beyond the active, for no per|&s;on can be enrouled as a Souldier, in the no|ble and victorious Army of Martyrs, but by the means of pa&s;&s;ive fortitude, or con&s;tancy, as &s;ome &s;tyle it.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="16" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. XVI. <HI>Of Afflictions, of Repentance and of Comfort.</HI></HEAD>
<P>HAVING &s;trengthned our &s;elves at the Ca&s;tle of Fortitude, we de&s;cend into an ob&s;cure place, where there is a confluence of many Rivers, containing the waters of Afflic|tion, upon the&s;e there is no Bridge, &s;o as of force we mu&s;t pa&s;s through them, and it is with much reluctation, but being within them, we have occa&s;ion (if not nece&s;&s;ity) of looking upwards towards Heaven, and of holding up our heads, le&s;t we be overwhelm|ed. The cold of the&s;e waters hath &s;uch ope|ration, as it driveth the heat inwards, making us to reflect upon our &s;elves, and our former mi&s;carriages. I &s;peak this only of tho&s;e, who are furni&s;hed with grace &s;ufficient to &s;upport
<PB N="48" REF="29">them, for others there are, who being volup|tuou&s;ly di&s;po&s;ed, make no re&s;i&s;tance, but are carried away with the &s;tream, and utterly leave the path of Holine&s;s, giving them&s;elves wholly to be governed by the World, and the powers thereof. But tho&s;e who are better di&s;|po&s;ed, u&s;e all their &s;trength to recover the pa&s;&s;age, and to continue in the right tract, and the&s;e are the only per&s;ons to be directed. The&s;e are not fully recovered of damage by tho&s;e waters, or at lea&s;t the damage is not for|gotten by them, when they pa&s;s near to the bathing place of Repentance, and if they will, they may forbear to u&s;e the bathing; but their good Angel calleth upon them to purge them|&s;elves, telling them that their way having been narrow, they have made many Abberra|tions, &s;o as it is very needfull for them to be purged by Sorrow, for their deviations, and from the filth contracted thereby. Some there are (the <HI>Antinomians</HI> by name) who declare Repentance to be altogether unnece&s;|&s;ary, <HI>for Faith</HI> (&s;ay they) <HI>purifieth &s;ufficient|ly, and God &s;eeth no &s;in in the faithfull;</HI> but certainly there are not &s;o many Texts of Scri|pture, requiring Repentance in vain, &s;o as it mu&s;t be nece&s;&s;ary in the way of Salvation. And can that faith be true, which pretendeth to an a&s;&s;urance of &s;ins to be forgiven, which were never either generally or particularly repented of, or remi&s;&s;ion implored for them? From the&s;e wa|ters by an a&s;cent, become &s;omewhat difficult, by
<PB N="49" REF="29">rea&s;on of our fainting Spirits, we come to the garden of Spiritual con&s;olation, a place not only plea&s;ing, but u&s;efull, for there we may di&s;cern at a con&s;iderable di&s;tance, the rock of Faith, and the temple of Holine&s;s, as al&s;o the way to them. And in that Garden may be gathered herb of Grace u&s;efull for Nu|trition and Su&s;tentation, and <HI>Salvia</HI> (or the hope of Salvation) as an incentive to Per&s;e|verance, from both which we may receive fre&s;h vigour, enabling us to undergo the re&s;i|due of our journey.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="17" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. XVII. <HI>Of Humility, of Charity, and Bene|&s;icence.</HI></HEAD>
<P>NOW leaving the garden of Comfort, we de&s;cend into the vale of Humility. This was altogether unknown to the <HI>Hea|then,</HI> or at lea&s;t not e&s;teemed a Vertue, which they always placed in activity, and took this for a hindrance to it. I find it mentioned in the Proverbs of <HI>Solomon,</HI> as commendable, but the <HI>Jews</HI> put it little in practice; &s;o as we may term it purely Chri&s;tian, e&s;pecially that part of it which con&s;i&s;teth in relation
<PB N="50" REF="30">only between man and man. This Vally is &s;uppo&s;ed as place &s;o invironed with towring Hills, as it is altogether free from the tempe|&s;tuous bla&s;ts of Ambition, and the Inhabitants are happy in the enjoyment of the ble&s;&s;ings ari&s;ing from peace and quiet; for here comes no <HI>Promethean</HI> Eagle of Care feeding upon the heart, no ravenous Wolf of Oppre&s;&s;ion, no circumventing Fox, nor undermining Cony of humane policy. All is peaceable, no noi&s;e of War, or Tumult, their mu&s;ique being that of the innocent Turtle and the early Larke, the wakefull Nightingal, and &s;uch like. If the humble per&s;on di&s;like his condition he <HI>&s;hall be exalted,</HI> Matt. 23.12. But his chief privilege is, that God will give grace to him, as is witne&s;&s;ed both by St. <HI>Pe|ter</HI> and St. <HI>James, Pet.</HI> 5.5. and <HI>James</HI> 4.6. Before we leave this vally of Humility, we come to the Fountain, or Well-&s;pring of Cha|rity, which is inexhau&s;tible, receiving its virtue and plenty from a Charity, of as much higher nature, as its habitation is higher, even Heaven it &s;elf. This Charity, dilection, or Love, (for the <HI>Greek</HI> word <GAP DESC="foreign"> &s;ignifieth all) is eter|nal as the holy Trinity it &s;elf, for impo&s;&s;ible it is to conceive the relation of Father and Son in perfection, without love between them, and it is from this Charity that we all receive both our being and well-being. The charity habitual in man, is termed a vertue Theolo|gical, but this charity is Divine, exclu&s;ive to
<PB N="51" REF="30">Faith and Hope, for the Deity is not capa|ble of the&s;e latter. How can faith be in the Deity, who hath a perfect and ab&s;olute know|ledge of all things? And how can there be hope in God, who hath a perfect fruition of him&s;elf, in whom all good things have their &s;ub&s;i&s;tence? This charity al&s;o can never want an object, either in the Deity it &s;elf (as you have heard) or in the Souls of men, to whom God hath given an everla&s;ting being. Cha|rity habitual hath her perfection only in our ble&s;&s;ed <HI>Saviour,</HI> who gave him&s;elf for us Sin|ners. That which we have is but a Copy taken from that original, <HI>for of his fulne&s;s we have all received, and grace for grace,</HI> John 1.16. yet this is to have an everla&s;ting continu|ance when other graces fail; as St. <HI>Paul</HI> hath taught us 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 13. But let us return to our well-&s;pring of Charity, out of which con|tinually there floweth water compo&s;ing the river of Beneficence, or good works, which divideth it &s;elf into many &s;treams, that it may the better water and refre&s;h tho&s;e dry and thir&s;ty grounds which need it; and in this the charitable per&s;on carrieth a weak (but the be&s;t re&s;emblance that his nature is capa|ble of) of God him&s;elf, from whom we re|ceive mo&s;t con&s;tant effects of bounty and goodne&s;s during our whole life. This charity is a vertue perfectly Chri&s;tian, for though we mu&s;t conceive that the <HI>Jewi&s;h</HI> Patriarchs wan|ted not the habit of it, yet we find not (un|le&s;s
<PB N="52" REF="31">I mi&s;take) in the whole old Te&s;tament (at lea&s;t according to our <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Tran&s;la|tion) the word Charity, which is &s;o frequent|ly mentioned and exhorted to in the New; whence we may gather, that Precepts con|cerning it are not very frequent there. La&s;tly, I mu&s;t give notice, that every Traveller in this <HI>via lactea,</HI> or <HI>milky path to Heaven,</HI> mu&s;t drink deep in the well of Charity, for he cannot have admittance to Paradi&s;e with|out doing &s;o, there being no place for Envy, Rancour, or Malice, and &s;uch like affections; whereas Charity, which is the cement of Brotherly &s;ociety, and bond of Perfection, hath clear and uncontrouled entrance there.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="18" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. XVIII. <HI>Of Faith.</HI></HEAD>
<P>NOW having pa&s;&s;ed the well-&s;pring of Charity, we leave the vale of Humi|lity, and come to the Rock of Faith. A Rock I may well call it, for our ble&s;&s;ed <HI>Sa|viour</HI> doth &s;o, when, <HI>Matt.</HI> 16.18. he &s;aith to St. <HI>Peter, upon this Rock will I build my Church;</HI> meaning the faith of <HI>Peter</HI> newly expre&s;t, as is affirmed by all our Prote&s;tant Divines; and it is very unlikely he would
<PB N="53" REF="31">build his Church upon a frail mortal Man, as St. <HI>Peter</HI> was, and not at all more pro|bable that he would doe it upon a &s;ucce&s;&s;i|on of Bi&s;hops from <HI>Peter</HI> (upon which <HI>Pe|ter</HI> the <HI>Roman Catholiques</HI> &s;uppo&s;e he intend|ed to place that honour), for the Succe&s;&s;ors were not of his blood, which was a founda|tion of Prie&s;thood among the <HI>Jews,</HI> nor are they now any thing of his mind, for he af|fected not worldly pomp and power, as they doe. The Faith therefore expre&s;t by him, was that Rock, a much firmer foundation for &s;uch a Structure than any man, or &s;ucce&s;|&s;ion of men, who by nature are &s;ubject to mutability. This Rock is high and hard of a&s;cent. We may therefore help our &s;elves in getting up, by the <HI>Scala Sancta,</HI> or <HI>holy Stair of hope,</HI> and not improperly, &s;ince by St. <HI>Paul</HI> Heb. 11.1. <HI>Faith is</HI> defined to be the <HI>confidence of things hoped for.</HI> But of what faith is this Rock compo&s;ed? Certainly not of that faith whereof the Devils are capable, who are &s;aid to believe and tremble. Therefore it mu&s;t be that faith which we call Ju&s;tifying, or Saving. But what faith that &s;hould be, it is as yet little agreed upon among Divines. It cannot be that full per&s;wa&s;ion of <HI>being al|ready made ju&s;t in and through Chri&s;t,</HI> which hath been &s;o much a&s;&s;erted and fought for by the Reformed Churches till tho&s;e latter days. For that de&s;troyeth it &s;elf, according to a <HI>Dilemma</HI> brought by a very &s;ubtile <HI>Ro|man</HI>
<PB N="54" REF="32">Doctor, which is this, Either we are ju&s;t before the having that faith, or not; If before, then that faith or per&s;wa&s;ion ju&s;tifieth not, for it found us ju&s;t; if not ju&s;t, then by that full per&s;wa&s;ion we believe an untruth. In|&s;tead of this <GAP DESC="foreign">, &s;ome of our Divines bring in a recumbence or reliance upon <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> for Ju&s;tification and Salvation, which is not expo&s;ed to the former Dilemma, and may &s;tand for ju&s;tifying Faith, if it may properly be called Faith at all; whereof there may be &s;ome doubt, as I conceive. But &s;ince this Faith &s;uppo&s;eth perfection, why do we re|ject that which the Schoolmen call <HI>fides for|mata,</HI> and &s;eemeth to be intended, <HI>Gal.</HI> 5.6. <HI>by faith working by love,</HI> or as it is in the <HI>Sy|riack</HI> Ver&s;ion, <HI>Fides quoe per charitatem per|ficitur, Faith compleated</HI> (or made perfect) <HI>by love?</HI> But that which is &s;aid <HI>Rom.</HI> 4.5. may be objected, viz. <HI>To him that worketh not, but believeth in him that ju&s;tifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteou&s;ne&s;s;</HI> which words &s;eem to make works unnece&s;&s;ary a&s;&s;o|ciates to Faith in ju&s;tification; but I conceive that the working there &s;poken of, is meant of works meriting Salvation (or at lea&s;t thought meritorious, as by nature we are all apt to think, and as the <HI>Romi&s;h</HI> Doctors hold &s;ome of theirs to be), for &s;o much &s;eemeth to be intended in the 4th. Ver&s;e immediately pre|ceding this, where it is &s;aid, <HI>Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but
<PB N="55" REF="32">of debt,</HI> which can hardly be under&s;tood otherwi&s;e, than of works meritorious; and &s;o the 5th. Ver&s;e followeth very naturally in the &s;ame &s;en&s;e, for &s;uch working is rather hinder|ance than help in the way of Salvation.</P>
<P>Thus much of that faith which is mo&s;t pre|cious, and perhaps too much in a point of &s;uch difficulty, and by a per&s;on who will be &s;aid to be out of his &s;phere; but the nece&s;&s;ity of that Faith, and the general concernment of the bu&s;ine&s;s, may be my excu&s;e. I mu&s;t not forbear to expre&s;s, that from the height of this Rock of Faith, a good Chri&s;tian may &s;ee (as <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> did the promi&s;ed Land from Mount <HI>Nebo</HI>) as much of Paradi&s;e, as is needfull, to comfort him again&s;t afflictions, and to arm him again&s;t the terrors of death, who&s;e gulf mu&s;t be pa&s;&s;ed before admittance into Para|di&s;e; but of that more hereafter.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="19" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. XIX. <HI>Of Holine&s;s and the Sacraments.</HI></HEAD>
<P>AS <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> built his My&s;tical Church up|on the my&s;tical rock of St. <HI>Peter</HI>'s faith, &s;o we in our Allegory, where mo&s;t things are &s;uppo&s;ed material, may be admitted to place our material Temple of Holine&s;s upon the ma|terial
<PB N="56" REF="33">Rock. It is a Structure whereof I may &s;ay, clean contrary to that which <HI>Ovid</HI> ex|pre&s;&s;ed of the <HI>Sun</HI>'s palace, <HI>materiam &s;upera|bat opus, the work was of more value than the matter,</HI> for here the materials do much in worth exceed the work. Here is no affecta|tion of magnificent Workman&s;hip, but the ma|terials are of precious Stones, without the lea&s;t blemi&s;h or &s;pot, and tran&s;parent, which bring|eth no inconvenience, &s;ince all per&s;ons com|ing upon this Rock, have eyes, and all other parts of body and mind pure, &s;o as there can be no danger of Prophanation; and be&s;ides this, all Air within the Temple (as it is &s;aid concerning the tops of &s;ome very high Moun|tains) is &s;o pure, as creatures merely earthy cannot breathe therein. As in the Temple at <HI>Jeru&s;alem</HI> there was daily Sacrifice; &s;o it is here, but of a nature far different, for tho&s;e were Sacrifices built upon Cruelty, but the&s;e are pure and incorporeal, con&s;i&s;ting of Prayer and Thank&s;giving, offered con&s;tantly to God from pure and faithfull hearts, which are &s;ure to find acceptance at his hands. And now be|fore we leave the Temple of Holine&s;s, it will not be improper to take into con&s;ideration, the two Sacraments in&s;tituted by our <HI>Saviour,</HI> which are the Seals of the Evangelical Co|venant, for the&s;e My&s;teries are always &s;up|po&s;ed to be built upon the Rock of Faith, and cannot be u&s;ed but in Holine&s;s. None can be admitted to Bapti&s;m, but upon profe&s;&s;ion of
