Those Works which Christ and his Apostles wrought , which made the whole World , that was Heathen then , so many Millions of such distant Nations as could never meet together to conspire an universal change in their Religions , made them yet agree to lay aside their dear Gods and their dearer Vices , and doe that to embrace a Crucified Deity , a God put to a vile ignominious death , as one worse then the worst of men , and a Religion that was as much hated , counted as accursed as that God of it , He and his Doctrine crucified a like , and a Religion too that had as great severities in its Commands as in its Persecutions , that did it self enjoyn as hard and cruel things to flesh and bloud as they that hated it inflicted , the duties and the punishments equally seem executed on its followers , and a Religion , whose performances had no retributions here but fatal ones , no otherwise rewarded but with fire and faggot , and whose after-promises were most incredible : Those Works that could produce all this had certainly omnipotent conviction in them ; sure we are there must be prodigie of Miracle either in the causes , or in the effect . And yet the Scribes and Pharisees are not wrought on by them . Their carnal Prejudices would not be removed , not by the Finger of God : the mean and despicable , and , as to all their worldly expectations and affections , the unsatisfying condition of our Saviour , had so clouded all his works , and their own pride so blinded them , that they could see no argument in Miracle .

Now 't is the Devil , that God of the World , that hath the power of its Glories , and the managery of its temptations , who , by raising these affections , dazles so and blinds the minds of men , that they should not believe . S. Paul affirms it : and 't is plain that Vnbelief is no one's Interest but Satan's . For it is not Man's . Not the Vertuous man's certainly : He 's concern'd as much as Happiness amounts to , to believe there is a God , whose Cares and Providence watch over him , whose Ears and Arms are open to him , whose Bowells yearn for him , whose Bloud did purchase him , whose everlasting Blessednesses do await him . 'T is his Interest to trust that Vertue , which the World so scorns or pitties , was yet worthy God should be incarnated to teach it , die to purifie us into it , and will raise us up again to cro●n it . Neither is this Unbelief Man's real Interest , abstracting from these prejudices of Religion . For if it were Man's real Interest , then it were every man's wisest course to pursue that Interest . But if every man did so , and should persuade himself into Infidelity , and that Religion and a Deity were but dreams or artifices , and so arrive so farr as to have no fear of God , nor sense of Honestie or Vertue , the whole world must needs return into the first confusions of its Chaos : Villany and Rapine would have right . When those Mounds are thrown down , there is nothing that can hinder but that every man may lawfully break in upon and invade every thing . There is no fence to guard thy Coffers nor thy Bed , no nor thy very Breast : rather indeed there can be nothing thine . This is , 't is true , Leviathan's state of Nature ; and 't is so indeed with the Leviathans of Sea and Land , the wilde Beasts of the Deep and of the Desert . But to prevent the necessary and essential mischiefs of this state amongst us Men , He will have Nature to have taught us to make Pacts and Oaths : but if there 's no such thing as Vertue or Religion , then there is no obligation to keep Pacts or Oaths . And why should he observe them that can safely break them ? Here it is indeed that Doctrine ends ; to this their Infidelity does tend . And therefore 't is no Interest of States or Princes . This the Atheist will confess ; Gods and Religions were invented for the mere necessities of Governours , who could not be secure without those higher Obligations , and these after-fears . And are they not kind . Subjects then who , by promoting Atheism , labour to break down that fence which themselves account necessary ? Or are they not good rational Discoursers too , who labour to throw out a thing as false and vain , because 't is necessary ? So necessary sure , that they who weaken these bonds of Religion , quite dissolve those of Allegiance , all whose Sinews are made of those Sacred Ties , which if you untwist , the other Cords are burst as easily as threads of Cobweb . Nay these Doctrines lay Principles that justifie Rebellion and King-killing . For if there 's no such thing as Vertue or Religion , then those are no Crimes . And it is no wonder Treason hath been lov'd , when Blasphemy hath been so . They that hear men droll on God Almighty , raille their Maker , and buffoon with Him , will quickly learn to speak with little reverence of their Superiours . There 's no Kingdome but the Devil 's that can have support from Infidelity ; 't is the Interest of that indeed . His work goes more securely on , when there are no religious apprehensions to check it : allow'd Vice cannot be at ease if it but think those things are true . It is the infinite concern of Wickedness , that the Laws of Vertue and Religion should be onely Spiders webs , Snares for innocent and lesser flies , while venimous Spiders can pass safely through them , and the Wasps can burst them ; are Entanglements onely for the weak , the Phlegmatick and Hypochondriack : and that there should be no God that can bring them to an after-reckoning . They that flatter and betray , that hugg , and then trip up , or that plot villanies and ruines under fair and godly vizards ; must needs be unwilling to believe that there is one who a tries the reins , and sea●●hes hearts , and that will render every one according to his works . The Drunkard , who nor must nor can keep the remembrance of his Cups , cannot endure to apprehend he must be call'd to an account of them . The man whose Lust prevents the Grave , that putrefies alive , and drops by piece-meal into rotten dust ere he return to earth , must needs be loth that there should be a Resurrection , to collect the scatter'd , the foul atomes of his Sin and his Disease , and shew them at that dread Tribunal , before God , his Holy Angels , and Mankind . Such as these are the onely men that are concern'd against Religion . Here we see whose Interest such promote who promote Infidelity . And truly 't is so much the Devil's Interest , that by those very measures that he weakens Faith , he strengthens every sort of Wickedness : by the steps and degrees of Infidelity men ascend towards the heights of Sin : and when they have surmounted all Religious apprehensions , then they are upon the Precipice of Vice. When the Floud-gates are removed , the Torrent must break impetuously . For what is there that can hinder ? Nothing certainly , if present Interest be not able : But 't is plain that Thieves , and Murtherers , and Rebells , in fine , every one whom we call Sinners , do pursue that which they account their present Interest : that therefore , if there were no other , would not be sufficient , since the Devil does make use of that to work with under Infidelity . This indeed he batters , makes his spreading ruines with : therefore S. Paul calls him a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the spirit that works in filiis diffidentiae , saith the Vulgar : in the unbelievers , so it bears : in filiis insuasibilitatis , in the men that will not be persuaded to believe . In these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Possest and agitated by him : 't is he spirits what they doe : their actions are his incitations and motions : In summe , as to wickedness , they are mere Demoniacks . This therefore is his chief and the first Engine .

