I.

Concerning the first I consider, that we do very ill, when instead of making our natural infirmity an in­strument of humility, and of recourse to the Grace of God; we pretend the Sin of Adam to countenance our actual sins; natural infirmity to ex­cuse our malice, either laying Adam in fault for deriving the disability upon us, or God for puting us into the necessity. But the evils that we feel in this, are from the rebellion of the inferior appetite against Reason, or against any Religion that puts restraint upon our first desires. And therefore in carnal and sensual instan­ces, accidentally we find the more natural aversness, because God's [Page 8] Laws have put our irrascible and con­cupiscible faculties in fetters and restraints: yet in matters of Duty, which are of immaterial and spiritual concernment, all our natural reason is a perfect enemy and contradiction to, and a Law against Vice. It is natural for us to love our Parents, and they that do not, are unnatural, they do violence to those dispositions which God gave us to the constitution of our Nature, and for the designs of Vertue; and all those tendernesses of affection, those bowels and relent­ing dispositions, which are the en­dearments of Parents and Children, are also the bands of Duty. Every degree of love makes Duty delecta­ble, and therefore either by Nature we are inclined to hate our Parents (which is against all Reason and Ex­perience) or else we are enclined to do them all that, which is the effect of love to such superiors, and prin­ciples [Page 9] of being and dependency; and every prevarication from the Rule, Effects and Expresses of Love, is a contradiction to Nature, and a mortification, to which we cannot be invited by any thing from within, but by something from with­out, that [...]s violent and preternatural. There are also many other Virtues e­ven in the matter of sensual appetite, which none can lose but by altering in some degree the natural dispositi­on; and I instance in the matter of carnality and uncleanness, to which possibly some natures may think themselves apt and dispos'd; but yet God hath put into our mouths a bridle to curb the licentiousness of our speedy appetite, putting into our very natures, a principle as strong to restrain it, as there is in us a dis­position apt to invite us; and this is also in those who are most apt to the Vice. Women and young Persons, to [Page 8] [...] [Page 9] [...] [Page 10] whom God hath given a modesty, and shame of nature, that the enter­tainment of Lust may become con­tradictory to our retreating and backward modesty, more than they are satisfactory to our too forward appetites.

It is as great a mortification and violence to Nature to blush, as to lose a desire; and we find it true, when persons are invited to confess their sins, or to ask forgiveness pub­lickly; a secret smart is not so vio­lent, as a publick shame. And there­fore to do an action which brings shame all along, opens the sanctu­aries of Nature, and makes all her retirements publick, and dismantles her inclosure, as Lust does; and the shame of carnality hath in it more asperity and abuse to Nature, than the short minutes of pleasure, to which we are invited, can repay.

There are unnatural Lusts; Lusts, [Page 11] which are such in their very conditi­on and constitution, that a Man must turn a Woman, and a Woman be­come a Beast in acting them: and all Lusts that are not unnatural in their own complexion, are unnatu­ral by a consequent and accidental violence. And if Lust hath in it dis­sonancies to Nature, there are but few Apologies left to excuse our Sins upon Natures stock; and all that system of principles, and reasonable inducements to Virtue, which we call the Law of Nature, is nothing else but that firm ligature and in­corporation of Virtue to our natural principles and dispositions, which whoso prevaricates does more against Nature, than he that restrains his ap­petite. And besides these particu­lars, there is not in our natural dis­courses any inclination directly or by intention of it self contrary to the love of God, because by [God] we [Page 12] understand that fountain of being, which is infinitely perfect in it self, and of great good to us, and what­soever is so apprehended it is as na­tural for us to love, as to love any thing in the world; for we can love nothing but what we believe to be good in it self, or good to us. And beyond this there are in Nature ma­ny Principles and Reasons to make an aptness to acknowledge and con­fess God; and by the consent of Na­tions, which they also have learned from the Dictates of their Nature, all Men in some manner or other worship God.

And therefore when this our Na­ture is determined in its own indefi­nite principle to the manner of Wor­ship, all acts against the Love, the Obedience, and Worship of God, are also against Nature, and offer it some rudeness and violence. And I shall observe this, and refer it to every [Page 13] Man's Reason and Experience, that the great difficulties commonly ap­prehended, commence not so much upon the stock of Nature as of Edu­cation, and evil habits. Our Virtues are difficult, because we at first get ill habits; and these habits must be un­rooted, before we do well, and that's our trouble. But if by the strictness of Discipline, and wholsome Educa­tion, we begin at first in our Duty, and practice of vertuous Principles, we shall find Vertue made as natural to us, while it is customary and ha­bitual, as we pretend infirmity to be, and propensity to vitious practices. And this we are taught by that ex­cellent Hebrew; who said: Wisdom is easily seen of them that love her, and found of such as seek her: she pre­venteth them that desire her, in ma­king her self first known unto them. Whoso seeketh her early shall have no great travel, for he shall find her sitting [Page 14] at his doors, Wisd. 6.12, 13, 14.

II.

In the strict observance of the Law of Christianity there is less trouble, than in the habitual courses of Sin. For if we consider the general design of Christianity, it propounds to us in this world nothing that is of dif­ficult purchase, nothing beyond what God allo [...]s us by the ordinary and common providence, such things which w [...] are to receive without care and solicitous vexations; So that the ends are nothing, and the way is easie; and this walk [...]d over with much simplicity and sweetness, and those obtained without difficulty.

He that propounds to live low, pi­ous, humble and retir'd, his main im­ployment is nothing but sitting quiet, and undisturb'd with variety of imper­tinent affairs. But he that loves the [Page 15] World & its acquisitions, entertains a thousand businesses, and every busi­ness hath a world of imployment, and every imployment is multiplied and made intricate by circumstances, and every circumstance is to be disputed, and he that disputes, ever hath two sides in enmity and opposition, and by this time there is a genealogie, a long descent and cognation of trou­bles, branch'd into so many particu­lars, that it is troublesome to under­stand them, and much more to run through them

The wayes of Virtue, are much upon the defensive, and the works one, uniform and little: they are like War within a strong Castle, if they stand upon their guard, they seldom need to strike a stroke. But Vice is like storming of a Fort, full of Noise, Trouble, Labour, Danger and Disease.

How easie a thing it is to restore [Page 16] the pledge! but if a Man means to defeat him that trusted him, what a world of Arts must he use to make pretences? to delay first, then to ex­cuse, then to object, then to intri­cate the business, next to quarrel, then to forsware it, and all the way to palliate his Crime, and represent himself honest. And if an oppressing and greedy person have a design to cozen a young Heir, or to get his neighbours Land, the cares of every day, and the interruptions of every nights sleep are more, than the pur­chase is worth; since he might buy Virtue at half that watching, and the less painful care of a fewer num­ber of dayes. A plain story is soon­est told, and best confutes an intricate Lye. And when a Person is exa­mined in Judgment, one false Answer asks more Wit for its support and maintenance, than a History of Truth. And such persons are put [Page 17] to so many shameful retreats, false colour, fucus's, and dawbings with untempered mortar to avoid contra­diction or discovery, that the labour of a false story seems in the order of things to be design'd the beginning of its punishment. And if we con­sider how great a part of our Religi­on consists in Prayer, and how easie a thing God requires of us, when he commands us to pray for blessings, the duty of a Christian cannot seem very troublesome.

