CHAP. VIII.
1. The Asperities of Christianity more eligible then Sensual Dissolutions. 2. An Induction of some Vices which are more difficult then the opposite Vertues. 3. There is a Moral power in Custom en∣gageth men to sin. 4. The beginning of Religion is not ordinarily very grateful. 5. In its progress it appears easie and rational. 6. The Proleptical Notions of our minds attest its Equity and Ne∣cessity. 7. The principal parts of it, Faith and Love, consonant to our Natural Dictates.
1. THe Devil as great a Liar as he is, did never yet censure the commands of Meekness, Love, Temperance, Content∣ment, &c. Every vertue hath that insepa∣rable sweetness adhearing to it, which ren∣ders it not only easie, but also pleasant, and makes it not only light, but a delight to those noble & generous souls which live in the practice of it. The denial of our selves, the susception of the Cross, the maceration of the Flesh, the renuntiation of the World, which are the most irksome Duties, where∣with Page 87 Christianity is charged, and carry in them the greatest repugnancy to the Incli∣nations of soft and tender natures, put∣ting into the account that intimate pleasure which is incorported into them, and that constant serenity which results from them, are rather pleasureable divertisements, then oppressing employments, and arguments of a magnanimous and heroick Soul, which hath subdued it self to the Divine will, and lives above the delights of Sense, pleasing it self more in serving the pleasure of the Almighty, then in the indulging its natural and vitious propensions; so that even these reputed severities, and harsh injunctions, are infinitely more eligible, then the rude∣nesses and dissolutions of a sensual life.
2. Every Vice labours under its own im∣perfections; there is no sinful habit nor in∣ordinate Passion, which puts not the minds of men, to undergo more labour and tra∣vel to gratifie it, then is necessary for the acquist and exercise of a vertuous disposi∣tion. He that is of a malicious and envi∣ous temper, makes himself miserable, because he cannot make others so, and sucks Poyson Page 88 out of those Flowers wherewith others are adorned: when on the contrary, he which is possessed with a spirit of universal love, pleaseth himself in the prosperity of others, and in a sense shares of that good which they enjoy, and thus partakes of Happiness in common with the whole world: Intempe∣rance makes men nauseate and disgust those pleasures they are so ravenous after, when Moderation in the use of lawful and natural pleasures, makes them grateful and desira∣ble: Covetousness engageth its Proselytes to be perpetually sacrificing to a lust which can∣not be satisfied, though all the Mines of Peru and Gold of Ophir were consecrated to it; but Contentment heals this Bond-man, and charms the Soul into a quiet repose, under those circumstances of affairs which Provi∣dence appoints; and he only that is thus satisfied, can boast himself a Son of Wise∣dom, which hath attained that Elixir turns all to Gold. Ambition 'tis a rack on which men greedy of applause torture them∣selves; their heads lie too high to sleep well, and their very slumbers are disturb'd by dreams of Honour; they look for rest in Page 89 agitation, and Panther like, leap at this poysonous Aconite till they burst. He that studies Revenge, and travels with the ac∣complishment of a mischievous purpose, if he frame not an engine which doth imme∣diately recoil upon himself, shall certainly be molested by such future regret and anxieties, which will more then preponde∣rate the sweetness of Revenge. How free from all such sollicitudes are the spirits of those men which are of a benign and ob∣liging disposition, and ready to gratifie and engage all men by an affable and courteous demeanour! To instance in every particular grace and vertue, would be to prevent the Readers thoughts, which may readily fur∣nish him with the same notions of those other vertues and vices which I have not suggested.
3. Were there not so great a moral power in Custom, and an averseness in men to the relinquishment of that to which they have been habituated, men could not rebel so much against the Laws of Reason, as to give themselves up to the tyranical Impositions of their brutish lusts, considering Page 90 the labour which they undergo in their act∣ing of them, and pains they suffer after; to this the Prophet refers, Can the Aethiopian change his skin, or the Leopard his spots? then may you that are accustomed to evil learn to do well.