2. The second Instrument by which he does demolish whatsoever hopes of Vertue we are built up to is Want of Imployment : and in order to this , he hath so far prevail'd on the opinions of the world , that they believe some states of men not onely have no obligation to be busied , but to have no Calling is essential to their condition ; which is made more eminent upon this account that they have no business . Wealth , how great soever , if with an imployment or profession , makes a man onely a more gentile Mechanick : But Riches and nothing to doe make a Person of quality . As if God had made that state of men , far the most generous part of the whole kinde , and best appointed for the noblest uses of the world , to serve no other ends but what the Grashoppers and Locusts do , to sing and dance among the Plants and Branches , and devour the fruits ; and Providence had furnish'd them with all advantages of plenty for no better purposes . Such persons think not onely to reverse God's Curse , and In the sweat of others faces eat their bread , but reverse Nature too ; for Job saith , a Man is born to labour , as the sparks flie upwards ; in his making hath a principle to which Activity is as essential as it is to fire to mount ; from which nothing else but force can hinder it : As if man did doe violence to his making when he did doe nothing ; and it were his hardest work and pressure , not to be imploy'd ; it were like making flame go downwards . I am sure , it is one of the busiest ways of doing Satan's work . Our Saviour in a Parable in the XII . Ch. of S. Matt. from the 43. v. saith , When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man , he goeth through dry places , seeking rest , and findeth none : Then he saith , I will return into my house from whence I came out ; and when he is come , he findeth it empty , swept , and garnished . Then goeth he , and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked then himself , and they enter in and dwell there . Where , under the Similitude of a man cast out of his habitation , who , while he wanders through none but desert places seeking for a dwelling , he is sure to meet with none ; but if he finde an house that 's empty , swept and garnish'd , he hath found out not a receptacle onely , but an invitation , an house drest on purpose to call in and to detain inhabitants : He signifies , that when a Temptation of the Devil is repell'd , and himself , upon some working occasion , by a resolute act of holy courage thrown out of the heart ; as he finds no rest in this condition , every place is desert to him , but the Heart of man is indeed Hell to him , for he calls it a torment to be cast out thence , yea he accounts himself bound up in his eternal chains of b darkness , when he is restrain'd from working and engaging man to sin ; so , while he goeth to and fro , seeking an opportunity to put in somewhere , if he finde that heart from which he was cast out , or any other heart , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ( so the word is , ) idling , not imploy'd or busied , ( so it signifies , ) such an heart is empty , swept , and garnish'd for him , 't is a dwelling that 's drest properly to tempt the Devil , fitted to receive him and his forces too , prepar'd for him to garrison , and make a strong hold of , whence he cannot be remov'd ; for he takes unto him seven other spirits more wicked then himself , and they enter in and dwell there . No doubt they are the Patron-Guardian spirits of the seven deadly sins , their Tutelary Devils . Some of those good qualities that are the attendants of Idleness you may finde decypher'd in the Scripture . S. Paul says , when people a learn to be idle , they grow tattlers , busie-bodies , speaking things which they ought not . 'T is strange that Idleness should make men and women busy-bodies , yet it does most certainly in other folks affairs . Faction , then which nothing in the world can be more restless , is nurst by it . Where are States so censur'd , so new-modell'd , as at certain of our Refectories , places that are made merely for men to spend their time in which they know not what to doe with ? At those Tables our Superiours are dissected ; Calumny and Treason are the common , are indeed the more peculiar entertainments of the places . In fine , where persons have no other employment for their time but talking , and either have not so much Vertue as to finde delight in talking good things , or not so much skill as to speak innocent recreation , there they talk of others , censure , and back-bite , and scoffe . This is indeed the onely picquant conversation ; Gall is sawce to all their entertainments : and that you may know these things proceed from that old Serpent , they doe nothing else but hiss and bite . 'T is the a poison of Asps that is under their lips which gives relish to their discourses ; 't is the sting that makes them grateful , veni ne that they are condited with .

