confident, and adventuring, than it was before it was entertained: It was then more modeft and bashful, because it knew not how it fhould be entertained ; but now it grows confident and imperious.

10. When Luft hath gotten the Victory in the Soul, it either makes the Soul, which is God's Vicegerent, his Vaffal, or his Prifoner; either the Soul becomes Servant and Vaffal to Sin, or at beft it is led away Captive by it: And in both cafes, God is dethroned, the Soul imbafed, and Luft gets the Empire and Dominion; and the Soul hath either broken his Truft with God, or not performed it as it should: The Province committed to his management loft, the Government abufed, the Soveraign injured, and the Vicegerent is either become a Rebel, or at beft a Prifoner, by his own default.

11. The Means of Prevention of this Inverfion of the Order fetled by the great Soveraign, is; First, That the Deputy take due notice of his Instructions; for he is not placed in that Province without his Rules of Government which his Soveraign hath delivered him. Secondly, That he be very Vigilant over the fecret Confederacies, Motions, and Rifings of Luft against thofe Inftructions; for Luft is bufie, troublesome and active, and ftudies and watcheth all opportunities of Defection. Thirdly, That he keep his Authority with Refolution and Courage; for Luft, if it be worthy the name of a Subject, it is a petulant and fawcy, but yet a flavifh bafe-minded Subject; a little countenance will make it infolent, and a fevere hand over it will make it fervile; and especially, that this feverity be held over those Lufts that have or pretend to the greatest intereft in the Age, Complexion, Difpofition, Quality, Station, or Condition of the Province; for as they have the greatest opportunities to do mischief, fo they will foonelt grow infolent.

12. Though a flight and gentle fuperintendency over Luft will teach it to command, yet under a fevere and rigid Government the moft it will adventure upon, will be to ask admiflion: and upon fuch Addreffes the Duty of this Deputy is to be fo far from giving admiffion to

it, that it ought not to Complement, or Treat, or hold Conference or Debate with it, but flatly deny it: As a fevere Deportment of the Soul muft keep Luft from commanding, fo it muft check and discountenance it in asking; the holding of conference and debate, and reafoning with any Luft, is but a preparatory to its admiffion, and gives but the more Confidence, Boldnefs, Importunity and hope of fuccefs to it. Eve's reafoning with the Serpent was the first breach of her Innocency: Luft muft not be mannerly treated withal, but flatly denied. This is that great Doctrine of Self-Denial which the New Teftament fo folemnly enjoyns: for though in truth, our Lufts are not our felves, yet those that grow out of our natural Constitution or Condition, are next to our felves, and by mistake we are apt to efteem them our Eyes; our Hands, our Selves.

13. This kind of dealing with Lufts and Temptations will in a little time dif-acquaint the Soul with them, and make the Soul and them ftrangers one to another. It is easily seen that thofe things which a Man ufeth himself unto, fo that they feem to become another nature, yet fome defuetude from them do evidence to him, that they are not fo neceffary and unfeparable as he once thought

Afperam nobis, &.

infuavem virtutunt

viam nimia facit vitiorum Confuetu do, que fi in partem alteram transferatur, invenietur (ficut Scriptura dicit) Semita Juftitia lenis. S. Hier. Ep.

14

them: A Man that hath accustomed himself to vain Swearing, fo that he can scarce fpeak a sentence without an Oath, and when he is told of it, profeffeth he cannot help it; yet let him refolvedly break the custom of it, he will not find that he miffeth that unhappy Rhetorick in his difcourfe; the like is eafily feen in Drinking, Gaming, Wantonnefs, and thofe other Sins that are precious and dear to a Man in his custom and ufe of them; by a little refolute difufe of them, he will foon find he doth not mifs them; he can easily fpare them, and be without them: nay, he finds as great an inconvenience and burdenfomenefs to re affume them, as before to leave them. And befides the Reafons before

given, there is this more in it, that the Value and Contentment that is taken in them, is by the great Expectation and Contentment that the mind feeks in the pre-apprehenfions and Image that the mind makes to it felf of them; for the Contentment of the things themfelves barely confidered, and in themfelves, is but flat and empty; but the Imagination dreffeth them up beyond themfelves, both in their pre-apprehenfion and fruition: and fo the Value and Contentment of them is due more to the Fancy and falfe Idea of the mind, than to the things themselves; and therefore, if once the mind can be eftranged from Converfing with the thought and Imagination of them, they will foon lofe their Estimate and Delight; because they are feparated and kept afunder from that which gilds and dreffeth them into that delightful and amiable fhape which cozens and deceives Men into their actings of them. Now this fevere hand againft them, denying their accefs, refufing Converfe with them, doth prevent the mind from fashioning of Imaginations of them, and dreffing up thofe Imaginations of them in pleafing and delightful representations, and then in a little while they are quite laid afide, and not miffed, nor thought of; and their own natural worth, without that fecret brooding of the mind upon them, doth not with any ftrength, folicite or fubdue the mind to the actings of them. We are in this kind like Children, who have gotten fome toy into their hands, that, it may be, may be hurtful, and they mightily prize them, and fet a great rate upon them but let them be taken away, in a little while they will not miss them, but be as merry and contented, as when they had them.

