thing as Happiness here below and yet this Opinion hath so universally possessed Mankind that they seem to teach with too general a Consent that Happiness is to be Expected only in another World and this Doctrine is very commonly thought to have the Countenance and Patronage of Divine Revelation These false Perswasions have not a little obstructed the Happiness of Man deterring men at once from the Embracing of the Gospel and from the pursuit of true Happiness I will therefore First Endeavour to free this Assertion That Happiness is attainable in this World from that Prejudice which the Authority of Revelation seems to some to bring upon it by a brief account of the sense of Revelation in this Point Secondly I will endeavour to make good the Truth of it by plain and obvious Proofs Thirdly I will answer this and what other Objection may be started from an Imaginary incapacity of Happiness caus'd by Fortune Fate or Nature SECT I. As to the sense of Revâ—lation in this Point Religion denies not the possibility of present Happiness REligion ever had and always must have the Character of it's Author visibly stamp't upon it nothing that is not infinitely kind and infinitely wise can be found in any part of Revelation truly Divine from whence we may rationally conclude that the great aim of God in the Establishing Religion is to advance the Happiness of Man and to advance it in a Method Consonant to those natural Principles he has implanted in him Nor did any one-inspir'd-Author ever think otherwise Prov. 29. He that â—eepeth the Law saith Solomon Happy is he Psal 119. Great Peace have they that love thy Law and nothing shall offend them Prov. 3. Happy is the man that findeth Wisdom and the man that getteth Vnderstanding That this was to be understood of actual and present Happiness in this life is apparent from what follows a little after Length of days are in her right hand and in her left hand Riches and Honour Her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace She is a tree of life to those that lay hold upon her And thô the Gospel as a higher and more perfect Dispensation doth propose to us as our great and Chief End Life and Immortality yet it doth by no means exclude us from Happiness here but rather doth establish it upon proper and firm Foundations and fences it about with Impregnable Bulwarks John 14.27 Peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you not as the world gives give I unto you let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid Gal. 5.22 Now the fruit of the Spirit is joy peace c. Rom. 15. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing and make you abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost 1 Tim. 4.8 Godliness is profitable to all things having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come Nor can I indeed conceive how the state of a Righteous and Holy Soul should be other than a Happy and blessed one The belief and confident Expectation of a Heaven must needs be more transporting and ravishing than the richest Fancy of a Sinner and that Security both in respect of this and a future life which a good Man enjoys in the Protection of God and the Assurance of his Favour who is Almighty Immutable c. must infinitely exceed any thing that a Sinner can attain to and must exclude those uneasie Fears which do frequently interrupt the Sinner's Enjoyment and o're cast his hopes he that loves God and Vertue cannot but be Happy in the daily Practice and Enjoyment of what he most delights in and he lastly that hath subdued his Passions and o'recome the World cannot choose but reap the daily Fruits of so glorious a Conquest and be constantly entertain'd with pleasing Reflexions and delightful Prospects and yet if he should enjoy nothing else that Soveraignty Liberty Magnanimity and Divine Charity and Enlargement of Soul which he thereby gains were an abundant Reward of his Victory The sum of all is this A good Man has the best Title to the Blessings of this life and the Glories of another he enjoys this World with as great Security as Wisdom and Moderation and has an assur'd hope of a far better when he quits this the Anticipations of which by Faith Love and Hope do at once facilitate and confirm his Conquest over all unworthy Lusts and entertain him with unexpressible Satisfaction and Pleasure For this Reason I do in this Chapter discourse of Happiness without that immediate regard to another life which might be expected not judging my self oblig'd either to prove the Certainty of it or to demonstrate the Reasonableness of embracing Misery during the space of this short life in Expectation of that Perfect and Eternal Happiness which is promised hereafter since I saw well enough that in the ordinary course of Providence the Happiness of this life and the other were not incompatible but on the Contrary that that wherein the Life and Being of true Happiness in this World doth consist was but a necessary Introduction