And indeed I can hardly instance in any Vice, but there is visibly more pain in the order of acting and ob­serving it, than in the acquist or pro­motion of Vertue. I have seen drun­ken persons in their seas of Drink and Talk, dread every Cup as a blow, and have used devices and private arts to escape the punishment of a full draught; and the poor wretch be­ing condemned by the laws of drink­ing [Page 18] to his measure, was forced and haled to execution, and he suffered it, and thought himself engaged to that person, who with much kindness and importunity invited him to a Fe­ver; but certainly there was more pain in it than in the strictness of ho­ly and severe Temperance. And he that shall compare the troubles and dangers of an Ambitious War with the gentleness and easiness of Peace, will soon perceive that every Tyrant and usurping Prince, that snatches at his Neighbours Rights, hath two Armies, one of Men, the other of Cares. Peace sheds no Blood but that of the pruned Vine, and hath no business but modest and quiet en­tertainments of the time opportune for Piety, and circled with reward. But God often punishes Ambition and Pride with Lust, and he sent a Thorn in the flesh as a corrective to the Elevations of St. Paul, growing [Page 19] up from the multitude of his Revela­tions; and it is not likely the Pun­ishment should have less trouble than the Crime, whose Pleasures and Ob­liquity this was design'd to punish. And indeed every Experience can verifie, that an Adulterer hath in him the impatience of Desires, the burn­ings of Lust, the fear of Shame, the apprehensions of a jealous, abus'd and enraged Husband. Heendures af­fronts, mistimings, tedious waitings, the dulness of delay, the regret of in [...]erruption, the confusion and a­mazements of discovery, the scorns of a reproached Vice, the debasings of contempt upon it; unless the Man grows impudent, and then he is more miserable upon another stock. But David was so put to it, to at­tempt, to obtain, to enjoy Bathsheba, and to prevent the shame of it, that the difficulty was greater than all his Wit and Power, and it drove him [Page 20] into base and unworthy Arts, which discovered him the more, and multi­plied his Crime: But while he enjoy­ed the innocent pleasures of his law­ful Bed, he had no more trouble in it, than there was in inclining his Head upon his Pillow. Vertue hath not half so much trouble in it, it sleeps quietly without startings and affrighting fancies, it looks cheer­fully, smiles with much serenity; and though it laughs not often, yet it is ever delightful in the apprehen­tions of some faculty. It fears no Man, nor nothing, nor is it discom­posed; and hath no concernments in the great alterations of the World, and entertains Death like a Friend, and reckons the issues of it as the greatest of his hopes: But Ambition is full of distraction, it teems with stratagems as Rebecca with struggling Twins, and is swell'd with expecta­tion as a Tympany, and sleeps some­times [Page 21] as the Wind in a Storm, still and quiet for a minute, that it may burst out in an impetuous blast, till the chordage of his Heart-strings crack; Fears when none is nigh; prevents things, which never had intention, and falls under the inevita­bility of such accidents, which either could not be foreseen, or not preven­ted. The wayes of Sin are crooked, desert, rocky and uneven; they are broad indeed, and there is varie­ty of ruins, and allurements to en­tice Fools, and a large Theater to act the bloody Tragedy of Souls upon, but they are nothing smooth, or safe, or delicate. The wayes of Vertue are strait, but not crooked; narrow, but not unpleasant. There are two Vices for one Vertue, and therefore the way to Hell must needs be of greater extent, latitude and dissemi­nation. But because Vertue is but one way, therefore it is easie, regu­lar, [Page 22] and apt to walk in without errour or diversions.

Narrow is the Gate, and strait is the way: It is true, considering our evil customs and depraved Natures, by which we have made it so to us. But God hath made it more passable by his Grace and present Aids; and St. John Baptist receiving his com­mission to Preach Repentance, it was expressed in these words, make plain the paths of the Lord. Indeed Re­pentance is a rough and a sharp Ver­tue, and like a Mattock and Spade breaks away all the roughness of the passage, and hindrances of sin; but when we enter into the dispositions which Christ hath design'd to us, the way is more plain and easie than the wayes of Death and Hell. La­bour it hath in it, just as all things that are excellent, but no confusi­ons, no distractions of thoughts, no amazements, no labyrinths, and [Page 23] intricacy of counsels; But it is like the Labours of Agriculture, full of health and simplicity, plain and pro­fitable, requiring diligence, but such, in which crafts and painful stratagems are useless, and impertinent. But Vice hath oftentimes so troublesome a retinue, and so many objections in the event of things, is so intangled in difficult and contradictory circum­stances, hath in it parts so opposit to each other, and so inconsistent with the present condition of the Man, or some secret design of his, that those little pleasures, which are its fucus and pretence, are less perceiv'd and least enjoyed, while they begin in phantastick Semblances, and rise up in smoak, vain and hurtful, and end in dissatisfaction.

But it is considerable, that God, and the Sinner, and the Devil, all joyn in increasing the difficulty and trouble of Sin; upon contrary de­sign's [Page 22] [...] [Page 23] [...] [Page 24] indeed, but all cooperate to the verification of this Discourse. For God by his restraining Grace, the checks of a tender Conscience, the bands of publick Honesty, the sense of Ho­nour and Reputation, the customs of Nations, and the severities of Laws, makes, that in most Men the choice of Vice is imperfect, dubious and troublesome, the pleasures abated, the apprehensions various, and in differing degrees; and Men act their Crimes, while they are disputing against them, and the Ballance is cast by a few Grains; and scruples vex and disquiet the possession; and the difference is perceived to be so little, that inconsideration and inadver­tency is the greatest means to de­termine many Men to the entertain­ment of a Sin.

And this God does with a design to lessen our choice, and disabuse our perswasions from Arguments and [Page 25] weak pretences of Vice, and to invite us to the trials of Vertue, when we see its enemy giving us so ill condi­tions. And yet the sinner himself makes the business of Sin greater; for its Nature is so loathsome, its pleasure so little, and its promises so unperformed, that when it lies open and easie, and apt to be discern'd, there is no argument in it ready to invite us; and Men hate a Vice, which is every day offered and pro­stituted; and when they seek for pleasure, unless difficulty present it, as there is nothing in it really to perswade a choice, so there is no­thing strong, or witty enough to a­buse a Man. And to this purpose (among some others which are mali­cious and crafty) the Devil gives assistance, knowing that Men despise what is cheap and common, and suspect a latent excellency to be in difficult and forbidden objects; and [Page 26] therefore the Devil sometimes crosses an opportunity of Sin, knowing that the desire is the iniquity, and does his work sufficiently; and yet the crossing the desire by impeding the act heightens the appetite, and makes it more violent and impatient. But by all these means Sin is made more troublesome, than the pleasures of the Temptation can account for: and it will be a strange imprudence to leave Vertue upon pretence of its difficulty, when for that very reason, we the rather entertain the instances of Sin, despising a cheap Sin, and a costly Vertue; choosing to walk through the Brambles of a desert, rather than to climb the Fruit-Trees of Paradise.

