God was rescued with the notable disappointment and grievous confusion of those who managed it The which Case at least in kind if not in degree beareth a plain resemblance to that which lieth before us And the Duties which upon that occasion are signified to concern people then do no less now sort to us the which as they lie couched in our Text are these 1. wisely to consider God's doing 2. to fear 3. to declare God's work 4. to be glad in the Lord 5. to trust in God 6. to glory Of which the First Three are represented as more generally concerning men the others as appertaining more peculiarly to righteous and upright persons These Duties it shall be my endeavour somewhat to explain and press in a manner applicable to the present case I call them Duties and to warrant the doing so it is requisite to consider that all these particulars may be understood in a double manner either as declarative of event or as directive of practice upon such emergencies When God doth so interpose his hand as signally to check and confound mischievous enterprises it will be apt to stir up in the minds of men an apprehension of God's special Providence to strike into their hearts a dread of his Power and Justice to wring from their mouths sutable declarations and acknowledgments and particularly then good men will be affected with pious joy they will be incouraged to confide in God they will be moved to glory or to express a triumphant satisfaction in God's proceedings These events naturally do result from such providential occurrences for production of these events such occurrences are purposely designed and accordingly where men are not by profane opinions or affections much indisposed they do commonly follow But yet they are not purposed simply as Events but also as matters of Duty for men are obliged readily to admit such impressions upon their minds hearts and lives from the special works of Providence they are bound not to cross those natural tendencies not to frustrate those wise intents of God aiming at the production of such good dispositions and good practices whence if those effects do not arise as often notoriously they do not in some persons men thereby do incurre much guilt and blame It is indeed ordinary to represent matter of duty in this way expressing those practices consequent in effect which in obligation should follow according to God's purpose and the nature of causes ordered by him As when for instance God in the Law had prescribed Duty and threatned sore punishment on the disobedient it is subjoyned And all the people shall hear and fear and do no more presumptuously the meaning is that such exemplary punishment is in its nature apt and its design tendeth to produce such effects although not ever questionless with due success so as to prevent all transgression of those laws So also When saith the Prophet thy judgments are in the land the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness the sense is that Divine judgments in themselves are instructive of Duty it is their drift to inform men therein and men ought to learn that lesson from them although in effect divers there be whom no judgments can make wiser or better such as those of whom in the same Prophet it is said The people turneth not unto him that smiteth them and in another in vain have I smitten your children they received no correction As therefore frequently otherwhere so also here this kind of expression may be taken chiefly to import Duty To begin then with the First of these Duties I. We are upon such occasions obliged wisely to consider or as the Greek rendereth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to understand or to perceive as our Old Translation hath it God's doing This I put in the first place as previous in nature and influential upon the rest whence although in the Hebrew it be knit to the rest as they all are to one another by the conjunctive parcicle ve and yet we do translate it causally for they shall wisely consider for they shall perceive because indeed without duly considering and rightly understanding such occurrences to proceed from God none of the other acts can or will be performed attentive consideration is needful to beget knowledge and persuasion these to breed affection and practice There are many who in such cases are no-wise apprehensive of God's special Providence or affected with it because they do not consider or do not consider wisely and intelligently Some are very inobservant and careless in regard to things of this nature so drowzy and heedless as not to attend to what-ever passeth or to mind what God acteth in the world such as those of whom the Prophet saith The Harp and the Viol the Tabret and Pipe and Wine are in their feasts but they regard not the work of the Lord nor the operation of his hands that is their minds are so amused by wanton divertisements their hearts are so immersed in sensual enjoyments as no-wise to observe the most notable occurrences of Providence Others although they do ken and regard what is done as matter of news or story entertaining curiosity and talk yet out of sloth or stupidity do little consider it or study whence it springeth contenting themselves with none or with any superficial account which fancy or appearance suggesteth like beasts they do take in things obvious to their sense and perhaps stand gazing on them but do not make any careful reflexion or inquiry into their original causes and reasons taking as a dog when he biteth the stone flung