<PB N="57" REF="33">Faith, which is the cau&s;e of its performance by &s;piritual Parents, when Children are bap|tized. As for the <HI>Euchari&s;t,</HI> no per&s;on in any Chri&s;tian Church is permitted to be a parti|cipant of it till fully po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed of the principles of Faith by being Catechi&s;ed. The Sacra|ments by mi&s;under&s;tanding of &s;ome Texts, were by divers of the Ancients held nece&s;&s;ary to Salvation, even in the <HI>Opus operatum,</HI> or <HI>outward performance.</HI> As for Bapti&s;m, there was a cu&s;tom to confer it upon a Deputy in place of the per&s;on decea&s;ed, of which Vica|rian Bapti&s;m we have a touch, 1 Cor. 15.29. <HI>What &s;hall they doe who are baptized for the dead, if the dead ri&s;e not,</HI> &amp;c? And the <HI>Eu|chari&s;t</HI> upon the like ground, was applied to dead per&s;ons (who were known not to have received it living), by putting the Elements in|to their mouth after departure. The&s;e errone|ous proceedings came in by too litteral Interpre|tation, as the errour of Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation hath done. But certainly the&s;e Sacraments are &s;o far nece&s;&s;ary, as a wilfull neglect of them be|comes dangerous, if not de&s;tructive to the per&s;on offending. Bapti&s;m is the Sacrament of Initiation, and therefore cannot be admini&s;|tred more than once; but the <HI>Euchari&s;t</HI> is a kind of Spiritual refection, and therefore mu&s;t be often iterated. Many per&s;ons are carele&s;s of u&s;ing it, upon a conceit that it is left indifferent to us, but it is an ab&s;olute pre|cept, <HI>Doe this in remembrance of me,</HI> Luke
<PB N="58" REF="34">22.19. Others are terrified by fear of un|worthy receiving, which is puni&s;hed with Damnation, as it is in our Tran&s;lation, 1 Cor. 11.29. though the word <GAP DESC="foreign"> mo&s;t proper|ly &s;ignifieth <HI>judgment,</HI> (and the true &s;en&s;e &s;eemeth to be &s;uch by the temporal puni&s;h|ments immediately mentioned), but it mu&s;t be a &s;trange point of wi&s;edom, to run into wilfull Di&s;obedience, which is certainly pu|ni&s;hable, upon &s;uppo&s;ition of imperfect perform|ance, which mu&s;t be through our own fault. I therefore advi&s;e our holy Pilgrim, not to neglect a con&s;tant and &s;ea&s;onable u&s;e of this Sacrament, but to be al&s;o very carefull of a due preparation.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="20" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. XX. <HI>Of Temptations proper to &s;everal parts of the way.</HI></HEAD>
<P>NOW we have thus chalk'd out the right way to Paradi&s;e, it will be needfull to repre&s;ent the danger of &s;traying, for good Chri&s;tians have tho&s;e attending con&s;tantly upon them, who will not fail at every Stage by Enti&s;ement or terror to mi&s;lead them. The&s;e are the World, the Fle&s;h, and the Devil, all of them &s;worn enemies to Mankind, though
<PB N="59" REF="34">profe&s;&s;ing friend&s;hip. Fir&s;t, in the Plain of Obedience, on the right hand, the World put|teth Pa&s;&s;engers in mind that Obedience is ei|ther no way at all to prefrement, or el&s;e a way tendring nothing that is con&s;iderable; whereas upon a faction rai&s;ed, they may be|come Heads or Leaders in it, and by that means find a &s;hort pa&s;&s;age to riches and ho|nour. And on the left hand, the Fle&s;h crieth up Liberty, and brandeth Obedience with the unplea&s;ing name of Servitude. Upon the Mount of Ju&s;tice, on this hand, the World re|pre&s;enteth Profit by gifts, with the favour of great Per&s;ons to be obtained; and on that hand the Fle&s;h &s;ugge&s;teth great trouble and care in keeping the ballance even, with danger by lo&s;s of Friends, and favour, and in the way of Ju|&s;tice, in private dealings damage to our &s;elves, by parting with that which we might hold. At the hou&s;e of Temperance they lay &s;everal baits, and &s;ome terrour to keep us from en|tring in. To the young per&s;on the Fle&s;h pre|&s;ents Beauty, tempting him to Incontinence, telling him that Youth will not la&s;t ever, and that it is folly to lo&s;e the plea&s;ures of it. The aged per&s;on's Sobriety is a&s;&s;aulted by offer of Wine or &s;trong drink, and he is told, that the uncomfortablene&s;s of his great years, is to be qualified by that which may render them chear|full. And all Ages are tempted by them with exce&s;s in Diet, and they cry out with St. <HI>Paul</HI>'s Epicurean 1 Cor. 15.32. <HI>Let us
<PB N="60" REF="35">eat and drink, for to morrow we &s;hall die.</HI> As for Chri&s;tian Fortitude, they have &s;everal bat|teries again&s;t it. Fir&s;t, the Fle&s;h repre&s;ents the inconveniences of Shame and Ignominy, then the terrours of Death; and la&s;tly, the De|vil affirms it the height of Folly, to &s;uffer for Truth, which is &s;trong and will prevail how|&s;oever; and as for Rewards after this life, he cries them down as no ways to be believed. In the waters of Affliction the Devil hath one great artifice, which is by &s;ugge&s;ting to the per&s;on that he is out of God's favour irreco|verably, nay, in high di&s;plea&s;ure with him; and therefore (like <HI>Job</HI>'s Wife) he provokes him to cur&s;e God, and to apply him&s;elf to other remedies, wherein the World and the Fle&s;h tender their a&s;&s;i&s;tance, as Seconds. At the baths of Repentance, the Devil pretends godly &s;orrow to be u&s;ele&s;s, upon the &s;ame grounds newly delivered at the waters of Af|fliction, and that there is great want of wi&s;e|dom in tho&s;e per&s;ons, who wilfully render their lives unplea&s;ant by grief, and by a re|fu&s;al of tho&s;e plea&s;ures which offer them&s;elves to them. And in ca&s;e he prevail not in pre|venting repentance, then he &s;eeks to keep them from entring into the garden of Spiritual Con|&s;olation, by aggravating unto them all their pa&s;t offences, affirming that there is no hope of mercy, and by &s;eeking to prove it by Scripture, as <HI>Ezek.</HI> 18.4. <HI>The &s;oul that &s;inneth it &s;hall dye;</HI> and <HI>Matt.</HI> 16.27. <HI>Every man
<PB N="61" REF="35">&s;hall be rewarded according to his works,</HI> but &s;till concealing tho&s;e Texts that unfold the mercies of God. In the vale of Humility, the Devil &s;etteth forth how all men are of the &s;ame extraction from <HI>Adam,</HI> and that the meane&s;t may have as good natural parts, as the highe&s;t. That &s;ince honours and riches are in the world, the man who affecteth Humility may and ought to have his part in them, as well as others. That an humble conceit of a man's &s;elf and his own parts, cau|&s;eth others to conceive meanly of him, and that this keeps him under, &s;o as he &s;hould doe well to lift up his head, and for&s;ake Humi|lity, which is &s;o di&s;advantageous to him. But the chief &s;trivings of that infernal Spirit, are at the well-&s;pring of Charity and river of Be|neficence, Charity being a vertue mo&s;t oppo|&s;ite to his nature; for of Faith (which &s;eem|eth in Scripture to contend in &s;ome mea&s;ure with Charity for &s;uperiority) he hath &s;ome part, for he believeth there is a God, but of Charity nothing at all, being as utter an enemy to Mankind, as to all goodne&s;s. Here he exhibites the law of Nature, which &s;eemeth to extol Self-pre&s;ervation above all things, upon which pre&s;ervation Self-love is attendant. Then he offers a Stoical maxim, <HI>That it is weakne&s;s in nature, to compa&s;&s;ionate another per|&s;on in affliction;</HI> and if &s;o, then it mu&s;t be ab|&s;olute want of Prudence to a&s;&s;i&s;t others to the prejudice of a man's &s;elf. That in the circle
<PB N="62" REF="36">of Wi&s;edom, Self is the Center, in which all the <HI>Radii</HI> or <HI>Semidiameters</HI> &s;hould terminate; That <HI>nequicquam &s;apit qui &s;ibi non &s;apit, his wi&s;edom is vain who is not wi&s;e for his own advantage.</HI> To this he adds, that Charity is oppo&s;ite to all the ways of Eminency in this world. Honour and Greatne&s;s are attained by &s;upplanting others, and Riches by impo|&s;ing upon other mens weakne&s;s. And la&s;tly, he expre&s;&s;eth the &s;weetne&s;s of Revenge, which is perfectly oppo&s;ite to Charity. As for the Rock of Faith, the Devil now of late endea|voureth to blow it up wholly by two Mines. The fir&s;t of them is that of the five principles of Religion, which leave out <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> wholly, or at lea&s;t make Faith in him as a Saviour, to be a thing indifferent, but this like a Mu&s;h|rome is newly &s;prung up, and I hope it will be of as &s;hort continuance. The other Mine is <HI>Sociniani&s;m,</HI> which denieth both the Deity and &s;atisfaction of <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> making him <GAP DESC="foreign">, or mere man, and by that means &s;uppo&s;ing him capable of meriting only for him&s;elf. Be&s;ides this, as he hath ever done, he battereth this Rock with all kind of He|re&s;y, but it mu&s;t and will continue firm, for the providence of God can never fail. We &s;hall not need to &s;ay any thing of the Temple of Holine&s;s, for when the Rock is once blown up, it can have no Foundation.</P>
<P>Thus I have endeavoured to expre&s;s &s;ome of the chief dangers offering them&s;elves in the
<PB N="63" REF="36">way of Paradi&s;e, that they who are forewar|ned may before-armed, and I think there &s;hall need no an&s;wer to each argument, &s;ince the very knowing who the tempters are &s;uppo&s;ed to be, mu&s;t conclude them either fallacious or mi&s;applied; and I hope our holy Pilgrim will look &s;traight forwards upon the Rock of Faith, and not be diverted.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="21" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. XXI. <HI>Of Death.</HI></HEAD>
<P>BEING at the Rock of Faith we are near to our Journies end, which is <HI>Paradi&s;e,</HI> but we cannot come thither without pa&s;&s;ing a great Gulf, the common pa&s;&s;age of all fle&s;h, and yet giving &s;uch apprehen&s;ions as it is termed <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>the terrible of terri|bles.</HI> This is the gulf of Death, which mu&s;t be pa&s;&s;ed by all creatures that have life, a Gulf which is the fir&s;t of <HI>Solomon</HI>'s four in&s;a|tiables, and &s;pecified by the name of the Grave, <HI>Prov.</HI> 30.16. and the mo&s;t greedy of them. This is a body of black liquid matter, covered with a continual dark mi&s;t, to &s;uch an height, as neither its own extent, nor any thing beyond it can be di&s;cerned but from the Rock of Faith. Death who is Prince of this
<PB N="64" REF="37">gulf, though he be a&s;&s;ured that all &s;hall come to him at la&s;t, hath yet &s;ome Sub&s;titutes or Proveditors abroad, who ha&s;ten the approach of all creatures to him, and the chief of all the&s;e are War and Sickne&s;s. I mu&s;t not omit Time, which is the &s;ure&s;t but the &s;lowe&s;t of them; and I may here in&s;ert that Paradox, which hath always been held by me. It is this, That Time &s;carcely bringeth any to their end, for I conceive that very few live &s;o long (if any do) as they might by nature, &s;ince none of any great age pa&s;s their days without &s;ome di&s;order in Diet, or otherwi&s;e, to &s;horten their life. But if it were po&s;&s;ible for any per&s;on to e&s;cape &s;uch dangers, Time bringeth him in at la&s;t. <HI>Siracides</HI> in many words affirmeth Death to be mo&s;t unwelcome to a per&s;on who hath pro&s;perity in all his bu&s;ine&s;&s;es, but mo&s;t welcome to the man who is aged and unhappy, <HI>Ecclus.</HI> 41.1. But it is found &s;ome|times far otherwi&s;e in both kinds, for with us per&s;ons aged (and mi&s;erable enough in their condition) are ob&s;erved &s;eldom to embrace Death as a friend; and among the <HI>Romans</HI> on the other &s;ide, many have cho&s;en death rather than life, without being urged to it by unhap|pine&s;s. But the &s;trange&s;t example is of <HI>Coc|ceius Nerva,</HI> a per&s;on (as <HI>Tacitus</HI> recordeth) learned, continually conver&s;ant with <HI>Tiberius</HI> the Emperour, of plentifull fortunes, and in perfect health of body, who unexpectedly took a re&s;olution to dye, which being made
<PB N="65" REF="37">known to his Prince, he gave him a vi&s;it, and among many other arguments, u&s;ed his, That it would be di&s;honourable to him, the Em|perour, that a known friend of his &s;hould refu&s;e to live, but all this prevailed not with him. The truth is, that daily experience &s;heweth a general abhorrence of death, whereof the cau&s;e is not very ea&s;ie to be found. It can hardly be the fear of pain accompanying it, for Death, which is a Ce&s;&s;ation of the facul|ties belonging to &s;en&s;e and motion, cometh in a moment that admits no extremity. Can it be the circum&s;tance of Sickne&s;s preceding it? I am per&s;waded that many (if not mo&s;t) per&s;ons in the way of nature, would willingly embrace them, &s;o as death might not follow, as may appear by what hath been &s;aid of per|&s;ons aged. Tho&s;e things which are very fre|quent and vi&s;ible to us, are for the mo&s;t part little feared; and &s;o it is with death in active Armies and Cities which have been long in|fected with Pe&s;tilence, where tho&s;e who ex|pre&s;s great apprehen&s;ion of death, are com|monly laughed at, even to &s;corn. This per|haps cau&s;eth &s;ome to think it &s;trange, that a thing &s;o common and certain &s;hould give &s;o much fear; and I confe&s;s my &s;elf of opinion, that it might be &s;o obvious, as to de&s;troy very far the terror of it, but I conceive it not to be &s;o familiar with us; for though death be ever devouring in the World, yet it co|meth not often nor fiercely into Families and
<PB N="66" REF="38">Neighbourhoods, and when it doth come, the lamentation of Friends for the per&s;ons depar|ted, as if they were utterly lo&s;t, and with|out any being, doth much increa&s;e unto us the horror of it, which is al&s;o too far confir|med by a property in death not admitting any account concerning the decea&s;ed; where|as upon all other departures, &s;ome account either is, or may be made. The approach of this annihilation, or lo&s;s of being, is very terrible to a natural man, as it was with that part of the Heathen which believed not the immortality of the Soul; and I verily think that even here, where Chri&s;tianity is profe&s;&s;ed, the number of tho&s;e who believe a Sub&s;i&s;tence after death, is very &s;mall, and e&s;pecially among the vulgar. But the comfort of us Chri&s;tians is, that all the&s;e doubts and difficulties are clearly over|come by Faith; for can any man, who hath faith as a grain of Mu&s;tard-&s;eed, doubt a be|ing after death, when the thing hath been pro|ved by our <HI>Saviour</HI> in his per&s;on, and when the very foundation of all good ari&s;ing to us per&s;onally by Religion, is grounded upon it? Nay, can any man, who hath but &s;o much of Religion as to believe Divine Providence, doubt of it, when he daily &s;eeth wicked per|&s;ons pro&s;per and wallow them&s;elves in all kind of plenty, while the Religious are in much poverty, and afflicted even to the very period of their lives? There mu&s;t therefore be reward and puni&s;hment after death, or there can be
