best and most desirable Doctrine in the World with the vainest Enthusiasm now by the Principles of Reason we are not to understand the Grounds of any Man's Philosophy nor the critical Rules of Syllogism but those fundamental Notices that God hath planted in our Souls whereby we know that every thing is made for an End and every thing is directed to its End by certain Rules these Rules in Creatures of Understanding and Choice are Laws and in Transgressing these is Vice and Sin AS for Arguments from Scripture against the Use of Reason 't is alledged that God will destroy the wisdom of the wise and that the world by wisdom knew not God But by this wisdom is not meant the Reason of Mankind but the Traditions of the Jews the Philosophy of the Disputing Greeks and the Policy of the Romans all which the Apostle sets at naught because they were very contrary to the Simplicity and Holiness to the Self-denyal and Meekness of the Gospel Secondly IT is said that the natural Man receiveth not the Things of the Spirit of God for they are Foolishness to him neither can he know them because they are Spiritually discerned by which Words nothing more is intended than that a Man who is guided purely by natural Reason and is not enlightned by Divine Revelation cannot understand matters of pure Revelation but he thinks them absurd and foolish till they are made known to him by the Revelation of the Spirit of God and when they are so nothing appears in the Mysteries of Religion but what is agreeable to the soundest Reason and Wisdom Thirdly IT is urged that our Reason is very liable to be misled by our Senses and Affections by our Interests and Imaginations so that many times we mingle Errours and false Conceits with the genuine Dictates of our Minds and appeal to them as the Principles of Truth when they are the false Conclusions of Ignorance and Mistake All that can be infer'd from hence is that we ought not to be too bold in defining Speculative and difficult Matters nor set our Reasonings against the Doctrines of Faith But this doth not tend to the Disreputation of Reason in the Object that is those Principles of Truth which are Written upon our Souls for if we may not use our Understandings Scripture it self will signifie either nothing at all or very little to us THEREFORE to decry the Use of Reason is to introduce Atheism The mischiefs of decrying the use of Reason for what greater advantage can the Atheist have against Virtue than that Reason is against the Precepts of it This will make our Religion depend upon a warm Fancy and an ungrounded Belief so that it can stand only till a new Conceit alter the Scene of Imagination Secondly TO decry the Use of Reason is to lay our selves open to infinite Follies and Impostures when every thing that is reasonable is called vain Philosopy and every thing that is sober carnal Reasoning This is the way to make up a Religion without Sense and without Moral Virtue This is to put out our Eyes that we may see and to hoodwink our selves that we may avoid the precipices of Vice Thus have all extravagancies been brought into Religion beyond the imaginations of a Feaver and the conceits of Midnight THE last and greatest obstacle to the Progress of moral Virtue is some Men's making Morality and Grace opposite to one another Grace and Morality are not opposites To divorce Grace from Virtue and to distinguish the spiritual Christian from the Moral Man is a modern invention for not one ancient Author that hath treated of our Religion did ever make any difference between the Nature of Moral Virtue and Evangelical Grace Evangelical Grace being nothing else in their account but Moral Virtue heightned by the Motives of the Gospel and the assistances of the Spirit both which are external Considerations to the Essence of the thing it self so that the Christian Institution does not introduce any new Duties distinct from the Eternal Rules of Morality but strengthens them by new Obligations and improves them by new Principles For THE Power to perform these Duties comes from the internal Operations of the holy Spirit which applies the Motives of Religion to our Minds and by them perswades us to every good Action that we are enlightned with the knowledg of Christ cometh of his Gift who disposeth us to learn the Truth that we attend to the Word of God and are wrought into a serious Temper that we are excited to good Resolutions and confirmed in them cometh of his Grace who putteth good thoughts into our minds thereby moveth our Wills and Affections most powerfully to every good Work or to every Moral Vertue which consists not only in the decency of outward behaviour but is a prevailing inclination of the mind to those Manners or that way of Life which is best for a reasonable Creature or it is an universal goodness of Manners in Mind and in Practice NOW it is named Virtue because the strength and vigour of a reasonable creature consisteth in a temper of Mind and course of Life agreeable to right Reason it is called Moral because it is conversant about the customary dispositions and actions of reasonable Creatures so those Laws that are given with rational inducements to Obedience are said to be Moral Laws as being proper and suitable to the nature of rational Beings to whom they are prescribed and this in opposition to the Laws of Motion and Matter by which God governs the rest of his Works for that Agent which hath no power over it self but acts because it must whatsoever laudable effects it may produce it is as uncapable of Morality as those senseless Machines are that move by