THE great Design of Christianity being to promote our future Happiness , and qualify us for it ; Things are more or less valuable in its esteem , as they more or less conduce to this great and excellent End . And hence the Apostle tells us , that of all the Virtues Christianity obliges us to , Charity is the greatest , 1 Cor. xiii . 13. that is , a sincere Love of God , and an universal good Will to Men ; and the greatest it is upon this account , because of all Virtues it is most congenial to the Heavenly State , that being a State of endless Love and pure Friendship ; and all other Virtues are valued more or less proportionably , as they partake of this Virtue of Charity . To give Worth to our Faith , it is necessary it should work by Love , Galat. v. 6. To make our Knowledge acceptable , it is necessary it should run into Love , 1 Cor. viii . 2 , 3. yea without Charity the Gift of Miracles , Alms-giving , and Martyrdom it self are Things of no value in the accounts of Christianity , 1 Cor. xiii . 1 , 2 , 3. Nay so much is this great Virtue designed by the Christian Religion , that the Apostle tells us that the end of the Commandment is Charity , 1 Tim. l. 5. that is , all the Duties which the Commandment enjoyns are designed only as Means to advance and perfect our Love to God and Men : And all Means , you know , are more or less excellent proportionably , as they conduce to the Ends they are designed for . Wherefore since our future Happiness is the ultimate End of Christianity , and universal Love our most necessary Qualification for it , it necessarily follows that the Goodness of all Religious Means consists in their Aptitude to abstract and purify our Affections ; to exalt and sublimate our Love , and to propagate in us that godlike and heavenly Temper , which is so necessary to qualify us for the Enjoyment of God and Heaven . But alas ! how ordinary is it for Men to mistake their Means for their Ends , and to value themselves upon doing those Things , which if they be not directed to a farther End , are altogether insignificant ; accounting those Things to be absolutely good , which are but relatively so , and which , unless they conduce to that which is good , are perfectly indifferent . Of which we have too many sad Instances among our selves ; for how many are there , who though they have nothing else to prize themselves for , but only of their keeping of Fasts and looking sourly on a Sunday , their hearing so many Sermons , and numbering so many Prayers ; are yet bloated with as high Conceits of their own Sanctity and Godliness , as if they had commenced Saints , and were arrived to the highest degrees of Perfection : And tho Pride and Malice , Covetousness and Ambition , are the only Graces they are eminent in , yet shall you see these empty wretched Things pearched upon the Pinacle of Self-Conceit , and from thence looking down upon poor moral Mortals as if they were Things of an inferior Species , not worthy to be reckoned in the same Class of Beings with themselves . Such flaunting Hypocrites , it seems , there have always been , and in these later Times it is foretold they should abound ; for so the Apostle tells us 1 Tim. iv . 1. that the Spirit speaketh expresly , that in the later Ages there should arise a sort of People who departing from the Faith , should give heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils ; who should forbid marriage , and command Abstinence from Meats , vers. 3. that is , as I suppose , should place all their Religion in outward and bodily Severities , which at best are only Means and Instruments of Religion ; and that in these they should pride themselves , as if they were the only Saints of the Age : whereas , in truth , they would prove the rankest Hypocrites that ever appeared in a religious Vizard . And of these he exhorts Timothy carefully to forewarn his Flock , and for his own part to reject their profane and ridiculous Fables ; and rather to exercise himself in true substantial Godliness , than in such outward bodily Rigors and Severities ; for which he subjoyns this general Reason , for bodily exercise profiteth little , that is , mere outward bodily Exercise in Religion abstracted from inward Piety and Godliness , is of very little avail in a Religious Account : For the bodily Exercise here spoken of , it seems , was such as had some little Profit attending it , and consequently was such as had some general Tendency to Good , and was improveable to some advantage , had it been wisely managed and directed . For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , here translated little , is not so to be understood , as if it signified nothing ; because it is here opposed to something that is greater , viz. to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : Bodily Exercise profiteth little , but Godliness is profitable for all things ; and therefore this bodily Exercise must profit something , though less than Godliness , which is profitable for all things : As when Plato says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Socrates must be a little attended , but Truth a great deal more . And if it be such an Exercise as doth profit a little , then it must be such as is Religious , and is of some small account in Religion . In the Prosecution of this Subject therefore I shall do these two things :

I. Wherein doth this bodily Exercise consist ? I answer , it consists in these six things :

