The Fading of the Flesh and Flourishing of Faith, Chapter 4
CHAP. IIII. Firſt Ʋſe, diſcovering the folly of them that mind the fleſh chiefly.
Firſt Uſe of Information, The folly of them that provide for the fleſh.HAving laid down theſe reaſons in the Doctrinal part of my diſcourſe, I ſhall now ſpeak to that which is practical. The truth may be uſeful both by way of Information and Exhortation.
Firſt, by way of Information. If our fleſh will fail us, what fools are they whoſe whole contrivance is to feed and pleaſe the fleſh. We laugh at the vanity and folly of Children, when we ſee them very buſie and taking much paines to make up an houſe of Cards, or pies of Dirt. The greateſt part of men are but Children of larger dimenſions, and are indeed more fooliſh, becauſe they ought to be more wiſe; What is their main work but to make proviſion for the fleſh? to provide fuel enough for the fire of its covetouſneſs, and pleaſant Water enough for the Leviathan of its voluptuouſneſs, and air enough for the Camelion of Ambition, as if God had no other deſign in ſending them into the World, but that they might be Cooks to dreſs their bodies as well as poſſibly might be for the Wormes. All their care is, What ſhall we Eat? and what ſhall we drink? and wherewith ſhall we be cloathed? and how ſhall we do to live in theſe dear and hard times? as vermine in Dung-hills, they live and feed on ſuch filth, never once asking their ſouls in earneſt, What wilt thou do for the bread which came down from Heaven, and how wilt thou do to put on the Robes of Chriſts righteouſneſs, that thy nakedneſs may not appear to thy ſhame, and O what wilt thou do to be ſaved, to live eternally. Theſe things are not in all their thoughts. Like Flies they are overcome with the ſpirits of Wine, and nouriſhed with froth; Its enough they think, if when they come to dye, they bequeath their ſouls to God in their Wills, (though its a thouſand to one if thoſe wills be proved in Heaven, I can tell them of unanſwerable caveats, which the Judges Son will put in againſt them) and therefore their whole lives muſt be devoted to the ſervice of their bodies, like dying men they ſmel of earth, and carry its complexion in their very countenances; If a man that had two houſes in his poſſeſſion, one whereof was his own free-hold for ever, and the other his Land-Lords, which he agreed to leave at an hours warning; ſhould neglect his own houſe, let all things there run to rack and ruine, but night and day be mending and adorning his Land-Lords Houſe, as if he could never be at coſt enough; or make it neat enough; would not every one condemn this man for a fool or a mad man? Truly this is the very caſe of moſt men. The ſoul in the body is a tenant in domo aliena ſaith the Oratour. Cicero Tuſc.The body is our houſe of clay, in which we are Tenants at anothers will, we may be turned out of its Doors without ſo much as an hours warning; the ſoul is our own everlaſting poſſeſſion, yet generally the immortal ſpirit is ſlighted, no time taken for a ſerious view of its wants, no coſt laid out for its ſupply, as if it were an indifferent thing, whither it ſwim or ſink for ever; when men are always plotting and ſtudiing to gratifie and pleaſe their fading fleſh. O this is one of the dolefulleſt ſights which eyes can behold, the ſervant to ride on horſe-back, and the Prince to go on foot; the ſenſitive appetite to be the grave of Religion, and the Dungeon of Reaſon.Greg: de la NuZ. Tract: Evan. It is reported of a certain Philoſopher, that dying he bequeathed a great ſum of money to him that ſhould be found moſt fooliſh: His Executor in purſuance of his will, travelled up and down, to find out one that excelled others in folly, and ſo might challenge the legacy; at laſt he came to Rome, where a Conſul abuſing his office was adjudged to death, and another (ſuing for the place) choſen, who chearfully took it upon him, to this man he delivered the money, telling him; That he was the moſt fooliſh man in the World, who ſeeing the miſerable end of his Predeceſſor, was nothing therewith diſcouraged, but joyfully ſucceeded him in his Office. How much do moſt titular Chriſtians reſemble this fooliſh Conſul, they ſee in the World their ſenſual Companions, like ſheep as they are feeding in their fleſhly paſtures, culled out by death, and called away from them; nay, they may ſee in the Word (if they will beleive God himſelf) the block on which they are laid by that bloody Butcher Satan, the Knife with which they are ſtuck, and which he runs up to the very Haft in the throat of their precious ſouls; the heavy curſe of the law, and the infinite wrath of the Lord, which they muſt undergo for ever, and yet they are therewith not the leaſt affrighted, but merrily follow them to the place of endleſs mourning.
Reader, If thou art one of theſe fleſh-pots of Egypt; What folly and madneſs art thou guilty of? Is not thy ſpirit foreign,Plate. an Heavenly plant, the immediate workmanſhip of the glorious God, and thy fleſh like the firſt Adam of the earth Earthy, and art thou not a fool to prefer Dirt before that which is divine? Is not thy ſpirit the impreſs and Image of God himſelf, in its immortality, noble faculties, and capacity of honouring, and enjoying his infinite Majeſty; and thy body the reſemblance of beaſts, nay, in many things inferior to them, and art thou not unwiſe in eſteeming that which is brutiſh, above that which is the Picture of Gods own perfections? Again, is not the well-being of thy body, involved in the welfare of thy ſoul? As really as the branches depend on the root for its flouriſhing, thy body dependeth on thy ſoul for its ſalvation, how mad art thou therefore to let the Veſſel ſink, and yet preſume to preſerve the Paſſenger that ſayleth in it. Once more, ſhall not the life of thy ſpirit run parallel with the life of God himſelf, and the line of eternity? and hath not God himſelf told thee, that thy fleſh will fail thee? doſt thou not find it now and then tottering, and as it were telling thee that it muſt drop down? and art not thou a fool in grain, a fool in the higheſt degree, to place all thy happineſs for ever, to ſet all thy ſtreſs & weight for thine unchangeable eſtate on this rotten bough which will certainly break under thee, when thou mighteſt have ſure footing, and lay up a good Foundation by an hearty regarding thine Heaven-born ſoul; O conſider it, and give conſcience leave to call thee fool once, that thou mayſt be wiſe for ever. Attilus King of Swethland made a Dog King of the Danes, in revenge of ſome injuries received from them. What wrong hath thy ſoul done thee, that to be revenged on it, and to ſpight it to purpoſe, thou makeſt its ſlave its Soveraign, that part by which thou art kin to the beaſts, its Lord and King.