the Laws of Matter and Motion NOW the duties required of us in the Covenant of Grace are Moral in the strictest Sense so that Holiness and Moral Vertue are in truth the same things diversly expressed for to do that which is good and to do it well is the sum of both and it is plain that those perfections in God which our Holiness is an imitation of are Justice Faithfulness and Truth his Patience Mercy and Charity his hatred of Sin and his love of Righteousness all which are Moral Perfections and therefore when in these things we are followers of God our imitation of him does necessarily become Moral Vertue and those Duties which work in us the nearest likeness to Christ Jesus are Meekness Humility Patience Self-denial contempt of the World readiness to pass by Wrongs to forgive Enemies to love and do good to all are all in the most proper sense Moral Vertues indeed to glorifie God in Jesus Christ is an end of Obedience which Nature teacheth not but being made known by Grace we are obliged to regard this end by the Rules of Morality which are derived from Christ and caused by the Spirit so that we have no reason to boast of their
Imprimatur Carolus Alston R. P. D. Hen. Episc Lond. à Sacris Nov. 20. 1690. A TREATISE OF Moral and Intellectual VIRTUES WHEREIN Their NATURE is fully explained and their USEFULNESS proved AS BEING The best Rules of LIFE AND The Causes of their Decay are enquired into concluding with such Arguments as tend to revive the Practice of them WITH A PREFACE shewing the Vanity and Deceitfulness of VICE Est modus in rebus sunt certi denique fines Quos ultrà citráque nequit consistere rectum By JOHN HARTCLIFFE B. D. and Fellow of Kings College Cambridge London Printed for C. Harper at the Flower-de-luce over against S. Dunstan's Church Fleet-street 1691. To the Right Honorable CHARLES Earl of Maclesfeld Lord President and Lord Lieutenant of the Principality of Wales Lord Lieutenant of the Counties of Gloucester Hereford and Monmouth and of the City and County of Bristol and one of the Lords of Their Majesties most Honorable Privy Council May it please your Lordship THE Cause of Virtue belongs to great and brave Men therefore I thought it my Duty to lay this Treatise at your Lordships Feet it will not much enlarge your Thoughts or acquaint you with any new things but I hope it may please the Generosity of your Temper to read the Characters of Virtues the greatest Ornaments of that pure Religion which your Lordship hath laboured so much to recover from the Knavery and base Corruptions as well as Bondage of Popery For the Jesuits Morals are as destructive of a good Life and as pernicious to human Society as their Plots and their Gun-Powder I am very well satisfied that if I had sought a Patron in all the List of Noble Persons I could not have found a more proper or competent Judge in a Discourse of this Nature because your Lordships Case and that of Virtue it self have been much alike you have been both persecuted for your Integrity and Truth but like Truth you must and shall prevail in spight of the malicious and the false the Parasite or the Detractor I have not troubled your Lordship with the fine and nice Speculations in Divinity because they have done our Religion much Dis-service by raising a multitude of Questions which neither advance true Piety nor good Manners But I present your Lordship with the Rules of naked Truth and Reason the free Use whereof is as much our Birthright as any thing else Therefore your Lordships Name and the Names of all those shall be had in everlasting remembrance who have placed Their Majesties upon the Throne whereby not only our Properties but our Understandings are secured to us and an healing Plaister is laid upon all our Maladies For we must needs say our Nation was in a very distempered Condition before it came into the hands of this wise and great Prince WILLIAM the Third whose Breaches in its Manners as well as in its Laws may be made up by his seasonable Application of the most proper Remedies as its Greatness and Glory will ever be maintained by His Wisdom Power and Courage under the Influence of these Royal Virtues England methinks begins to recover its just Temper apace and the old British Genius revives so that in time it may be restored to a perfect Health as strong Bodies will work out the Poyson they take by degrees That this Deliverance which hath been so wonderfully wrought for us may have the same effect upon our Country which the Christian Religion had at its first entrance into it when it did so quickly turn the first Inhabitants of this Island who were uncivilized and barbarous into humble affable meek charitable modest prudent tender and compassionate Creatures That the Practice of Virtue may be establish'd in these Kingdoms without which the firmest Government must dissolve because a regard to that will ever have an Influence upon the Honour and Authority of those who rule as well as upon the Happiness and safety of those who obey And that your Lordship may long enjoy the only Sweetness of Life a retreat from Noise and Disturbance that nothing may break or interrupt your Thoughts in the ways of Virtue and Goodness is the Prayer of May it please your Lordship Your Lordship 's most humble and most obedient Servant J. HARTCLIFFE THE PREFACE To the READER THE reason which moved the Author to publish these short Characters of Moral Virtues was a desire he had to revive the Practice of them as much as he could in a very degenerate Age The World we know has ever had its Vicissitudes and Periods of Virtue and Wickedness