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A58177
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A persuasive to a holy life, from the happiness that attends it both in this world and in the world to come by John Ray ...
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Ray, John, 1627-1705.
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1700
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Wing R401; ESTC R13690
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51,693
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consequences of loving our Neighbour as our selves If we loved him as our selves we would wish him as much good and do him as much good as we do to our selves We would willingly that other Men should do their Duties to us shew us all kindness and be helpful and beneficial to us in all our Wants and Necessities and why because we love our selves Had we the same love to them it would have the same effects We would do the same good to them that we desire from them To instance in the particular Commands Children Subjects and Inferiors would yield to their Parents Magistrates and Superiors all that Honour Reverence and Obedience which themselves would expect and desire from their Inferiors were they in the same Relations and Circumstances No Man would willingly have his own Body killed or wounded or any way tormented and put to pain because no Man ever yet hated his own flesh but nourisheth and cherisheth it as the * Eph. 5.29 Apostle speaks Did he then love his Neighbour as himself he would be so far from injuring him in that kind that he would not suffer others to do so if he could help it Every Man is jealous of the Loyalty of his Wife and impatient of having his Enclosure invaded and made common because he sets a high value on her Love and Fidelity and looks upon it as a great dishonour as well as an injury done him to be robbed of it Think we then he would offer such an abuse and wrong to his Neighbour did he love him as himself and were as tender of his Reputation as his own Did Men love their Neighbours as themselves there would be no need of Locks and Bars to secure their Goods from rapine and surreptions by Thieves and Robbers because there would be no such so that every Man might lie down securely and there would be none to make him afraid Love is so far from invading another's right that it is liberal and communicative and willing rather to part with its own The like if it were needful might easily be shewn in the rest of the Commandments relating to our Neighbour It remains now that we speak of the Effects and Consequents of a Holy Life upon the Soul or Inward Man They are I. The regulating and exalting of our Faculties and inabling them for their proper Functions II. The Peace Tranquillity and Joy attendant to and consequent thereupon 1st As for the regulating and exalting of our Faculties they are 1. The Vnderstanding 2. The Will 3. The Affections 1. The Vnderstanding As Sin and Vice doth stupifie and blind it and disable it to judge aright so the Commandments of God when obeyed do enlighten it and enable it to discern and approve things that are excellent Psalm 119.98 Thou through thy Commandments hast made me wiser than miâ—e enemies for they are ever with me v. 99. I have more understanding than all my teachers for thy testimonies are my meditation v. 100. I understand mâ—re than the aâ—cients because I keep thy precepts Psalm 111.10 A good understanding have all they that do his Commandments 2. The Will The Perfection whereof consists in a perfect resignation to the Will of God and true liberty that is freedom from the Bondage of Sin and Corruption from the slavery of Satan from the dominion of every vile Affection Wicked Men are real Slaves and Vassals to their Lusts This the very Heathen acknowledged as Cicero and Horace Juvenal Persius and others From this Bondage the Son of God delivers us John 8.34 Our Saviour saith Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin And v. 36. If the son therefore shall make you free ye shall be free indeed 3. The Affections or Passions The Law of God requires and commands us to moderate and rule them to place them upon their proper Objects and to keep them within their due bounds and good reason there is we should hold a strict hand over them Animum rege qui nisi paret Imperat. If they be given way to and the Bridle let loose they become the great disturbers of Mens peace quiet and tranquillity Anger Hatred Envy c. What storms and tumults do they raise in the Breast what mischievous imaginations do they excite what plotting and counterplotting of revenge breaking out many times into railings revilings opprobrious Language bitter Curses and Execrations they toss the Mind to and fro as contrary Winds do the Sea causing it to cast up Mire and Dirt. On the contrary where the Passions are duely governed and moderated kept within their proper bounds and channels the Soul is calm and serene and fit for any Employment or Exercise Civil or Religious 2dly The Happiness of the Inward Man consists in that peace joy and tranquillity that is attendant upon or consequent to our obedience to God's Commands 1. Pleasure and Delight attends the performance of our Duties Vertuous and Pious Actions are agreeable to the Nature and Inclinations of good Men It is as grateful and pleasing to a good Man to do good as to an hungry Man to eat or a thirsty Man to drink It is as great a satisfaction to his Rational Inclinations as those other are to the sensual Appetites Nothing can be more delightful and welcome to a generous Mind than an opportunity of shewing it self grateful to Parents Friends and Benefactors and making ample returns to those by whom he hath been obliged for the favours received Nothing more acceptable than to be employed in worthy Actions especially such as tend to promote publick good the peace and prosperity of our Country or Mankind in general The Heathen Poet could say Dulce decorum est pro Patria mori It is a sweet and comely thing even to die for ones Countrey Which yet I suppose is too high a flight or pitch of Charity for a Heathen to attain to and that there must be something of glory to carry them so far To overcome Evil with Good and return Kindnesses instead of Injuries thereby melting the Hearts of our Enemies and making them our Friends is certainly a more pleasant thing and much more for our peace and ease than revenging our selves of them To return good for evil is a Godlike quality our Saviour commanding us to love our enemies and to do good to them that hate us c. to engage us thereto proposes God's Example who causes his sun to shine on the evil and on the good and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust Who is kind unto the unthankful and the evil Cicero in his Gratulatory Oration to Caesar for M. Marcellus makes him that forgives Enemies and restores them to their former Dignities like to God Non ego illum summis viris comparo sed Deo similem judico 2. Peace and joy and confidence towards God is a necessary consequent of Obedience to his Commandments 1 Joh. 3.21 If our hearts condemn us not then have we confidence towards God and whatsoever we