III.

Vertue conduces infinitly to the content of our lives, to Secular fe­licities, [Page 27] and Political satisfactions; and Vice doth the quite contrary. For the blessings of this Life are these, that make it happy, Peace and Quietness, Content and Satis­faction of desires, Riches, love of Friends and Neighbours; Honour and Reputation abroad; a healthful Body and a long Life. Th [...]s last is a distinct Consideration, but the other are proper to this Title.

For the first it is certain. Peace was so design'd by the Holy Jesus, that he fram'd all his Laws in com­plyance with that design. He, that returns good for evil, a soft answer to the asperity of his Enemy, kind­ness to injuries, lessens the conten­tion alwayes, and sometimes gets a Friend, and when he does not, he shames his Enemy. Every little ac­cident in a family, to peevish and angry persons, is the matter of a quar­rel, discomposes the Peace of the [Page 28] House, and sets it on Fire, and no Man can tell how far that may burn; it may be, to a dissolution of the whole Fabrick. But whosoever o­beys the Laws of Jesus, bears with the infirmities of his Relatives and Society, seeks with sweetness to re­medy what is ill, and to prevent what it may produce, and throws water upon a spark; and lives sweetly with his Wife, affectionately with his Children, providently and discreetly with his Servants, and they all love the Major domo, and look upon him as their Parent, their Guardian, their Friend, their Patron, their Provedi­tor. But look upon a person angry, peaceless and disturbed, when he en­ters upon his threshold, it gives an alarm to his house, and puts them to flight, or upon their defence; and the Wife reckons the joy of her day is done when he returns; and the Children enquire into their Father's [Page 29] Age, and think his Life tedious; and the Servants curse privately, and do their service as Slaves do, only vvhen they dare not do otherwise; and they serve him, as they serve a Lyon, they obey his Strength, and fear his Cruelty, and despise his Manners, and hate his Person. No Man injoyes content in his Family but he that is peaceful and charita­ble, just and loving, forbearing and forgiving, careful and provident. He that is not so, his House may be his Castle, but it is mann'd by his Ene­mies; his House is built not upon the Sand, but upon the Waves, and upon a Tempest, the Foundation is uncertain, but his Ruine is not so.

And if we extend the relations of the Man beyond his own Walls, he that does his duty to his Neighbour, that is, all offices of kindness, gen­tleness and humanity, nothing of in­jury and affront, is certain never to [Page 30] meet with a wrong so great, as is the inconvenience of a Law-Suit, or the contention of Neighbours and all the consequent dangers and troubles.

Kindness will create and invite kindness; an injury provokes an in­jury. And since the love of Neigh­bours is one of those beauties, which Solomon did admire, and that this beauty is within the combination of precious things, which adorn and reward a p [...]aceable charitable dispo­sition, he that is in love wi [...]h Spiri­tual exc [...]llencies, with intellectual rectitudes, with Peace and with bles­sings of Society, knows they grow among the Role-bushes of Vertues, and holy Obedience to the Laws of JESUS. And for a good Man some will ev [...]n dare to dye, and a sweet and charitable disposition is received with fondness, and all the endearments of the Neighbourhood. He that observes how many Families [Page 31] are ruin'd by contention, and how many Spirits are broken by Care, and Contumely, Fear and Spight, which are entertain'd as Advocates to promote a Suit of Law, will soon confess, that a great loss and peacea­ble quitting of a considerable Interest is a purchase and a gain, in respect of a long Suit, and a vexatious Quar­rel.

And still if the Proportion rises higher, the Reason swels and grows more necessary and determinate. For if we would live according to the Discipline of Christian Religion, one of the great Plagues, which vex the World, would be no more.

That there should be no Wars, was one of the designs of Christianity, and the living according to that In­stitution, which is able to prevent all Wars, and to establish an universal and eternal Peace, when it is obeyed, is the using an infallible instrument [Page 32] toward that part of our political hap­piness, which consists in Peace. This World would be an image of Hea­ven, if all Men were Charitable, Peaceable, Just and Loving. To this excellency all those Precepts of Christ, which consist in Forbearance and Forgiveness, do cooperate.

But the next instance of the re­ward of Holy Obedience and confor­mity to Christ's Laws is it self a duty, and needs no more but a meer repeti­tion of it. We must be content in every State; and because Christia­nity teaches us this lesson, it teaches us to be Happy: for nothing from without can make us miserable, un­less we joyn our own consents to it, and apprehend it such, and enter­tain it in our sad and melancholy re­tirements. A Prison is but a retire­ment and opportunity of serious thoughts to a person whose Spirit is confin'd, and apt to sit still, and de­sires [Page 33] no enlargement beyond the can­cels of the Body, till the state of se­paration calls it forth into a fair liberty. But every Retirement is a Prison to a loose and wandring fan­cy, for whose wildness no precepts are restraint, no band of duty is confinement, who, when he hath bro­ken the hedge of duty, can never af­ter endure any enclosure so much as in Symbol. But this Precept is so necessary, that it is no more a Duty than a rule of Prudence, and in ma­ny accidents of our Lives it is the only cure of sadness: for 'tis certain, that no Providence less than Divine can prevent evil and cross accidents; but that is an excellent Remedy to the evils, that receives the accident within its power, and takes out the sting, paring the Nails, and drawing the Teeth of the Wild-beast, that it may be tame or harmless, and Medi­cinal. For all content consists in the [Page 34] in the proportion of the Object to the appetite. And because external acci­dents are not in our power, and it were nothing excellent that things happened to us according to our first desires, God hath by his Grace put it into our own power to make the happiness, by making our desires de­scend to the event, and comply with the chance, and combine with all the issues of Divine Providence. And then we are noble persons, when we borrow not our content from things below us, but make our satisfactions from within. And it may be con­sidered, that every little Care may disquiet us, and may encrease it self by reflexion upon its own Acts; and every discontent may discompose our Spirits, and put an edge, and make afflictions poynant, but cannot take off one from us, but makes every one to be two. But content removes not the accident, but complyes with [Page 35] it; it takes away the sharpness and displeasure of it, and by stooping down makes the heights equal, pro­portionate and commensurate. Impa­tience makes an Ague to be a Fever, and every Fever to be a Calenture, and that Calenture may expire in madness: But a quiet Spirit is a great disposition to Health, and for the pre­sent does alleviate the Sickness. And this also is notorious in the instance of Covetousness. The love of money is the root of all evil, which while some have coveted after, they have pierced themselves with many Sor­rows. Vice makes poor, and does ill endure it.