and all Nations have advanced themselves to their Power and Grandeur by Sobriety Wisdom and a tender regard of Religion This very Remark hath filled us with hope that upon this our late wonderful Revolution the English Nation may recover its ancient Virtues that have been too long under the Oppression of Debauchery which hath been an Evil of so great Malignity as to threaten ruin to the very Constitution of the Government Therefore the Providence of God hath sent us a Prince for our deliverer whose Piety is set off with the whole Train of Moral Virtues whose Temperance is so great and impregnable amidst all those Allurements with which the Palaces of Kings are apt to meet even the most resolved Minds that at the same time he doth both teach and upbraid the Court whose Fortitude is more resplendent in the Conquest of himself than when he strewes the Field with the Armies of Rebels whose Gentleness and Mercy is so remarkable that if ever the Lion and the Lamb dwelt together it is in the Breast of this Royal Person whose personal Virtues will in a little time render all vicious Courses unexcusable and will shed a suitable Influence upon his Government that not only the Honour and Plenty but the Virtue and Goodness of the English People may spread it self even to the Envy of all Neighbour Nations 1. Irreligion the Cause of Ruine to a Nation But whenever men contemn the Laws of God and are loose in all their Conversation they will certainly decline into Softness and Effeminacy on the other side when they are virtuous and upright in their Actions they are unmoveable like a House built upon a Rock for this is the Circle of human Affairs And when Atheism or a neglect of Virtue hath been at the greatest height as it was very lately they have certainly brought on Changes and Dissolutions because the Principles of Irriligion do unjoynt the Sinews of all Government If this be so methinks all Mankind should be ready to weigh and examin all the Arguments for Virtue should carefully enquire into the Grounds of the Christian Faith and take an account of the Truth and Credibility of the Scriptures when they have done this I am confident they will think themselves as effectually obliged in Prudence to the Duties of Virtue and Religion by the Possibility as by the Certainty of things for whatever they
are called the Lights of the Earth that enlighten all about them for they are ever distilling wise Advices which however they may at first seem grievous yet they insinuate by degrees and get possession of the Vnderstanding they are frequently awakening those with whom they discourse to the consideration of God's Goodness the Eternity of their own Souls putting them upon the best improvement of their time exciting them to the Love of God and of their Neighbour taking all wise occasions to reprove the Wickedness of Men and to restrain their exorbitant Courses So their Example is of great force to amend their Brethren because it is a greater encouragement to go before a Man and shew him the Path of Virtue than only to give him direction 't is true Religion and Virtue are more lovely in the notion and definition of them than they are in the Person in the definition they are pure and have nothing of Allay but in the Person they are attended with mixture and imperfection yet Virtue is more lively in the Person and they say that a Man who shoots can better take his aim at a living than a dead Mark because there is something in Life that commands a more steddy attention and makes us look more intently upon it tho Religion and Virtue may he represented with more Advantage in a Discourse and a Man may be better convinced that way of their Excellency yet Example satisfies one of the practicableness of the thing For Holiness would appear an impossible thing and not to be attained were it not that we have it made familiar to us and easie for our imitation in the Lives of virtuous Men who by their Counsel and Instruction point out the way of Virtue to us but by their Example they take us by the hand and lead us in that way And it is incredible of what Advantage a few great Examples may be to reform the World chiefly if their places have given them any advantage of ground and do make them subject to the notice of others thus the Example of Socrates had an influence upon Athens and the severe Life of Cato upon the People of Rome 'T is true indeed the Nature of Man leaneth to evil and is insensibly drawn away by bad Examples yet it is not so degenerate but it may receive some Impressions of Virtue from the Lives Company and Conversation of good Men who in respect of Counsel and Instruction are the Lights of the World so in respect of their Example they are the Salt of the Earth for a Man of severe Innocency and Justice is as so much Salt cast into the World to preserve the Manners of Men from Putrefaction a Man of a gentle and conversable Temper of a peaceable and reconciling Mind is like so much Balm to heal the Wounds and Exasperations of Mens Spirits a Man of a strict Piety and lively Devotion of an ardent Zeal and active Industry for Goodness is as so much Fire or Life sent down from Heaven to awaken the drowsie Worlds and rowze the endeavours of others after the best things a Man of eminent Holiness doth discourage the Vngodliness of Men and one of a wise and grave Behaviour doth restrain their Vanity and Folly Thus the Preservation and the Bettering of the World must be ascribed to virtuous Persons as an Effect and as a Reward of their Goodness for they are ever persuading Men to be better and they keep 'em