<PB N="67" REF="38">no Divine Ju&s;tice, or Providence. Now let us return to the con&s;ideration of our fatal gulf, which is of that nature, as it greedily &s;wal|lows all things that fall into it; and as for men or women, who come thither poor in faith or altogether without it, and laden with Sin unrepented of, they are pre&s;ently born down to the bottom, and from thence by a convey|ance, unhappily for them provided, they fall into <HI>the lake which burneth with fire and brim|&s;tone,</HI> mentioned <HI>Rev.</HI> 21.6. But contrari|wi&s;e, the Faithfull having received in the Temple of Holine&s;s from the Angel pre&s;iding there, a very extraordinary purification and &s;pirituality for their Souls, no &s;ooner come to be plunged into the liquor of, that gulf, but their Souls immediately emerge, and rea|dily fini&s;hing their Pilgrimage to Paradi&s;e, they are there received and welcomed with all joy and chearfulne&s;s by the Saints, who are al|ready po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed of their Man&s;ion there.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="conclusion">
<HEAD>The CONCL&V;SION.</HEAD>
<P>OUR Title is <HI>Light in the way to Para|di&s;e,</HI> not light within Paradi&s;e, for it would be no light there. Nay, the <HI>Sun</HI> it &s;elf, with all his rayes, would be u&s;ele&s;s (or ra|ther darkne&s;s) in the pre&s;ence of the great
<PB N="68" REF="39">God, and the Lamb, as in the New <HI>Jeru&s;alem, Rev.</HI> 21.23. Our <HI>Saviour</HI> &s;aid to the ble&s;&s;ed Thief, <HI>This day &s;halt thou be with me in Para|di&s;e;</HI> and certainly God and the Lamb mu&s;t be there with a pre&s;ence extraordinary, which being &s;o, there cannot be the lea&s;t want of happine&s;s in any kind; yet where all plenty is, a &s;mall Ve&s;&s;el cannot receive &s;o much li|quor as a larger; and thence we may gather, that after the great re&s;urrection, each parti|cular man, by union of Body and Soul, will be capable of greater felicity, than in his Soul alone. And be&s;ides this, the Kingdom of God will not be ab&s;olutely complete, till all the Saints be gathered in unto it, and till the <HI>Kingdom be delivered up unto God the Father,</HI> 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 15.24. I &s;hall therefore &s;et a period to all with an <HI>Adveniat Regnum tuum Domine,</HI> and the u&s;ual Doxology.</P>
<CLOSER>Soli Deo gloria in aeternum.</CLOSER>
</DIV2>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="to the reader">
<PB REF="39">
<HEAD>TO THE READER.</HEAD>
<P><HI>TO the&s;e following Di&s;cour&s;es of mine (or</HI> Occa&s;ionals <HI>as I &s;tyle them) I have no more to &s;ay but this. That if any &s;hall think them worthy of a Peru&s;al, there mu&s;t not be expected, ei|ther Method or curio&s;ity of Expre&s;&s;ion, for they are no other than a mere after-birth to &s;ome of my &s;e|rious thoughts, which I have thought fit to pre|&s;erve in being, rather for the &s;atisfaction of my &s;elf than of others. For their matter, I have no rea&s;on to think that it will receive good enter|tainment, for in many things I have been far from confining my &s;elf to the common received opi|nions; nay, I have gone cro&s;s to very con&s;iderable Intere&s;ts: yet I hope there will be found in them, neither great deviations as to Truth, nor the lea&s;t offence in relation to any of the fundamental points of Religion. It is true, that I have other|wi&s;e given my&s;elf a liberty to wander in Writing, and I am very willing that others &s;hould do &s;o in Reading, &s;o as they pronounce not again&s;t me, till they have received my full &s;en&s;e at the period of each Di&s;cour&s;e. As for the la&s;t, which is the</HI> Doxology, <HI>it requires Perfection, as much as Imagination can reach unto, and therefore as it is in it &s;elf, it mu&s;t come &s;hort of being &s;atisfactory to my own de&s;ires; but the Dedication is &s;uch,
<PB REF="40">as where Acceptance is only &s;ought, there it is &s;ure to have a reception according to the purity of Intention at its birth, which could not be much defective in a per&s;on, who at that very time was newly delivered, by the mercy of God, from ex|tremity of pain. And &s;o I leave the whole, with every particular di&s;cour&s;e, unto a favourable Cen&s;ure.</HI></P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="occasionals">
<HEAD>OCCASIONALS.</HEAD>
<DIV2 N="1" TYPE="occasional">
<HEAD>I.</HEAD>
<P>TRuth is the be&s;t and mo&s;t &s;atisfactory re|ward of an indu&s;trious Spirit, and he who &s;eeks it mu&s;t be very circum&s;pect, in &s;earch of the right way, and to tread exactly in it: yet they who in the cour&s;e of their life &s;hall deliberate too much, about the way and end in that kind, will &s;eem unactive, and find them&s;elves almo&s;t u&s;ele&s;s in the world; while others who make more frequent though loo&s;er &s;teps, and are content to acquie&s;ce in a pro|bability of truth, may by a fruitfulne&s;s in &s;uc|ce&s;&s;es
<PB N="71" REF="40">gain a high e&s;teem, and be more &s;er|viceable to them&s;elves and to their Genera|tion. For truth (as the Scripture relates of the God of truth) hath <HI>Nubes &amp; caliginem in circuitu ejus,</HI> in &s;o much as bu&s;ine&s;&s;es of the active World can afford, neither Indu&s;try, nor Time, to di&s;pel and di&s;per&s;e the darkne&s;&s;es which hold her concealed; and therefore though Truth in it &s;elf be always clear and perfect, as are Mathematical Rules and grounds, yet all operations like the Mechanical part, are never without imperfection, yet &s;uch im|perfection as is not perceptible, but by Arti&s;ts, which are few; and thence it comes, that the re&s;ults of tho&s;e per&s;ons, who by a quickne&s;s of imagination and apprehen&s;ion, can con|ceive and return a con&s;equence very proba|ble, do ea&s;ily pa&s;s for the ground of a perfect deci&s;ion, and render the Authour con&s;iderable above others of more &s;olid judgment, for it may be &s;aid of Errors as of Vices, <HI>Erratis nemo &s;ine na&s;citur, optimus ille e&s;t qui minimis urgetur,</HI> and never yet Workman was Ma&s;ter of a Rule to mea&s;ure with, that was exactly &s;treight.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="2" TYPE="occasional">
<HEAD>II.</HEAD>
<P>When <HI>Aurelian</HI> had born down all tho&s;e, who in his time had u&s;urped the Imperial Dignity, and among them the brave <HI>Zenobia,</HI> &s;he being brought into his pre&s;ence, &s;aluted
<PB N="72" REF="41">him in the&s;e terms, <HI>Scio te e&s;&s;e Imperatorem quia vincis, I know thee to be the right Em|perour becau&s;e thou overcome&s;t.</HI> So tho&s;e, who change their Party to take the &s;tronger &s;ide, affirm the cau&s;e of the Prevailers to be the better, becau&s;e favoured by Heaven. Others are &s;o nice (a <HI>French</HI> man would &s;ay <HI>ombra|geux</HI>) as by no means they will act under a Power, which hath rai&s;ed it &s;elf by the ruine of another that hath had the confirmation of time, though they their &s;elves were never per|&s;onally engaged in the conte&s;t. If the&s;e be lovers of Ju&s;tice, they &s;eem injurious in lea|ving her to the mercy of her enemies (for &s;uch they e&s;teem tho&s;e, who freely act under a new Magi&s;tracy,) a&s;&s;uming to them&s;elves that which God never called private per&s;ons to, which is to be Judges of the right belong|ing to Princes and States. But the&s;e men &s;hel|ter them&s;elves under the authority of match|le&s;s <HI>Cato,</HI> who went &s;o far beyond them in their way, as he cho&s;e rather to dye, than to &s;ubmit to a Power newly grown up, though not new in the Nature of it, for <HI>Sylla</HI> had ex|erci&s;ed the &s;ame in that very age. <HI>Cato</HI>'s Con|&s;tancy, which perhaps <HI>Cicero</HI> his Co-evan and Companion, thought to be Ob&s;tinacy, is thus expre&s;t by <HI>Lucan,</HI> to the height, <HI>Victrix cau&s;a Deis placuit, &s;ed victa Catoni,</HI> which may thus be rendred in <HI>Engli&s;h,</HI>
<Q><L>That cau&s;e which conquers, Heavn'n approves,</L>
<L>But <HI>Cato</HI> he the conquer'd loves.</L></Q></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="3" TYPE="occasional">
<PB N="73" REF="41">
<HEAD>III.</HEAD>
<P>I have much wonder'd, why the Philo&s;o|pher <HI>Epicurus</HI> &s;hould be &s;o much cried down, for placing the <HI>Summum bonum,</HI> or <HI>chiefe&s;t good,</HI> in Plea&s;ure, when a &s;tate of plea&s;ure is that which every man (even tho&s;e of the mo&s;t refined temper of Heart and Brain) do above all things covet. That &s;tate &s;eems to be a de&s;cription of <HI>Ari&s;totle</HI> his <GAP DESC="foreign">, or <HI>Felicity,</HI> truer than his own; and <HI>Plato</HI>'s Idea is no farther acceptable than as it plea&s;eth. <HI>Mahomet</HI> makes his Paradi&s;e to be a place of plea&s;ure, but mi&s;taketh the kind, fixing it upon Sen&s;e, which is the thing that cau&s;eth his error; for what do our Chri&s;tian Divines &s;et out Heaven withall but this, that tho&s;e who are found worthy of it &s;hall be in a con|&s;tant condition of happine&s;s, or plea&s;ure, the beatifical Vi&s;ion it &s;elf implying but the <GAP DESC="foreign">, or <HI>height of it?</HI> The Worldling &s;eeks Riches, Honour, and &s;uch like, becau&s;e he &s;uppo&s;eth them a means whereby he may be enabled con&s;tantly to plea&s;e him&s;elf. And the Good man would not be &s;o frequent in doing good, but that he is either delighted in it for the pre&s;ent, or conceiveth that to be a way to attain to a &s;tate of delight. So as among the Philo&s;ophers it &s;eemeth to be a <GAP DESC="foreign">, or <HI>&s;trife about words,</HI> and no real difference, unle&s;s you will &s;ay, that the word, Plea&s;ure,
<PB N="74" REF="42">is more comprehen&s;ive in the way of &s;atisfac|tion, than the terms of <HI>Ari&s;totle</HI> and <HI>Plato,</HI> whereby they would expre&s;s Felicity, and then that which is intended by it, mu&s;t of nece&s;&s;ity be more de&s;irable. The difference therefore mu&s;t lie in this, That the &s;en&s;ual per&s;on pur&s;ueth only momentary, and bruti&s;h plea&s;ures, and the wi&s;e man tho&s;e which are permanent. The former, that which being out of his own power, will fly from him, and the latter, that which (to &s;peak in a Philo&s;o|phical way) he can ma&s;ter. The one &s;earch|eth for plea&s;ure in external things, and the other makes &s;ure of it within him&s;elf. For my part, I think there cannot be an a&s;&s;ertion more de&s;tructive to Vertue and Goodne&s;s, than that which &s;hall deliver the delight by out|ward things, to exceed the &s;atisfaction which is formed within. That by externals doth for the mo&s;t part carry with it a whip, which puni&s;heth either with &s;atiety, or with a &s;ud|den change (for &s;o it mu&s;t be) in the want of the thing which was overmuch delighted in. This other, even when there is &s;ome bodily pain inflicted for Goodne&s;s-&s;ake, yet carrieth with it a mixture of inward &s;atisfac|tion or plea&s;ure for the pre&s;ent, and finds ano|ther in the vacuity of pain when it is ended, and is always accompanied with the expecta|tion of a reward to come. But as for Sen&s;ual plea&s;ures, may it not be doubted whether or no the u&s;e of them be lawfull at all? It is the
<PB N="75" REF="42">ob&s;ervation of <HI>Charron,</HI> as I take it, that all Religions, as well the true, as tho&s;e which are fal&s;e, lay it for a foundation, that the Deity is delighted in voluntary puni&s;hments impo&s;ed by the Votary upon him&s;elf for Re|ligions &s;ake, and Chri&s;tian Divines require a frequent application of them in a con&s;tant cour&s;e of Mortification, and more e&s;pecially in the Heremitical way among the <HI>Roman Ca|tholicks</HI> and others. Surely this mu&s;t ari&s;e from a common con&s;ent among all, that God is di&s;ta&s;ted with a frequent u&s;ing corporeal plea|&s;ures, and therefore bends the &s;taff of Nature the contrary way; yet &s;urely even &s;uch plea|&s;ures are lawfull, or el&s;e they would not be u&s;ed as a means to accompli&s;h that which is nece&s;&s;ary, for were it not accompanied with plea&s;ure, we &s;hould not eat, drink, nor doe &s;ome other things without which Mankind can neither be pre&s;erved nor propagated. Such plea&s;ure may therefore be u&s;ed, and I know not how better to give a rule for barring the exce&s;s, than to compare them to Honey or Sweet-meats, which being taken moderately, give delight and temper, but u&s;ed immoder|ately, they fill the whole body with Choler and Bitterne&s;s.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="4" TYPE="occasional">
<HEAD>IV.</HEAD>
<P>It is no wonder, if tho&s;e who have either erroneous or wicked principles, do extremely
<PB N="76" REF="43">multiply to them&s;elves Obliquities in the cour&s;e of their life. The truth of this may appear mo&s;t clearly in the Art of <HI>Arithmetique,</HI> where if there be never &s;o little error in the rule, or grounds laid, it becomes infinitely encrea&s;ed in the operations; and may not this have an Application Political, as well as Ethical, with a confu&s;ion of face upon them, who are not a&s;hamed to own it as their de&s;ign, to take away all the ancient, and to lay new founda|tions of Government; not con&s;idering how impo&s;&s;ible it is for the fir&s;t founders of a Com|monwealth, to fore-&s;ee all the inconveniences which may ari&s;e, even by virtue of their own fundamentals, to the endangering of the whole frame? but the&s;e men will pretend erronious grounds not to be &s;o de&s;tructive, and this up|on a &s;uppo&s;ition, that as it was with <HI>The&s;eus</HI> his Ship at <HI>Athens,</HI> all may be &s;ecurely chan|ged piece by piece, according to the direction of new Reformers in&s;tructed by experience, till the whole Ve&s;&s;el become quite other than it was at fir&s;t: but it is not &s;o with States, which lie not as that Ship did, without motion, but are always in danger by Wind and Waves, as hath been te&s;tified with great hazards in the&s;e our days, where the taking down of the main and principal Pillar hath brought a great and flouri&s;hing Monarchy to the very brink of Anarchy and Confu&s;ion. Upon that occa&s;ion of great change, Monarchy hath been much exploded in re&s;pect of Popular Governments,
<PB N="77" REF="43">but this (and infinitely more) may be &s;aid for it, That it is the be&s;t Government for Union, and to prevent In&s;urrections and In|te&s;tine Broils, which cannot be &s;o well done without &s;ecre&s;ie and a &s;peedy execution of that which is re&s;olved, a thing hard to be effected where the Coun&s;ellours are many, having each of them a &s;hare in the &s;upreme Power. To this may be added, That a Prince a&s;&s;uming to him&s;elf a propriety in the Regal power, is not &s;o apt to be pre&s;t upon by the people, as per&s;ons elected by them&s;elves, having no pretence of being employed but in the right of others. On the other &s;ide it is &s;aid that Oppre&s;&s;ion is more frequent in Monar|chies, than in Popular States, and the truth is, That the heavy hand of Princes often fal|leth upon great per&s;ons who give them jealou|&s;ie; yet never was there any Prince, who ei|ther made or countenanced a Law, to per&s;e|cute Eminent Per&s;ons merely for their vertue, as the <HI>Athenians</HI> did by their O&s;traci&s;m. But the principal argument for Monarchy is this, That the Government is be&s;t &s;ettled &s;o, to continue without any great change, for am|bitious Spirits &s;et them&s;elves more to work in Common-wealths, e&s;pecially &s;uch as are De|mocratical, with a de&s;ign to advance and e&s;ta|bli&s;h their own Greatne&s;s, which is no way &s;o well accompli&s;hed as by bringing the pre|&s;ent Government into confu&s;ion, and then turning it into Monarchy; &s;o as the mate|rials