The truth is, were not men drowned in ſenſuality (as he whom Seneca ſpeaketh of; that knew not whither he ſtood or ſat, till his ſlave told him,) and their conſciences ſeared and made ſenſleſs by them (as young Gallants being arreſted for debt, make the Serjeants drunk, and thereby eſcape at preſent) it would be impoſſible for men to live thus after the fleſh. But as ſome cunning theives, if there be a Maſtiff belonging to the houſe which they intend to Rob, give it ſome morſels which will keep it from barking, that ſo they may ſteal the Inhabitants Wealth, and they not have the leaſt warning either to hinder or recover it. So the Devil hath an art to make mens conſciences dumb, whilſt he robs them of their ineſtimable ſouls; poor, fooliſh creatures they are lazing on their beds of carnal ſecurity, and delighting themſelves in their dreams of lying vanities, and in the interim he rifleth their houſes and taketh away all that is of any value. Yet as faſt as conſcience is now aſleep, twill ſhortly awake, as the Jaylor at midnight, and then what fears and frights will poſſeſs them? Ah how clearly will they ſee their folly, in ſowing to the fleſh, and truſting to that which was never true to any! then they will roar out, If we had ſerved our ſpirits, as faithfully as we have ſerved our fleſh, they would not have failed us thus.
When Pauſanias deſired Simonides, to give him ſome grave Apothegm, by which he might apprehend his great wiſdom, for which he was ſo renowned, Simonides ſmiling ſpake this, Eſse te hominem, ne excideret tibi; Remember that you are a man, that your fleſh will fail you. Pauſanius puffs at this, but in a ſhort time after, being almoſt pined to death with Famine, he began to think of Simonides ſaying; and cryed out, O Simonides, magnum quiddam erat oratio tua ſed prae amentia eſſe nihil opinabar. O Simonides, thy ſpeech was full of weight, but I mad wretch, thought it of no worth. Friends, Miniſters, nay the chief Maſter of ſentences himſelf, delivered thee this as the Maſter piece of wiſdom, To remember that thy fleſh will fail thee; Prov. 19.20.Hear counſel, receive inſtruction, that thou mayſt be wiſe for thy latter end. But poſſibly thou like Gallio careſt for none of theſe things; It is death to thee to think of death; Thou hateſt it, as Ahab did Micaiah, becauſe it never ſpeaketh well of thee; thy voice to it is as Pharaohs to Moſes, Get thee hence, Let me ſee thy face no more; It is ſaid of Vitellius in Tacitus, that he was one hour (trepidus dein temulentus) fearful, the next drunken, in the very approach of his fatal ruine, ſtriving to drown his fears in his cups; Thou art reſolved to riot and revel, and therefore canſt not endure to think of a reckoning. Well, put off the thoughts of it, as far and as much as thou canſt, make as light of it as thy hardned heart will give thee leave, yet be confident tis on its way riding poſt towards thee with a Warrant from the God of Heaven, for thy Execution; and O then when thou ſeeſt its grim face, how will thine heart tremble, and when thou heareſt its dreadful voice, how will thine ears tingle! the fleſh which thou now pampereſt, will then wax pale, and the veſſels which now thou draweſt thy comforts from, will then run dregs; and then, O then, how mournfully wilt thou ſcreech out; O Paſtors, O Teachers, The counſel which you gave me was of infinite weight, and conſequence, but I fool, mad man, had not the wit to follow it. Or as Carolus King of Sicily, did on his death-bed. Alas, alas, I am going to dye, and yet have not begun to live.
I ſhall conclude this uſe with that ſad Relation which Athenaeus makes of a great Monarchs life and death, in which as in a Looking-glaſs, thou mayſt ſee that fleſh-pleaſing vanitities will end in ſoul-piercing miſeries, and that as wiſe as ſuch a man may be counted by the World, yet in his latter end, he is but a fool.
Ninus the Aſſyrian Monarch, had an Ocean of Gold and other riches, more then the Sand in the Caſpian Sea, he never ſaw the Stars, he never ſtirred up the Holy fire among the Magi, nor touched his God with the ſacred rod according to the law, he never offered ſacrifice, nor worſhipped the deity, nor adminiſtred juſtice, but he was moſt valiant to Eat and Drink, and having mingled his Wines, he threw the reſt on the ſtones; This man is dead, behold his Sepulchre, and now hear where Ninus is. — Sometimes I was Ninus and drew the breath of a living man, but now am nothing but clay, I have nothing but what I did eat, and what I ſerved on my ſelf in luſt (that was and is all my portion) the wealth with which I was eſteemed bleſſed, my enemies meeting together ſhall bear away, as the mad Thyades carry a raw Goat; I am gone to hell, and when I went thither, I carried neither Gold nor Horſe, nor ſilver Chariot; I that wore a Miter, am now a little heap of duſt.