to or Qualification of us for the Happiness of another which doth in some measure already appear and will much more in the progress of the following Discourses The Doctrine of the Cross no Obstruction of this life's Happiness Math. 16.24 But what becomes now of the Doctrine of the Cross this is a very soft and mild Commentary upon that of our Saviour If any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me But this is not so formidable an Objection as it may at first sight seem 't is true Suffering through all the Progress and Stages of Evils even to the last that is Death it self was a Common nay almost an Universal Duty in the beginning of Christianity being indispensibly Necessary to the Propagation of the Gospel but blessed be God the obligation of that Duty has long ago ceas'd And all that I can think necessary to be said here in pursuance of my Design is That the Pleasures of those Confessors and Martyrs did far out-weigh their Sufferings whil'st they lived That when they suffer'd Death it self the time was come when they must exchange Temporal for Eternal Happiness Nor doth this at all infringe the Truth of my Proposition which doth not vainly assert an Eternal Duration of Happiness in this life but only teaches the possibility of attaining it And I think the Death of Martyrs and Confessors is rather a great Confirmation than Confutation of this Opinion teaching us plainly that in despight of all Calamities 't is not only possible to live but to dy Happily which last is no small accession to Temporal Happiness From this little I have said on this Occasion 't is easie to shape an answer to what is objected from St. Paul 1
serene Hopes and with an undisturb'd Mind easily parting with all here below when I have read of Simeon waiting for and expecting Death as weary Labourers do the Evening Shades or Hirelings the Reward of their work when I read St. Paul with humble Impatience expressing his devout desire of Death and Dissolution when I have seen some as some I have seen setting in Calm and Majesty and Triumph as if they had attended Death as the old Romans once did the barbarous Gaules in their Chairs and Robes when I have seen men dye not only with Content but almost in Extasie and the Soul breath'd forth not in a Groan but an Ejaculation I must needs say I could not choose but wish with Balaam Numb 23. that I might dye the Death of the Righteous and that my latter end might be like his These are degrees of Happiness which I should judge it reasonable to purchase at any Rate whatever there be hereafter a smooth contented delightful life such as would not only bear but invite Reflexions on it a chearful lightsome Death able to make the living in love with it But after all whether this present life be all my Portion whether I dye all of me together with my Body or whether this life be only the time of our probation and preparation for another and Death be nothing but the rough passage from one shore to another or the Horizon that parts the Hemisphere of Darkness from that of Light is a question I will not now determine 't is sufficient to propose it here as a doubt whereof one side or other must be true If therefore this life be in Order to Eternity it nearly imports me to consider my present Relation to a future state if it be not then this life call it what you please a Span a Dream or a Bubble yet is it my All and I must make the most of it But Obj. 4 Are not Nature and Custom the best guides to Happiness what needs there so much poring to find out that which mere instinct leads us to we do not see that the most learned Clerks are always the most Happy men let such demonstrate the truth of their Philosophy by their own success And thus they magnifie Nature not out of any honour they design to do it or the Author of it but that they may with the greater Security contemn the one and deprave the other by sluggish Luxury and unbridled Lust I am not easily tempted to a Contempt of Nature or of Customs for by the one I should seem injurious to God who is the Author of Nature and by th' other I should seem injurious to Mankind whose concurrent Sense and constant Practice creates a Custom Therefore as to the former part of the Objection were it but once truly determin'd what were to be understood by Nature this Objection would vanish I think our Souls within us may be justly suppos'd to constitute a part of our Nature as well as our Bodies and therefore I cannot be content that the Body much less vicious habits commonly call'd indeed a second Nature should usurp the Name and Authority of Nature nor consequently can I be content to allow of the mere sensual Appetites of the Body much less the Dictates of vicious habits for the Laws of Nature The Body indeed is an Essential part of our Nature but then it must be remembred 't is not the governing part and therefore it 's Instinct cannot Arrogate to it self the Authority of a Law It remains therefore that thô the Rational