be impatient to be thought to want wit, or to be accounted a fool. Having thus given an account of the deceitfulness of fin; I will, II. Shew you in fome particulars, how great reaJon we have, according to the advice of the apostle to take heed that we are not deceived. 1. Because in this ftate we run all manner of ha zards and dangers, to which God that hath a care of his creatures, doth yet suffer us to be exposed; and that grace he affords us is not only for ornament, but for conflict. Some use the grace of God more, and fome lefs; and others wholly neglect it. God did account, that we should use and employ the faculties which he gave us ; and 'tis unaccountable to God, if any man comes into human nature and doth not fo ufe mind and understanding (that is capable of God, and receptive from God, and fit to make acknowledgments to him) I fay, if he doth not use it for these purposes. For here we are to fight the good fight of faith, 1 Tim. vii. 12. a race, 1 Cor. ix. 24, 26. and obtain a prize. In the work of religion, much is here to be done, many temptations to be refifted, many conflicts to be made. To run 2. Our feveral faculties have different inclinations, and fome of them are not at all capable of reason, therefore not to be governed by any moral confiderations, which make it a very hard province that we are to act in. Many of our faculties are governed only by reftraint, and are not held or drawn by the cords of a man as for example, ap petite s petite; for which reafon, Solomon faith, Put a knife to thy throat, if thou beeft a man given unto it. For, reason will not fatisfy an exorbitant appetite ; and this creates to us great difficulty. This is the rule in all things, that a man act according to reafon, which is the candle of the Lord fet up in him; and by this he fhould be directed, and fee his way before him. For even the grace of God doth adjoin itfelf only to our higher principles. For this end it is given to guide and direct them; but for our lower faculties, they are otherwife to be dealt with: we must offer violence to them, if they be exorbitant. 3. Things without us, and round about us, prefented with their feveral advantages, do many times provoke and allure us; and are hardly to be denied. And a man hath nothing to withhold him, but the virtue of his mind, and refpect to God. And abundance in the world are so profane, as to decry these principles, as things of fancy and imagination. Therefore it is neceflary that we fhould be fettled in a state of virtue, or we fhall never, like Jofeph, be able to refift evil, and to fay, How can I do this wickedness, and fin against God? Therefore faith Solomon, Prov. ii. 11. Let understanding guide thee; let difcretion keep thee. That which fhould be for our fecurity, viz. company and converfe: this oftentimes becomes a Inare to us: though (as Solomon faith) two is better than one, because if one fall, the other fhall lift him up. And this was the defign of God in making a Second to be an help unto the firft; that fo, that VOL. I. N which which is finite, might be better secured by another yet it often falls out that we are in great hazard by our very company and converse. For company is of a bewitching, moulding and transforming nature : and therefore we should take great heed of our company, and affociates. Go not (faith Solomon) in the way of finners, avoid it, turn from it, and pass away. And David faith, fit not in the feat of the scornful. And we have a rule, that whosoever is not known by himself, may be known by his company. For converse doth affimilate; and a man either finds his company such as he is, or he will be like them. Ecclus. xiii. 1. For he that toucheth pitch that defileth, will be defiled; and he that goeth with vain persons, shall be vain. 5. He that is officious to bring us into his condemnation, he is forward to fit us with fuitable objects that shall raife our apprehenfions, and draw us into evil. This he did to our first parents. It is good for food, and defirable to make one wife, faid the ferpent to Eve. And we read Mat. iv. 10. That Satan fhewed to our Saviour all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, and said, These will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship And we read, that he was a lying spirit in the mouths of four hundred falfe prophets at one time And that the devil is fo bufy to feduce and draw men into evil, may appear to be the common sense of mankind, by thofe expreffions we find in the arraingment of notorious malefactors, who are faid not to have the fear of God before their eyes, but to act by the inftigation of the devil. As he that endea me. vours to purify himself shall not want the divine affiftance to encourage and assist him; fo on the contrary he that neglects himself and confents to known iniquity, fhall not want thofe that will drive him on ; and as we say, he must needs go, that the devil drives But then, 6. There are many things impure, and contrary to religion, to which we are tempted, that the world do not reckon among the greatest crimes. There are other evils that are destructive to us, be fides treafon, murder, and theft and these we are to beware of, as well as thofe that make us obnoxi ous to human laws ; as I will give you some inftances. It is a very great evil to make God a mean, and the world an end; to name God, and to intend the world; I dread to have to do with any man that will make ufe of his religion, to gain him cres dit, and to make a bargain: as alfo to be under the power of the world, and wholly at its beck or call or to be under the power of ungoverned passions; to be vainly fraught and poffefs'd; to be out of the true use of reason, and felf-government. These are inftances of evils that are very deftructive, though the world takes little notice of them, and do not reckon them in the number of mortal fins. Yet if a man will fecure his intereft for eternity, he must take care to avoid these things. And herein is our great danger, because men do not charge themselves in these things, as in other crimes. 7. Man is fuch a compound, that heaven and earth as it were meet in him, terms that are extremely diftant. Man in respect of his mind, is qualified to converse with angels, and to attend upon God; and in refpect of these noble faculties, he is liable to be tempted to infolency, arrogancy, and great prefumption, and felf-exaltation. For it cannot be denied, but that in refpect of his highest faculties, he is the image of God, which is his honour; being both intelligent and voluntary, having understanding, liberty, and freedom; which is his prerogative, above all other creatures below him. But yet in refpect of thefe, he is tempted to lift up himself, and this was the fall of Lucifer; though there be no reason for it for what is a ray that flows from the fun, to the fun itfelf? which the fun could spare, without any diminution. Why fhould any arbitrary and precarious being lift up itself, and leave God out? what an iniquity is this for such beings to act as independent, felf-fufficient, never to acknowledge God as original, or referring to him as final, or refting in him as the centre of his fpirit! this is a high mifbehaviour in an intelligent agent, far from duty, humility, or modefty. Yet this he may be tempted unto, by reafon of his height and excellency, in respect of his higher faculties. Now in respect of his lower parts, he is apt to fink down into fenfuality and brutishness: man in honour, and not underftanding himself, is like the beafts that perish. From all which you may perceive, in how great danger man is, and what great need there is that he be not deceived. 8. I add; If we do not ufe felf-government, and moderate our powers, by fubduing the inferior to the fuperior, we fail in that which is our proper work |
