"and my own soul! I have mocked the great Ma

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jesty of heaven with solemn vows of obedience, "and broke the most sacred ties to come at those "lusts which will be my ruin. What can I plead for myself, base and unworthy that I am? With what "face can I go into his dreadful presence, whom I so lately invoked to be witness to those vows which "I have this day falsified? Yet go I will, though I "am all ashamed and confounded, and confess and "bewail mine iniquity before him." And if we would but keep ourselves a while to this strict discipline, we cannot imagine how mightily it would contribute to the mortification of our lusts: it would make our reason so vigilant, and our conscience so tender, that in a little while we should be startled with every appearance of evil, and death itself would not be so terrible as sin to us; the pleasure of our sin would be so allayed and abated by those stinging reflections that would follow upon it, that it would be no longer capable of alluring and seducing us; and the dread of that bitter penance which we must undergo at night would sufficiently secure us against the temptations of the day.

Thirdly and lastly, Another part of that prudent discipline which we are to exercise upon ourselves, is to keep ourselves at as great a distance from sin as prudently and conveniently we can. He that will mortify his sin must at first not only abstain from sinning, but also from every thing that doth nearly approach and border upon it: as for instance, it is not sufficient to mortify an intemperate appetite, that we abstain from drunkenness and gluttony; but, besides this, we must, for a while at least, be very abstemious, till we have reduced our appetite from its I. l

VOL. III.

wild exorbitances, and not indulge to ourselves the utmost liberties of lawful eating and drinking: it is not sufficient for the subduing our wanton inclinations, that we abstain from adultery and fornication; but we must also forbear those meats and drinks, those gestures and societies, those sights and sports which are apt to administer fuel to our immodest flames: to tame our malicious and revengeful passions, it is not enough that we abstain from all unjust retaliations of injuries; but we must moreover restrain ourselves even from that lawful displeasure and just resentment which may safely be allowed to a meek and charitable disposition. And under these strict restraints we must keep ourselves for a while, till we have worn off our evil inclinations, by habituating ourselves to the contrary virtues; and then we may safely unloose our bands, and return again to our lawful freedoms. But if, while we are strongly inclined to any sin, we will venture as near to it as lawfully we may, it is a mighty hazard but our inclination will carry us a great deal farther than we should go. For generally the transition out of the utmost of what is lawful into the nearmost of what is sinful is undiscernible, the Kav or line that metes out a virtue from its neighbouring vice being commonly so small, that it is hard to distinguish where they part, or to find out the just boundary whereto we may go, and no farther; so that when we think we are only upon the extremities of what is lawful, we are many times past the line, and are far gone within the borders of what is sinful. So that unless we had an infallible guide to accompany us in all our actions and circumstances, and to point out to us the particular limits of lawful and unlaw

ful, it is impossible we should be safe within the neighbourhood of evil; but, like those who dwell upon the confines of two hostile countries, we shall still lie open to invasion on every side. For our bad inclinations are never so impatient of restraint as when they are within prospect of satisfaction, and the objects which attract them are near and easy to be enjoyed: now they will struggle with all their might against our resolution, and taking a new scent of those beloved lusts, whose alluring relishes they had almost forgotten, with all the ties of conscience we shall hardly be able to withhold them from following the beloved game. So that unless we keep ourselves at a convenient distance from sin, our bad inclinations will be always within view of temptation; which the nearer it is, the more it will court and importune them; and while we keep near our sin, and do not enjoy it, we do but tantalize ourselves, and enrage our own hunger, by seeing a bait before us which we dare not swallow. If ever therefore we mean to mortify our lusts, we must not only avoid coming at them, but, so far as we can, approaching towards them; at least till we have so weaned our inclination from them, that their nearness ceases to be a temptation to us. These are the parts of that wise and prudent discipline which we are to exercise upon ourselves, as a mean and instrument to mortify our lust.

V. Another instrument of mortification is frequent receiving of the sacrament. And indeed I do not know any one more effectual cause, or more fatal symptom, of the decay of Christian piety among us, than is the common and woful neglect of this solemn ordinance, which were it but frequented with that

wise and due preparation that it ought to be, would doubtless be highly instrumental to reform the world, and to make men good in good earnest. For besides that those sacred elements are by God's institution become moral conveyances of the divine grace, whereby our good resolutions are nourished and confirmed, there we have represented openly to our senses one of the greatest arguments against sin in all our religion, viz. the passion and sacrifice of our blessed Saviour; there he is represented to my eyes in all his wounds and agonies, bruised and broken for my sin, and bleeding to expiate my transgressions. And, "O my obdurate soul, canst thou be"hold this tragical spectacle without indignation against thy sins, which were the cause of it? Does "not thy heart rise against thy sins, whilst thou here "beholdest him weltering in his blood, and hearest "those gaping wounds it issues from, proclaiming "them his assassins and murderers? But if thou "hast not ingenuity enough to prompt thee to re"venge thy Saviour's quarrel upon these his mortal "enemies, yet methinks self-love would move thee

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not to be fond of thy sins, when thou here behold"est how much the Son of God endured to expiate "them. For how canst thou think of sinning with"out trembling and astonishment, who hast here be"fore thine eye such a dreadful example of God's severity against it? Does it not strike thy soul "into an agony to behold this bloody tragedy, "wherein the all-merciful Father is represented so

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inexorably incensed against thy sins, that he that

was the most innocent person that ever was upon "earth, and also the greatest favourite that ever was "in heaven, could not with all his prayers and tears

"obtain thy pardon, without undergoing for thee the "bitter agonies of a woful death? Sure if thou hast

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any one spark of love in thee, either towards thy "Saviour or thyself, this solemn commemoration of "his passion cannot but affect thee with horror and indignation against thy sins." But then as in this great solemnity we do commemorate our Saviour's passion, so we do also renew the vows of our obedience to him; which (as I have shewed you) is very instrumental in itself to the subduing of our sins; but much more, when it is done in so sacred a manner. For as feasting upon sacrifices was always used as a federal rite, both among the Jews and heathens, whereby God and men, by eating together, did mutually oblige themselves to one another; so the Lord's supper being a feast upon the sacrifice of Christ's body and blood, when we come thither we eat and drink of his sacrifice, and do thereby devote ourselves in the most solemn manner to his service; we swear allegiance to him upon his own body and blood, and take the sacrament upon it, that we will be his faithful votaries. When we take the consecrated symbols into our hands, we make this solemn dedication of ourselves to God; "Here we offer and present unto "thee, O Lord, ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be

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a reasonable, holy, and lively sacrifice unto thee; "and here we call to witness this sacred blood that "redeemed us, and those vocal wounds that inter"ceded for us, that from henceforth we oblige our"selves never to start from thy service, what diffi"culties soever we may encounter in it, and what

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temptations soever we may have to forsake it." Now what can be a greater restraint to us, when we are solicited to any evil, than such a solemn and sa