For he, that in the school of Christ hath learnt to determine his desires when his needs are served, and to judg of his needs by the proportions of Nature, hath nothing wanting to­wards Riches. Vertue makes Pover­ty to become rich, and no riches can [Page 36] satisfie a covetous mind, or rescue him from the affliction of the worst kind of Poverty. He only wants, that is not satisfied. And there is great infelicity in a Family, where Poverty dwells with discontent; there the Husband and Wife quarrel for want of a full Table, and a rich Wardrobe; and their Love, that was built upon false Riches, sinks, when such temporary supporters are re­moved. They are like two Milstones, which set the Mill on fire when they want Corn. And then their combi­nations and society were unions of Lust, when not supported with Sacra­mental and Religious Love.

But we may easily suppose St. Jo­seph, and the Holy Virgin Mother in Egypt poor as hunger, forsaken as banishment, disconsolate as stran­gers; and yet their present lot gave them no affliction, because the An­gel fed them with a necessary Hos­pitality, [Page 37] and their desires were no larger than their Tables, their Eyes look'd only upwards, and they were carless of the future, and careful of their duty, and so made their life plea­sant by the measures and discourses of Divine Philosophy. When Elisha stretch'd himself upon the body of the Child, and laid hands to hands, and applied mouth to mouth, and so shrunk himself into the posture of commensuration with the Child, he brought life into the dead Trunk: and so may we by applying our Spi­rits to the proportion of a narrow fortune, bring life and vivacity into our dead and lost condition, and make it live till it grows bigger, or else returns to health and salutary uses.

And besides this Philosophical ex­traction of Gold from Stones, and Riches from the dungeon of Pover­ty, a holy life does most probably procure such a proportion of Riches [Page 38] which can be useful to us, or con­sistent with our felicity. For (be­sides that the Holy Jesus hath pro­mised all things, which our Hea­venly Father knows we need (pro­vided we do our duty) and that we find great securities and rest from care, when we have once cast our cares upon our God, and plac'd our hopes in his bosome: besides all this) the Temperance, Sobrie­ty and Prudence of a Christian is a great income, and by not despising it a small revenue combines its parts, till it grows to a heap big enough for the emissions of Charity, and all the offices of Justice, and the supplies of all necessities. Whilest Vice is un­wary, prodigal, indiscreet, throwing away great revenues, as tributes to intemperance and vanity, and suffer­ing dissolution and forfeiture of estates, as a punishment and curse. Some Sins are direct improvidence [Page 39] and ill-husbandry. I reckon in this number Intemperance, Lust, Litigi­ousness,, Ambition, Bribery, Prodi­gality, Gaming, Pride, Sacriledge, which is the greatest spender of them all, and makes a fair estate evapo­rate, like Camphire, turning it into nothing, no Man knows which way. But what a Roman gave as an esti­mate of a Rich Man, saying, He that can maintain an Army is Rich, was but a short account: for he that can maintain an Army, may be begger'd by one Vice; and it is a vast revenue that will pay the Debt-Books of In­temperance or Lust.

To these if we add, that Vertue is honourable, and a great advantage to a fair reputation; that it is prais­ed by them that love it not; that it is honour'd by the followers and Fa­mily of Vice; that it forces Glory out of shame, Honour from contempt; that it reconciles Men to the foun­tain [Page 40] of Honour, the Almighty God, who will honour them that honour him. There are but a few more Ex­cellencies in the World to make up the Rosary of temporal felicity. And it is so certain, that Religion serves even our temporal ends, that no great end of State can well be served without it; not ambition, not desires of wealth, not any great designs; but Religion must be made its usher or support. If a new Opinion be com­menc'd, and the Author would make a Sect, and draw Disciples after him, at least he must be thought to be Re­ligious, which is a demonsration how great an instrument of Reputa­tion Piety and Religion is; and if the pretence will do us good offices among Men, the reality will do the same, besides the advantages which we shall receive from the Divine be­nediction. The Power of Godliness will certainly do more than the form [Page 41] alone. And it is most notorious in the affairs of the Clergy, whose lot it hath been to fall from great riches to poverty, when their wealth made them less curious of their Duty; but when Humility and Chastity, and no exemplary Sanctity have been the enamel of their holy Order, the peo­ple, like the Galathians, would pull out their own eyes to do them bene­fit. And indeed, God hath singularly blessed such instruments, to the being the only remedies to repair the breaches made by Sacriledge and Ir­religion.

But certain it is, no Man was ever honoured for that which they esteem­ed vitious. Vice hath got money and a curse many times, and Vice hath adhered to the instruments and pur­chases of honour. But among all Na­tions, whatsoever they call'd Ho­nourable, put on the face and pre­tence of Vertue. But I chuse to in­stance [Page 42] in the proper cognisance of a Christian [ Humility] which seems contradictory to the purposes and re­ception of Honour, and yet in the world nothing is a more certain means to purchase it. Do not all the World hate a proud Man? And therefore what is contrary to Humi­lity is also contradictory to Honour and Reputation. And when the A­postles had given command, that in giving Honour we should one go be­fore another, he laid the foundation of Praises, Panegyricks, and Tri­umphs. And as Humility is secure against affronts, and tempests of de­spite, because it is below them: So when by employment, or any other issue of Divine Providence, it's drawn from its sheath and secresie, it shines clear and bright as the purest and most polish'd Metals. Humility is like a Tree, whose roots, when it sets deepest in the Earth, rises higher, and [Page 43] spreads fairer, and stands surer, and lasts longer; every step of its descent is like a rib of Iron, combining its parts in unions indissoluble, and placing it in the Chambers of secu­rity.

No wise Man ever lost any thing by cession; but he receives the Hosti­lity of violent persons into his im­braces, like a stone into a lap of Wooll, it rests and sets down soft and innocently: but a stone falling upon a stone makes a collision, and ex­tracts Fire, and finds no rest: And just so are two proud persons, despis'd by each other, contemn'd by all, living in perpetual dissonances, alwayes fighting against affronts, jealous of every person, disturb'd by every ac­cident, a perpetual storm within, and daily hissings from without.

I.

We must strive to enter. And this Duty enforc'd by a dou­ble Argument.

1. From the order of the end, and nature of the thing: the Gate is strait, and therefore we must strive.

[Page 47]2. From the caution and exam­ple of them, that have fallen short for want of due striving. Many sought, and fain would have entred, but for want of striving they were not able.

1. And first of the duty it self, Contendite intrare: strive to enter in at the strait Gate.

And here I consider, That besides the extension of our Duty, there be­ing more Duties required of us than of any sort of men before the preach­ing of the Gospel (the Jews them­selves, who reckon that Moses gave to them six hundred and thirteen Precepts, having received no precept at all concerning Prayer, Faith, or Repentance) besides this I say, I con­sider, that not only in respect of the extension, but by reason of the in­tension of our Duty, and the degrees of Holiness that the holy Laws of [Page 48] Christianity require of us, it is ne­cessary that we strive with great ear­nestness. Qui enim Sanctitatem San­ctê custodiunt, judicabuntur Sancti, saith the Wisdom of Solomon. cap. 6. v. 10. A Man may do holy things un­holily. There are some that preach Christ out of envy, there are many that get Proselytes for gain; there are some that are zealous to get Disci­ples, that they may glory in their Flesh, as some fase Apostles did to the Galatians; there is some zeal in an evil matter; and many times, when a Man hath done good actions, he is the further off from the Gates of Hea­ven, not because he did the good acti­ons, but because he wanted those for­malities & circumstances, those man­ners and degrees, those principles and ends, which make good actions in them­selves be good in us, which crown the actions and make us to be accepted.