4. It must be conceded, that true Reli∣gion is not easie to flesh and blood. Lust will be very importunate to be gratified; there will be a renitency against Self-denial and Mortification; the old man will be urg∣ing for his accost and fare; the Sensative Ap∣petite will at first especially be solliciting to be indulged. The strong man armed will not presently quit his house, and peaceably sur∣render unto the summons of Religion; there is need of a great power to beat him out of all his Fortifications. Abraham was un∣willing, though the Father of the faithful, that the bond-woman and her son should be cast out. The women will be weeping for Tammuz. The right-hand cannot be cut off and cast away without some reluctancy; yet men to prevent a Gangrene will conde∣scend to Amputation. The method pre∣scribed by the Gospel Physitian, for the Page 91 healing the distempers of Humane Nature, engageth men to such a diet as it not acceptable to an Inordinate Appetite. The New-birth is not accomplished without some throws. The Devil will rage when dis∣possess'd. The peccant humours cannot be evacuated without some gripings; and the corrosives applyed to the proud flesh will occasion smart:
5. That there should be any easiness in the bearing that yoke, which is to bridle the wildness of an unruly Appetite, is a Pa∣radox to all such which have not submitted to it; but a certain and known truth to all who have had experience of both Estates, and 'tis to stand of fall according to the suf∣frage of so competent Judges. Those who converse with true Religion most familiar∣ly, Page 93 do not complain of any burdensom tasks and uneasy services, 'tis a weight to them who are weak through sinful infirmities, and painful only to such who labour under their own idleness. 'Tis easie to the more noble part of Man; every way correspondent to those powers wherewith our rational Souls are endowed. 'Tis not cooked for a vitious Palat, or gratifie the unbounden licorishness of a depraved Appetite: 'Tis not to treat our brutish and inordinate desires, with those varieties which they affect; but 'tis to entertain our angelick faculties, with such delicacies as are agreeable to their spi∣ritual nature. Nothing more easie and ge∣nuine to sanctified Nature and undistorted Reason, nor more satisfactory to the minds of men free from the Impositions of Lusts and Passions, then to worship their Creator, and endeavour to please him by an entire devotion of themselves to such actions as are consonant unto his holy Will. To give honour to whom honour is due, fear to whom fear, and to love our Benefactors, and them that love us, is currant coin all the world over; the Publicans the worst of men, did Page 94 thus; and to be deficient in this, is an argu∣ment of greater sottishness and stupidity, then is to be found in Bruits; for, The Oxe knows his Owner, and the Ass his Ma∣sters crib.
6. By the renunciation of Religion, men recede from the laws of their being, and walk in contradiction to their very na∣tures: There are those anticipations in our minds, which do attest not only the equity, but the necessity of it too, in or∣der to the attainment of the supreme good; so that if men offer no violence to their faculties, they will naturally conduct them to such apprehensions of the Divine Wis∣dom, Power and Goodness, as are proper to insinuate that Affiance, Love and Reverence, which if regulated, and improved accor∣ding to Gospel Revelation, will be effectual through the grace of God, to bring men to everlasting Happiness.
7. Man as bad as he is, is not so far degenerate, as not to acknowledge the wayes of Virtue, in many respects more advantagious, and less burdensom, then those of Vice; to this the Heathen Moralists, Epi∣ctetus, Page 95 Seneca, Plutarch, &c. give in their te∣stimony, and the Conscience of every man is a witness. Christian Religion, if we view it in the Epitome, viz. Faith, and Love, evinceth it's own excellency. What more rational then to give up our Un∣derstandings, to the belief of those Truths which challenge assent upon such unque∣stionable evidence? What more consonant to Humane Nature then to love that which is every way amiable and affecting? God because of his absolute Perfection and infinite Beauty, being altogether lovely, and because of his relative Goodness and constant Beneficence to us, he that loves not God for his Excellency, is less then a Man; he that loves him not for his Kind∣ness, is worse then a Beast: If the apprehen∣sions of his transcendent glory work not upon our Reasons; if the sense of his bounty and mercy work not upon our inge∣nuity, 'tis too infallible an argument that we live Excommunicate from our own Na∣tures, and that our demeanour is incon∣sistent with those Principles which give us a right to the title of Humanity. Love Page 96 'tis part of that homage and quit-rent that we owe to him in whom we live, and move and have our beings; and is it not fit that he which plants a Vineyard should eat of the fruit of it? To love God is not so much a duty as priviledge, Salvation and eternal glory consisting chiefly in the con∣summation of Divine Love; and 'tis diffi∣cult to determine, whether he that is desti∣tute of this blessed grace lies under greater sin or punishment.