1. It consists in an outward visible Profession of Religion . That we should make a visible Profession of the true Religion , when it is sufficiently proposed to us , is an unquestionable Duty , and that for this Reason ; because not to profess visibly what we believe to be the true Religion , is an open disowning of God , who is the immediate Object of all true Religion . For he that believes that this is the Will of God , and yet is either ashamed or afraid openly to avow and acknowledge it , declares that he is either ashamed of God , or that he fears Man more than God ; both which are highly impious . Besides , by our visible owning of Religion , we propose it to others , who by our Example may be perswaded to embrace it as well as we ; and it is our Duty not only to entertain the true Religion our selves , but so far as in us lies , to propagate it to others ; that so diffusing our Light round about us , others may be directed to Heaven by it as well as our selves . This therefore is of some Account with God , that we visibly profess the true Religion ; but if this be all we do , it will profit us but very little . For if we do not own Religion in our Actions , while we profess it in our Words , we contradict our selves ; our Practice gives the Lye to our Creed , and our wicked Lives baffle our holy Profession : for while a Man acts contrary to the Rules of his Religion , he doth as effectually disown it , as if he should openly renounce his Baptism , and make a publick Recantation of Christianity . For as our Profession of Religion is performed by a visible signification of our Belief of it , and as this may be signified by our Actions as well as our Words ; so in effect we do renounce Religion when we give any visible signification that we do not believe it ; and this we do as well when we act like Infidels , as when by Words we declare our Infidelity . For by our Deeds we may signify our Minds as well as by our Words , and he that acts as if he did not believe , doth give a more convincing Argument of his Infidelity , than all his Words or Professions can be of the contrary ; because it is rationally supposable that a Man will rather pretend to believe what he doth not , than that he will act contrary to his own Belief and Judgment ; it being a greater degree of Violence to our selves to act contrary to what we do believe , than to pretend to believe what we do not . So that it is not all our Talk and verbal owning of Religion that will serve the end of a visible Profession , which is , so to own God as to induce others to own him as well as our selves ; because he that denies God in his Actions will never be able to induce others to believe that he doth sincerely own him in his Words and Profassions . Wherefore unless we will live up to the Rules of our Religion , we were as good not to make any visible Profession of it ; for our Profession will serve no good Ends of Religion ; it may indeed disgrace it in the Opinion of those who measure its Goodness by the Lives of its Votaries ; for either they will think that our Religion teaches us to live as we do , and that will make them abhor it ; or else they will imagine that notwithstanding our Profession we do not believe it , and that will make them suspect it to be a Cheat and Imposture . So that for any Good Christianity is like to reap from wicked Christians professing it , it were highly desirable that they would renounce their Baptism , and openly declare themselves Atheists or Infidels ; because by their Actions they blaspheme the Religion they profess , and by assuming to themselves the holy Name of Christians they do but more openly profane it .

2. Another sort of bodily Exercise that is of some , though but little Account in Religion ; is our voluntary undergoing of bodily Rigours or Severities upon the score of Religion . There is doubtless a very wise use to be made of bodily Severities in Religion , provided they be but used with that Prudence and Caution as they ought to be ; for they are excellent Remedies against many of our inordinate fleshly Inclinations , to came our extravagant Appetites , and to render them more tractable to the Commands of Reason and Religion : besides , that in the general they are of singular Use to wean our Souls from the Pleasures of the Body , which do often corrupt the palate of the Mind , and render it incapable of relishing divine Enjoyments . For if we indulge to our Appetites all those lawful Pleasures which they crave , our Souls will be apt to contract too great a Familiarity with the Flesh , and to be so taken up with the Delights and Satisfactions of it , as to neglect those diviner Pleasures for which they were created , and which are more natural and congenial to them ; and considering that in our future State we must live without these Bodies , and take leave of all the Pleasures of them , it is very requisite that we should now before-hand wean and abstract our selves from the Enjoyments of corporeal Sense , that so when we come to part with them we may know how to be happy without them , and be fit to live the Lives of naked Spirits . And therefore we find that there has scarce been any Religion whatsoever pretending to qualify Men for another Life , but hath imposed Fasting and Abstinence , and other bodily Severities , as proper Means to lustrate and purify the Mind , and to prepare it for immediate Converses with God and separated Spirits ; but then the Consequence was , that