from growing worse and God doth not only reward them in their Persons but all who are near or related to them shall thrive the better for their sakes thus the eminent Faith of Abraham and the Sincerity of David had an influence upon the Happiness of Israel for many Generations Therefore if we would avoid being imposed upon and would take just Measures of our selves we are to judg of our Condition as the Psalmist directs Psal 18.21 according as we have kept the ways of the Lord and have not wickedly departed from God For the best proof the Schools afford is a Demonstration by the Effect as for instance if you are to prove the Being of a God the best way to do it is from what he hath made so the best Method for a Man to prove himself to be virtuous is from what he does Thus our Saviour hath told us a good tree bringeth forth good fruit and an evil one evil fruit Now it is a Matter of great consequence to know whether we be in a state of Salvation or not we are apt to puzzle our selves with obscure Marks of Grace and doubtful Signs of our good State but there is one plain and sensible Mark which will silence all Jealousies and that is the keeping of God's Commandments this we may come at without searching into the Records of Heaven or diving into the secret Counsels of God Perhaps there is nothing in Religion more to be wondered at than to see so many Christians in continual Anxieties about their State and so few that can arrive to any competent degree of assurance in this matter Whereas the Scripture every where nakedly declares to Men their Duty and has plainly laid down the Precepts of a holy Life and all along supposes that by Obedience to these Men may certainly know whether they love God or not that by giving all diligence to abound in Grace and the Virtues of a holy Life they may make their Calling and Election sure For there are two different States of Men 15. There are two different States of Men. one is wherein Sin prevails in the other Religion and Goodness take place these two differ in degrees as wide as Heaven and Hell which Places we must not believe to be all hereafter for both the one and the other are in some measure begun here upon Earth They who are made like to God in the frame and temper of their Minds who live according to the everlasting and unchangeable Rules of Goodness Righteousness and Truth may be properly enough said to have made their entrance already into Heaven But they who confound the difference of good and evil who care not to approve themselves to God by leading good and holy Lives do partake of the diabolical Nature and are already entred into the state of Hell Wherefore it behoves us to keep the ways of the Lord with Diligence and Care which the Judgment of right and wrong true and false good and evil doth require For this is the very Grammar of Religion and being built upon these first Principles it grows higher by degrees according to every ones Capacity and Ability in moderating his Faculties for the several purposes of it Now the first thing in Religion is to refine a Man's Temper and the second is to govern his Practice for if it do not mend Mens Spirits and regulate their Lives it is much inferiour to any Principle in Nature which is sufficient to and doth attain its effect But the Grace of God
wont to be lavish and profuse in their Sacrifices that they might be excused or wink'd at for the Duties of Virtue and Morality they would offer the richest Oblations a Thousand Rams and Ten Thousand Rivers of Oyl all the First-born of their Flocks and Families the Fruit of the Fields and their Bodies too to purchase a dispensation for their Vices they would not grudge to pacifie God with any Sacrifice rather than offer up their Lusts they would honor Him praise Him flatter Him give Him all his dues and more spare neither for costs nor charges in his Worship and all this only to bribe him that He might indulge them their Self-wills and their Passions and not be angry for their injustice cruelty and unmercifulness they were nice and punctual in their Fasts would spare for no trouble to appear Devout yet were there never any People in the World so vicious as they the Prophets every where upbraiding them with the most notorious Peevishness and Pride Covetousness and Ambition for they were persuaded that such zealous Men as they were might be excused for the sake of their expensive Devotions all those petty duties of Justice and Sobriety towards their Neighbors and themselves On the contrary a good Man Worships God because he loves Him and loves him because he hates Vice he loves the eternal Rules of Equity and right Reason because God loves 'em too Secondly THE Formalist is very busie about the Means and Instruments of Religion but neglects the Ends thereof he is very zealous in religious Performances but utterly careless of all inward Virtue and Goodness hence it is that the Minds of some Men are so little possessed with true and real Virtue because the Name of Religion hath been so much appropriated to its Forms which Men are apt to be taken with when they may be easily reconciled with their Vices and Passions The Pharisees did just so they only made great shews of Piety to cover their Frauds and Rapines Too great a regard to Forms disappoints the effects of real virtue they were curious to wash their Hands but took no care to purifie their Hearts they would Fast and starve their Bodies but at the same time feed and pamper their Lusts they would not Rob but they did oppress their Neighbors whilst they relieved their Brethren they did at the same