It was well done in the Pharisees [Page 49] to Pray often, and to Fast twice in the week, and to give Alms; and yet these very good actions were so far from being commended, that they be­came the object of his anger, and the matter of reproof, and it was because they did it with a design to be ac­counted holy. Indeed they blew a Trumpet, but that was to call the poor together, that was the external end. But there was a little Ivy crept up on this goodly Oak, till it suckt its heart out; they themselves would be taken notice of, and that spoil'd all; their actions went no further than the end which they propounded to them­selves. For that which Men make their principal end, that God will suffer shall be their end. If they seek the praise of Men, that being their purpose, that shall be their reward; but if they aim at the pleasure of God, and the rewards of Heaven, thither will God's Mercy and their [Page 50] own good deeds bear them.

A little leaven it is that sowrs the whole lump. Who would have thought, that our Blessed Saviour should have found fault with the Pharisees for giving God thanks for his Graces, or not have been satisfi­ed with the exactness of their Justice and Religion, that they would give Tith, even of Mint and Anise and Cummin seeds; or have reprov'd Judas for having care of the poor, or dis­countenanc'd the Jews for accusing the Woman taken in Adltery; or have been discontented at the Doctors of the Law for being strict and severe exa­ctors of the Law of God at the people's hands, or check'd them for observing the innocent customs of their Na­tion, and Tradition of their fore-Fa­thers? Since all these acts were Pious, or Just, or Charitable, or Religious, or Prosecutions of some part or other of their Duty. The several reasons [Page 51] of these reprehensions our Blessed Saviour subjoyns at the end of every of them respectively. They wanted a circumstance, or a good manner; their actions were better than their intentions, and sometimes their ma­lice was greatest in their very acts of Charity. And when they gave God thanks, they did despite to their Bro­ther; something or other did enve­nom the face of these acts of Piety; Their heart was not upright, or their Religion was imperfect; their Piety wanted some integral part, or had an evil Eye. A word, a thought, a se­cret purpose, a less holy intention, any indirect circumstance, or obliqui­ty in an accident makes our Piety be­come impious, and deprives us of our reward. Here therefore we had need to Watch, to Strive, to Pray, to Contend, and to do all diligence that can be express'd by all the Synony­ma's of care and industry.

[Page 52]2. We had need to Strive, because though Vertues be nice and curious, yet vitia sunt in facili et propinquo, Sin lies at the door, and is thrust up­on us by the violence of Adversaries, or by the subtilty and insinuation of its own nature, which we are to un­derstand to the following sence. For when we are born of Christian Pa­rents, we are born in puris naturalibus, we have at first no more promptness to commit some sort of Sins, than to commit some good acts. We are as apt to learn to love God, as to love our Parents, if we be taught it. For though Original Sin hath lost to us all those supernaural assistances, which were at first put into our Na­ture per modum gratiae; yet it is but by accident that we are more prone to Sin, than we are to Virtue. For after this it happened that God giving us Laws, made his restraints and prohi­bitions in materia voluptatis sensualis, [Page 53] he by his Laws hath enjoyn'd us to de­ny our natural Appetites in many things. Now this being become the matter of Divine Laws, that we should in many parts and degrees abstain from what pleases our sense, by this supervening accident it happens that we are very hardly wean'd from Sin, but most easily tempted to a Vice; our Nature is not contrary to Virtue, but the instances of some Vertues are made to come cross our Na­ture.

But in things intellectual and im­material, we are indeed indifferent to Virtue and Vice; I say, where neither one, nor the other satisfies the sensual part.

In the Old Law, when it was a duty to Swear by the God of Is­rael in common Causes, Men were indifferent to that, and to swear by the Queen of Heaven; they had no more natural inclination to the one, [Page 54] than to the other, except where some­thing sensual became the argument to determine them. And in sensual things, if God had commanded Po­lygamy or promiscuous concubinate, and indifferent unlimited Lust, Men had been more apt to obey that Com­mandment, than to disobey it. But then the restraint lying upon our na­tural appetites, and we being by ill Education determin'd upon, and almost engag'd to Vitious Actions, we suffer under the inconveniences of idle Education, and in the mean time rail upon Adam and Original Sin. It is indifferent to us to love our Fathers, and to love strangers. And if from our Infancy we be told concerning a stranger that he is our Father; we frame our affections to Nature, and our Nature to Custom and Educati­on, and are as apt to love him, who is not, and yet is said to be, as him who is said not to be, and yet indeed is our natural Father.

[Page 55]The purpose of this Discourse is this, that we may consider how Sin creeps upon us in our Education so tacitely and undiscernably, that we mistake the cause of it; and yet so effectually and prevalently, that we guess it to be our very Nature, and charge it upon Adam, when every one of us is the Adam, the Man of Sin, and the Parent of our own Iniquities. We are taught to be revengeful even in our Cradles, and taught to strike our neighbours as a means to still our frowardness, and satisfie our wranglings. Our Nurses teach us to know the greatness of our birth, or the riches of our inheritance, or they learn us to be proud, or to be impatient, before we learn to know God, or to say our Prayers.

After we are grown up to more years, we have Tutors of impiety, that are stronger to perswade, and more diligent to insinuate, and we [Page 56] are more receptive of every vicious impression. And not to reckon all the inconveniencies of evil company, indulgence of Parents, publick and authoriz'd customs of Sin, and all the mischiefs and dangers of publick Society, and private retirements, when we have learn'd to discern good from evil, and when we are prompted to do a good, or engaged to it by some happy circumstance or occasion, our good is so seldom, and so little, and there are so many ways of spoyling it, that there are not more ways to make an Army miscarry in a Battle, than there are to make us perish even in our good actions.

Every Enemy that is without, every weakness and imperfection we have within; every temptation, eve­ry vitious circumstance, every action of our life mingled with interest and design, is as a particular argument to engage our earnestness and zeal in [Page 57] this Duty ut contendamus acriter, that we strive and make it our busi­ness, to enter into the Strait Gate. For since the Writers of Moral In­stitutions and Cases of Conscience have made no such abbreviatures of the Duty of a Christian, but that I think there are amongst them all without hyperbole five thousand Cases of Conscience, besides the ordinary plain Duty of a Christian, and there may be five thousand times five thou­sand, and the wit of Man can no more comprize all Cases, which are or may be within their Books, than they can at once describe an infinity, or set down the biggest number that can be; it will follow that it is a nice thing to be a Christian, and all the striving we can use, will be little e­nough towards the doing of our duty.