the over-strict Imposition of these Instrumentals of Religion occasioned a world of Superstition ; for being so strictly imposed , they obtained so far in the Opinion of the World , as to be reckoned among the Essentials of Religion , and counted absolutely good , and in their own Nature pleasing and grateful unto God ; which possibly by degrees introduced those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , horrid and bloody Mysteries into the Heathen Religion . For Mankind being once possessed with such an Opinion of God , as to think he was pleased and delighted to see his poor Creatures afflict and punish themselves ; it was easie from thence to infer that he would be much more pleased to see them butcher themselves , and sprinkle his Altars with their own Blood . And as this over-weening Opinion did probably introduce humane Sacrifices into the Heathen Religion ; so it is certain that it hath introduced sundry false Doctrines into the Romish ; as particularly , that Fasting , and Whipping our selves , and going on Pilgrimages , are meritorious Things ; that by them we expiate our Sins , and make Satisfaction to the Justice of God : as if the Guilt that binds us over to eternal Perdition were to be expiated by a sound Whipping , or a short Pilgrimage were a proportionable Commutation for the eternal Penance of Hell Fire . But these are the vain Imaginations of Men , who would faign impose Laws upon God , and prescribe to him the Measures of Punishment ; who would do as wickedly as they please , and suffer what they please for so doing . But let us not deceive our selves , if we will choose to sin , it is reasonable that that God whom we offend by our Sin should choose and appoint our Punishment . It is by no means fit that Criminals should be their own Iudges ; for if they were , they would have very little Reason to be afraid of sinning ; because they would be obliged to suffer no more for it than what they pleased themselves : but the Right of punishing is in the offended Party ; and therefore if we will offend God by violating his Laws , we have no right to choose our own Penance , but must , whether we will or no , submit to what He thinks fit to inflict upon us ; and what that is he hath told us before-hand , even everlasting Expulsion from his Presence into the Society and Portion of Devils , and damned Spirits . So that for us to expect to attone and satisfy God by little voluntary Penances of our own , is just as unreasonable as if a Murderer should cut off his little Finger , and thereupon expect to be excused from the Penalty of the Law .

And as these bodily Severities are no Expiations of our Sins , so neither are they in their own Nature pleasing and grateful unto God : for he is a good God , and an universal Lover of all his Creation ; and consequently can be no farther pleased with the Sufferings and Afflictions of any of his Creatures , than as they are necessary either to do them good , or to make them exemplary to others , or to vindicate the Honour of his own violated Laws ; neither of which Ends are served by voluntary Penances and Severities as such , if they be not subordinated to the Ends of Virtue and Religion . For what can Fasting signify , if it be not designed to famish our Lusts ? Can our hungry Bowels be a delightful Spectacle to that God who feeds the young Ravens , and takes so much care to provide for all his Creation ? What Virtue is there in the Chastning of our Bodies , if it be not intended to humble and mortify our Souls ? Do we think that that God , who is so zealous of our Welfare , can be recreated with our Miseries , or take pleasure in our tragical Looks , and bloody Shoulders ? 'T is true , so far as these things are Instruments of Good to us , they are pleasing unto God , even as all other Instruments of Religion ; but it is not the suffering of our Bodies he is pleased with , but the good which it doth our Souls : but if they do our Souls no good , if they do not purify our Affections , and wean us from fleshly Desires , and make us more fit for the heavenly State , they are as insignificant in the Account of God , as the paring of our Nails , or the clipping of our Hair .

3. Another sort of these bodily Exercises that are of some , though but little account in Religion , is bodily Passions in Religion . There is , I confess , an excellent Use to be made of our bodily Passions in the Exercise of our Religion , provided we do not place our Religion in them ; for if we do , they will betray us into the grossest Cheats and Impostures . For in the general we find , that our Passions do wing our intellectual Faculties , and render them more intense and expedite in their Operations . For whilst the Soul and Body are united to one another , there is a mutual Reflowing and Communication of Passions between them , insomuch that whensoever the Soul is any ways affected with any Object , there immediately follows a suitable Perturbation or Passion in the Body ; and then this Passion of the Body , as it is grateful or ingrateful to it , doth more vigorously affect the Soul with Love or Aversation ; and then the Soul being thus reaffected and incited by the bodily Passion , will more vehemently pursue or shun the Object which caused its first Motion or Affection . When therefore our Souls and Bodies do thus sympathize with each other in the Exercises of Religion , we must necessarily perform them with greater Vigour and Intension .