More of the brood of this want of Imployment you may finde at Sodome ; namely , Pride and Luxury : for saith Ezekiel , b This was the iniquity of Sodome ; Pride , fulness of bread , and abundance of Idleness , was in her and in her daughters . And indeed the idle person could not possibly know how to passe his hours , if he had not Delicacies to sweeten some , Wine to lay some asleep , and the solicitous deckings of Pride to take up others : But the studious gorgings of the inside , and the elaborate trimmings of the outside , help him well away with them .

Good God! that for so many hours my morning eyes should be lift up to nothing but a Looking-glass ! that that thin Shadow of my self should be my Idol , be my God indeed , to which I pay all the devotions I perform ! And when with so much care and time I have array'd and marshall'd my self , that I should spend as much more too in the complacencies of viewing this ! with eager eyes and appetite surveying every part , as if I had set out , expos'd them to my self alone , and onely drest a prospect for my own sight ! and since Nature , to my grief , hath given me no eyes behinde ; that I should fetch reliefs from Art , and get vicarious sight , and set my back parts too before my face , that so I may enjoy the whole scene of my self ! And why all this ? for nothing but to serve vain Ostentation , or negotiate for Lust , to dress a Temptation , and start Concupiscence . And that the half of each day should be spent thus ! the best part of a reasonable creature 's and a Christian's life be laid out upon purposes so farr from Christian or reasonable !