And now if you enquire, what is meant by striving in this place? and what is the full intention of this Pre­cept?

[Page 58]I Answer; it is an infinite or in­definite term, and signifies no deter­minate degree of labour and endea­vour, but even as much as we can, supposing our weaknesses, our hin­drances and avocations; that is, to make it the business of our Lives, the care of our Thoughts, our study and the greatest imployment of the whole Man to serve God. Holy Scripture gives us general notions and compre­hensions of the whole Duty of Man, that may be excellent guides to us in this particular, Heb. 12.1. Let us lay aside every weight, and the Sin that doth so easily beset us. For he that contendeth for Mastery is temperate in all things, saith St. Paul. There is first an obligation of all Sin whatso­ever, every weight, every Sin, every hindrance; abstaining from all things whatsoever that are impediments. And we do not strive to do this, un­less we use all the means we can to [Page 59] learn what is our Duty, and what infinite variety of Sins there are that so easily beset us. And let me de­sire you to observe one thing; make a tryal in any one Sin that is or hath been most pleasing to any of you, and according to your Duty set upon its mortification heartily and throughly, and try whether it will not be a hard strife with flesh and blood, and a great contention to kill that one crime; I mean in the midst of your temptations to it, and opportunities of acting it; and by this you may make a short conjecture, at the great­ness of this Duty. And this is but the one half; For the extirpation of Vices is not always the introduction of Virtues. For there are some Men that have ceased from an act of Sin, that still retain the affection, and there are others who have quitted their af­fection to Sin, who yet are not re­conciled to the difficulty and pains [Page 60] of acquiring Vertues. I thank God I am no Extortioner, no Adulterer, not as this Publican, saith the Pharisee: So far many go, and then they think themselves fairly assoiled, who are only like misguided Travellers, that upon discovery of their error cease to wander further, but are not yet returned, nor have made any progress in the true way. Some Men cease to oppress their Neighbours, and will do so no more; but they think not of making restitution of what wrongs have been done by them long since. Some Men will leave off from Drunkenness; but they think not of fasting, and enduring Hunger and Thirst and Pains to punish their past Intemperance. There is a further striving, or we shall not enter into the narrow Gate. St. Peter gives an ex­cellent account of it; 2 Pet. 1.4. Having escaped the corruption that is in the World through Lust; that's one [Page 61] half: but he adds, And besides this, giving all diligence, add to your Faith, Vertue, and to Vertue Knowledge, to Knowledg Temperance, to Temperance Patience, to Patience Godliness, to God­liness Brotherly kindness, to Brotherly kindness Charity: these things must be in you and abound, saith St. Peter; and therefore, as himself prefaces, you had need give all diligence, and strive earnestly to all these purpo­ses.

In the mean time I pray remember, that this is not to strive, when we on­ly do perform those Offices of Reli­gion, which Custom or the Laws of a Church enjoyn us to: nor this when our Religion is cheap and easy, when we use arts to satisfie our Consci­ence, and heap up Teachers of our own to that purpose, that by a strata­gem they and we may bend the Duty to our Conscience, not measure our Conscience by our Duty; when we call [Page 62] security a just peace, want of under­standing a sufficient warrant for qui­etness, the not-committing of de­formed and scandalous Sins a pious Life; this is far from striving, here is no striving in this, but how to cozen and abuse our selves. If the affairs of the World (I do not say) take up not only most of our time, but most of our affections; if the returns of Sin be frequent, and of Religion be seldom and unpleasant; If any Vice hath got possession of us, or that we have not got possession of all those Virtues we have use of, we have not striven Lawfully. Shall I tell you, how St. Paul did strive? that thence we a so may have a fair patern and president to imitate, 2 Cor. 6. you have his course of Life largely described: Gi­ving no offence in any thing, but ap­proving our selves in much Patience, in Afflictions, in Labours, in Watchings, in fast [...]ngs, by Pureness, by Knowledge, [Page 63] by Long-suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by Love unfeigned, by the Word of Truth, by the Power of God, by the Armour of Righteousness, and by an evenness of Temper in the midst of an uneven, unquiet and contradictory con­dition: this was his course of Life, thus did he labour Mortifying his Soul, heightening his Devotion, bringing his Body under, and advancing the in­terests of the Gospel, lest by any means he had run, or should run in vain.

I speak not these things to discou­rage you, but to provoke you to good Works and a Holy Life. For if you ask, who does all this, or indeed who is able?

I answer; it is no good argument of an affection to God, when we make such scrupulous questions con­cerning his Injunctions. He that loves God, does all this; Love is the ful­filling of the Commandments: Love hopeth all things, endureth all things, [Page 64] thinketh nothing impossible; at­tempteth those things as most easie, which to natural Reason seem im­possible.

For consider, that as without God's Grace we can do nothing; so by his Grace strengthening us we can do any thing. Faith works Miracles, and Charity does more. Through Christ that strengthens me I can do all things, saith St. Paul, and Christ's Grace is sufficient for me, sufficient to all God's purposes, and to all mine. For it is not commanded to us to remove Mountains from their places, which we never plac'd there; but to remove our Sins which we our selves have made. We are not commanded to do things, which are not in our Pow­er; but such things which God en­ables us to, and to which we disable our selves by cowardice, & intimida­ting our own Spirits, by despairing of God's Grace, by refusing to labour, [Page 65] by deferring our endeavours till the weight of our sin grows great, and our strength grows less; till our ini­quities are many, and our days are few; and then indeed we have some reason to say, we cannot strive in such measure, as the greatness of these Duties does require.

And yet remember 'tis but stri­ving, that is, doing the utmost of our endeavour; the best Man in the World can do no more than use all his endeavour, and he that is weakest can do so much, that is, he can do his endeavour. And although a Boy cannot strike so great a stroke as a strong Man, yet he can put forth all his strength; and the just and merciful Lawgiver never requires more of us than all we have upon the stock of Nature, and all he hath gi­ven us in the Banks of Grace. So that the Duty we are here engaged upon, is but an earnest endeavour to [Page 66] do our best, and all we can; and e­very Man can do that: But because they will not, because Men have ha­bitual aversations from the practices of a holy life, because to do actions of severe Religion and strict Piety is troublesom to their affections, be­cause contrariant to their wills, therefore it is they call it hard and impossible; whereas it is not the im­possibility of the thing, but their own disaffections, that have height­ned the difficulty to a seeming impossibility.

And thus I have done with the first Part of the Text, the Duty it self, with its manner of perfor­mance: We must strive to enter in­to the narrow Gate of Life, and Blis­ful Immortality.

II.

And that leads to the second Part, or the first Argument to engage our endeavours and earnest strivings; be­cause the passage is hard and diffi­cult, and not to be acquir [...]d by men that love their ease; but by those that with Christian fortitude encoun­ter all difficulties and oppositions. Porta est angusta, the Gate is narrow; therefore strive.

