In brief, if this Will, the stronger and more active part of the Soul, re∣main [ A]
carnal, either in indulgence to many, or, which is the snare of
judicious men in chief, of some one prime sin, then cannot all the faith
in the world, bring that man to Heaven, it may work so much miracle
as Simon Magus is said to have done, who undertook to raise the dead,
give motion to the head, make the eyes look up or the tongue speak;
but the lower part of the man, and that the heaviest, will by no charm
or spell be brought to stir, but weigh & sink even into Hell, will still
be carcass and corruption; Damnation is his birth-right, Ecclus. xx. 25. [ B]
And it is impossible, though not absolutely, yet ex hypothesi, the second
Covenant being now sealed, even for God himself, to save him or give
him life. It is not David's Musick, that exorcised and quieted Saul's
evil spirit, nor Pythagoras's Spondees that tamed a man, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
set him right in his wits for ever, that can work any effect on a fleshy heart:
So that Chrysostom would not wonder at the voice that cried, O Altar,
Altar, hear the voice of the Lord, because Jeroboam's heart was harder
than that; nor will I find fault with Bonaventure that made a solemn [ C]
prayer for a stony heart, as if it were more likely to receive impressi∣on,
than that which he had already of flesh.
It were long to insist on the wilfulness of our fleshy hearts, how
they make a faction within themselves, and bandy faculties for the
Devil; how when grace and life appear, and make proffer of them∣selves,
all the carnal affections, like them in the Gospel, Joyn all with
one consent to make excuses; nothing in our whole lives we are so solli∣citous
for, as to get off fairly, to have made a cleanly Apology to the in∣vitations [ D]
of God's Spirit, and yet for a need rather than go, we will
venture to be unmannerly: We have all married a Wife, espoused our
selves to some amiable delight or other; we cannot, we will not come.
The Devil is wiser in his generation than we, he knows the price and
value of a Soul & will pay any rate for it, rather than lose his market;
he will give all the riches in the world, rather than miss. And we at
how low a rate do we prize it? it is the cheapest commodity we carry
about us. The beggarliest content under Heaven, is fair, is rich enough [ E]
to be given in exchange for the Soul. Spiritus non ponderat, saith the
Philosopher; the Soul being a spirit, when we put it into the balance,
weighs nothing; nay, more than so, it is lighter than vanity, lighter
than nothing, i. e. it doth not only weigh nothing, but even lifts up
the scale it is put into, when nothing is weighed against it. How
many sins, how many vanities, how many idols, i. e. in the Scripture
phrase, how many nothings be there in the world, each of which will
outweigh and preponderate the Soul? [ F]
It were tedious to observe and describe the several ways that our
devillish sagacity hath found out to speed our selves to damnation, to
make quicker dispatch in that unhappy rode, than ever Elias his fiery
Chariot could do toward Heaven, Our daily practice is too full of
arguments, almost every minute of our lives, as it is an example, so is