But to make this more plain to you , I will briefly instance in those four great Passions of Religion , viz. Love , and Hatred , and Sorrow , and Ioy . As for that of Love ; when the Soul is affected with God , or Virtue , or any other amiable Objects of Religion ; immediately there follows a sweet and grateful Passion in the Body . For the Heart being dilated towards the beloved Object , puts the Blood and Spirits into a free and placid Motion , which diffuses a certain agreeable Heat into the Breast , and invigorates the Brain with a flood of active Spirits ; and then the Soul being sensible of this grateful Emotion in the Body , is thereby more vigorously incited to pursue those amiable Objects wherewith she was first affected . And so for Hatred ; when the Soul is practically convinced by the Arguments of Religion of the Odiousness of any Evil it forbids , the Enmity and Hatred she hath towards it causes an anxious Contraction of the Heart , and Compression of the Animal Spirits , which produces a Chilness in the Breast , a retarding of the Blood , and an unequal motion of the Pulse ; and then the Soul sympathizing with the Body , cannot but be sensible of this ungrateful Passion it is put into , which must needs add to her Hatred of those odious Objects which were the Cause of it , and cause her more vehemently to shun and avoid them . So again when the Soul is moved to Sorrow and Repentance for any past Sins and Miscarriages , the sad Regrets she suffers within her self produce a very doleful Passion in the Body ; such as pinches the Heart , congeals the Blood , and causes an ungrateful Languor of the Spirits ; and then by compassionating her grieved Consort , she is thereby excited to a higher degree of Displeasure against those Sins that caused its Grief and Disturbance . Lastly , when the Soul is joyed and delighted with any religious Object , or Exercise ; by that sweet Complacency she enjoys within her self , there is produced a most pleasant Emotion in the Body , the Animal Spirits flowing to the Heart in an equal and placid Stream ; where being arrived through its dilated Orifices , they sooth and tickle it into a most sensible Pleasure ; and then the Soul being affected with the Body's Pleasure , doth from thence derive an additional Joy , which doth more vigorously encourage her to pursue those Objects , and continue those Exercises from whence her Original Joy proceeded .

So that , you see , that by reason of that perpetual Intercourse there is between our Souls and our Bodies , there is an excellent Use even of our sensitive Passions in Religion . And it cannot be denied but that a gentle Temper of Body , whose Passions are soft , and easie , and ductile , and apt to be commoved with the Soul , may be of great advantage in our Religious Exercises ; because whensoever it is religiously affected , its Passions will be apt to intend and quicken the Affections of the Soul , and to render them more vigorous and active ; but farther than this , they are of no account at all in Religion . For as there are many Men who are sincerely good , that yet cannot raise their sensitive Passions in their religious Exercises ; that are heartily sorry for their Sins , and yet cannot weep for them ; that do entirely love God and delight in his Service , and yet cannot put their Blood and Spirits into the enravishing Emotions of sensitive Love and Joy : so on the other hand , there are many gross Hypocrites that have not one dram of true Piety in them , who yet in their Religious Exercises can put themselves into wondrous Transports of bodily Passion ; that can pour out their Confessions in Floods of Tears , and cause their Hearts to dilate into Raptures of sensitive Love , and their Spirits to tickle them into Ecstasies of Joy ; which is purely to be resolved into the different Tempers of Mens Bodies , some Tempers being naturally so calm and sedate , as that they are scarce capable of being disturbed into a Passion ; others again so soft and tender and impressible , that the most frivolous Fancy is able to raise a Commotion in them . And hence we see that some People can weep most heartily at the Misfortunes of Lovers in Plays and Romances , and as much rejoyce at their good Successes , though they know that both are Fictions and mere Idea's of Fancy ; whereas others can scarce shed a Tear or raise a sensitive Joy at the real Calamities or Prosperities of a Friend ; whom yet they love a great deal more than these Men can possibly do their feigned and Romantick Heroes . And yet alas how very often do Men place the whole of their Religion in these mechanical Motions of their Blood and Spirits ; that think they are exceeding good , if they can but chafe themselves into a devout Passion ; and that it is an infallible Sign of Godliness that their Blood and Spirits are easily moved by religious Idea's , and apt to be elevated or dejected according as sad or joyous Arguments are pathetically represented to their Fancies : and though they do not understand the Argument , or which is all one to them , though that which is delivered for Argument is mere Gibberish , and insignificant Canting , that hath nothing of Argument or Reality in it , only some empty Fiction is conveyed to their Fancies by a musical Voice in fanciful Expressions ; yet because they are affected by it , and it raises a sensible Perturbation in their Blood and Spirits , they presently conclude it to be an Income of God , and an infallible Token of his special Love and Favour to them ; as if it were a Sign of Godliness , and a Mark of God's Favourites to be affected with Nonsense , feathered with soft and delicate Phrases , and pointed with pathetick Accents .