<PB N="78" REF="44">of a Fever are always ready, and &s;eldom it is, that a fire is not kindled, and then the people wearied with calamity and terror, are glad to put them&s;elves under the protection of him who hath mo&s;t Power, and by that means he becomes their Prince, as may appear by the <HI>Roman</HI> and other Popular Common|wealths. To this may be &s;aid, that particular per&s;ons are as ambitious, indu&s;trious, and dangerous in Monarchies, as in other Govern|ments, and &s;o it is; but there for the mo&s;t part (what&s;oever may be pretended for the pre&s;ent till the &s;trength be rai&s;ed) their aim is only to change the Per&s;on, and not the Government, which is effected, as very often hapned to the <HI>Roman</HI> Emperours, without any great Concu&s;&s;ion as to the Fundamentals, &s;o as Monarchy &s;till remains firm. I cannot deny, that &s;ome <HI>Ari&s;tocratical</HI> Common|wealths, as tho&s;e of <HI>Sparta</HI> and <HI>Venice,</HI> have been famous both for Greatne&s;s of Dominion, and time of Continuance, but none like the latter, which I can attribute to nothing more than this, That the People have no part in the Government, and that the Senators admit not any to command the Military Power for length of time, which together with &s;evere pu|ni&s;hments u&s;ually inflicted upon ambitious and dangerous per&s;ons, hath almo&s;t miraculou&s;ly pre&s;erved their Commonwealth. The like ob|&s;ervation cannot be made of <HI>Democracies;</HI> yet for States (as &s;ome there are) who&s;e terri|tories
<PB N="79" REF="44">are &s;mall, extending not much farther than Cannon-&s;hot from the City Walls, a Po|pular Government may be mo&s;t natural, for all may be defended by the Natives them&s;elves, without leaving their ordinary way of &s;ub|&s;i&s;tence by Mechanique profe&s;&s;ions; and &s;o it was with <HI>Rome</HI> in her infancy, and with divers Cities of <HI>Greece</HI> and <HI>Italy,</HI> and it is &s;o now in many places; but where there mu&s;t be a &s;tanding Army, who&s;e way of Government is always Monarchical, and who&s;e affections cannot but incline that way, it is impo&s;&s;ible almo&s;t but advantage will be taken &s;ome time or other by the chief Commander, to build his own greatne&s;s upon the ruines of the Com|monwealth, which may be proved by very many Precedents. But not having intended any large Di&s;cour&s;e, and the &s;ame matter ha|ving been largely handled by others, I &s;hall &s;et a period, contenting my &s;elf, <HI>Hau&s;i&s;&s;e ex magno flumine guttam, With one drop taken out of a great river.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="5" TYPE="occasional">
<HEAD>V.</HEAD>
<P>As the E&s;&s;ence of things re&s;ideth in their &s;ub&s;tance, &s;o their outward operations receive their being from Quality, nor can there be any exerci&s;e of tho&s;e operations but by that means. It is not the iron of the Hammer or Anvile that brui&s;eth or formeth, nor the &s;teel of the Knife that cutteth, but the weight,
<PB N="80" REF="45">hardne&s;s, and edge which produceth tho&s;e effects, and for the mo&s;t part it is the figure of In&s;truments that becomes operative. The truth is, that all which we &s;ee, hear, ta&s;t, &s;mell, or feel, is quality and nothing but quality, by which the &s;ubtil <HI>Roman</HI> Doctors do &s;ecurely (as they think) a&s;&s;ert their &s;up|po&s;ed great my&s;tery of Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation (or change of the &s;ub&s;tance of the Elements in the <HI>Euchari&s;t</HI> with continuance of the old accidents,) and could they prove the change of Sub&s;tance nece&s;&s;ary in Religion, the unex|po&s;edne&s;s of all &s;ub&s;tances to &s;en&s;e is &s;uch, as their &s;harpne&s;s of wit would then &s;eem to merit as much at the hands of Truth, as now it appears &s;ub&s;ervient to Opinion. To this may be objected, for vindication of Sub&s;tan|ces, the maxim in Philo&s;ophy, that <HI>Omnis actio provenit a forma,</HI> which is meant of e&s;&s;ential forms; and that the&s;e Inanimate in&s;truments, notwith&s;tanding their figure or other quality what&s;oever, are but <HI>nervis alienis mobilia,</HI> and cannot effect any thing con&s;iderable, without the influence and direction of &s;ome intellectual agent &s;uch as the Soul of Man, which Philo|&s;ophy delivers to be a phy&s;ical &s;ub&s;tance, and one of the perfecte&s;t of them. But this doth rather confirm than overthrow my ob&s;erva|tion, that all external action ari&s;eth immedi|ately from quality and not from &s;ub&s;tance, for the Soul it &s;elf, notwith&s;tanding its perfection, cannot act but by the qualities and accidents
<PB N="81" REF="45">of the Body, nothing being more known than this, That the operations of the Soul are weakned, as the dimen&s;ions, form, and other qualifications of the principal organical parts of the body come to decline. This may bring to con&s;ideration, that a &s;olidity of judgment, which I may term the &s;ub&s;tantial part of the mind, is little better than <HI>inutile pondus,</HI> if by the imagination it have not an edge &s;et upon it, which imagination like a nimble Pleader, &s;ets in order before it the e&s;&s;entials and circum&s;tantials of the bu&s;ine&s;s which is to be determined, and &s;o by forming a quick|ne&s;s of Apprehen&s;ion, infinitely facilitates and improves the number of its deci&s;ions. And perhaps it may not be altogether impro|per to ob&s;erve, that the true Religion it &s;elf is not &s;o incompatible with Ceremony (though but a &s;hadow in compari&s;on,) as &s;ome men learned and good have affirmed, having found the exce&s;s of Ceremony always accompanied with Super&s;tition, for otherwi&s;e the Sacra|ments (tho&s;e ble&s;&s;ed Seals of our remi&s;&s;ion and future happine&s;s) would not borrow &s;o much of their &s;ub&s;i&s;tence from Form, as to the vi&s;i|ble part of them. To this may be added, that Princes and States govern as much by opinion of Power, as by the reality of it, and experience hath &s;hewed us in the&s;e latter days, that an extreme contempt of Formality in Civils and Spirituals, is a ready way to con|fu&s;ion, which is the de&s;troyer of all Society.
<PB N="82" REF="46">But for a conclu&s;ion to this Di&s;cour&s;e, Adven|titious things are &s;o connatural to E&s;&s;entials, as if you could deprive Vertue her &s;elf of her ornaments it may be well thought, that like an undre&s;t Lady &s;he would &s;tir but little abroad.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="6" TYPE="occasional">
<HEAD>VI.</HEAD>
<P>That which we call Right or Property a|mong men, whether &s;overeign or &s;ubordinate, is always derived from a liberty left to them by God to di&s;po&s;e of outward things by com|mon con&s;ent, &s;aving when it plea&s;eth the Di|vine Maje&s;ty in a way immediate and mira|culous to give and declare a right, as he did in the land of Promi&s;e to the people of <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> and frequently afterwards to their Princes by an extraordinary unction. Upon &s;uch con|&s;ent is grounded Magi&s;tracy, and all ju&s;t pow|er what&s;oever, except the Paternal, which is merely natural. But how far the Paternal power extendeth it &s;elf beyond the govern|ment of Children in minority, it is very hard to define, e&s;pecially among Chri&s;tians. Yet that power what&s;oever it is, and the filial re|verence and ob&s;ervance due to Parents, is as well perpetual as natural, and cannot be ex|tingui&s;hed ju&s;tly by decree of any Magi&s;trate what&s;oever, if the Parent be <HI>Compos mentis.</HI> As Magi&s;tracy, &s;o municipal Laws have no other Ba&s;is or Foundation than common con|&s;ent, which con&s;ent is had, as well by an im|memorial
<PB N="83" REF="46">&s;ubmi&s;&s;ion to &s;uch Magi&s;tracy, as by any con&s;titution made by Repre&s;entatives. As for <HI>meum</HI> and <HI>tuum</HI> between this and that private man, the external right is alterable by judgment of the e&s;tabli&s;hed Magi&s;trate. But the &s;upreme Magi&s;tracy &s;eemeth not extin|gui&s;hable, but by a decree of the whole Peo|ple, which is &s;uppo&s;ed when no Di&s;&s;ent ap|pears. It is mo&s;t certain, that the full, per|petual and independent power in all kinds is onely belonging to the fountain of all power, which is of God him&s;elf; who as he hath neither &s;uperiour nor equal, &s;o he cannot be bound but to him&s;elf, nor can any of his acts be &s;ubject to other juri&s;diction. And where|&s;oever God (as to <HI>David</HI> and divers others) &s;hall make promi&s;e of any benefit, the pro|mi&s;e gives onely a&s;&s;urance to the per&s;on, or body to whom the promi&s;e is made, but it transfers no right again&s;t the Creator, who&s;e dominion (as well as his power) is not to be limited. It is conceived too often by men of an active and enterpri&s;ing nature, that God by putting power into their hands again&s;t their &s;upreme Magi&s;trate, hath de&s;igned a change there, and will u&s;e them as chief In|&s;truments, but it falleth out as often, that de|&s;truction is the conclu&s;ion, where pre&s;ump|tion is the argument. It is true, that &s;ome|times the long'd-for change is wrought, which &s;heweth the effect to be of Divine Providence, but it happens &s;eldom or never, that the chief
<PB N="84" REF="47">agents fail of their own ruine, though it come to them with leaden feet. For my part I conceive clearly, that God's revealed will re|quires a &s;ubmi&s;&s;ion to a ju&s;t Magi&s;tracy, and therefore if there be not either an evident con|&s;ent in the univer&s;ality of the People, or a divine Call of &s;ome Reformer confirmed by unque&s;tionable miracles, it mu&s;t be un&s;afe to &s;tep out of that fair, even, and known way, which hath ever been approved of by the be&s;t of God's people.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="7" TYPE="occasional">
<HEAD>VII.</HEAD>
<P>It hath afforded me &s;ometimes matter of no &s;mall admiration, to find in my &s;elf, and others, lovers of freedom, a de&s;ire (and not without &s;ome violence) of being in a &s;tate of height and greatne&s;s, exacting a cour&s;e no ways &s;quaring with our natural inclinati|ons, and &s;uch as for that only cau&s;e would become an eternal &s;pringing fountain of vexa|tion to us. I take this to be Vanity in the highe&s;t degree, and one of the &s;courges of the mo&s;t High. The folly of it may appear in this, that our &s;o much prized freedom would be ut|terly lo&s;t in &s;uch a way; outward freedom by a continual obtru&s;ion of bu&s;ine&s;s, even at times mo&s;t un&s;ea&s;onable to us in point of health and otherwi&s;e, and inward freedom by an inforcement of compliance in things no way to be approved of by a judicious and in|genuous
<PB N="85" REF="47">&s;pirit. It may be &s;aid that indepen|dent greatne&s;s hath an exemption from &s;uch inward and outward mole&s;tations, or at lea&s;t inforcements, but &s;uch independency is an herb that groweth not in the garden of Na|ture; for no greatne&s;s, how de&s;potical &s;oever, can be &s;upported but by the affections and ends of others, which mu&s;t be complied with and &s;erved, or el&s;e the Sceptre toucheth ground. There is a te&s;timony given to this truth by the frequent changes of Governments and Go|vernours in all ages, but mo&s;t abundantly (as an evidence more than &s;ufficient) in the Hi&s;tory of the <HI>Roman</HI> Emperours, where the lea&s;t di&s;content or mi&s;under&s;tanding in the Souldiery, did for the mo&s;t part &s;et a period to the Prince's life and Empire. But perhaps free|dom may be found in a cour&s;e of &s;ubordinate Magi&s;tracy, or of ab&s;olute Privacy. With me it is hard to determine, which is more de|prived of it, Magi&s;tracy or an immediate Ser|vile condition. The latter wants it ab&s;olutely in the outward way, but it is &s;eldom afflicted with that &s;elf-condemnation, which for the mo&s;t part accompanieth the former. But for an e&s;tate of Privacy, could it be &s;uch as were exempt from impo&s;ing and being impo&s;ed upon, it were much to be envied, but yet it mu&s;t not (cannot) enjoy that means of &s;erving God and good men, by the exerci&s;e of many mo|ral Vertues, which a more eminent condition affordeth. And I mu&s;t acknowledge that this
<PB N="86" REF="48">la&s;t con&s;ideration doth in a manner &s;hake the whole frame of my Di&s;cour&s;e, for we are not born onely for our &s;elves; and therefore though for &s;ome rea&s;ons relating to the pre|&s;ent <GAP DESC="foreign">, or <HI>conjuncture,</HI> I my &s;elf forbear to exerci&s;e the Magi&s;tracy whereto I &s;tand cal|led, yet I dare not condemn a de&s;ire of power and greatne&s;s in others, but onely when it ari|&s;eth from the vanity of &s;elf-love upon mi&s;un|der&s;tanding. And this de&s;ire (like envy) will &s;till be the greater puni&s;hment to it &s;elf the more it increa&s;eth, but the mi&s;ery attains not its full perfection, till the de&s;ire comes to be drowned in the fruition which was mi&s;ta|ken for happine&s;s.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="8" TYPE="occasional">
<HEAD>VIII.</HEAD>
<P>Religion is the &s;erving of &s;ome Deity in &s;uch a way, as the votary conceiveth that his Deity would be &s;erved. It &s;tands oppo&s;ed to Athei&s;m, which is a belief that there is no &s;uch thing as a Divine Power. Morality dif|fers from it as a Prince's general Law doth from the attendance required on his Per&s;on, and e&s;pecial &s;ervices relating to that. He who is a neglecter of the Prince's Law, will hardly be accepted of to attend on his per&s;on; but he who onely applies him&s;elf to an ob&s;ervance of the Law, &s;hall never merit any reward from the Prince. Profanene&s;s is the contempt of Divine Service, and Super&s;tition is a way
<PB N="87" REF="48">of &s;ervice full of pomp and affectation, but altogether without warrant. I cannot &s;ay of Religions as of Governments, better any than none, for &s;ome Religions (or rather Super&s;ti|tions) have &s;uch ob&s;cene Rites, and &s;o full of Cruelty, as either Athei&s;m or Profanene&s;s are much le&s;s to be abhorred. In the choice of a Religion (if there were need of choice) I &s;hould always avoid tho&s;e, who&s;e Rites are repug|nant to the known rules of Morality. It is true that a Prince's per&s;onal occa&s;ions do ma|ny times require a departing from his com|mon Laws, but it is far otherwi&s;e with God, who can effect any of his decrees in a ju&s;t way, and needs no &s;uch deviations. To fol|low the Similitude a little farther, Princes e&s;teem and reward onely &s;uch as come to their &s;ervice for affection to their per&s;on, and not for ends of advantage to them&s;elves, and they require a for&s;aking of all (even of Life it &s;elf) in their Servants, when their own honour, dignity, or &s;afety requires it; and this &s;heweth how connatural &s;elf-denial is to Religion. All Religions require a belief that there is &s;uch a Deity, and that the way of &s;erving him is &s;uch and &s;uch; but a Faith &s;o voluminous and explicite as is contained in our modern Ca|techi&s;ms, and <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 word"> knowledge &s;o univer&s;al as is now exhorted to in the Pulpit, was never re|quired in any Age but this, and can be no more nece&s;&s;ary than it would be for a Subject (becau&s;e he is bound to have a high e&s;teem