Soul within us be but a part of our Nature yet being the better part the Ruling part its Dictates must have the force of Laws so that the Law of Nature will be nothing else but the Commands of right Reason I shall be most ready to grant that we ought to follow the Conduct of our Nature taking it in this sense Aug. contra Academicos Beatè vivit qui secundum eam partem animi vivit quam dominari in homine fas est he indeed lives Happily who follows the Conduct of that part to which belongs the undoubted Right of Soveraignty and Dominion in man As to the latter part of this Objection By Customs is commonly mean't those Principles and Practices which are generally receiv'd and fashionable in the place we live I have a just Veneration for whatever is the sense of Mankind but I think their suffrage is not to be taken by number but by weight nor are we to follow the Opinion or Example of the most but of the best nor indeed is it possible to understand what is the sense of Mankind in this point for we have Custom against Custom Nation against Nation and Religion against Religion It ought farther to be consider'd That Principles taken upon trust have seldom an equal influence upon us with those which we take up upon strict Examination and mature Deliberation that men will easily be tempted to desert those for which they have no better Authority than the vote of a Multitude Nor can any thing tend more to the Disparagement of any persuasion than this that 't is not the Result of our Judgment but our Fortune or to the Dishonour of any Religion than this that 't is Magisterially obtruded by the Authority of Laws and terrour of Force and will not submit it self to the tryal of sober Philosophy and so I take it to be a Credit to the Christian Religion that it did not force assent but gain it by irresistible Arguments that t is so far from shunning the tryal of Impartial Philosophy that it did always invite men to a sober Examination of its Evidence and commanded its Disciples 1 Pet. 3. be ready to give an answer to every man that asketh you a Reason of the hope that is in you 'T is true indeed as the Case now stands Religion may nay must be recommended by Authority of Law and Custom and ingratiated by particular Practice of it but afterwards must grow up and be confirm'd by Reason like a tender Plant that is first fixâ—t by the help of another's hands but afterwards it stands firmest upon its own Roots and this Method our Saviour himself did sometimes make use of when either the stupidity of Nature or Prejudice of Education rendred those to whom he addressed his Doctrine uncapable of entring into a thorow Examination of it Then if any man will do my will he shall know of the Doctrine whether it be of God Lastly That to trust to others who themselves with like Rashness and Credulity do in the same manner trust to others in the matter of the highest moment of my life seems to me inconsistent with common Prudence with the very Constitution of a rational Nature for what use can be as much as fancied of Reason if I slight its service in so important an affair as this It is true Temper Fortune and Education have de facto so great a share
Cor. 15. If in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable 't is confessedly indisputably true that had these Christians been destitute of that hope which was their Support they had sunk under the weight of such Sufferings and so had been the most miserable of all men but since their hopes did not only support 'em under their Afflictions but also render 'em somewhat more than Conquerours all that can follow hence is That the Resurrection and Eternal life are unquestionable Truths and that life who believes 'em as firmly as Confessors and Martyrs did may like them be Happy thô a thousand Seas of Calamities and Troubles should break in upon him Mortification recommended by the Light of Nature as subservient to our present Happiness As to Mortification which is a Duty of perpetual Obligation for the Purity of Religion is still the same thô its fortune in the World be alter'd this did at first signifie the Renunciation and Extirpation of Jewish and Pagan Lusts according to that of St. Paul Mortifie therefore your members which are upon the Earth Fornication Vncleanness Inordinate affection Evil Concupiscence and Covetousness which is Idolatry and it still signifies the same thing and whatever difficulty we are to encounter in the performance of this Duty it must be vanquished for 't is impossible to be wicked and Happy a wicked man is his own Hell and every Passion every Lust is a Fiend a Fury that doth outrage and torment him and all this the Heathens themselves did not only constantly acknowledge but also paint out with as lively Eloquence as any Christian could ever do their Experience over whom Sin had an uncontrolled dominion most effectually convincing 'em of the Outrages Tyranny and unspeakable Mischiefs of wicked and abominable Passions Nay so manifest