at him or as a child that is angry with the log he falleth on what-ever appeareth next to be the principal cause such as the Psalmist again toucheth when he saith A brutish man knoweth not neither doth a fool understand this and as he doth acknowledg himself on one occasion to have been So foolish was I and ignorant I was as a beast before thee Others pretend to consider much and seem very inquisitive yet being misguided by vain prejudices or foul affections do not consider wisely or well understand these matters the result of their care and study about them being to father them on wrong causes ascribing them to the meer conduct and agency of visible causes hurried by a necessary swindge or rolling on by a casual fluctuation of things not descrying God's hand in them but profanely discarding and disclaiming it such as those in the Psalms who so reflected on Providence as to say How doth God know and is there knowledge in the Most High The Lord doth not see neither doth the God of Jacob regard it such as have been the brood of Epicurean and profane considerers in all times who have earnestly plodded and strained their wits to exclude God from any inspection or influence upon our affairs Some indeed there have been so very dull and stupid or so perverse and profane
hath been to deserve well to cultivate their minds and regulate their manners True worth indeed is not confined to any particular order of Men yet I should wrong none by saying it is nowhere more plentifully to be found then in this What is it that doth advance mens nature that adorns their minds that commends their persons to especial regard Is it Knowledge The Priests lips preserve it their discourse doth diffuse it Is it Vertue Whence have more or greater examples thereof proceeded then from them Is it Piety It is their proper business it hath been always in some measure their care to promote it That ignorance and barbarity dissoluteness and irreligion have not long since like a deluge over-spread the face of the world none I suppose will be so unjust as to deny in greatest part due to their vigilant endeavours Even those improvements of Wit and Eloquence which are employed to their disgrace and disadvantage must be acknowledged originally derived from them Faults they have had and will always have for they are Men and subject to the common imperfections of mortal nature but that perhaps less and fewer then any other distinct sort of men that as it is their duty so it hath been their practice to excell in Vertue and that they have commonly in effect made good St. Ambrose his words Debet praeponderare vita sacerdotis sicut praeponderat gratia were not difficult to demonstrate if seemly to make comparisons or to insist upon so invidious a subject Nor were they greater then ever really they have been or then ever malice could misrepresent them should it be therefore equal that the miscarriage of some should derogate from the reputation or prejudice the welfare of the whole Order But to wave this plea consider their Employment Is there any office more laborious more vexatious then theirs accompanied with more wearisome toil more solicitous care more tedious attendence They are deservedly called Watchmen being constrained to stand alwayes on the guard to be alwayes wakefull attentive and ready to warn the People of approaching dangers and Shepherds likwise being forced to endure the various hardships of that uneasie life the inconveniencies of all weathers the nipping frosts and sweltry heats and all diversities of irksome travail they must feed they must guide they must defend they must seek the lost and reduce the straying Sheep What assiduity of Study what earnest contention of Soul are they obliged to use in the continual instruction exhortation and reprehension of the people in rectifying their judgments satisfying their scruples removing their prejudices bearing their infirmities and sympathizing with their afflictions 'T is they that are engaged with all their might to withstand the prevailing encroachments of Iniquity to stop the progress of pernicious errours to detect the false pretences of Impostours to confute the fallacies of Sophisters to repel the assaults of all Adversaries to the Truth yea if need be to expose not only their dearest contents of life but even their lives themselves in defence thereof Eusebius reports thus of Maximinus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He commanded that onely the Governours of the Church that is the Bishops should be slaughtered as the Authours of the growth and prevalence of Evangelical Doctrine Neither was it a singular practice of that bloudy Tyrant but as a thing of course it constantly follows that where-ever Righteousness and Truth are violently impugned the Priests are sure to taste deepest of that bitter Cup that their Goods be in the first place sequestred and spoiled their Reputation stained their Persons misused their Lives sacrificed to the Persecutors outrageous malice Is it not reasonable then and equal that they who for the service of God and benefit of the Church undergo such difficulties and are objected to so great hazzards should be sustained should be refreshed by proportionable encouragements Is it not barbarous usage to expect so hard duties from them to impose such heavy burthens on them and yet to grudge any sutable comforts any satisfactory rewards to them Good King Hezekiah surely was not so minded of whom 't is said He commanded the people that dwelt in