<PB N="88" REF="49">of his Ma&s;ter) to believe by way of Inven|tory all the exactne&s;&s;es of his outward features, and of the inward perfections of his mind, though the ground of &s;uch belief were to be compa&s;&s;ed by a rude &s;earch for the outward, and an uncivil pre&s;&s;ing in way of conver&s;ation for the inward excellencies. To conclude, All Religions require reverence internal and external to the Deity, and all Religions require &s;incerity of heart in the Divine Service. The true Religion (be&s;ides the&s;e) requires cha&s;tity and &s;obriety in the Votary, and a de&s;ire to doe all po&s;&s;ible good to Mankind, and to every particular per&s;on as far as it may &s;tand with God's honour, and publique &s;ociety.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="9" TYPE="occasional">
<HEAD>IX.</HEAD>
<P>I have found by experience this to be in|fallibly true, That no perfection is wrought but by complying with (and improving of) natural propen&s;ions, and that the endeavour of altering, or much forcing Nature, is ever dangerous, and many times wholly de&s;truc|tive. Thus the Art of Phy&s;ick is drawn to &s;ubvert the health of many natural bodies, &s;ometimes by labouring to alter the Complex|ion or Tincture, and &s;ometi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="2 letters">s by &s;eeking not to allay, but to extirpate an ingenite Me|lacholy, or &s;adne&s;s of Spirit. Thus &s;ome men thinking to render them&s;elves more capa|ble of bu&s;ine&s;s by very much ab&s;tinence, do
<PB N="89" REF="49">by a mi&s;take of the mea&s;ure, procure to them|&s;elves unawares, the unhappy di&s;ea&s;es cau&s;ed by inanition, which are &s;carcely curable. In the exerci&s;e of Moral vertues, a tenacious man will never delight in (or will govern) a con|tinued work of Magnificence, though it be at another man's charge, for <HI>Quor&s;um perditio haec?</HI> or <HI>To what purpo&s;e is this wa&s;t?</HI> will &s;till flutter in his thoughts to the deforming, if not defacing, of the whole; whereas the &s;ame man might be &s;ucce&s;sfully employed by a Prince, to &s;it at the Stern about the retren|ching of his &s;uperfluous expences. <HI>Alexander</HI> the Great would never have blunted the vio|lence of <HI>Hannibal</HI>'s victorious Army, nor <HI>Fabius Maximus</HI> have conquered the World. In matters Civil, call a contemplative man (though of admirable parts in his own way) to the government of a Nation, and he him|&s;elf will be in continual pain, and his Subjects in perpetual danger of confu&s;ion. The fire on his right hand will be ready to con&s;ume him, before he hath &s;ufficiently con&s;idered and re&s;olved how to quench that on the left. On the other &s;ide, let an active man be kept in continual retirement, and he will torment him&s;elf with his own thoughts, till even Sha|dows become a terrour to him, and he will many ways encrea&s;e vexation to him&s;elf, till in all probability he become his own de&s;troyer. From hence may be rai&s;ed a powerfull argu|ment again&s;t Hereditary Monarchies, but the
<PB N="90" REF="50">well known confu&s;ion of Popular, and cor|ruption of Ari&s;tocratical elections, together with the contempt which men are apt to have of creatures of their own making, may keep the ballance at the lea&s;t even. For conclu&s;ion, Nothing can be perfectly done, <HI>invita Miner|va,</HI> or <HI>Cro&s;s to the per&s;on's inclination;</HI> and <HI>Id unumquemque decet maxime quod e&s;t cuju&s;que maxime, That becomes every man be&s;t which is mo&s;t natural to him.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="10" TYPE="occasional">
<HEAD>X.</HEAD>
<P>I have read in an <HI>Italian</HI> Writer of &s;ome e&s;timation to this effect, That a de&s;ire and endeavour of attaining fulne&s;s of power over others, is very commendable, becau&s;e it gi|veth men &s;ome mea&s;ure of likene&s;s unto God, the fountain of all perfection, one of who&s;e chief attributes is his Omnipotence. The a&s;|&s;ertion admits of &s;ome ju&s;tification, as I con|ceive, but not the rea&s;on, for though we may take God for our pattern, in re&s;pect of his Ethical or Intellectual excellences (if I may &s;o call them,) yet it &s;avours too much of the Luciferian pre&s;umption, to bear an emulating eye in the lea&s;t mea&s;ure, either towards his glory or his power. And as to the de&s;ire of power, the edge of it may be &s;omewhat abated in the lovers of Vertue and Goodne&s;s, when they take into con&s;ideration, that a &s;tate of mor|tality &s;hall always want that infinite wi&s;edom,
<PB N="91" REF="50">and purity of intention, which re&s;ideth in the Deity, and which makes power to con&s;i&s;t in|abu&s;ively only there, as in its proper &s;phere. For that power which men enjoy, is none of their own, and they mu&s;t yield an account to the true Proprietary, not only of the u&s;e, but of the very having of it. And as among men, he who in a way of violence and illegality, po&s;&s;e&s;&s;eth him&s;elf of that which is the proper|ty of another, (though his equal or inferiour) becomes an offender again&s;t the Civil Ma|gi&s;trate; &s;o it is, but much more unpardon|able in relation to the Deity &s;o infinitely tran|&s;cending our capacity, with tho&s;e who a&s;&s;ume Power to them&s;elves in an unwarrantable manner. I doubt not but Divines will &s;tep in further, and a&s;&s;ert, that a mere de&s;ire of Power, with a &s;ini&s;ter intention, is no &s;mall &s;in; and what may it then be to de&s;ire, a&s;&s;ume, and u&s;e Power corruptly? The true end of all external power can be no more than this, To propagate the peace and happine&s;s of Man|kind, and every individual per&s;on, as far as may be done without a more publique preju|dice: and from hence it comes, that a de&s;ire of rewarding becomes more natural to a noble nature, than of puni&s;hing, (though an approach may be made even to the latter with chear|fulne&s;s of Spirit,) for Remunerations an&s;wer to both parts of the above-mentioned end; whereas Punitive Ju&s;tice for the pre&s;ent fati&s;|&s;ieth only, the former bringing with it always
<PB N="92" REF="51">harm to the offending per&s;on, and &s;ometimes ruine total and final; yet as I &s;aid, this may be proceeded in with comfort, becau&s;e the ex|tirpation of one may be a means of reforming many; and &s;ometime there is no other way to &s;ave them from de&s;truction, and that not only by terrour in the example, but by pre|vention of ruinous and de&s;tructive de&s;igns in|herent in (or affixed to) the per&s;on of him who is cut off. But that Magi&s;trate, who u&s;eth &s;everity to torment or de&s;troy the offender with any intention what&s;oever, other than tho&s;e above-&s;pecified, either with <HI>Pilate</HI> &s;ells the indolence and &s;afety of others for favour and particular advantage, or out of a mere Satanical &s;pirit, takes delight in the &s;ufferings of others, and at the be&s;t, makes the hand of Ju&s;tice to become (upon per&s;onal provoca|tion) an in&s;trument of Revenge, which is the peculiar of him, who hath &s;aid <GAP DESC="foreign">, or <HI>Vengeance is mine;</HI> &s;o as men can have no other part in it than to become in&s;tru|ments, and are no otherwi&s;e ju&s;tified in being &s;o, than either by the rules of God's revealed Will expre&s;t in the written Word, or by &s;ome immediate and miraculous Precept from him. For my part, though I conceive it to be the &s;tronge&s;t of temptations to an active and knowing Spirit, to be courted by an oppor|tunity of having great power over others; Yet I &s;hall rather choo&s;e to become the mark (or Anvile, if you will) of injurious power,
<PB N="93" REF="51">than to exa&s;perate my Creator either by an u&s;urpation, or by the revengefull u&s;e of &s;o dangerous a weapon.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="11" TYPE="occasional">
<HEAD>XI.</HEAD>
<P>Ever &s;ince our fir&s;t Father <HI>Adam</HI> &s;ought to palliate his fir&s;t tran&s;gre&s;&s;ion, by laying upon another the iniquity which proceeded chiefly from the determination of his own will, we of his Po&s;terity have applied our &s;elves to doe the like; and for the mo&s;t part when better evidence fails us, we lay the crime to the charge of Fortune, who very fitly by the Fabuli&s;t is repre&s;ented with a great Complaint in her mouth upon that occa&s;ion. Among the Heathens, <HI>Fortune</HI> was e&s;teemed a Godde&s;s, and with us Chri&s;tians &s;he is little le&s;s, if rightly under&s;tood; for what &s;quareth better with the notion meant by Fortune, than the providence of God, which being one of his chief attributes, is hardly &s;evered from his per&s;on? We &s;hould therefore be very carefull not to make complaint in that kind, con&s;ider|ing the per&s;on again&s;t whom our complaint is levelled; nor to doe like &s;ome men who be|wail the defects of their geniture, and the circum&s;tances belonging to it, (for thus all men may become Complainants, as wanting &s;ome natural advantages which others enjoy,) nor like to &s;ome others, who to excu&s;e their own folly, for yielding to temptations in the
<PB N="94" REF="52">way of exce&s;s by which their body or e&s;tate is impaired or ruined, lay all the blame on Fortune. Certainly complaints of this nature can be no other than a high provocation of the Almighty, who hath the ab&s;olute domi|nion over his creatures; for no temporal thing is nece&s;&s;ary, if the want of it be not an ab&s;olute hindrance to the end whereunto the ve&s;&s;el (to u&s;e St. <HI>Paul</HI>'s expre&s;&s;ion) is de&s;igned, which de&s;ign is only known to the Creator. Neither are worldly wi&s;edom, ri|ches, power, and &s;uch like, any ways nece&s;|&s;ary to the attaining of the chief end of our life, for there is as ready a way to it from the lowe&s;t condition as from the highe&s;t: and if &s;o, then why do we complain? It was the opinion of &s;ome Philo&s;ophers, that the Deity doth not at all mind the bu&s;ine&s;&s;es of this World; but their opinion is &s;o far from truth, as the &s;lighte&s;t things (or at lea&s;t many of them) &s;eem to be decreed. <HI>Saul</HI> was cho|&s;en by God to be King of <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> and was not the &s;traying of his Father's A&s;&s;es de&s;igned a means of bringing him to the pre&s;ence of <HI>Sa|muel,</HI> for the effecting of it? A &s;eeming ca&s;ual &s;park falleth into a magazine of Gun-powder, which is occa&s;ion of the lo&s;s of a Kingdom, and can this be thought to pa&s;s without a Divine Providence? Some men under&s;tand it as a thing derogatory to the Deity to order trivial things (which cau&s;eth the &s;coff of pro|fane <HI>Lucian</HI> upon <HI>Jupiter,</HI> as entertaining him|&s;elf
<PB N="95" REF="52">with the painting of Butterflies,) but the con&s;equences of things trivial are not always &s;light, though conceived &s;o by us, who are no le&s;s ignorant of effects as they relate to their cau&s;es, than of cau&s;es as they relate to their effects. And certainly to order and go|vern the Univer&s;e, with all the &s;eeming ca|&s;ualties in it, can be no derogation to the Deity; for to &s;ay truth, we cannot conceive rightly of God, without believing his infinite wi&s;edom and power to comprehend and pene|trate all things, together with their cau&s;es and effects, and al&s;o that his government of the whole is effected with more facility, than the wi&s;e&s;t man can order the cleare&s;t and ea|&s;ie&s;t matters. The truth is, that this Pro|vidence is always at work, and that humane wi&s;edom and folly do but cooperate with it. As for us, the&s;e may either yield us a ju&s;tifi|cation, or aggravate again&s;t us, but the effect is always &s;teered by providence. <HI>The race is not to the &s;wift,</HI> &s;aith <HI>Solomon, nor the battel to the &s;trong,</HI> &amp;c. but time and chance (or the effects of Providence) come alike to all. It is mo&s;t evident among Game&s;ters, that the money is many times lo&s;t by playing that which is clearly be&s;t; and &s;o it falleth out in matters of greate&s;t concernment: And fit it is that it &s;hould be &s;o, for humane wi&s;edom might ju&s;tly boa&s;t it &s;elf again&s;t Providence, if the ocmmon &s;aying were true, <HI>Sapiens do|minabitur a&s;tris, A wi&s;e man &s;hall over-rule
<PB N="96" REF="53">the Stars.</HI> What is then to be &s;aid, &s;hall we omit the u&s;ing of tho&s;e parts which God hath given us, becau&s;e the i&s;&s;ue of things is not in our power? This were <HI>to heap up condemna|tion to our &s;elves again&s;t the latter day.</HI> Ra|ther let us, but in a more general &s;en&s;e, take up the re&s;olution of <HI>Joab,</HI> Captain of <HI>David</HI>'s Hoa&s;t, who &s;pake thus to his Army before a battel (which exhortation of his hath always pa&s;&s;ed with me for mo&s;t precious, and &s;hall be the conclu&s;ion of this di&s;cour&s;e.) <HI>Be of good courage, and let us play the Men for our People, and for the Cities of our God, and let the Lord doe what &s;eemeth him good.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="12" TYPE="occasional">
<HEAD>XII.</HEAD>
<P>Of all my inward conflicts, none hath ap|peared more like an Earth-quake in &s;haking the whole frame of my nature, than that which rai&s;ed it &s;elf upon the con&s;ideration of (and &s;itting down under) &s;ome pre&s;&s;ures car|rying with them a con&s;tant deprivation of out|ward freedom; which freedom, though in it &s;elf but a kind of privation, yet hath been always too far con&s;idered by me as the ground of external happine&s;s. On the other &s;ide, my &s;ufferance was urged by the remembrance of &s;ome moral Precepts, which neverthele&s;s did not &s;o captivate my rea&s;on, as to &s;up|pre&s;s all thought of an Emancipation, as far as it &s;hould come to be in my power. Yet in
<PB N="97" REF="53">this, by means of a mo&s;t powerfull Illumina|tion and &s;trength from above, I have extrica|ted my &s;elf and overcome my inclination; for by the light of tho&s;e rayes it clearly ap|peared to me, that my Fetters were neither framed by Man, nor put upon me by any &s;ubordinate power, neither had my own folly contributed to that kind of &s;ervitude. All was wrought by a Divine hand, and &s;eemed to be fitted and de&s;igned to me by the &s;ame, for I could not di&s;cern that the like (as to the mo&s;t important circum&s;tances) had been fixed upon any other per&s;on what&s;oever. This made me to e&s;teem it a &s;in of Infidelity again&s;t the Divine Wi&s;edom, either to think it unfit or to repine at it, and an offence wor&s;e than Rebellion to &s;truggle for Liberty, farther than it was intended to me by that wi&s;edom. E&s;|pecially, &s;ince the better freedom (which is that of the mind) is no ways limitted, and &s;ince I my &s;elf have been experimentally taught, that the bitter cup of Affliction is no le&s;s healthfull, than the tempting baits of Pro|&s;perity are dangerous.</P>