And 1. I consider that Virtues and Vices many of them are so very like, that it is very often extreamly diffi­cult to distinguish them exactly, and pursue the Virtue curiously. Vir­tue lies between two Vices, not as a mediocrity, but as a thing assaulted by two enemies; for one Vertue two Vices, and each of the extreams hath something of the Virtue in it. A Prodigal hath the open-handedness of a liberal person; and a covetous per­son [Page 68] is as wary, as he that spends no­thing in vain, and both these would think themselves uncivilly dealt withal, if the freeness of the one, or the restraint of the other should be called vicious. And there are some Precepts, which some will think they have Reason to say they have strictly observed, when they have been most notorious Prevaricators of it: For may not a vain-glori­ous person, that gives Alms out of the promptness of his Spirit, think he hath done his Alms well, although he hath done them publickly; it be­ing a Divine Precept, That our Light so shine before Men, that other Men seeing our good Works, might glorifie our heavenly Father. And if this be a Precept, possibly also some who transgress this Precept, may think themselves safe on the surer side of Humility. And truly that we may see how dangerous our condition is, [Page 69] and yet how safe our imaginations are, I think no Man will doubt, but all God's Commandments have been broken, and this of Luceat lux ve­stra, (Let your Light shine) a­mongst the rest; and yet I never read or heard any man, in the greatest and largest of his Confessions ever ac­knowledge that Crime, that he had not done his good deeds publickly. But between the Duty of publicati­on of good Deeds, and the Duty of Humility, the way is so narrow, that it is hard to hit it right; and when, and how, and in what manner, and in what circumstances to do either, is the work of great understanding and much observation.

I consider yet further; many times a Virtue and a Vice differ but in one degree: For there is a Rule of Ju­stice to which if any Man adds but one degree of severity more it de­generates into cruelty; and a little [Page 70] more than mercy is remisness; and want of Discipline introduces licen­tiousness, and becomes unmerciful as to the publick, and unjust as to the particular. Now this Con­sideration is heightned, if we observe that Vertue and Vice consist not in indivisibili, but there is a latitude for either, which is not to be judg'd of by any certain Rules drawn from the nature of the thing, but to be estimated in proportion to the per­sons, and other accidental circum­stances.

Vertue and Vice dwell too near to­gether, unless they were better friends. All the Learning of the Sanhedrim could not distinguish be­tween the Humiliation of Ahab and Manasses, nor between the Zeal of Jehu and Josiah, nor between Joshu­ah's and David's numbring the peo­ple; and yet A [...]ab was but an imper­fect penitent; Jehu was a furious [Page 71] Zealot, and David sinned grievously; whereas Manasses was truly contrite; and Josiah was a zealous Reformer, and Joshuah in the same action was a wise and provident Captain. A­braham was called the friend of God for offering Isaac at God's command. Now God commanded men to per­form their Vows, and yet Jepthah for offering up his Daughter, hath left to Posterity the reputation of a temerarious and inconsiderate per­son. There is a right hand and a left in the paths of our life, and if we decline to either we are undone. And therefore pious and holy per­sons are called upright men, and the Precept in Scripture is frequently in­geminated, to walk in all God's Commandments with an upright heart. For on the right hand of Man is ruine, and on the left is destructi­on; and in all the infinite variety of sins, there is no other variety of [Page 72] conditions, but either to perish, or to be undone.

For every one Vice kills the Soul, but every Vertue does not make alive. Adultery condemns a Man to the lowest misery, but Chastity alone does not keep our Souls from death: Because we are forbidden to commit any sin. Every crime lies under a prohibition, and the same Laws of God command us to pursue all Vertues, and enjoyn the integri­ty of a holy life. Now as he that commits one sin, or entertains a single Vice, breaks the Command­ment, which enjoyns him to forsake all sin; so he observes not the Pre­cept of God concerning Vertues, that does not acquire and entertain all, universally all. A Man is spotted although he have but one stain; but he is not clean, unless he be all clean. A Cup is broken, if only the top be broken, but is not en­tire [Page 73] unless every part of it be invio­late. One Disease can make a whole man sick, but the taking away one Disease will not make all men well; and there are a hundred wayes to wander in, but one only way to Life and Immortality. So that I shall not need to urge the va­riety of Temptations, the subtilty of Sin, the watchfulness and malice of the Devil, the infirmities of our Spirits, the Ignorance of our Under­standings, the obliquity of our Will, the mutiny and disorder of our Af­fections, the inconstancy of our good Purposes, the unstableness of our Resolutions, the pleasingness of sensual Objects, the variety of evil Occasions, the perpetual readiness of Opportunities for evil, our un­willingness to Good so great, that we are loth to beg Blessings and Be­nefits of God Almighty. These, and thousands more are but the par­ticular [Page 74] Instances of this first Argu­ment to engage our striving. For the Gate, that is strait enough in its own abstract consideration, is made ten thousand times straiter by the supervening enmities of the Devil, the allurements of the World, the solicitations and impudent tempta­tions of the Flesh, and the imperfe­ctions and great weaknesses of Mor­tality.

III.

I now come to the last Notan­dum of the Text, or the second Ar­gument to enforce our striving, the Caution and Example of such per­sons, who have fallen short of en­tring, for want of due striving; For many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.

Many shall seek. The five foolish Virgins sought, and they who shall [Page 75] tell Christ, that they did Miracles in his Name, they sought, and the Pha­risees sought, but all seeking you see shall not find. Some seek them­selves alone, and they shall never find any thing to satisfie them. Some seek God and themselves together. When Religion and their own ends can stand together, well and good; when Ease and Devotion, Charity and good Husbandry, Repentance and no restitution can stand together, we will seek to enter into Heaven; but if Heaven cannot be had but upon hard terms, they will not pae­nitentiam tanti emere; they will not buy Repentance at so dear a rate, as to part with their goods unjustly gotten, that they may become true Penitents; neither will they love God and hate themselves, that is no good Charity they think; and therefore when God and our selves come to dispute the Question, whose [Page 76] interest shall be served; these men surely will serve themselves first. No wonder that these men enter not.

But there are some that seek more heartily, that throw away all in­cumbrances, that set upon the work of holy Life with much zeal and fervour of Spirit in the beginning of their Conversion and Resolutions of Piety; but their fervours cool, their zeal grows from very hot to be tepid, from tepid to be cold, from cold to be quite frozen and incrustated; and at last comes to have no heat a­bout them but zeal which is the [...] of Envy, and the heats of Lust, and of a seared Conscience. For the more furiously new Converts drive in their first on sets of Piety, if they once begin defervescere, to take off from their heights, their tedious­ness is greater, their weariness more, their anger is more impatient; and to take off from the shame of remis­ness [Page 77] and relaxation they often justi­fie it, and thence degenerating by degrees come at last to induration. For if we observe the nature of Mo­ral Alterations, and the malice of some persons, when they are pro­vok'd by shame, and consider also the secret wayes, and just Counsels of God in taking away all those Graces, which men have slighted and rejected; and commonly great zeals, if they degenerate, prove either ab­solutely furious, or meerly Athe­istical; and to all these add the probability of induration and obsti­nacy in such persons, and the Mo­ral impossibility of curing such di­stemperatures, or rising from such deaths, we may well believe it impos­sible: Such Zealots who once grow cool for want of perseverance in the strict courses of Piety, although they did seek to enter, yet erunt ex­clusissimi, they shall not be able.