And truely Luxury will easily eat the remainder up , that sure companion of Idleness . For when the Israelites were in the Wilderness , where they could not eat but by Miracle , and the Rock must give them drink ; yet , having no imployment , they made Feasls : a They sate down to eat and drink , and rose up to play . Nor would eating to the uses of their nature serve them , but they must have entertainments for their wantonness . Had they been imploy'd to get their bread , their labour would have made their morsells sweet : but since God , as the Wise-man saies , sent them from Heaven bread prepar'd without their labour , they must have varieties to sweeten it ; they require him to b prepare a Table also in the wilderness , and furnish them with choice . And although they had the food of Angels , c able to content every man's delight , and agreeing to every tast , and serving to the appetite of the eater , it temper'd it self to every man's liking , and what could they fansy more ? the latitude of creatures , the whole Universe of Luxury could doe nothing else ; in every single morsell they had sorts , Variety , all choice ; as if that Desert had been Paradise , that Wilderness the Garden of the Lord : Yet so coy is Idleness , so apt to nauseate , that they abhor the constancy of being pleas'd . And though they were not sated neither , a he that gather'd much had nothing over , onely to his eating , God as well providing for their Health and Vertue , as necessity , and dieting their Temperance as he did their hunger : yet their very liking does grow loathsome to them . When their bodies were thus excellently well provided for , having no imployment , nothing to take up their minds and entertain their Souls , they require b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meat for their Souls , meat not to serve the uses of their bodies , but to feed their fancies , their extravagant minds . Thus Idleness requires to be dieted . And all this but to pamper and feed high mens inclinations , so to make Temptations irresistible , and by consequence Vice necessary .

It were easie to recount more of those ways by which the Devil does make use of mens want of Imployment to debauch their lives , and ruine all the hopes of Vertue in them . S. Jude finds more of its effects at Sodome : a They gave themselves over to Fornication , and went after other flesh , and are set forth for a● example , suffering the vengeance of eternal fire . Indeed these are most certain consequents of not being imploy'd : Quaeritur Aegysthus — is too known an instance : and b great , Holy David is another . But it s dire influence is sufficiently visible in that which it rain'd down upon those Cities . Since it did fulfill the guilt of Sodome , and made Heaven furnish Hell for it , and God himself turn Executioner of fire and brimstone to revenge it ; this shall serve to prove it is one of the Devil's Master-pieces .

3. Next succeed his c fiery darts , as S. Paul calls them , namely , Persecutions , or Calamities of any kind : which he manageth either by inflicting pressures ; and he was so confident of the force of those , that he did tell God he would make d Job curse him to his face with them : or if he find men in necessities and pressures , then by tempting them to get from under them by methods which he shall direct ; and he had such assurance of the strength of this Temptation , that by it he try'd our Saviour , to find out whether he were the e Son of God or no , believing none but he that was so would be able to resist it .

Indeed the trials are severe which this Temptation does present , to draw men from their Duty , and to overcome their Constancy : whether it solicite by inflicting punishment , ( as on the Mother and her Children , II Maccab. VII . ) or by offering to withdraw it , if they will submit to their unlawfull terms , ( and so they try'd her youngest son there , ver . 24. ) or at leastwise by some feigned act , some ambiguous words or practices , will pretend compliance , ( so they dealt with Eleazar , Chap. VI. 21. whom they would have had to bring flesh of his own provision , such as he might use without offence , and so onely seem to eat forbidden meat . ) Each of which is as great a trial also , and to stand against them reckon'd up amongst as vigorous acts of Faith , as those that held out in the greatest tortures persecuting malice could invent : Heb. XI . 37. They were ston'd , sawn asunder , were tempted .