Thus there are some Men who believe themselves to be converted , meerly because they have run through all the Stages of Passion , in that new Road of Artificial Conversion which some modern Authors have found out ; for according as the Work of Conversion hath been described by some modern Authors , it is wholly placed in so many different Scenes of Passion . For first a Man must pass under the Discipline of the Law , and the Spirit of Bondage ; that is , he must be frightned into a Sense of his lost and undone Condition , and in this Sense he must grieve bitterly for his Sins as the Causes of his Ruin and Perdition ; and this is that which they call Conviction and Compunction . From hence he must proceed into the Evangelical State , and pass into the Spirit of Adoption , the Entrance of which is Contrition or Humiliation ; which consists in an ingenuous Sorrow for Sin , proceeding from a passionate Sense of God's Love and Goodness ; and then having acted over all these mournful Passions , he embraces and lays hold upon Christ , which is the concluding Scene , and is altogether made up of Ioy and Exultation , and so the Work of Conversion is finish'd . Now though I do not at all deny , but to the Conversion of an habitual Sinner it is indispensably necessary that he should be convinc'd of his Danger , and deeply affected with Sorrow and Remorse for his Folly and Wickedness ; ( and therefore would not be so understood , as if I intended to discountenance these holy Passions , which are such necessary Introductions to a sincere Conversion : ) yet neither do I doubt , but by the help of a melancholy Fancy attended with soft and easie Passions , a Man may perform all these Parts of Conversion , and yet be never the better for it ; for many times these Passions are only the necessary effects of a diseased Fancy , and are altogether as mechanical as the beating of our Pulse , or the Circulation of our Blood . And hence we see that this kind of Conversion , which wholly consists of bodily Passions , doth commonly both begin and end with some languishing Distemper of the Body , in which the Fancy is over-clouded , and the Motion of the Blood and Spirits retarded by the Prevalence of black and melancholy Humours ; which being once evacuated , the Man's Body returns again to its former Temper , and upon this he becomes the same Man again that he was before his pretended Conversion . And accordingly it is observed by those very Persons who place the whole Work of Conversion in these Mechanical Passions , that generally after the Pangs of Regeneration are over , their Converts grow cold , and careless , and remiss in Religion ; and so like to what they were in the State of Nature , that you would hardly believe they had ever been converted ; which is a plain Evidence that this sort of Conversion doth not reach the Soul , that it doth not alter our practical Judgment of things , nor rationally determine our Wills to new Choices and Resolutions ; and consequently that it is nothing but a mere Train of sensitive Passions mechanically excited by the Fancy . And hence you may observe in the Modern Stories of our Religious Melancholians , that they commonly pass out of one Passion into another without any manner of Reasoning and Discourse ; now they are in the Depths of Grief and Despair , by and by upon the Pinacle of Ioy and Assurance ; and yet they are the same Men , neither better nor worse , when they do despair , as when they are assured ; and consequently have no more Reason to be assured now , than they had when they were encompassed with all the Horrors of Desperation . For the only Reason any Man hath to be assured of God's Love , is his Likeness and Conformity to Him ; which is that alone that endears us unto God , and entitles us to the Promise of his Favour . And yet though these Men do not pretend to be better , or more Godlike now they are assured , than they were when they despaired ; yet their Hearts are overwhelmed with Floods of sensitive Joy , and they are strangely comforted they know not how nor wherefore : And though while they were in Despair , they thought of those Promises and Motives of Comfort that now ravish and transport them , and had every whit as much Reason to lay claim to them too ; yet then they lay like Cakes of Ice at their Hearts without affording them the least Gleam of Warmth and Comfort ; which is a plain evidence that both their Ioys and Sorrows are the products of bodily Temper , and not of Reason and Iudgment ; because they pass out of one into the other without any intervenient Discourse , and are agitated into contrary Passions whilst they are under the same Rational Motives ; are dejected this moment , and comforted the next , which argues , that their Reason hath no hand in their Passions ; for if it had , they could never be so contrarily affected . Nor can it be supposed , that such irrational Passions are raised in them by the Divine Spirit ; because He ordinarily works upon Men in an humane and rational way , beginning with their Understandings , and so perswading their Wills , and exciting their Passions by rational Motives and Arguments : Those Passions therefore that are not so excited can be resolved into no other Principle but that of bodily Temper . And accordingly you may observe , that