The Measures of Christian Obedience, Book 2 · Chapter 1
CHAP. I. Of the particular Laws comprehended under the Duty of Sobriety.
The CONTENTS.
A Division of our Duty into three general Vertues, Piety, Sobriety, Righteousness. Of the nature of Sobriety. The particular Laws commanding and prohibiting under this first Member. A larger explication of the nature of Mortification.
BUT in regard our working and obeying is that whereupon all our hopes and happiness, our security and comfort hangs; it is very necessary that after all which has been hitherto discoursed of it in the general, we go on still further, and enquire of it more particularly. For if it be our Obedience or Disobedience that must dispense Life or Death to us, and eternally save or destroy us at the last Day; then whosoever would know before-hand what shall be his final Sentence, must enquire what is his present state, and what have been his past actions, whether in them he have obeyed or no. And the way to understand that, is first to know what those Laws are whereto his obedience is due, and in what manner and degrees he is to obey them: and when once he has informed himself in these, he may quickly learn from the Testimony of his own heart and Conscience, whether he has performed that Obedience which is indispensably required to his happiness, or has fallen short of it.
And to give the best assistance that I can in so weighty a Case, I will here proceed to enquire further in this Obedience, and shew concerning it these two things;
I. What those Laws are which under the Sanctions of Life or Death the Gospel binds us to obey; And,
II. What degrees and manner of obedience is indispensably required to them.
I. Then I will enquire what those Laws are, whereby at the last Day we must all be judged, and which under the Sanction of Life or Death the Gospel binds us to obey. And that I may render this enquiry as useful as I can, I will set down, as I go along, the meaning and explication of those several Vertues and Vices, which are either required or forbidden in the particular Laws, that so we may more truly and readily understand whether the Vertues have been performed, or the Vices incurred; and whether thereby the Laws have been broken or kept by us.
As for the Laws and Commands of God, they are all reduced by St Paul to three Heads. For either they require something from us towards God himself, and so are contained in works of piety; or towards our Neighbours, all which are comprehended in works of righteousness; or towards our own selves, as all those Precepts do which are taken up in works of sobriety. In these three general Vertues is comprized the Sum of our Christian Duty, even all that is required by the Gospel as the Condition of Salvation. For the Gospel, saith he, or that Grace of God which brings us the welcome offers of Salvation, hath appeared now to all men, teaching us, as ever we expect that salvation which it tenders to us, that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should LIVE SOBERLY, GODLY, and RIGHTEOVSLY in this present world, Tit. 2.11, 12.
I begin with that which contains all our Duty towards our selves, viz. Sobriety.
Sobriety is in the general, Such a regulation of all our actions, whether they concern our Bodies or our Souls, as makes it appear that they are guided by a bSo foreign, the Greek name for sobriety, is fetched by the Greek Lexicons from foreign and foreign, from its preserving and evidencing a sound Mind or Reason.sound mind presiding in Flesh, and that the animal Body which they flow from, is under the Command of a spiritual Reason. It is a doing what is becoming and fit for such Creatures as are Soul as well as Body, that have a wise and discerning Spirit which should govern and give Laws in this lump of Flesh. So that Sobriety is a taking care, and giving what is due and becoming to both the Parts of our Natures, viz. our Bodies and our Souls.
As for our Bodies, all the things in the world which affect them are of a limited goodness or illness; but yet, in their desires and aversations of them, they do not of themselves know any Limits: So that in their desires and actions, that dueness and decency which Sobriety prescribes, is keeping within due bounds or moderation.
And this Moderation is either,
1. Of their desires and use of such things as gratifie and delight them; whether that inveigling delight, which causes such excess of use and desire, be
1. In Meats, and our desire and use of them, both as to their quantity and quality, is moderated by Temperance.
2. In Drinks, and the like moderation there is by Sobriety, more particularly so called.
3. In other bodily pleasures, which are particularly called Lust, and our bodily desires and use of them are moderated by Chastity. And the cforeign, is that whereby a man foreign Andron. Rh. lib. foreign.ability to contain our selves, and to restrain the violence of our desires herein, is called Continence.