Now to fetch an instance of the sad success of these , I shall not need to go so farr as to those Persecutions of Antiochus : nor those of the primitive times of Christianity ; when they had no other choices but these , to deliver up their Bibles or their Lives ; either to sacrifice to Idols , or at least procure a Ticket which should certifie that they had done it , or to be themselves an Holocaust , and give those Idols a Burnt-offering with their martyr-flames . Which made the Traditores , Lapsi , the Thurificati and the Libellatici to be so numerous . Through God's blessed mercy there is no use of such instances , as there is no fear of such a trial ; 't is not death to be a Christian now : For if the Son of man or Satan's self should come to try us at those rates , 't were a great doubt whether the one or other would a find Faith upon the earth ; whether they would sacrifice a life to our Religion , who are not content to sacrifice a little interest or pleasure to it ; whether they are likely to b resist unto bloud fighting against sin , who will not resist to tears nor sober resolutions . Alas ! what Religion should we be of , if God should raise a Diocletian , come to tempt us with the fiery trial ? Martyrs as we are to nothing but our Passions and our Lusts ! Nor shall I produce more known and near experiences , when , by reason of such storms of Persecution , men ma●e shipwreck , if not of their Faith , yet of good Conscience . When by order or permissions of Providence they were brought to such a streight , that either they must let goe their possessions or their honesty , acting against Principles , and conscience of Duty ; I shall not remember , how , when God did shake his angry hand thus over them , they fled to the Devil's kindness , and made Hell their refuge , to save them from their Father's rod : how they grew so Atheistical , as to believe a Perjury or other crime greater security , that would preserve their selves and their condition better then all God had promis'd ; were such infidels , that they did rather trust their being here to the commission of a sin , then to the Providence and the Engagements of the Almighty . For indeed what need I instance in these greater cases , where the trial was so sharp , as not to offer any easier choice then this , either to part with Conscience or with all they had ? God knows , we find less Interests will doe : The Devil by no more then this , driving the Gadarens swine into the Sea , was able to drive Christ out of their coasts . You have the story VIII . Matt. from the 28 ver . A legion of those evil spirits did possess two men ; and finding Christ would cast them out , and by that Miracle so farr shew forth his power , that in probability the whole Countrey would believe on him , they fall upon this project to prevent it ; they besought him , if he would cast them out , to suffer them to goe into an herd of swine there feeding ; hoping by destroying them to incense the owners against Christ : and , to try them , he permitted this . The possess'd swine ran violently down into the Lake , and perish'd . Now a man would think the virulency of these Devils , which were so destructive when they were at liberty and not restrain'd , would have endear'd the mercy that had cast them out of the poor men , and came to dispossess the Countrey of them ; and that their astonishment at so great a Miracle would possess them all with reverence and belief of him ; and that they would therefore seise and possess him also , and not let the mercy goe : But , on the contrary , the whole City and Countrey came out to meet Jesus , and , in consideration of the loss of their swine , desire him to depart out of their coasts . Lo here an equal enemy to Christ and all his Miracles , that was indeed too hard for them . The Senate of Hell had no project to keep out Religion like to this , to make Religion thwart an Interest . Rather no Christianity then lose an Earthly satisfaction by it : Rather have the swine then Christ himself .