time hate and despise them Thus the Instruments of Piety were made use of as a means to subvert that which they were ordained to advance And thus it is in the relative and subordinate Duties of the Christian Religion if Men do as constantly commit as they do confess their Sins they frustrate plainly the purpose of their Duty and whilst they are very Officious to run on God's Errand they are very negligent of his Business It is not every Confession of our Sins that He requires but when it proceeds from an effectual Resolution against them and therefore where it ends not in Reformation it ends in Hypocrisie and to acknowledg but not to Mortifie our Lusts is only to tell God we are great sinners and by his leave intend to continue so IT is an easie matter for Men to present Heaven with large and perpetual addresses but unless they be meek merciful humble charitable righteous candid and ingenuous as well as Godly and Devout they can in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven For the Christian Religion dwells not amongst its outside Rites and Solemnities but its proper Temple is the Heart and Spirit of Man it resides in the inmost recesses of the Soul NOW the Formalist is only for the external Acts not for the internal Habits of Virtue and Goodness his Actions how good soever issue only from fear or custom or outward compliances not from any good Temper or Modification of Mind there appear no spots nor blemishes in his Face his uncleannesses lodge within and retire themselves to the Centre of his Soul thus his behaviour may be free from the common Pride and Vanity of the World whilst his mind is infected with the worst Vices the posture of his Soul is as haughty and supercilious as his demeanour is humble his Thoughts as arrogant In what virtues our Saviour placed his Religion as his looks are lowly But our Saviour ever told his Followers that his Religion was to be placed in a a sober and silent Piety in Candour Mildness and Humility in doing good to all Men that all the mystery of it lay in a good and virtuous Life so that all the nice Notions and Hypotheseses concerning Faith Justification Election and such like Articles are but foolish Traditions of some speculative Heads and those that are most earnest in these Controversies are commonly most negligent of moral Duty whereas true Religion is an active Principle within that serves the Mind with all good and virtuous Qualities it is in a word an inward sense and love of Goodness that is the Fountain of all good Actions A Mind temper'd with this Principle suppresses all manner of untoward Passions is governed by such meekness as absolutely inclines it to pardon injuries to delight in making good triumph over evil and to satisfie it self as much by forgiveness as others are pleased with revenge For where the inward temper of the Mind is truly humble there a Man 's inward esteem of himself will be sober and modest his opinion of others candid and ingenuous Wherefore if Men took as much care to fill their Souls with goodness as well as their fancies with the notions of it they would be as free from Passion Self-will and all other mental Vices as from Drunkenness Sensuality and the other exorbitances of their bodily Appetites Having thus set forth the Character of Formality I now descend to the Second thing to discover by what Way and Method it defeats the practice of moral Virtue that perceiving its disguises we may not be imposed upon Now the Artifices by which men are apt to delude themselves are mainly these First THEY think they may be dispensed with in the Duties of practical Virtue for their extraordinary strictness in some Duties of Godliness they weigh their acts of Devotion against all their miscarriages in Morality if they do but Fast twice a week they presently believe that they may be allowed to be froward and peevish Hence it is that the grossest Vices are sometimes called sins of Infirmity For when they imagine themselves in God's Favour for frequenting the places of Worship for hearing Sermons and Prayers they are ready to conclude their most heinous sins to be rather the weaknesses of their Natures than obliquities of their Wills taking the measures of Virtue and Vice not from the nature of the actions themselves but from the conditions of the Persons that commit them believing that if a Man be once regenerated all his sins are instantly changed into Infirmities Thus the Stoicks of old made this one of their prime Paradoxes that a wise Man
the Government of his Mind and is never disturbed by Passion to be tender Hearted and Pityful because cruelty and oppression are an offence to God and a provocation to Men to resign our selves up to the direction of God's Providence that Governs the World leaving all issues and future Successes to the Wise Determination of the Divine Will To hold to the Practice of Truth because a Man's Heart will never misgive him in her ways not to dissemble but to deal openly with Mankind because this behaviour will make our passage easie through the World we shall have none to oppose none to do us harm to be humble and sober in the judgment we make of our selves because Self-confidence and Self-Conceit render Men Fools to be Peace makers and compose Differences to endure Wrongs patiently to forbear Revenge and to love our Enemies because God does so in Nature while he causes the Sun to rise upon Good and Bad to pass charitable Judgments upon others because this is the way to make an Enemy a Friend to give real demonstrations of our Integrity and Goodness by the fruits of it because