[Page 78]Some are disabled and stopt in their first setting out; some go half way, and then turn back again; nay some there are that have as I may say, set one foot in Heaven, and have drawn it back, and carried both to Hell. God's Counsels are secret, but they are ever just. But it is full of horror to consider, that some per­sons, who have lived holily and just­ly all their life, have at last yielded in a temptation to a single Act, and by the just judgment and severity of God have been taken away in that one act of Sin, whose condition then is most sad and deplorable. It is not good to tempt God. If we will for­get God in one act, possibly he may with his Judgment so remember us, as to forget his Mercy towards us to all Eternity. And Palladius tells of divers old Hermits, who lived fifty or sixty years in the strict service of God, and at last in some peevish hu­mour [Page 79] dispoil'd themselves of all ti­tle and hopes of a Crown.

Was it not a sad sight to have ob­served amongst the forty Martyrs, one of them, that had endured tor­ments almost till the expiration of his last breath, and then to fall away to renounce Jesus Christ, and to go out of his torments into a warm Bath immediately to dye and to perish? A thought, a minute may destroy all our Glories, and our hopes of a bliss­ful Immortality, which twenty or forty years have been with great la­bour in erecting.

There are some that deny hopes of Heaven to persons that live ex­cellent lives, upon pretence, that they are very good Moral Men, but not of the houshold of Faith; that is, not of their belief in all matters of Opinion. The mistake is stupid enough; for the distinction of persons [Page 80] Morally good, and Religiously or Divinely good, is not a distinction of subjects, but of degrees. For a mo­ral life is not a distinct life from a Theological, but a part of it, and that Christian which is just to his Neigh­bour, and sober and temperate in his life, hath done some part of a Theo­logical and Religious Life. Indeed it is not revealed to us, how the good lives of Heathens without the Faith of Jesus Christ shall be accepted in order to Eternity: But to underva­lue the good lives of Christians by saying they are only good moral Men, because they are not of such a Sect, when they do those good acti­ons in obedience to the Laws of Je­sus Christ, is a profane device, to advance Faction and discountenance Piety.

Indeed is to our moral Vertues we add not also others which are more Spiritual; that is, if we strive not to [Page 81] acquire all habits, which are good in genere morum, morally good, we shall not enter into Heaven: not because we were only good moral Men, but because we were not moral enough; we did not reform all our manners, we did not do our Religion and Cha­rity to God, as well as Charity to our Neighbours. Our Piety must be universal, our Morality must be intire, and then the good moral Man shall go to God, when the Religious Man, as he accounts himself, shall never see him.

And indeed one of the greatest dangers of miscarrying is, in actions and undertakings, and intermixtures spiritual. For besides that the whole Institution of a spiritual Life is a nice and a busie thing, the purgative way being troublesome and austere, the illuminative being mysterious and apt to be abused, the unitive way not to be understood till it be felt, [Page 82] and therefore liable to all miscarria­ges, as not to be guided by Rule: be­sides all this, I say, spiritual Vices are most dangerous, and yet most apt to insinuate themselves in the acti­ons of greatest perfections, and when they are mixt, 'tis extremely difficult to discern them and make a separati­on.

How hard is it for a Man that hath lived holily, and one that rejoyces in and thanks God for his Graces, for his Deliverances from the power of the Devil; how hard, I say, is it for him to conserve either his Con­science and Truth, or his Humi­lity and Modesty, when he shall, or shall not say with St. Paul, I am the least of good Men, and the greatest of Sinners! for if he says so, and does not think so, he dissembles; If he thinks so, how can he acknow­ledg God's Goodness in the mani­festation of his Graces, and the deli­verance [Page 83] of him from Sin? If he does neither think so, nor say so, how is he so humble as his patern? for we are so to follow St. Paul, as he followed Christ. But then on the other side, how apt are Men when they hum­ble themselves, to do it with greater pride? Est qui nequiter humiliat se, there is that humbleth himself wick­edly. I cannot insist upon the parti­culars; but actions Spiritual are of so nice and immaterial consideration, that both not to be deceiv'd, and to discover it when we are deceived, are matters of no small difficulty.

You may see in little, that a Man may go a great way in Piety, and yet not enter into Heaven. What then shall we think of such persons, whose Piety hath no more age than a Fly; no more labour in it than walking in a shadow; no more expence than in the farthing-alms of the street or high­way; no more Devotion than going to [Page 84] Church on Sundays; no more Ju­stice than in preserving the rules of Civil Society, and obeying the com­pulsion of Laws; no more Mortifi­cation than fasting upon a Friday, without denying one Lust, and the importunity of sinful Desires? These certainly are far from entring into the Gate, because they are far from striving to enter. And yet there want not some Men, will not do a quar­ter of this, and yet would spit in your face if you should put them in doubt or question their Salvation. Some Men are so fond as to think Heaven is intail'd upon a Sect or an Opinion, and then nothing is want­ing to them, when they once have entred their name into that perswasi­on. Some are confident they shall be saved because of their good mean­ing; and they think they mean well, because they understand nothing, and in the mean time refuse not any [Page 85] opportunity to an evil. Alas, they cannot help it, Flesh and Blood is frail; for who can forgive him that hath undone me and my Family? 'Tis true indeed, I should, if you speak like a Divine, but we have Flesh and Blood about us: Alas, I hate Drunkenness, and I am never intem­perate for love of the Drink; but when a Man is in company he can­not do as he would do. And yet, these Men will think to go to Hea­ven, and yet will not do so much for it as either decline the company and opportunity of it, or the inconveni­ences of it. Flesh and Blood is the excuse, and yet we remember not, that Flesh and Blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God; but we by m [...]k­ing it to be our excuse, hope to enter the rather for it.

Remember those great words and terrible, spoken by an Oracle, by the Blessed St. Peter; If the Righteous [Page 86] scarcely be saved, where shall the wick­ed and Sinner appear? If after much striving many fall short, and the Best is to work out his Salvation with fear and trembling, What confidence can they have, that are indifferent in their Religion, that have no engage­ment to it but custom, no monitors but Sermons and the checks of a drowsy Conscience, no fruits of it but not to be accounted a Man without a Religion? But as for a holy life they are as far from it as from doing Mi­racles; and he that is so and remains so, no Miracle will save him. These are the Men that when the Eternal scrutiny shall come, then they shall seek, for they never seek till then to enter; and then it is as fruitless as it is late, as ineffectual as unreasonable. Christ is the Way, and the Truth, and the Light, and he that openeth only the way for us to go in there, whither himself is entred before: [Page 87] if we strive according to his holy Injunctions, we shall certainly en­ter according to his holy Promises, but else upon no Condition.