4. But if he chance to fail in this Assault , ( as by our Saviour he was beaten off ) he hath yet a Reserve , in which he places his last , strongest confidence ; with which he ventured to charge Christ , when it is probable he knew He was the Son of God. a He takes him up into an high mountain , and shews him all the Kingdomes of the earth in the twinkling of an eye , and the glory of them , and says , All these things will I give thee . He thought it was impossible for such a prospect not to make impression on the appetite , raise some desire , or stir one Covetous or Ambitious thought : which if it could but doe , he made no scruple then to clog the Gift with such conditions as that there , All these things will I give thee , if thou wilt fall down and worship me . 'T is said indeed , the a Covetous man is an Idolater : and here we see the God he does doe homage to , and worship . The Devil does require , that those whom he gives wealth to , ( now 't is he that gives it to the Covetous , to all indeed that get it with injustice or with greediness ; ) he requires , I say , that these should pay all their Religion to Himself : and the Ambitious , in however high a place he sets them , must fall down to him . And truly these two dispositions can give worship to no other God but such an one as is b Abaddon , the Destroyer of Mankind . For all the great Commotions of the world , all those Convulsions that tear Provinces and Empires , all Seditions and Rebellions , with those armies of iniquities that attend them , and that wage their designs , which are upheld by legions of villanies as well as men , all the Disturbances of States and Church , are but attempts of Covetous and Ambitious spirits , men that are unsatisfied with their condition , and desire a change , and care not how they compass it : they can charge through seas of bloud and sin , over the face of men and Conscience , to get out of that condition , which they therefore are not well content with , because something they like better beckens their ambitious and their covetous desires . Would you see what one of these will venture at ? When Christ our Saviour was to be betray'd , when a Person of the Godhead was to be deliver'd up and crucified , the Devil had no passion to imploy on that design so fit as the desire of getting money ; and when that desire was once entertain'd , we see he enters a really in person , and possesses such a soul ; and when he is there , he designs no farther but to warm and stir that passion : 't is sufficient fruit of his possession , he hath done enough in such an heart wherein he dwells , if he but keep alive that desire of money : for he knows that will make the man adventure upon any guilt ; for it made Judas undertake to betray Christ. And as for the other passion which the Devil did design the glories of his prospect to give fire to , though he could not stir it in our Saviour , yet he knew it vanquisht him himself when he was Angel. What height is there which Ambition will not flie at , since it made this Spirit aim at an equality with the b Most High ? Heaven it self was not sufficient to content him , while there was a God above him in it . And since this affection peopled Hell with Devils , 't is no wonder if it people Earth with Miseries and Vices .

5. The remaining Trial with which Satan did assault our Saviour , when he tempted him with a Scripture and God's Promises , and sought to ruine him with his own Priviledges : with that also

6. His being a lying spirit in the mouth of all the Prophets ; by which long ago he did destroy an Ahab , in the I Kings XXII . 22. But since by sad experience we know , he ruin'd the best King , purest Church , and most flourishing State , by the same stratageme . But these , with those other which S. Paul does call his b wiles , I must omit ; sufficient hath been said already to inforce the necessity of resisting , which is the Duty , and the next considerable .

Resist the Devil : that is , do not you consent to his Temptations : for there is no more requir'd of us , but this onely , not to be willing to be c taken , and led captive by him . For let him suggest , incite , assault and storm us , no impression can be made upon us till we yield , and till we give consent no hurt is done . It is not here as in our other warrs : In those no resolution can secure the victory , but notwithstanding all resistence possible , we may be vanquisht ; yea , sometime men are overprest and die with conquering , and the Victor onely gains a Monument , is but buried in the heaps of his slain Trophies . But in these warrs with the Devil , whosoever is unwilling to be vanquisht , never can be : for he must first give consent to it , and will the ruine : for men do not sin against their wills . Onely here we must distinguish betwixt Will , and then Velleity and Woulding . For let no man think when he commits deliberate iniquity with averseness and reluctancy of mind , allows not what he does , but does the evil that he would not , what he hates that he does ; that this is not to be imputed to the Will , that in this case he is not willing , but here the spirit is willing , but the flesh is weak , and yields through mere infirmity : For , on the contrary , the Devil finds the flesh so strong in this case , that with it alone he does assault the mind , and breaks through its reluctancies and aversations , bears down all its resolutions , triumphs over all that does pretend to God or Vertue in him . Where 't is thus , let no man flatter or persuade himself he does what he would not , when it is plain he does impetuously will the doing it . Let him not think that he allows not , but hates that which he does ; when it is certain , in that moment that he does commit , not to allow that which he does resolve and pitch upon and chuse , to hate what with complacency he acts , or to doe that unwillingly which he is wrought on by his own concupiscence to doe , and by his inward incitations , by the mutiny of his own affections , which the Devil raises , and when it is the mere height and prevalencie of his appetite that does make him doe it , ( as it must be where there is reluctancy before he doe it , his desires and affections there are evidently too strong for him , ) or at last , to hate the doing that which 't is his too much love to that makes him doe ; are all impossibilities , the s●me things as to will against the will , desire against appetite . But do but keep thy self sincerely and in truth from being willing , and thou must be safe : For God expects no more but that we should not voluntarily yield to our undoing . He hath furnisht us with his own compleat armour for no farther uses of a warre , but to encourage us to stand . a Take unto you the whole armour of God , that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil : and again , Put ye on the whole armour of God , that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day , and having done all , to stand . There is no need to doe more then this , not to be willing and consent to fall ; for no man can be beaten down but he that will fall .