</DIV2>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="doxology">
<PB REF="54">
<PB N="99" REF="54">
<HEAD>DOXOLOGY, JANUARY the 8th. 1655.</HEAD>
<P><HI>LET Princes, Potentates, and the exalted of the People, de&s;pi&s;e their Crowns, con|temn their earthly honours, and with all humility ca&s;t them&s;elves down before the throne of the great God of heaven and earth.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Let the poore&s;t, weake&s;t, and mo&s;t depre&s;&s;ed part of the people, who&s;e abject and penurious condition &s;eemeth to have its being only like a Foil to &s;et off the eminency of others, let the&s;e rai&s;e their heads and be exalted to a kind of equality, that they may fitly bear a part in the great Quire at the general acclamation of Glory.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Let the multitude and univer&s;ality of People, Nations, and Languages, prepare them&s;elves (as far as the narrow capacity of their nature will admit) to trumpet forth the infinite and incom|parable prai&s;es of the Lord.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Let all the&s;e with united voice, magnifie the Name of the Omni&s;cient and Omnipotent Father
<PB N="100" REF="55">of Eternity; of the &s;potle&s;s Lamb, that ever &s;pringing and inexhau&s;tible fountain of Redem|ption, and of the ble&s;&s;ed Spirit that always diffu|&s;ing (yet ever abounding) trea&s;ure of holine&s;s and comfort.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Let the whole &V;niver&s;e be a&s;toni&s;hed at the pre&s;ence of that great God, to who&s;e all-piercing eye the &s;ecrets of Man's &s;tony heart lie as open, as the heart and all other things do to the in|fluences of his wi&s;edom and power. Who&s;e ju|&s;tice exalts it &s;elf in the ruine of tho&s;e proud ones, that &s;eem to arrogate to them&s;elves a kind of Divinity, in thinking their own en|crea&s;e of Glory and Advantage to be the only fit object of all their intentions and actions. Who with the arms of his tender mercy, embraceth all &s;uch per&s;ons, as by a penitent &s;elf-denial bewail the infirmity of their nature, and ca&s;t them|&s;elves for relief into the gracious arms of their Redeemer. Who as he created all things of no|thing, &s;o he always rai&s;eth good out of the great|e&s;t evil, and by an infallible providence (though we &s;ee it not) leaveth the iniquity of &s;infull actions upon the heads of the work|ers, which &s;till pre&s;&s;eth them down towards their de&s;truction, albeit they &s;eem to pro&s;per in their wicked cour&s;es.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Who only e&s;teems the holy Spirituality of the per&s;ons that act in this vale of mi&s;ery, and hath prepared an exceeding and eternal weight of Glory for tho&s;e who love him.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Who al&s;o at this time of &s;o great need, hath
<PB N="101" REF="55">conde&s;cended to behold and compa&s;&s;ionate the mi&s;ery and torments of (and al&s;o to relieve) his poor &s;infull Servant, a per&s;on &s;o far from dream|ing of any thing that might &s;eem to be merit in him&s;elf, as he de&s;ireth to appear in his own thoughts, as the off-&s;couring of the Creation, yet he cannot but throw this poor mite into the trea&s;ury of his Creator's prai&s;es.</HI></P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="appendix">
<PB REF="56">
<PB N="103" REF="56">
<HEAD>AN APPENDIX TO THE OCCASIONALS.</HEAD>
<P>HAVING pa&s;t my Climacterical in the year of our Lord 1666, (a year &s;uppo&s;ed to contain periods of great importance as to publick Revolutions) I may well think that my own di&s;&s;olution will &s;pee|dily overtake me, and therefore more than time it is, thoroughly to con&s;ider the condi|tion of my better part, and in the con&s;ider|ation to ab&s;tract it from matter, as far as may be, while it is united with the body. And this is be&s;t effected, as I conceive, by a view of the Soul's principal faculties, which are the Under&s;tanding, and the Will, for the&s;e two may choo&s;e for their object things infinite,
<PB N="104" REF="57">having no relation to matter. The Under|&s;tanding is conver&s;ant about eternal truths, and the Will hath no proper and perfect aim but at everla&s;ting happine&s;s. The maxim <HI>Ni|hil e&s;t in intellectu quod non prius fuerit in &s;en|&s;u,</HI> can hardly hold water, for the Soul it &s;elf (as a di&s;tinct and immaterial &s;ub&s;tance) is not expo&s;ed to &s;en&s;e, and can mentally di&s;|cour&s;e concerning its own faculties; as al&s;o take into con&s;ideration the Divine e&s;&s;ence and attributes, whereof Creatures, having perfect &s;en&s;e and wanting rea&s;on, or the complete u&s;e of it, cannot take notice, being incapa|ble of any notion of Eternity. But in this enquiry, we mu&s;t not exclude the more im|perfect objects, many of which are common to Man with other creatures, that &s;o we may extract what is peculiar to the immortal Soul. The general object of the Intellect is Truth, and that of the Will, Goodne&s;s. Truth is the more general, and trencheth upon goodne&s;s, for that &s;uch a thing is good or evil is a &s;ub|ject of truth, and it is not ea&s;ie to conceive how the Will &s;hould make choice, but accor|ding to dictates of the Under&s;tanding. Yet election is peculiar to the Will, in which re&s;|pect it &s;eemeth to have the preheminence, as the Prince is above his Council. And to prove the Will more ab&s;olute, &s;ome object the &s;aying of <HI>Medea, Video meliora proboque, de|teriora &s;equor, I &s;ee the better and choo&s;e the wor&s;e,</HI> and al&s;o that which is u&s;ual with other
<PB N="105" REF="57">women, <HI>I will, becau&s;e I will;</HI> from which they would infer, that the Will determineth either contrary to the Under&s;tanding, or with|out it. To the former of the&s;e may be an|&s;wered, That the Under&s;tanding repre&s;enteth the thing fit to be done, for pre&s;ent &s;atisfac|tion of the appetite, though Morally or The|ologically evil, and &s;o the bruiti&s;h part pre|vaileth; and to the latter, that the Intellect in|terveneth, but the dictates of it are &s;omewhat like to that re&s;olution given by the <HI>Per&s;ian</HI> Coun&s;ellors, who when asked by their King (<HI>Camby&s;es,</HI> as I take it) in love with his Si&s;ter, <HI>if any of their Laws admitted a man to marry his Si&s;ter?</HI> an&s;wered Negatively, but &s;aid, <HI>There was a</HI> Per&s;ian <HI>Law which declared that their King might doe what plea&s;ed him.</HI> Yet in &s;ome things the Intellect is ab&s;olute, as in the deci&s;ion of doubt in matters merely theorical, and certainly the exerci&s;e of this fa|culty is one of the greate&s;t delights that Man's nature is capable of, having little or nothing of &s;en&s;e belonging to it, and may be termed a &s;hadow of the contemplative &s;atisfaction, which is a&s;cribed to the Deity it &s;elf. Thus much as to the faculties them&s;elves, and now more particularly concerning their peculiar objects.</P>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<PB N="106" REF="58">
<HEAD>Of TR&V;TH.</HEAD>
<P>GOD is the God of Truth, nay truth it &s;elf in the perfection of it, and there|fore we mu&s;t not marvail if &s;uch truth (of|fered at in the Metaphy&s;icks) be in&s;crutable. I &s;hall therefore confine my &s;elf to &s;econdary and &s;ubordinate truths, which I conceive to be of three kinds; Truth of the object, Truth conceiv'd in the mind, and Truth expre&s;t. The fir&s;t may be defined, A congruence of things with their prototype or fir&s;t figure, and hath no oppo&s;ite but every variation privative or po&s;itive from that fir&s;t figure. The know|ledge of this truth is &s;o foreign to matters of common intere&s;t, as the world is little trou|bled about it. Truth in the mind is a con|gruence of the thing with the under&s;tanding, and Errour is diametrically oppo&s;ite to it, but neither can this make any tumult till the matter be conceived in terms. Truth expre&s;t is congruence of words with a right concep|tion in the mind, and when this appears upon the &s;tage of the World, there is an im|mediate arming preparatory to battel, if the thing be not demon&s;trable, and trenches up|on any con&s;iderable intere&s;t. This is (as it
<PB N="107" REF="58">were) the vehicle or chariot of Truth, with|out which it pa&s;&s;eth not from man to man, neither is there any publick &s;earch after truth, for without terms there can be no di&s;putati|on. That Truth be covered with &s;o much ob&s;curity, as to the conception of it, may &s;eem &s;trange, &s;ince every affirmation or nega|tion in pre&s;ent, is not only true or fal&s;e, but demon&s;tratively &s;o in it &s;elf, if the cau&s;es were not hidden. We are apt to cry out upon Pro|vidence for this, e&s;pecially where the know|ledge of &s;uch truth is thought nece&s;&s;ary. In|deed our own Intellects are defective though we do not readily confe&s;s it, God having gi|ven &s;o general &s;atisfaction in the portions of wit di&s;tributed among the Sons of men, as every man is well opinion'd of his own &s;hare; but the Divine Wi&s;edom is clearly ju&s;tified, for were all truths evident to Man's under|&s;tanding, it would not only &s;et an underva|lue upon truth, but Man would &s;well him&s;elf with pride even to a bur&s;ting. It is there|fore much better that &s;o much lieth concealed, for by that means becoming con&s;cious of our own infirmity and defects, we have full cau&s;e to humble our &s;elves, and being grown thank|full for what we have, to place our whole dependence upon the Deity with entire &s;ub|mi&s;&s;ion. As for Truth, &s;uch as may be com|pa&s;&s;ed, it is obtained in a way either ordinary or extraordinary. The extraordinary is the more noble, as coming by Divine revelation or in|&s;piration,
<PB N="108" REF="59">either immediately confirmed by mi|racles, as anciently by <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> and the Prophets under the Law, and in mo&s;t excellency by our <HI>Saviour</HI> under the Go&s;pel (which way is now rather pretended to than had, and is un|&s;afe to be tru&s;ted to) or mediately by te&s;ti|mony of Holy Writ, and by this means Faith is generated, which layeth mo&s;t firm and in|di&s;&s;oluble hold upon Souls ingenuous and pi|ous. Truth in the way ordinary comes by &s;earch of nece&s;&s;ary con&s;equences, but mo&s;t unque&s;tionably (or rather &s;atisfactorily) by the knowledge of cau&s;es, and &s;carcely to any per&s;ons, but &s;uch as are po&s;&s;e&s;t of a natural &s;agacity of mind, if the matter be of any &s;ub|tile con&s;ideration. It is true that rules deli|vered by Logicians may be u&s;efull in &s;uch an enquiry and judgment, and becau&s;e they are &s;o, I &s;hall not think it lo&s;s of time to touch upon that Art. Its proper object &s;eems, by their u&s;ual definition rather to be probabi|lity than Truth, yet their demon&s;trations are delivered as proofs infallible, which of ne|ce&s;&s;ity mu&s;t include truth. As for their de|mon&s;tration <GAP DESC="foreign">, by the immediate and ne|ce&s;&s;ary cau&s;es efficient or final, it is almo&s;t u&s;ele&s;s, for &s;uch cau&s;es are more latent than nece&s;&s;ary effects and con&s;equences, and infi|nitely more truths are found by means of the latter, than former, though without perfect knowledge of the immediate cau&s;es, which is not altogether nece&s;&s;ary for the finding of
<PB N="109" REF="59">truth. Neither are their rules concerning fal|lacies &s;o u&s;efull, for &s;carcely will an ingeni|ous per&s;on (though altogether unskill'd in Lo|gick) be deluded by fallacies, which is the rea&s;on that the late Innovator in that Art, hath wholly left out the doctrine of Fallacies, as al&s;o that of Demon&s;trations. And not|with&s;tanding all &s;aid to the contrary, the Cir|cle is not avoided, when there is a reciprocal proof by cau&s;es and effects. As for conclu|&s;ions ari&s;ing, neither upon principles of Faith, nor from nece&s;&s;ary premi&s;es (which is term|ed opinion) the mind of an ingenious per|&s;on never acquie&s;ces in them. I confe&s;s there are rules much conducing to the indagation and determination of truth, and I &s;hall adven|ture to deliver &s;ome few of them, which as I conceive, may be &s;ufficient for a per&s;on fitly di&s;po&s;ed for the bu&s;ine&s;s. As fir&s;t, Where the foundation is laid at the object, let the &s;en&s;es be rightly di&s;po&s;ed, and there mu&s;t be a fit <HI>medium</HI> between that and the organ or in&s;trument of &s;en&s;e. Secondly, In truth ex|pre&s;t (or pretended truth) let the terms of the a&s;&s;ertion or negation, be univocal, and not carrying a double &s;en&s;e. Thirdly, Admit no argument which ari&s;eth not from things infallibly known. Fourthly, Let not di&s;tincti|ons be received, but where they are needfull, nor in terms either ambiguous or unknown, as &s;ome per&s;ons &s;ufficiently learned, have u&s;ed in their definition of truth, terms of as ab&s;tru&s;e (if not
<PB N="110" REF="60">more ab&s;tru&s;e) con&s;ideration, than truth it &s;elf. Fifthly, Let not more be admitted in the conclu&s;ion than was in the premi&s;&s;es. And la&s;tly, Let no te&s;timony be received in mat|ters concerning Divine Truth, unle&s;s contain|ed in holy Scripture, which is the only infalli|ble ground of belief, according to all the an|cient Fathers and Councils, and till the&s;e la|ter times, wherein &s;ome Polititians, to cover their errours, have advanced their Church to be above Scripture, that &s;o they may be judg|ed only by them&s;elves. As for a full di&s;co|very of Truth, my application &s;hall ever be to the God of Truth ble&s;&s;ed for ever, with who&s;e name this di&s;cour&s;e made its entry.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<HEAD>Of GOODNESS.</HEAD>
<P>I Dare not pre&s;ume to treat of that tran|&s;cendent Goodne&s;s, eternal and infinite, peculiar to the Deity, farther than as it is the &s;ource (or rather va&s;t ocean) from who&s;e effluence all inferiour goodne&s;s receives its be|ing; nor &s;hall my &s;ubject be Beatitude that <HI>Summum bonum</HI> of the Philo&s;opher, which a heathen Poet could affirm not to be compati|ble with man in this vale of mi&s;ery, but of that &s;ubordinate goodne&s;s which is the proper