Jerusalem to give the portion of the Priests and the Levites that they might be encouraged in the Law of the Lord that is that they might be heartned to study to teach to perform the duties required of them by the Divine Law And Saint Paul thus rationally expostulates in the Priests behalf Who ever goeth to war at his own charges who planteth a vineyard and eateth not of the fruit thereof or who feedeth a flock and eateth not of the milk of the flock If we have sown unto you spiritual things is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things Is it a great thing do you think much of it If you do you are unreasonable you are unjust you are ingrateful And otherwhere he thus very emphatically admonishes We beseech you brethren to mind them which labour among you and preside over you in the Lord and that admonish you and to esteem them more then exccedingly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in love for their work or for their office sake so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 frequently signifies in such cases And again Let the Elders or Priests 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which rule well be counted worthy of double honour or of double recompence so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 also imports Priests are so for their office sake have honour and reward due to them which according to the good management of that office are proportionably to be augmented and multiplied But further yet abstracting from both their personal worth and the merit of their service consider their Condition in this world and see whether it doth not in equity challenge some reasonable provision to be made for them Are they not by the nature of their profession secluded from all ordinary means of temporal advancement Be not those usual inlets of Wealth the Court the Camp and the Exchange shut upon them yea barr'd against them by those insuperable obstacles of Law and Custom Can they grow rich by Trade or famous by feats of Arms May they plead for others 't is well if they be allowed to do it for themselves before equal judges Yet are they not Men endued with humane passions and resentments Are they not Citizens partaking in the common interests of the weal publick Are they not sensible of the inconveniencies and capable of enjoying the benefits of this life Are they not equally obliged and would they not be glad as well as others to be in a capacity to requite courtesies to help relations to gratifie friends to relieve the poor to express respectively their humanity and their gratitude Skill they not to use the goods of Fortune or rather the gifts of Providence with as much discretion as much sobriety as much honour as others Compare things righteously and let
of passion and tedious vexations of body it maintains our minds in a chearfull calm quiet indifferency and comfortable liberty On the other side things of real worth and high concernment that produce great satisfaction to the mind and are mainly conducible to our happiness such as are a right understanding and strong sense of our obligations to Almighty God and relations to men a sound temper and complexion of mind a vertuous disposition a capacity to discharge the duties of our places a due qualification to enjoy the happiness of the other World these and such like things by discovering their nature and the effects resulting from them it engages us highly to esteem ardently to affect and industriously to pursue so preventing the inconveniences that follow the want of them and conveying the benefits arising from the possession of them XIII Wisedom distinguishes the circumstances limits the measures determines the modes appoints the fit seasons of action so preserving decorum and order the parent of peace and preventing confusion the mother of iniquity strife and disquiet 'T is in the business of humane life as in a building a due proportion of bigness a fit situation of place a correspondency of shape and sutableness of colour is to be observed between the parts thereof a defect in any of which requisites though the materials hap to be choice and excellent makes the whole fabrick deformed and ugly to judicious apprehension The best actions if they swell and exceed their due measure if they be unskilfully misplaced if in uncouth manner performed they lose their quality and turn both to the disgrace and disadvantage of life 'T is commendable to pray but they that would always be performing that duty by their absurd devotion procured to themselves the title of Hereticks and they that will stand praying in places of publick concourse deserved our Saviour's reprehensions and those men who against the custom and ordinary use would needs pray with their faces covered you know S. Paul insinuates of them that they were fond and contentious persons Friendly admonition is very laudable and of rare use but being upon all occasions immoderately used or in publick society so as to encroach upon modesty or endammage reputation or when the person admonished is otherwise employed and attent upon his business or being delivered in an imperiously-insulting way or in harsh and opprobrious language it becomes unsavoury and odious and both in shew and effect resembles a froward malicious exceptiousness 'T were infinite to compute in how many instances want of due order measure and manner do spoil and incommodate action 'T is Wisedom that applies remedy to these mischiefs Things must be compared to and arbitrated by