Part n.· 269 . CHAP. X. Hoiincfs the mofl PleAfant Way~, I Have pre>ved beyond all reafonable contradiCtion thatHolinefs is the Safe, the Honeft, the Profitable and the Honourable ihtearid courfe: But my h:ardefi task is yet to be done; and that is, to prove it the rnoil: Pleafant way. · And the difficulty of this is not at all from the matter, but from the perfons with whom I have to do. For nothing is Pleafl)lnt unto men,. but what is Juta– ble to their natures, and apprehended by them t0 be for their , good, or in it fdf more excellent then their good. That is Plea– /ant to one man that is loathfom to another. As the food and converfe is delightful to a lnaft, that is loath(om and as bad as death toman: So one mans Pleafure is anothers Pain. .Even about the common matters of this life, variety of complexions, educations., cufioms, difpofitions, cdoth caufe a varieEy ofaffecti– ons; the difference between the fandifi~d and unfandified, the fpiritlilal and-the carnal mind, doth caufe a greater contrariety. If therefore the errour of wicked minds , or the diil:em– per of your fouls, do make the Be(f things feem the -worft, and · the fweeteft things to .feem mofi: Bitter, this is no conftltation ~ ofmyArgu.men t,that provesthe way ofGodlinefs mofiPleafant.If I would prove that wine is pleafanter then Vinegar,erBread chen e1ir1 or 11/hes, I mean not EO appeal to the appetites of the fic/z; It is the found andhealthful that mull be judges. If a man will fuffer his mind to"be poffeffcd with prejudice and bafe thoughts of God himfelf, no wonder if he_cannot love him, nor take any delight in him~ Anq if men havea malignant enmity to Godlinefs, no reafon will perfwacle them that it is mofi pleafant, but what perfwadcs them from that ·enmity. No Reafon will perfwade a floathful perfon that Labour is better then fieep and id lends ; no Reafon will perfwade adrunkard, glutton, or voluptuous wretch, that abitinence and continenc<:: are the fweetefi life. Could we change their Hearts, we fhould change their Pleafure.s. ~uch as men arc, fuch are their delights But the thing that I undertake, is, to manife~ to ~eny competent difcerner, that Holinefs i-s the moft Mm 3 Pleafant
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