all this Train of Passions , wherein too many Men do place the whole of their Conversion , are necessarily connected and chained to one another ; so that if you move but the first Link , all the rest will naturally follow ; which is a plain Argument that they may be excited not only in a free and rational , but also in a necessary , or mechanical way . As for instance , Suppose these Men before their pretended Conversion to have a good Dose of Melancholy in their Tempers , this will naturally dispose them to terrible and mournful Conceits ; and being thus disposed , their tender Fancies are easily impressed with dreadful Images of the Wrath of God , and their own undone Condition : And according as the Temper of their Bodies is more or less disposed to fear , so this frightful Passion continues longer or shorter upon 'em ; if it continues longer , it will by the reiterated Impressions of those dreadful Objects that first raised it , by degrees be heightned into Horror and Desperation ; and when it is so then the Man is under Conviction of his undone Condition , and under the Terrors of the Law , and the Spirit of Bondage ; which , according to the new Method , is always the first step to Conversion . And when the first Fury of Despair is over , it naturally issues into a deep Melancholy , and there spends it self in woful Regrets , and self-condemning Reflections ; and this is that which they call Attrition , or Compunction , which is the next Step to be taken in this methodical way of Conversion . And hence many People do continue many Years together in this languishing state , in all which time they believe themselves to be under the Lash of the Law , and the Discipline of the Spirit of Bondage ; when , God knows , many times there is nothing in it but a mere melancholy Humour tinctured and heightned with dismal Notions of Religion . But then when the Melancholy begins to disperse , and to make way for the Spirits to flow into the Brain in a more brisk and active Torrent , and so to warm and refresh the drooping Fancy ; they will by degrees scatter those horrid Images and dismal Fancies of Religion that rid the Imagination , and raised those tragical Passions ; and so the Man will gradually emerge out of the Spirit of Bondage into a more comfortable and Evangelical Condition . For now his Fancy being something more lightsome , but still retaining some Reliques of its former Darkness , will be disposed for grateful as well as dismal Phantasms , and to be impressed by lovely and joyous , as well as terrible and mournful Objects . So that if now God or Christ , or any other Object of Religion , be but represented to the Man in such a Dress of Metaphors and glistering Allusions , as is apt to affect his carnalized Fancy , he will presently form such charming Conceits and pleasant Imaginations of them , as will necessarily put his Blood and Spirits into a most amorous Emotion towards them ; so that now he shall seem inflamed with the Love of Christ , and fancy him twined in his Arms and Embraces : whereas in Reality the Thing he is so infinitely fond of , is nothing but an Idol of his own Fancy , a mere Baby-Christ , drest up by his own Imagination in all the Charms of sensual Beauty , and furnished with Smiles , and Kisses , and Caresses , and all the pretty Indearments of a doating Lover . And now the Man's Fancy being thus partly hung with fine Pictures of Christ , those Reliques of Melancholy Vapours that are yet remaining in it , will very much dispose it to sad and mournful Conceits ; especially when this Idol of Christ , which he so much doats upon , shall be represented as weeping over his Sins , and grieved at the Unkindnesse he shews him . And now his Fancy being thus furnished with such a Mixture of amorous and mournful Imaginations , must necessarily beget in him a Mixture of Love and Grief and cause him to mourn for his Sins ; because they make his Saviour grieve whom he seems to love so dearly : And this is Humiliation , which is the third Stage in this imaginary Road of Conversion . And now the Man having set up so gay an Image of Christ in his Fancy , and felt within himself such sensible Pangs of Love towards him , and Grief for the Affronts and Unkindnesses he hath offered him , his amorous Imagination will presently suggest to him , that doubtless so sweet a Saviour cannot but be conquered with all these passionate Indearments , and smitten with a reciprocal Love upon so many feeling Expressions of his Kindness towards him ; and being possest with this Imagination , he will presently fancy his dear Image of Christ into all the Postures of a transported Lover ; smiling upon him , weeping over him , and spreading out his Arms to embrace him ; upon which there will follow such a sweet Effusion of his Spirits towards his enamoured Saviour , that he will fansy himself to be leaping into his Arms , and rolling in his Bosom , and resting , and leaning , and relying upon him . And now his Fancy having carried him to his Iourney 's End , and lodged him in the Embraces of his Saviour , O the Joy and Ravishment ! he feels his Heart pant through Excess of Delight , and is ready to break with its own Raptures . And thus you see how this whole Method of Conversion may be easily transacted by an active and melancholy Fancy .