<PB N="111" REF="60">object of Man's will while he liveth here. And this goodne&s;s is &s;o transfu&s;ed, as it af|fords matter to be coveted, not only by man, but by all &s;en&s;itive creatures, and perhaps even plants cannot be excluded, &s;ince it is apparent by divers motions of theirs that they have a faculty of approching to, or declining things beneficial or hurtfull to their con&s;titution. Of nece&s;&s;ity therefore there mu&s;t be &s;ome good|ne&s;s relating merely to Man, and to him in re|&s;pect of his nobler part, which his indued with rea&s;on in the perfection of it, if not with &s;ole rea&s;on, as mo&s;t believed among the ancient Philo&s;ophers. This &s;econdary goodne&s;s, which is the common object, not only of the will, but of the appetite, may (as I conceive) bear this de&s;cription. Goodne&s;s is the condition of a Subject, which renders it capable of be|ing coveted, according to right rea&s;on. And it may be di&s;tingui&s;hed into goodne&s;s natural, and goodne&s;s moral. From goodne&s;s natural no natural body can be excluded, it being de|&s;irable in &s;ome re&s;pect or other. They are all u&s;efull if the u&s;e were known, for the in|finite wi&s;edom hath not created any thing that is ab&s;olutely evil. Time hath made this evident by finding out the medicinal u&s;e of &s;o many kinds of Herbs, Minerals, Amulets, In&s;ects, Entrails of Bea&s;ts, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> and no doubt there is, but all matter (not excluding poy|&s;onous creatures, and the very Atoms,) and every &s;pecies of Creatures, is &s;o nece&s;&s;ary, as
<PB N="112" REF="61">the World would be defective without them, which proves it &s;elf in &s;ome mea&s;ure, by the changes of matter, there being no annihila|tion, but a continual vici&s;&s;itude by mutual generation and corruption. Goodne&s;s moral may be di&s;tingui&s;hed into Goodne&s;s complete, and incomplete. Goodne&s;s complete is that which never cau&s;eth evil but by accident, as the prime moral vertues, the chief intellectual habits, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> relating chiefly, if not only, to the mind. Goodne&s;s incomplete is that which is not only in&s;trumental, but many times an in|citement to evil, as that in life, riches, power, plea&s;ure, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> of that nature, &s;ome of which are frequently refu&s;ed by wi&s;e men. Of the former kind no &s;en&s;itive creature hath the lea&s;t knowledge, and <HI>de ignotis nulla cu|pido.</HI> Of the latter, which goodne&s;s is mo&s;t &s;en&s;ual, they are &s;o far from not being cove|tous, as all the entertainment of their life is in pur&s;uit of &s;ome of them. And &s;o it is with men, who permit their bruti&s;h part to govern. But the&s;e may be lawfully u&s;ed by men, or el&s;e they could not be accounted good, or be rightly termed ble&s;&s;ings, for it is only in the exce&s;s that they are be&s;tial. And they are of &s;uch nature, as their oppo&s;ites are not <HI>mala in &s;e,</HI> though inflicted as puni&s;hments, for poverty, pain, and death it &s;elf, may become in&s;trumental for good. And may not &s;ome man &s;ay, that Sin it &s;elf (the wor&s;t of evils) is a cau&s;e of penitence, for there could be no
<PB N="113" REF="61">repentance if there were no &s;in, but indeed &s;in is only a nece&s;&s;ary antecedent, and no more a cau&s;e of penitence, than the robbing and wounding of the poor Traveller in the Go&s;pel was cau&s;e of the good <HI>Samaritan</HI>'s charity. As for moral Goodne&s;s, I &s;hall add no more but this; That perfect goods are not expo&s;ed to chance, or violence, for no man can be deprived of them again&s;t his will unle&s;s he be unman'd by the total lo&s;s of rea|&s;on, or weakned in great mea&s;ure by &s;ome accident, as to the u&s;e of it, and as a conclu|&s;ion concerning moral goodne&s;s, I may re|commend this rule, to direct in choice of that kind of goodne&s;s. That which hath not a good end, (or intention) is not good in it &s;elf, but a good intention cannot make that which is evil, to become good. La&s;tly, There is a goodne&s;s &s;piritual, mo&s;t precious of all, which I con&s;ider, not as a &s;pecies of goodne&s;s inherent, but as a &s;upernatural perfection no ways ari&s;ing from us, but coming to us, tho|rough the pa&s;&s;ion and merits of our ever ble&s;|&s;ed <HI>Saviour,</HI> and continually flowing in many &s;treams from the infinite and inexhau&s;tible fountain, or ocean of goodne&s;s before men|tioned; and having influence only upon the &s;oul of man, offering it &s;elf to all, and puri|fying in &s;uch a way tho&s;e who accept it, as renders them not only capable, but a&s;&s;ured of everla&s;ting Beatitude, which next to the honouring of God, is the chief end of our life and being.</P>
<PB N="114" REF="62">
<P>NOW having fini&s;hed this brief di&s;cour&s;e concerning the prime faculties of the Soul, and their proper objects, I cannot but be &s;wallowed up in admiration, finding that Man, endued with &s;uch excellent functions, &s;hould permit Sen&s;uality to obliterate Rea&s;on. Where are all the golden rules delivered by an|cient moral Philo&s;ophers? What i&s;&s;ue is there of the precious dictates of our gracious <HI>Savi|our</HI> and his holy Apo&s;tles? What becomes of the image of God impre&s;&s;ed upon Man at the fir&s;t, and wherein (&s;etting the angels apart) he now excelleth the whole Creation? When <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> vouch&s;afed to be conver&s;ant among men, he made it his chief work to improve the mind of Man far above the height of Rea&s;on, and we are &s;o far from conforming our &s;elves to his cour&s;e, as rea&s;on is too &s;ublime for us, and we fall &s;o much &s;hort as with the Swine we wallow, and roul our &s;elves in the mire of this world, without &s;o much as look|ing towards Heaven and heavenly things, u&s;ing our rea&s;on only in the choice of world|ly plea&s;ures and advantages. Some I confe&s;s there are, who <HI>Apparent rari nantes in gurgite va&s;to,</HI> bearing up their heads when there is a univer&s;al &s;inking towards the bottomle&s;s gulf, and they are looked upon as the Commanders of <HI>Ramoth Gilead</HI> did upon the Prophet &s;ent to anoint <HI>Jehu</HI> King of <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> as &s;o many madmen, but Wi&s;edom is ju&s;tified of her Chil|dren,
<PB N="115" REF="62">few as they are. As for my &s;elf, my de&s;ire &s;hall be with <HI>Balaam,</HI> that my death may be that of the righteous, and not only &s;o, but that my approaches unto it be &s;uch, as not to covet any plea&s;ure, or other benefit, merely for my &s;elf, but what is rather mental than corporeal; and to cheri&s;h the body only &s;o far, as it may render me u&s;efull to my Genera|tion, and keeping it in &s;uch &s;ervitude, as it may be in&s;trumental, rather than a hinder|ance, in labouring for a happy eternity, and that I may continue in &s;uch re&s;olution, I mu&s;t implore the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of my almighty and mo&s;t gracious Redeemer.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<PB REF="63">
<PB N="117" REF="63">
<HEAD>A <HI>S&V;NDAYS</HI> Meditation UPON ETERNITY, <HI>June</HI> 17. 1666.</HEAD>
<P>HAVING &s;et my &s;elf to meditate up|on Eternity, in the everla&s;ting part whereof all the hope of a good Chri|&s;tian con&s;i&s;teth, I &s;oon perceived that I went about to fathom a bottomle&s;s depth, with the bounded line of Rea&s;on, &s;hall I then ca&s;t off the con&s;ideration of a matter &s;o much impor|ting me? No, let me rather &s;ound the <HI>aby&s;|&s;us,</HI> as far as the line and plummet of rea&s;on will reach. My rea&s;on tells me that there is a God, the fountain of all being, for the World could not make it &s;elf, and that this God neither had beginning, nor can have any end, for otherwi&s;e he could not be God, be|ing
<PB N="118" REF="64">environed with time, time not as the mea|&s;ure of motion which had a beginning, but as it is part of that <HI>Prius,</HI> and <HI>Po&s;terius,</HI> without which the origine and period of any exi&s;tence cannot be imagined. Upon the foun|dation of an Eternal God rea&s;on concludes, that Eternity it &s;elf is, and yet my weakne&s;s of under&s;tanding is &s;uch, as I cannot com|prehend how any thing &s;hould have being without beginning and end. Thus Rea&s;on, like an unskilfull Commander, leads me on boldly, but leaves me perplexed and in con|fu&s;ion. Hard it is to find an extrication in this difficulty, and yet upon full con&s;ideration this calleth in faith, which being above rea|&s;on, &s;eemeth abundantly to &s;upply its defects, for according to rea&s;on ought I not to receive that for truth which &s;trength of di&s;cour&s;e leads me to, though I cannot find the limits of it in my rea&s;on, when the &s;ame thing is delivered to me for truth, by the highe&s;t au|thority? Let not my gracious God be offend|ed that I give way to my &s;elf to argue upon a &s;ubject of this nature, for I am not with|out hope that I am led to it by Providence, &s;ince the thing is of &s;o great con&s;equence to be believed, and &s;ince it is no &s;mall benefit to have the way cleared in a matter concerning our endle&s;s beatitude. But the principles of Faith teach us, be&s;ides the confirmation of Eternity in it &s;elf, that the Omnipotent Crea|tor, by mercy in his ble&s;&s;ed Son, hath put all
<PB N="119" REF="64">Mankind from a lo&s;t condition, into a po&s;&s;i|bility of enjoying a full &s;hare in happy Eter|nity; and tho&s;e beloved ones who perform their part in cooperating with him, into an a&s;&s;urance of it. Oh the depth of Man's mi|&s;ery by the fir&s;t great tran&s;gre&s;&s;ion! Oh the infinite wi&s;edom of God, whereby he found a way fully to &s;atisfie his own Ju&s;tice, and yet to make his mercy overflow, even to the putting of Mankind into a condition of ble&s;|&s;edne&s;s far beyond his fir&s;t e&s;tate in Paradi&s;e, &s;o as according to holy Scripture it may true|ly be &s;aid, <HI>Where &s;in abounded, there grace did much more abound.</HI></P>
<CLOSER>Soli Deo gloria in aeternum.</CLOSER>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<PB REF="65">
<PB N="121" REF="65">
<HEAD>OF Original Sin.</HEAD>
<P>BEING very much perplexed in my own thoughts for a long time, about an imputation re&s;ting (as I conceived) upon the ju&s;tice of our eternal Creator (where|of we cannot be too tender) in the determi|nations of our Chri&s;tian Divines concerning Original Sin, I could not &s;ub&s;i&s;t without a re&s;tle&s;ne&s;s of mind and continual revolution of mental di&s;cour&s;es within my &s;elf, as al&s;o an outward con&s;ulting of Authours, to try if I could find &s;atisfaction in the point, which at the la&s;t by God's e&s;pecial grace, I have done, and am &s;o delighted in it, as I &s;hould e&s;teem it injurious to others not to &s;et the bu|&s;ine&s;s down in writing, &s;ince perhaps the &s;ame arguments, which have &s;atisfied me, may produce the like effect with others in a matter of &s;o great importance. The &s;candal which I received, aro&s;e from this opinion,
<PB N="122" REF="66">That the Soul of man being a &s;ub&s;tance im|material and immortal created by God and infu&s;ed into a Body, wherewith it could not have any former cognation, is by that union expo&s;ed to an infallible eternal condemnation, not to be prevented by any endeavour of its own, and this includeth the greate&s;t part of the world, and more particularly &s;uch Chil|dren as dye before Bapti&s;m, not having in the lea&s;t manner had the u&s;e of their rea&s;on or free-will, and in that re&s;pect they cannot be guilty of any di&s;obedience. As I take it, this is the opinion of all Chri&s;tian Divines, both Reformed and <HI>Roman,</HI> and to me it &s;eem|ed &s;o oppo&s;ite to the way of Ju&s;tice declared in Scripture, and owned by wi&s;e men of all Ages, as for a while it made me take up the opinion of traduction of the Soul by the &s;eed of Parents, but this could not long re&s;t with me, &s;ince it were too &s;trong an argument for its mortality as being generated; and &s;ince it is not conceivable how an immaterial &s;ub|&s;tance &s;hould take its being from two di&s;tinct per&s;ons, by which it might be concluded to be partible, a thing no ways compatible with the nature of a Spirit. To ju&s;tifie this gene|ral comprehen&s;ion under Original Sin, I find this Argument in <HI>Thomas Aquinas,</HI> whereup|on he groundeth his &s;olution, That all man|kind participating of the &s;ame nature, is to be con&s;idered as a body natural; and all in|dividual per&s;ons, pa&s;t, pre&s;ent, and to come,
<PB N="123" REF="66">as parts of that body, and that by the tran&s;|gre&s;&s;ion of <HI>Adam</HI> (who then comprized all mankind) the whole Species is concluded in that &s;in, becau&s;e every individual per&s;on may be under&s;tood to have con&s;ented to <HI>Adam</HI>'s di&s;obedience, though not by his own will apart, yet by the will of him his fir&s;t Father, which moveth all tho&s;e of his race <HI>Per motum generationis.</HI> He giveth in&s;tance in a Mur|ther acted by the hand, which being part of man's body, and having no will being con|&s;idered in it &s;elf, yet becometh guilty by con|nexion with the Soul, which governeth the whole man. But this ab&s;tru&s;e di&s;cour&s;e will not be per&s;ua&s;ive, as I conceive, for the hand alone cannot have guilt imputed to it; nei|ther is the Soul of any of <HI>Adam</HI>'s de&s;cendents a part of (or with) <HI>Adam,</HI> becau&s;e created by God &s;ince his time, for parts (except parts of time) while they are parts, mu&s;t have a coexi&s;tence with their whole, and it is mo&s;t di&s;&s;onant to common rea&s;on, that one man's will &s;hould be concluded by the re&s;olutions of another. True it is that world|ly Princes do deprive the children of Traytors of their inheritance, but this is only a temporal calamity, and is done rather for the deterring of others for the future from &s;o great a crime, (being &s;uppo&s;ed to love their Po&s;terity) than for the puni&s;hment of tho&s;e who may have been altogether innocent; and that &s;everity with ju&s;t Princes never extendeth to the life
<PB N="124" REF="67">of the Traytors children: But the other way of proceeding produceth an everla&s;ting con|demnation of the whole Race for their Pa|rents delinquency, which certainly is not the cour&s;e of Divine Ju&s;tice, if that be true which is delivered, <HI>Ezech.</HI> 18.4. <HI>Behold all Souls are mine, as the &s;oul of the Father, &s;o al&s;o the &s;oul of the Son is mine; the &s;oul that &s;inneth it &s;hall dye,</HI> &amp;c. And in the &s;ame Chapter, ver&s;e the 17th. <HI>He &s;hall not dye for the iniquity of his Father, he &s;hall &s;urely live; As for his Father,</HI> &amp;c. both which places &s;eem to me clearly to evince a per&s;onal judgment relating only to per&s;onal good carriage, or tran&s;gre&s;&s;ion. And &s;urely the Authour of the book entituled <HI>Solomon</HI>'s Wi&s;edom, did not under&s;tand Original Sin as we do, when Chapter 8.20. he &s;aith, <HI>I was a witty Child, and had a good &s;pirit, yea rather being good, I came into a body undefiled.</HI> Having thus declared my di&s;&s;atisfaction, it is fit I &s;hould expre&s;s how I became extricated out of the perplexity. I con&s;idered that brutes are un|der&s;tood to have their &s;en&s;itive Soul by traduc|tion from their Parents, if I may &s;o call them. I con&s;idered al&s;o that mens chief exorbitances proceed from their affections, which belong to the &s;en&s;itive part, as is clear, becau&s;e bea&s;ts ne|ver want them, as love, hate, concupi&s;cence, anger, and I conceive I may add malice, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> The&s;e being mere productions and improve|ments of matter, are they that tumultuate with|in