4. In Riches and Honours, and the desire and use of these are moderated by contempt of the world and contentedness.
In our bodily desires, and use of all these things, by reason of the unbridled temper of our bodily Appetites, which stop at no bounds, nor ever know when they have enough, we are in great danger to exceed: and therefore our desires and use of them stand in need to be moderated and retrenched by these Vertues, that it may appear we understand and act, not as brute Beasts, who have nothing else but bodily appetite to guide them; but as men, who have wise Souls presiding in Flesh to keep within decency and due bounds the exorbitant inclinations of our Bodies. Which Souls moreover, as we shew by such actions, are of an immortal and invaluable nature, whose interest therefore is infinitely dearer to us, and calls incomparably more for our care and pains, than our Bodies either do, or in reason ought to call for
2. Of their aversation and avoidance of such things as grieve and trouble them. Whether that matter of our bodily avoidance be
1. The troubles and losses that are laid in the way of our Duty; and our avoidance of these is moderated by the Duty of taking up the Cross.
2. The irksome pains which we take in going through it, and performing it; and our avoidance of this is moderated by the Vertues of diligence and watchfulness.
3. The great evils which we have already fallen under, and are suffering for it; and our avoidance and flight of these is moderated and restrained by patience.
Our hatred and avoidance of all these evils, which in themselves are naturally prone to be excessive, are so to be moderated and over-ruled by these Vertues, that all the world may see we are not acted as the brute Beast, by mere sense and appetite, which know no Rules of decency, nor stop at any limits; but know and do as becomes men, who are endowed with spiritual and discerning Souls, which understand how to give Laws, and prescribe Rules of decency to our fleshly Appetites, and whose sins are far worse evils than any or all the sufferings which can befal our Bodies: So that to keep back from them, we will not avoid and fly from these, but willingly embrace and undergo them.
And to enable us the better thus to moderate all the desires and aversations, and to keep perfectly under Command, and within just bounds these naturally extravagant tendencies and propensions of our Flesh: we must curb and keep it in, and dead in great degrees, not only its immoderate and excessive, but also its innocent eagerness and inclinations, lest they become a Snare to us, and acquire so much strength by our indulgence of them, as will carry us on to gratifie them at other times when they are not innocent, but sinful; which, but for such curbing and conquest of them, they would be sure to do. And this is done by the general Vertues of mortification and self-denial.
The great matter indeed, and principle Object of mortification and self-denial, is our sinful appetites, and such disobedient actions as we are tempted and drawn into by the untamed inclinations of our Bodies. And this St Paul affirms is an indispensable Duty, and a Vertue of absolute necessity unto life. If ye live after the Flesh, saith he, you shall dye; but if you through the Spirit do mortifie the DEEDS of the Body, you shall live, Rom. 8.13.
But as our sinful and disobedient appetites are the prime Object of all religious self-denial and mortification, and that which is absolutely necessary, as the end: so likewise are our innocent appetites an inferior object of it, and our mortification of them is a necessary means and instrument, without which we shall never be able to mortifie the other. For a free allowance of our bodily desires in all things lawful, and an unlimited gratification of them in all instances whatsoever where they are innocent; would certainly prove a Snare to us, and betray us into a like indulgence and satisfaction of them in some Cases where they are sinful and disobedient. And the reason of this is plain, because if we should gratifie them in all things where we may lawfully, and never deny them any thing but what is sinful; they must needs come by long use and indulgence to rule in us, and to have a great Power and Empire over us. We shall find it a matter of great difficulty to put them by, and a very painful task to deny them any thing; so that whithersoever they lead us, it is odds but we shall follow them. But now as for their Parts, they make no difference between an innocent and a sinful enjoyment: they do not distinguish things into good and evil; they are not moved by Law and decency, but pleasure; and desire what is delightsom and agrees with them, whether it happen to be allow'd to them, or forbidden. If by a customary gratification therefore, and indulgence of them in any thing, even in instances that are innocent and lawful, we suffer our bodily appetites to grow strong in us, and to get the guidance and management of us; they will over-rule us in instances that are prohibited, as well as in those that are allowed; and make us fulfil them in things sinful, as well as in things innocent. So that if we would be sure to conquer and subdue them in all such instances as are sinful, we must take care that they grow not strong upon us in any instances whatsoever; but infeeble them, and keep them low, and make them tame and governable, ready to come or go at our own pleasure. And this now is a piece of Command and Mastery, which is never to be hoped for in gratifying and indulging them in any sort of instances, but only by mortifying and denying them in all. For this power of denying them at our own pleasure cannot otherwise be attained, but by a long use and custom of denials: we must learn to deny and mortifie them in particular Instances, before we can in any reason hope to deny them for altogether.