is it that the subduing these Irregular Passions is necessary to our Happiness that even the Epicureans themselves notwithstanding their confining the Happiness of Man to this short life and by a probable Consequence resolving it ultimately into the Enjoyments of the Body did yet look upon themselves as extremely injur'd by Tully and others when they represented 'em as revolted from and Enemies to Vertue 'T is not my business here to Examine what foundation for Vertue their Philosophy could leave or what rank and place they could assign it 't is enough that they could not but acknowledge it as necessary to Happiness 'T is true Mortification in the Gospel-sense requires us not only to restrain these Irregular Lusts but also not to over-rate and over-value this World and the things of it not to look upon this life as our only or chief Portion and doat upon it with fondness and passion and I cannot think that this is any thing more than what is imply'd and included in the former Notion of Mortification this Moderation of our Inclinations to the World being a proper and necessary foundation of the former Abstinence it being very Improbable that he who values and doats upon the World above all things should refrain from irregular Pursuits and Enjoyments of it Now even this Degree of Mortification was as clearly taught and the Necessity of it in order to Happiness by the Wise men amongst the Heathens as by our Saviour and his Apostles by those conducted by the Light of Nature as by these conducted by the Light of Revelation and that together with the Discipline which promotes it I mean the observation of great Abstinence from sensual Pleasures No Monk or Anchoret can speak with a more glorious contempt of the World than a Stoic but their flights who would allow the Body the World and the things of it no place nor degree in the Number of Good things are too daring and bold to lay any stress upon but the Opinion of other Philosophers who allow'd these their proper place and value ought to be of weight with us because they shew us plainly That Mortification was ever thought by the Light of Nature subservient to our true Happiness Hierocles in the beginning of his Divine Comments gives us a short but full account of the Pythagorean and I may add Platonic Philosophy in this Point 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The substance of which is The business of Philosophy is to purifie the Soul of Man from sensual Lusts and inordinate Passions and to transform it into the likeness and Image of God This is that which it pursues by discovering to us Excellent Truths and by recommending to us the practice of Excellent Vertues And this was that Philosophy which the best and acutest of the Heathens look't upon as the only way to Happiness so far were they from judging it inconsistent and incompatible with it nay they deem'd this very state of Vertue a state of more Exalted Happiness and an Image of the Divine Life hence is that little less than Inspir'd Heat or Rapture of Tully L. 2. de Leg. Cum animus cognitis perceptisque virtutibus à Corporis obsequio indulgentiaque discesserit voluptatemque sicut labem decoris oppresserit omnemque mortis Dolorisque timorem effugerit Societatemque Charitatis colerit cum suis omnesque natura conjunctos suos duxerit Cultumque Deorum puram Religionem susceperit exacuerit illam ut oculorum sic Ingenii Aciem ad bona deligenda rejicienda Contraria Quid eo dici aut excogitari poterit beatius When the Soul having discover'd and entertain'd Vertue has extinguish't its fondness for and indulgence of the Body and stifled Lust as the Reproach and Stain of its Honour and Beauty and hath put off all dread of Death and Pain c. What can be said or as much as fancied more blessed than the state of such a man Nay after all the greatest Patrons and Abettors of Pleasure did ever acknowledge this moderation in our Passions and Enjoyments indispensibly Necessary to our Happiness Nil admirari prope res est una Numici Solaque quae possit facere ac servare beatos Hor. Nought to admire's the thing alone that can Cause and Preserve the Happiness of Man And 't is well known how much the followers of Epicurus gloried in his Abstinence that these Voluptuaries should prescribe and practise the Doctrine of Mortification but this they were compelled to by the irresistible force of Reason for how can he who doats upon the World and melts in soft and sensual Pleasures be able to secure the repose of his Mind against those melancholy Alterations which may daily and some time or other will certainly befall himself and his Enjoyments on what foundation can the Peace or Liberty of his Mind be Establish't or can he be Happy who is distress't by every change of Weather and is divided and distracted between numerous contrary Passions and a slave to each To come to a Conclusion the Scripture is so far from denying that it do's affirm the possibility of attaining Happiness nor are the