to set them forth as illustrious Examples of Fortitude Faith and Patience Did not righteous Men sometimes conflict with adversity and Misery there would be no use of such a Grace as Patience nay it could not be known that there were any such or to enhance their future reward The Martyrs who seal the Truth with their Blood shall in the judgment of Divines be advanced to a higher degree of Glory than ordinary Christians and â—e crowned with Aureolae suitable to their deserts But those two latter places of the Apostle are to be understood of the Primitive Times of Christianity when all the Poweâ—s of the World were Heathen when God was pleased to make use of the Sufferings of the Proâ—essors of it â—o propagate the Gospel after a strange and wonderful manner So that Sanguis Martyrum was said to be Semen Ecclesiae the Blood of Martyrs the Seed of the Church But now since the publick reception and acknowledgment of the Truth Since Kings have become â—ursing Fathers and Queens nursiâ—g Mâ—thers to the Chuâ—ch The case is altered and Religion instead of exposing its Professors to Sufferings doth rather promote their Worâ—dly Interest Those Afflictions which God is pleased to lay upon his Children and Servants as fatherly Corrections for their Miscarriages serving as Physick to purge out the Reliques of Corruption and to embitter Sin to them and quicken them to the performance of their Duty â—re no prejudice to our Assertion because we bring them upon our selves by our own default and 't is not holiness of Life but the want of it and neglect of our Duties which is always the procuring and often the productive cause of them For God doth not willingly afflict nor grieve the Children of men Lament 3.33 Here we may note the great imperfection of the Love of God even in the best Men Afflictions being oftentimes a more powerful Curb to restrain them from the commission of Sin and a more effectual Spur to quicken them to Duty than the Love of God as we see in David the Man after God's own heart Psalm 119.67 CHAP. XII Of the Hapâ—iness of the Future Estate or Of Eternal Life IT remains that we say something concerning the Happiness of the Future Estate after this Life is ended The Happiness of this Estate is called Eternal Life and consists in the Knowledge and Love of God and his Son Jesus Christ our Lord and the joy and delectation that necessarily results there-from John 22.3 And this is life eternal that they might know thee the only true God and â—esâ—s Christ whom thou hast sent That is know thee to be their God know thee so as to love thee Knowledge alone is not sufficient to make us happy the lapsed Angels know the Excellencies and Perfections of the Divine Nature but yet they are never the more happy for that Knowledge because they have no interest in God nor are like to reap any benefit or advantage by what they know of him So in Men here in this World Vertue and Knowledge may be separated A knowing Man may be a vicious Man and consequently unhappy Again Knowledge of the Mysteries of Nature and the Works of God though there be in Man an eager thirst after it and some pleasure in obtaining it yet if it terminates only in Knowledge and be directed to no further end it doth not contribute much to our Happiness It is a known saying Scire tuum vihil est nisi te scire hee sciat alter and truly I am apt to think there may be something of truth in it Those Men that exercise their Wits in curious Mathematical Speculations could they be assured that their Inventions and Discoveries should never come to the knowledge of any Creature but themselves I doubt whether the pleasure of the Invention would in their own esteem compensate the labor anâ— toil of the Inquisition But yet even in this State thus much may be said in commendation of Knowledge that it doth advance and enlarge the Understanding and render the Soul capable of a greater degree of Happiness as I have said before But in the World to come the Vision of God cannot be separated from his Love Such a knowledge of God will transform the blessed Souls to whom it shall be communicated into his holy Image We shall bâ— like him saith the Apostle for we shall see him as he is None shall be admitted to this sight but those that are pure in heart Without holiness no man shall see God And to these the clear understanding of all the Works of God both of Creation and Providence will stir upt he most exalted Affections of Admiration Love and Joy But I shall not proceed further in my own Words to describe the Happiness of a future â—state or Eternal Life because I find it so fully and clearly done by the Right Reverend Dr. Patrick now Lord Bishop of Ely in his Treatise of The Witnesses to Christianity Part 2d that I have nothing material to add to it Therefore I shall transcribe thence what he hath concerning the Love of God for the rest referring the Reader to the Book it self And if sâ—iâ—h he the Nature of this Life be furtâ—er â—xâ—mined you will find the Mind oâ— whicâ— he had spoken beforâ— is not the only Faculty that shall be 〈◊〉 but the Will shall conceive a 〈◊〉 aâ— grâ—â—t as the Knowledge of which I have 〈◊〉 For as God is the hiâ—hest â—bjâ—ct of the Understanding being the prime Truth so he is the chiefest Object of the Will being the first and best Good And therefore as the Understanding then shall most clearly know him so the Will in like manner shall most ardently love him and find perfect satisfaction in that Love There is a necessary connexion between these thing and it cannot be otherwise but that from the best Good clearly known there will flow the greatest Love drawing along with it the greatest delight and the most perfect repose And therefore to see God contains in its Notion both Love and Delectation with Rest and Satisfaction Love naturally flows from thence as from its Fountain and the other naturally flow from Love which is the highest Act of that Faculty which we call the Will as knowing and conâ—emplating is of the Vnderstanding Desire indeed is the first motion of it when any thing is apprehended to be good for us but that will there be quenched in possession and enjoyment and no more of it can be conceived to remain than a longing for the continuance and increase of this Happiness which yet will be so certain that we shall be rather confident than desirous The Will therefore having such a glorious Object always before it will be wholly employed in Love and spend it self without any decay in flames of affection towards this universal Good which shines so fairly and brightly in its Eyes It will apply it self to the enjoyment of it with as great a vehemency as it can and