And this mortification and denial of our lawful and innocent bodily appetites, being thus plainly necessary to the denial and mortification of our sinful and unlawful bodily desires and actions; our Lord Christ, who best understood the necessities of our natures, what instruments were most necessary, and what means most proportionate for us, has enacted it into a Law. So that now 'tis every mans duty to mortifie and deny not only all sinful bodily actions and desires; but, so far as is necessary unto that, all such as are innocent and lawful also. And according to the different degrees of mens progress herein, are their different perfections in Vertue, and their different measures of security and assurance that they shall continue in it. It being only the unmortifiedness of their fleshly desires which can prove a Snare to them, and a dangerous temptation; Every man, as St James says, being tempted then, when he is drawn away of his own Lusts, and enticed, Jam. 1.14.
And all the forenamed Vertues, viz. Temperance, Sobriety, Chastity, &c. are Duties incumbent upon us, and implied in that care which this general Vertue Sobriety takes of our meaner Part, our Bodies.
And then as for what more directly concerns our Souls, that dueness and decency which Sobriety prescribes in their actions, and towards them, is either,
1. In thinking no better of our selves than we deserve, but having a just sense of all our weaknesses and defects; which is humility and lowliness of mind.
2. In taking all that just care and thoughtfulness after their future good and happiness, which their worth requires; which is heavenly-mindedness, or contriving and designing for the things of Heaven.
So that those particular Laws of God, which command something to be done by us towards our own selves, both as to our Bodies, and our Souls, and which are all comprized under the general Name, Sobriety; are these,
The Law of humility, of heavenly-mindedness, of temperance, of sobriety, of chastity, of continence, of contempt of the world, and contentment with our present condition, of courage and taking up the Cross, of diligence and watchfulness, of patience, of mortification and self-denial.
And as he has commanded us to exercise all these Vertues towards our own selves; so has he as strictly forbid us to act those Vices which are contrary to them: as are these that follow.
First, To humility, or lowliness of mind, is opposed,
1. An over-high conceit of our own excellence and preheminence above others, making us set our selves and strive to appear above them, and dforeign is foreign, Theoph. Char. Ethic. c. 25.contemn and despise them as persons that are below us: which is pride.
2. An outward expression of this, in making a false shew of more excellence than indeed we have, whether in religions, natural, or civil endowments, which implies eforeign and foreign are reckoned by Arist. as the extremities of veracity and species of a he. foreign he says is one, who is foreign, Ethic. ad Nicom. l. 2. c. 7. & l. 4. c. 7. Theop…a…s defines it to be a …aising a greater opinion of us than we really deserve. foreign, Char. Ethic. 24. And Hesych. explains foreign, i. e. foreign.hypocrisie joyn'd with pride; and is called arrogance, ostentation, boasting.
3. An industrious affecting in all things, by setting out our own praise, and exposing our atchievements, to get the honour and praise of others answerable to the conceit which we have of our own selves; which is vain-glory.
4. A restless pursuit of honour and great Places, which we conceit our selves to be worthy of, which is Ambition.
And the effects of this pride and elation of mind are,
1. In our behaviour, a scornful and contemptuous disrespect and sleight of others; which is haughtiness. And if it go on to an unusual and enormous degree, it is insolence. And this haughtine's when it is expressed in a commanding way, as if we had Lordship and Authority over them, is imperiousness. Which, when 'tis shown in exacting their submission to our dogms or opinions, is dogmaticalness, or impatience of contradiction.
2. In our Speeches of others, an envious depression and disparagement of them, the better to set off our own selves; which is backbiting.
3. In our conversation a mixture of pride and envy, or an fforeign Hesych.envious provoking strife of out-doing others and being better thought of our selves, or of hindering their designs, lest they should enjoy what we, who in our own opinion deserve it better, are deprived of; which is emulation.
Secondly, To heavenly-mindedness, is opposed an over-industrious care of present things; or being wholly or chiefly taken up with this World; which is worldliness.