It were very easie for me to prescribe you how to fortifie against those Engines of the Devil's battery which I produc'd to you . But that I may not stay upon particulars , directing those whom he prevails upon through want of imployment to find out honest occasions not to be idle ; ( and here it is the most unhappy thing in the whole world , for any man to be necessitated to be vicio as by his having nothing else to doe , and because , while the world accounts it a Pedantick thing to be brought up by rules and under discipline , he cannot learn how to imploy himself to his advantage ) to pass by these , I say , the universal strength against this enemie is Faith. a Your adversary the Devil , like a roaring Lion , goeth up and down seeking whom he may devour ; whom resist steadfast in the Faith. And that not onely as it frustrates all that he attempts by means of Infidelity , but it also b quenches all his fiery darts ; whatsoever bright Temptation he presents to draw us from our Duty , or whatever fiery triall he makes use of to affright and martyr with . For the man whose Faith does give him c evidence and eye-sight of those blessed Promises eye hath not seen , and gives d substance , present solid being to his after hopes , and , whose heart hath swallow'd down those happy expectations which have never entred in the heart of man to comprehend ; what is there that can tempt or fright him from his station ? To make all that which Satan gave the prospect of prevail on such a Soul , the Kingdoms of the earth must out-vie God's Kingdome , and their Gauds out-shine his Glory , and the twinkling of an eye seem longer then Eternity : for nothing less then these will serve his turn , all these are in his expectations . Or what can fright the man whose heart is set above the sphere of terrours ? who knows calamity , how great soever , can inflict but a more sudden and more glorious blessedness upon him ; and the most despiteful cruel usage can but persecute him into Heaven . 'T is easie to demonstrate that a Faith and expectation of the things on earth , built upon weaker grounds then any man may have for his belief of things above , hath charg'd much greater hazards , overcome more difficulties then the Devil does assault us with . For sure none is so Scepticall , but he will grant that we have firmer grounds to think there is another world in Heaven , then Columbus ( if he were the first Discoverer ) had to think there was another Earth ; and that there are far richer hopes laid up there in that other world , for those that do deny themselves the sinful profits and the jollities of this , and force them from their inclinations , then those Sea-men could expect who first adventur'd with him thither . For they could not think to gain much for themselves , but onely to take seisin of the Land ( if any such there were ) for others covetous cruelty ; cold get little else but onely richer graves , and to lie buried in their yellow earth . Nor are we assaulted in our voyage with such hazards , as they knew they must encounter with ; the path of Vertue and the way to Heaven is not so beset with difficulties as theirs was ; when they must cut it out themselves through an unknown new world of Ocean , where they could see nothing else but swelling gaping Death , from an abysse of which they were but weakly guarded , and remov'd few inches onely : and as if the dangerousest shipwrecks were on shore , they found a Land more savage and more monstrous then that Sea. Yet all this they vanquisht for such slender hopes , and upon so uncertain a belief . A weak Faith therefore can doe mighty works ; greater then any that we stand in need of to encounter with our enemy : It can remove these mountains too ; the golden ones that Covetousness and Ambition do cast up ; yea more , it can remove the Devil also , for if you resist him stedfast in the faith , he flies , which is the happy Issue , and my last part .