14. The Succefs of this Uncourteous dealing with our Lufts and Temptations, will much countervail the unpleafingness of the Duty. A Man is tempted to a Sin, he holds conference with it, and is inticed to treat with it, and to think of it, and it pleaseth him; but it is a thousand to one if it ftay there; but unless fome great diverfion by the Grace of God, or fome External restraint

by

by Shame or Punishment, prevent him, he commits the Sin; and fo Luft, when it hath conceived, will bring forth Sin, and Sin, when finifhed, will bring forth Shame and Death, or at the best Shame and Sorrow. How will a Man reckon with himself; What am I the better for that Contentment that I took in this Sin? the Contentment is past, and that which it hath left me, is nothing else but a mifgiving Confcience, a sense of a displeased God, afhamed to bring my mind in bis prefence, a pre-apprehenfion of fome mischief or inconvenience to follow me, a defpondency of mind to draw near to God under it, and either a great deal of Sorrow and Vexation, or Affliction under it, or, which is the usual gratification of Satan after Sin committed, to put away the remembrance of a Sin paft, with the committing of another, till at last the Guilt grows to fuch a moles, that a Man is defperately given over to all kind of Villany; and as his Sins increase, his Guilt and Shame increafeth. On the other fide, I have denied my Luft, or my Temptation, and it is gone; First, I am as well without it, as if I had committed it; for it may be the Sin had been past, and the contentment that I took in it, and I had been as well without it; but, befide all this, I have no Guilt cleaving to my Soul, no fting in my Confcience, no defpondent nor Mygiving Mind, no Interruption of my Peace with God or my felf; I enjoy my Innocence, my Peace, my Access to God with Comfort: nay, more than all this, I have a fecret Attestation of the Spirit of God in my Confcience, that I have obeyed bim, and have pleafed him, and have rejected the Enemy of his Glory and my Happiness: I have a fecret advance of my Interest and Confidence in him, and Dependance upon him, and Favour with him, and Liberty and Accefs to him, which doth Infinitely more than countervail the fatisfaction of an impure, and unprofitable, and vexing Luft, which leaves no footsteps behind it but Shame, and Sorrow, and Guilt.

15. As Refolution and Severity to a Mans self is one of the best remedies againft the flattery and deceit of Luft, so there are certain Expedients that are fubfervient to that Refolution; as namely, First, Avoiding of Idleness; for the Soul in the Body is like a flame, that, as it were, feeds upon that oily fubftance of the Body, which according

I Cor. 4. 9.

to the various qualifications or temper of the Body, gives it a tincture fomewhat like it felf; and unless the Soul be kept in action it will dwell too much upon that tinature that it receives from it, and be too intent and pleafed, or at leaft, too much tainted, and tranfported, and delighted with thofe fuliginous foul Vapors that arise from the Flesh and natural conftitution. Keep it therefore bufied about fomewhat that is fitted for it, that may divert that intention and Complacency in those fumes that the inferior part of the Soul is apt to take in them, and fo to be tempted, tranfported, or abused by them. Secondly, A frequent and conftant Confideration of the Prefence of God and his Holy Angels, who are Spectators of Luke 15.7, 10. Conftancy to God and his Party, and delighted in it; or of thy Apoftacy, Brutishnefs, and Baseness of Mind, and grieved at it. If a good Man were but acquainted with all my Actions and Motions of my mind, upon the Advance of Luft and Temptations, it would make me afhamed to offend in his fight: but much more if a pure and Glorious Angel did in my view attend, obferve and behold me; but when the Eternal God doth behold me, who hath given me this Command to deny my Lufts, and bath told me the danger of yielding to them, that they bring forth Sin, and Death, and Hell, and offers his Grace to affist me, promifeth Reward to my Obedience and Conftancy; how shall I then dare to offend with fo much prefumption? Thirdly, A frequent Confideration of Chrift's Satisfaction, Sufferings, and Interceffion. Thefe Lufts that now follicit me to their obfervance, were thofe that Crucified my Saviour; it was the end of his Paffion to Redeem me, not only from the Guilt, from the fubjection to them. It is be that beholds me; bow fhall I trample his Blood under foot? If I prostitute my self unto them, bow fhall 1 defpife, and as much as in me lies, difappoint him in the very end of his Incarnation? How shall I fhame his Gofpel before men, and as much as in me lies, put him to Shame in the prefence of the Father, and all the holy Angels, when they shall be witnesses of my preferring a base Lust before him? How can I expect the Interceffion of my Saviour for me at the right hand of God, who beholds me thus unworthily to Serve a

but

Luft,