Men disparage Religion who profess it and do not guide their Actions according to its Doctrines to submit our Senses and inferiour Affections to the Dictates of sober Reason and true Understanding because Mind and Understanding is appointed by God to be his subordinate Governor in human Life to be modest and chast in our Conversation because Modesty secures the Mind from Pride and Chastity preserves the Body from the worst Indispositions THUS Christ Jesus hath shewn us an Example of all Moral Vertues and an Example in some respect hath an Advantage above a Rule for it shews in what way the Roâ—e is practicable and it is a Reproach to any Man not to be able to do or suffer what others have done before him Seeing then God hath taken such care that we should know our Duty and hath made those things Instances of our Obedience which are the natural means and causes of our Happiness we are altogether without excuse if we do it not and we incur the heavy Sentence pronounced by our Savior this is the Condemnation that Light is come into the World and Men love darkness rather than Light for whover does any thing that is evil acts against the Convictions of his own Mind and the Light that shines in his own Soul besides What Advantage is it that Wickedness brings to Men Name me that Vice which improves our Reason or makes us e'er a whit the wiser that tends to the Peace and Satisfaction of our Minds or to our Health and Credit amongst considerate Persons IF then it be Vertue that points out to us the most compendious and ready way to Happiness we may see where our true Interest lies let us not suffer our selves to be cheated of it by the little Arts of Vice or the Insinuations of a Temptation than which there can be nothing more to our prejudice even as to our temporal Concerns for every known and deliberate Sin that a Man commits is a flaw in his Title to his Estate not in respect of Men but of God who is the great Governor of the World the wise Disposer of the Fortunes of Mankind Moral Vertue is the foundation of all revealed Religion AND the Scripture doth every where speak of Moral Vertue as the Foundation of all revealed and instituted Religion therefore our Savior when he was asked which was the first and great Commandment of the Law answers Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and thy Neighbour as thy self A Jew would have thought that he would have pitch'd upon some of those things which were in so great esteem among them Sacrifices Circumcision or the Sabbath But he overlooks all these and instances in the two principal Duties of Morality the Love of God and of our Neighbour and these Moral Duties are those which he calls the Law and the Prophets and which he came not to destroy but to fulfil for the Judicial and Ceremonial Law of the Jews was to pass away and did so not long after but this Law of Moral Duty was to be perpetual and immutable And the keeping of this Law consisted in the Observation of such things which the Scribes and Pharisees did most of all neglect therefore he tells us that unless our Righteousness did exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees we could not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Now these Men were the most punctual People in the World for observing the Jewish and Ceremonial Law and whereas they were obliged to pay Tithes of their more considerable things they would do it even of Mint Anise and Cummin But then they were defective in Moral Duty they were unnatural to their Parents in denying them Relief because their Estates as they pretended were dedicated to an holy Use they were unjust and under a shew of long Prayers devoured Widows Houses in a Word as our Saviour tells 'em they neglected both Mercy and Judgment which are the weightier things of the Law which whosoever neglects he can never please God with any instituted or positive part of Religion and throughout the Old Testament nothing is declared more abominable to him than Sacrifices as long as Men allowed themselves in wicked Practices And in the New Testament the Christian Religion chiefly designs to teach Mankind Righteousness Godliness and Sobriety and for this end was the glorious Appearance of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity and purifie to himself a peculiar People zealous of good Works and to deal honestly with every Man to speak Truth to our Neighbour and to have our Conversation void of Offence is called the Image of God and the new Creature and the Apostle advanceth Charity above the greatest Excellencies of Knowledge and of Faith and in the description of the Day of Judgment Men are represented by our Saviour as call'd to an account both as to the Practice and Neglect of Moral Duties and no others are instanced in to shew what Place he intended they should have in his Religion Therefore from all that hath been said upon this Subject we may infer Positive Institutions must give way to Moral Virtue First THAT all Positive Institutions must give way to Moral Duties because God hath declared that He would rather have Mercy than Sacrifice and whosoever violates any Natural Law he undermines the very Foundation of Religion which hath very little in it that is positive besides the two Sacraments and going to God in the Name of Jesus Christ for this the greatest and most perfect Revelation that ever God made to Mankind doth afford us the best helps and advantages for the performing of Moral Duty and produces the strongest Arguments to engage us thereunto Secondly GOD hath discovered our Duty to us in such ways as may