Thirdly, To moderation is opposed luxury or excess. And as that moderation which sobriety prescribed was either in meats, or drinks, &c. so is this breach of sobriety in excess likewise. For,
First, To temperance is opposed intemperance, which when it is a Luxury,
1. In the quantity of Meat, is called Gluttony.
2. In the deliciousness or quality of it, it is called Voluptuousness.
Secondly, To sobriety, or a moderate and undisturbing use of Drink, is opposed a stupifying and intoxicating use of it, which is Drunkenness. And this when it is accompanied with gforeign, Hesych.boisterousness, unchast Songs, and riotous mirth; is called revelling.
Thirdly, To Chastity is opposed unchastness; and that weakness which betrays us into it, viz. our subjection to our bodily Lusts, and inability to contain them within due bounds, is called incontinence: Which issues out and expresses it self,
1. In preparatory enticements, by an indulgence to provoking gestures, touches, words, or actions; which is called lasciviousness or wantonness. The particular expression whereof in obscene and hforeign, Hesych.shameful words, is filthiness. And if they be uttered in picquancy of wit, and smartness of conceit, it is foolish or iforeign ▪ Hesych.obscene Jesting.
2. In the acting or execution of it; which may be done,
1. By one person, upon their own Body alone; and then 'tis impurity or uncleanness.
2. By two persons, each with other. Which if they are both men, is called Sodomy; and by St Paul, Rom. 1.27. Men with men working that which is unseemly; and the persons who are guilty of it are called the abominable, Rev. 21.8. And the persons suffering themselves to be so abused, are called the effeminate.
But if they be Man and Woman, then either,
1. One, or both are married to another; and so 'tis Adultery.
2. Both are unmarried, and so it is Fornication. Which if it be,
1. By the joint-consent of both, is Whoredome, or bare Fornication; and this, when the Parties are too nearly allied, is called Incest.
2. By forcing of one; and then 'tis Rape or ravishing. Which Vice St Paul expresses by that foreign.word which we translate Extortioners, 1 Cor. 5.11. and Chap. 6.10.
Fourthly, To contempt of the world and contentment with our present condition, is opposed covetousness, which is an immoderate love of the world, or an unsatisfiedness with what we have, and an foreign.insatiable desire of more; and grudging or repining.
Fifthly, To taking up the Cross is opposed our being scandalized, or turn'd out of the way of Duty and Obedience, by reason of it; or a politick and selfish deserting of our Duty to avoid it.
Sixthly, To diligence and watchfulness in doing of our Duty, is opposed a heedlesness of it, and remiss application to it; which is carelesness and idleness.
Seventhly, To patience in suffering for it, is opposed an immoderate dread of pain, and dishonest avoidance of it; which is softness and fearfulness.
Eighthly, To mortification and self-denial, is opposed self-love and self-pleasing; which as it is an industrious care to please and gratifie our bodily senses, is called sensuality; and as it is a ready and constant serving and obeying the lusts and desires of the Flesh; especially, when they carry us against the Commands of God, is called carnality.
These are those Vices and breaches of Duty towards our selves, which Gods Laws have prohibited under the pains of Death and Hell: as the other were such Vertues as under the same penalty he exacts of us.
So that in the general Law of Sobriety we see are contain'd all these following, whether commanding or forbidding Laws.
The commanding Law of humility, of heavenly-mindedness, of temperance, of sobriety, of charity, of continence, of contempt of the World and contentment, of courage and taking up the Cross, of diligence and watchfulness, of patience, of mortification and self-denial.
And opposite to these the forbidding Law, against pride, against arrogance or ostentation, against vain-glory, against ambition, against haughtiness, against insolence, against imperiousness, against dogmaticalness, against envious back-biting, against emulation, against worldliness, against intemperance, against gluttony, against voluptuousness, against drunkenness, against revelling, against incontinence, against lasciviousness or wantonness, against filthiness, against obscene Jestings, against impurity or uncleanness, against Sodomy, against effeminateness, against adultery, against fornication, against whoredom, against incest, against rape, against covetousness, against grudging and repining, against refusing or being scandaled at the Cross, against idleness and carelesness, against fearfulness and softness, against self-love, against carnality, against sensuality.