<PB N="125" REF="67">our brea&s;t, and being di&s;po&s;ed to exce&s;s, excite us to rebel again&s;t all the rules of good|ne&s;s as curbers of their liberty, and &s;o being principal cau&s;es of &s;in in us (who only are capable of &s;inning, for bea&s;ts have no Law pre&s;cribed to them) may be termed &s;in dwel|ling in us, or original &s;in; which rebellious inclination of our affections we may &s;afely yield to have been contracted by the di&s;obe|dience of our fir&s;t Parents, and to have been tran&s;mitted to us by the Seed, according to which &s;uppo&s;ition all St. <HI>Paul</HI>'s Texts con|cerning the effects of <HI>Adam</HI>'s &s;in upon us, may receive a fit interpretation, and more e&s;|pecially a great part of <HI>Rom.</HI> the 7th. where|in he &s;peaks of him&s;elf, <HI>viz.</HI> his immortal &s;oul, as a thing di&s;tinct from &s;in, <HI>viz.</HI> the &s;en&s;itive part or his affections. And &s;ince brutes are never without the &s;en&s;itive &s;oul and affections, it becomes a nece&s;&s;ary and inevitable con&s;e|quence that they are no proper emanations from the immortal &s;oul, and therefore being di&s;tinct from it, are al&s;o &s;eparable, nor can they have power to con&s;train it, though they may be con&s;trained by it, as being of a na|ture &s;o much purer and nobler than them|&s;elves. And as for the notion of a pure &s;pi|ritual &s;ub&s;tance, to become impure by being united with a material body, it is &s;carcely in|telligible. Upon the&s;e grounds the difficulties may be ea&s;ily re&s;olved, for &s;o the infu&s;ed Soul
<PB N="126" REF="68">can have no harder mea&s;ure by being placed in a body, than an eminent and able per&s;on hath, being put by his Prince to command an in&s;olent and rebellious Nation, and fir&s;t in|ve&s;ted by him with a full and &s;ufficient power to govern and re&s;train them, by which means he hath opportunity, not only to exerci&s;e his own vertue, but to gain high favour from his Prince, and to be in the way of great advance|ment. No &s;uch per&s;on would e&s;teem this to be hard dealing, but rather on the contrary to be much indulgence and advantage. Yet if &s;uch a per&s;on &s;hould be &s;o far from repre&s;|&s;ing the peoples in&s;olences, as that he encou|rageth and joyneth with them therein, it is evident that he expo&s;eth him&s;elf to the high|e&s;t puni&s;hment, and is the only cau&s;e of his own de&s;truction: And even &s;o it is with the immortal Soul, being placed in command over the &s;en&s;itive part of man. But in ca&s;e this Hypothe&s;is &s;tand firm otherwi&s;e, it will be &s;aid that it hath no ground in Scripture, and that will be altogether new, and therefore ought not to be received in matter of Religion. As for the fir&s;t, I take it to be very con&s;onant to Scripture, for at the fir&s;t creation of Man, mentioned <HI>Gen.</HI> 1. it is improbable that God created him with le&s;s perfection than Brutes, whom the earth and water brought forth with|out any breathing of God upon them, yet they were indued with a &s;en&s;itive Soul and its faculties, the affections, and the breathing of
<PB N="127" REF="68">God into him, whereby he became a living Soul, mentioned in the &s;econd Chapter, mu&s;t be under&s;tood of the immortal Soul, as a di|&s;tinct addition in the way of perfection, and the living of his &s;oul there mentioned, may be meant concerning a purer life in the way of Piety. But the Text of <HI>The&s;.</HI> 5.23. <HI>And I pray God your whole &s;pirit, and &s;oul, and body be pre&s;erved blamele&s;s unto the coming of our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t,</HI> is that which I chiefly in&s;i&s;t upon, for it can hardly be under&s;tood in any other way than of the immortal Soul, the &s;en&s;itive Soul, and the Body, and all three there &s;pecified as the integral parts of man. True it is, that mo&s;t Interpreters un|der&s;tand by the Spirit, the <GAP DESC="foreign">, or <HI>graces of the holy Spirit,</HI> which &s;eemeth to me &s;o improper, as it cannot be &s;o intended, for tho&s;e graces are never blameable, and &s;o it were a &s;trange Prayer that they may be found blamele&s;s. And this interpretation needs not to be wondred at, &s;ince the word <GAP DESC="foreign">, or <HI>Spirit,</HI> &s;ignifieth the rational and immortal Soul in divers other parts of the <HI>New Te&s;tament,</HI> as <HI>Rom.</HI> 8.16. <HI>Gal.</HI> 6.18. with many more; and certainly the Text of 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 15.50. <HI>that fle&s;h and blood cannot inherit the kingdome of God,</HI> and many others, where the fle&s;h is mentioned in the wor&s;t &s;en&s;e, are be&s;t inter|preted of di&s;orderly affections un&s;ubdued by the immortal Soul a&s;&s;i&s;ted by the holy Spirit, for we know that <HI>Enoch</HI> and <HI>Elias</HI> come not
<PB N="128" REF="69">within the rule of exclu&s;ion; and as for the novelty of the opinion, I may &s;ay, I think, no man ever yet affirmed that the whole Scri|pture was fully under&s;tood by any man, or by any community of men what&s;oever, and therefore there being &s;o much room for new interpretations, no opinion &s;hould undergo the cen&s;ure of condemnation only becau&s;e it is new. Thus much I have &s;aid, to &s;hew how I my &s;elf am &s;atisfied in this point, and per|haps this and much more would not be &s;ati&s;|factory to others, but how&s;oever, I have ex|onerated my &s;elf, not being willing to &s;up|pre&s;s any truth, the knowledge whereof may be either &s;erviceable to God, or u&s;efull to other men.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<PB N="129" REF="69">
<HEAD>A Di&s;cour&s;e &s;ometime intended as an addition to my ob&s;ervations and advices Oeconomical, afterwards printed.</HEAD>
<P>HAVING treated of Oeconomy ac|cording to the proper and genuine &s;ignification of the word, I &s;hall crave leave to &s;peak &s;omewhat of it in a figurative way, as it is u&s;ed frequently by Phy&s;icians, but to doe it more exten&s;ively, taking into con&s;ider|ation the whole government of Man (or Mi|croco&s;m) as well Soul as Body. According to this Hypothe&s;is, the Body is to be under|&s;tood as the Hou&s;e, and <HI>P&s;yche</HI> (or the Soul) as ab&s;olute Mi&s;tri&s;s of it, which I &s;uppo&s;e will not be improper, &s;ince the Body is called her Man&s;ion, and the faculties of the Soul, and the organical parts of the Body, may be con|ceived and treated of as Servants. This Oe|conomy is either Animal, or Rational. The fir&s;t is common to men and to brutes, The &s;econd only proper to men. The fir&s;t is of &s;o great importance, as the latter cannot be exerci&s;ed without it, yet the u&s;e (or rather
<PB N="130" REF="70">abu&s;e of rea&s;on) hath &s;o much power over the &s;en&s;itive part, as becomes many times de&s;tructive to it, which would have been far otherwi&s;e with a bea&s;t, or brute. The body receiveth all life and motion from the Soul, &s;o far as it mu&s;t of nece&s;&s;ity be di&s;&s;olved by putrefaction upon a divorce, yet its govern|ment as to nutrition, is according to a Law, &s;o far from being given by the rational Soul, as the dictates of it for the mo&s;t part are ut|terly unknown; yet is there &s;till a &s;uperin|tendency in the Soul, which by the u&s;e of rea&s;on doth very much conduce to the pre&s;er|vation or de&s;truction of the Body, even in the way of nutrition. A learned <HI>Jewi&s;h</HI> writer, and &s;ome no le&s;s learned among us Chri&s;tians, have held, that the Soul of man in this life is a &s;pirit only potentially, but &s;hall be an actual &s;pirit hereafter; and this &s;eemeth to be true, for it is hard to conceive how an actual &s;pi|rit can re&s;ide in a body to govern it, without knowing the &s;everal ways and powers, where|by the &s;aid body is pre&s;erved, and doth &s;ub&s;i&s;t. Yet &s;o it is with every one of us, and &s;o it may very well be, if the Soul within us have no &s;eparate being from the Body. But how|&s;oever the truth is, I &s;hall &s;peak in this paral|lel, not only of the Soul and Body, but of their &s;everal parts and faculties, as things di|&s;tinct one from another. Among the organi|cal parts corporeal, the Heart may ju&s;tly chal|lenge the dignity of prime officer, being in|tru&s;ted
<PB N="131" REF="70">with the trea&s;ure of life, which is the Blood. This is that part of the body which fir&s;t liveth, and retaineth life the longe&s;t. Here the &s;pirits are compo&s;ed of the pure&s;t and mo&s;t refined part of matter, and become the Mercury or chief Emi&s;&s;ary of the Soul. The Heart like a good &s;ervant, doth not bury its talent, but keeps it in continual motion by circulation, by which means it receives a con|&s;tant improvement. To the Heart there be|long &s;everal &s;ubordinates in that bu&s;ine&s;s of the blood, as the Liver, the Gall, the Kid|neys, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> who are always employed in pur|ging the metal from dro&s;s, that it may be more &s;erviceable to life. In the next place we may con&s;ider the Stomach as Kitchin, which like the root of Trees, draws and prepares nutriment for the whole, and here we may do well to imitate the mo&s;t ingenious Poet <HI>Spen|cer,</HI> in di&s;po&s;ing of &s;ome offices, the Appetite being fit for that of Cater (or Achater) Con|coction for that of Cook, and Dige&s;tion for that of Clarke of the Kitchin, to &s;erve in the concocted food to &s;everal tables for u&s;e; and we may here note, that when more is brought in|to the Kitchin, than the Cook and the Clarke can &s;ufficiently dre&s;s and di&s;po&s;e of, it be|comes not only offen&s;ive, but dangerous to the Family in point of health, be&s;ides the wa&s;te occa&s;ioned otherwi&s;e. To this office, by a late but learned Innovator in Phy&s;ick, the Spleen is made &s;ub&s;ervient by &s;upplying
<PB N="132" REF="71">acid matter for increa&s;e of appetite; and to it al&s;o may be &s;aid to belong, the Mouth, Teeth, and Throat, the fir&s;t two for Ma&s;tication prepa|ratory, and the la&s;t for pa&s;&s;age of Food; as al&s;o divers ve&s;&s;els for nutrition though not imme|diately joyned unto it, with &s;everal Canales leading to places of evacuation, by which, as is u&s;ual in ordinary dwelling hou&s;es, Nature exonerates her &s;elf of &s;uperfluities, and the&s;e are with more decency conceived in mind, than expre&s;&s;ed in words. In the mo&s;t exalted part of Microco&s;m, which is the Head, is &s;ituated the Brain, an appartment contein|ing &s;everal chambers or rooms, where the Soul in pre&s;ence of her principal officers in|tellectual, receiveth information by the five Sen&s;es, and their Agents the animal Spirits, of that which is done within the body or out of it, in matters of concernment to her, and there &s;he re&s;olveth what is fit to be put in ex|ecution. Here by the &s;aid invi&s;ible agents the animal Spirits, carried in their Vehicle the Nerves, &s;he conveyeth orders to the many parts and members of the body, &s;upplying them al&s;o by the &s;ame in&s;truments with &s;trength and vigour for performance of her commands. Thus much of the parts Orga|nical or corporeal, and now a word or two of the faculties intellectual. The Will may be compared to the Lord high Con&s;table of <HI>England,</HI> an officer inve&s;ted with power too va&s;t for a &s;ubject or &s;ervant, and in that re&s;|pect
<PB N="133" REF="71">care mu&s;t be taken, that he be well coun|&s;elled, le&s;t he bring all to confu&s;ion. The Intellect or Under&s;tanding &s;eemeth fit for the office of <HI>Maggior domo,</HI> or Steward, as being indued with perfection of rea&s;on and di&s;cour&s;e, worthy to command all the re&s;t, and &s;o it doth, not excluding the Will it &s;elf, which as the mo&s;t learned will have it, always de|termineth according to the pre&s;ent dictates of the intellect. This faculty of the intellect hath two others attendant upon it, <HI>viz.</HI> the memory, and imagination or fancy. The fir&s;t keepeth a record of things pa&s;t, by peru&s;al of which, and help of the Remini&s;cence, the Intellect, or Judgment, may the better con|clude what is to be done for the pre&s;ent or future. The &s;econd is po&s;&s;e&s;t of a great per|fection in ordering matters to the be&s;t advan|tage as to circum&s;tances, and &s;o becomes very u&s;efull in mo&s;t bu&s;ine&s;&s;es that are to be tran&s;|acted, affording al&s;o a promptne&s;s to appre|hend or conceive that which &s;hall be offered for con&s;ideration. Here I think we may fit|ly treat of the affections, for though they be placed by Philo&s;ophers in the Heart, as their Man&s;ion, which belongeth wholly to the &s;en|&s;itive part, yet there mu&s;t be a kind of &s;piri|tuality in them, becau&s;e they may choo&s;e in|corporeal things as their object. The mo&s;t perfect (and therefore the mo&s;t proper) ob|ject of Love is the Deity, and the mo&s;t fit object of Hatred is Sin, and he that is the
<PB N="134" REF="72">Father of it. So it may be &s;aid of Hope-Fear, and the re&s;t. And were the affections and pa&s;&s;ions merely bruti&s;h, as the old <HI>Stoicks</HI> taught, they would not be attributed to God, though in a figurative &s;en&s;e; neither would our <HI>Saviour</HI> have applied him&s;elf to purge the Temple with &s;o much fervency, carrying the re&s;emblance of anger. True it is that the irre|gularity of the&s;e, who are or &s;hould be as &s;ervants, cau&s;es the greate&s;t di&s;orders and di&s;|turbances in the &s;oul and body, but occa&s;ion is thereby given to &s;hew prudence in the bri|dling of them, wherein con&s;i&s;teth the great|e&s;t difference between man and man. Hi|therto we have fallen much &s;hort of our bu&s;i|ne&s;s, not having touched upon the chief end of Man's Creation, <HI>viz.</HI> the &s;erving of God in holine&s;s and righteou&s;ne&s;s, which duty con&s;i&s;ting of many particulars, was happily epitomi&s;ed by <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> in the two Tables of the Commandments. For the effecting of this, it hath plea&s;ed God to indue the Soul with a faculty, which putteth her continually in mind of tho&s;e &s;ervices, and reprehends her upon omi&s;&s;ion. This faculty is the Con&s;ci|ence, which may &s;lumber but never &s;leepeth profoundly, and is armed with a power more than Papal, by which it erecteth a tribunal within <HI>P&s;yches</HI> own quarters, &s;ummoning, ar|raigning, and many times condemning the Mi&s;tri&s;s her &s;elf within her own Family. There are troubles of mind by exce&s;&s;es of
<PB N="135" REF="72">lo&s;s and di&s;honour, which make &s;o great im|pre&s;&s;ion with per&s;ons covetous or ambitious, as by greif to bring them to the period of their life; and I am per&s;waded, that no man hath &s;o full a ta&s;t of the torments of Hell upon earth, as he who is afflicted with horror of Con&s;cience, wherefore I &s;hall make it the only precept in this kind of Oeconomy, to pre|&s;erve the Con&s;cience from being offended; and &s;o I conclude this brief di&s;cour&s;e.</P>
</DIV2>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