And as it may be , so I doubt not but many times it is ; for how many Men are there who strongly imagine themselves to have been converted , that yet are never the better for it , being still as averse unto God and true Goodness as ever they were before ; nay and many times are so far from being better'd by their Conversion , that they are a great deal the worse for it ; for instead of forsaking all Sin , which is that wherein true Conversion doth consist , they only shift their Vices , and many times in laying one Devil , they conjure up seven worse in the room of it . Perhaps before they fansied themselves to have been converted , they were openly lewd and profane ; they would swear and be drunk , and wallow in Sensuality and Voluptuousness ; but notwithstanding these beastly and damnable Crimes , they had some very amiable Qualities in them ; they were courteous and affable , and kind and obliging ; faithful in their Professions , and just and honest in their Dealings ; but now alas ! by passing through these dismal Stages of pretended Conversion , they have contracted such a mass of melancholy Humours as hath quite soured their sweet and lovely Tempers into Pride and Envy , Peevishness and Faction , Insolence and Censoriousness , and all the other Ingredients of a sullen and unsociable Nature . So that though now indeed they will not be openly lewd and profane , as they were before , yet , which is a great deal worse , they will be false and ill-natur'd , and griping and ungovernable ; and , which is worst of all , they will be all this while under the Disguise of Religion , and the Patronage of a deceived Conscience : so that whereas their former Vices had only the Possession of their Wills , but not of their Consciences , these are seized of both , which renders their Condition the more dangerous . For heretofore Virtue and Religion had a strong Party within them , there being a Law in their Minds that warred against the Law in their Members ; but now all is subdued to the Dominion of their Sins , and their Wills and Consciences , like Simeon and Levi , become Brethren in Iniquity . Whilst therefore Men place their Religion in such artificial Trains of Passion , they will be liable to all manner of Cheats and Impostures . For the Generality of Men being ignorant of the Power of Melancholy , and of the Frame and Structure of their own Bodies ; if their Fancies are but tinctured with Religion , they will be apt to attribute every extraordinary Emotion they feel to the immediate Influence of the Spirit of God , and to account that to be Grace and Inspiration which is a mere necessary Effect of Matter and Motion ; and being once possessed with this Conceit , they lye open to all the Follies of Enthusiasm ; for now nothing will satisfy them but Heats of Fancy , and Transports of Passion ; and whilst they should be attending to the sober Dictates of Scripture and right Reason , they will be looking for Incomes , and Impulses , and secret Manifestations ; and consequently , will be apt to interpret every odd Whimsey for an inward Whisper from Heaven , and every brisk Emotion of their Spirits for an immediate Smile of God's Countenance ; than which , I dare boldly say , there is nothing more mischievous to Religion , or contrary to the Life and Power of it . For Religion is a wise , a still , and silent thing , that consists not in Frisks of Fancy , and Whirlwinds of Passion ; but in a divine Temper of Mind , and an universal Resignation of our Wills to God ; and this not only in intermittent Fits of Passion , but in the midst of cool Thoughts and calm Deliberations . For true Religion is a State of a fixt and constant Nature , that doth not come and go , like the Colours of a blushing Face , but is the natural and true Complexion of the Soul . How religious soever therefore we may be in our passionate Heats and Transports , it it altogether insignificant , unless the standing Temper of our Minds be good , and our Religion be settled in our Natures . For though it cannot be denied but these our bodily Passions do profit something , as they are useful Instruments of Religion ; yet I think it is very apparent from what hath been said , that he who places his Religion in them doth but deceive his own Soul .