her standard or else they will contain something of monstrous enormity either strutting in unwieldy bulk or sinking in defective scantness If she do not fashion and model circumstances they will sit ugly on the things that wear them if she do not temper the colours and describe the lineaments the draught of practice will be but rude and imperfect and little resemble the true patterns of duty but if she interpose and perform her part all things will appear conformable neat and delicate XIV Wisedom discovers our relations duties and concernments in respect of men with the natural grounds of them thereby both qualifying and inclining us to the discharge of them whence exceeding convenience pleasure and content ensues By it we understand we are parts and members of the great Body the Universe and are therefore concerned in the good management of it and are thereby obliged to procure its order and peace and by no irregular undertaking to disturb or discompose it which makes us honest and peaceable men that we proceed from the same primitive stock are children of the same father and partake of the same bloud with all men are endowed with like faculties of mind passions of Soul shape of body and sense of things that we have equally implanted in our original constitution inclinations to love pity gratitude sociableness quiet joy reputation that we have an indispensable need and impatient desire of company of assistence comfort and relief that therefore it is according to the design of nature and agreeable to reason that to those to whom our natural condition by so many bands of cognation similitude and mutual necessitude hath knit and conjoyned us we should bear a kind respect and tender affection should chearfully concurre in undergoing the common burthens should heartily wish and industriously promote their good assist them in accomplishing their reasonable desires thankfully requite the courtesies received from them congratulate and rejoyce with them in their prosperity comfort them in their distresses and as we are able relieve them however tenderly compassionate their disappointments miseries and sorrows This renders us kind and courteous neighbours sweet and gratefull companions It represents unto us the dreadfull effects and insupportable mischiefs arising from breach of faith contravening the obligations of solemn pacts infringing publick laws deviating from the received rules of equity violating promises and interrupting good correspondence among men by which considerations it engages us to be good citizens obedient subjects just dealers and faithfull friends It minds us of the blindness impotence and levity the proneness to mistake and misbehaviour that humane nature necessarily is subject to deserving rather our commiseration then anger or hatred which prompts us to bear the infirmities of our brethren to be gentle in censure to be insensible of petty affronts to pardon injuries to be patient exorable and reconcilable to those that give us greatest cause of offence It teaches us the good may but the evil of our neighbour can in no wise advantage us that from the suffering of any man simply considered no benefit can accrue nor natural satisfaction arise to us and that therefore 't is a vain base brutish and unreasonable thing for any cause whatsoever to desire or delight in the grief pain or misery of our neighbour to hate or envy him or insult over him or devise mischief to him or prosecute revenge upon him which makes us civil noble and placable enemies or rather no enemies at all So that Wisedom is in effect the genuine parent of all moral and political vertue justice and honesty as Solomon says in her person I lead in the way of righteousness and in the midst of the paths of judgment And how sweet these are in the practice how comfortable in the consequences the testimony of continual experience and the unanimous consent of all wise men sufficiently declare But farther XV. The principal advantage of Wisedom is its acquainting us with the Nature and reason of true Religion and affording convictive arguments to persuade to the Practice of it which is accompanied with the purest delight and attended with the most solid content imaginable I say the Nature of Religion wherein it consists and what it requires the mistake of which produceth daily
so many mischiefs and inconveniences in the world and exposes so good a name to so much reproach It sheweth it consisteth not in fair professions and glorious pretences but in real practice not in a pertinacious adherence to any Sect or party but in a sincere love of goodness and dislike of naughtiness where-ever discovering it self not in vain ostentations and flourishes of outward performance but in an inward good complexion of mind exerting it self in works of true Devotion and Charity not in a nice orthodoxie or politick subjection of our judgments to the peremptory dictates of men but in a sincere love of Truth in a hearty approbation of and compliance with the Doctrines fundamentally good and necessary to be believed not in harsh censuring and virulently inveighing against others but in carefull amending our own ways not in a peevish crosness and obstinate repugnancy to received laws and customs but in a quiet and peaceable submission to the express Laws of God and lawfull commands of man not in a furious zeal for or against trivial circumstances but in a conscionable practising the substantial parts of Religion not in a frequent talking or contentious disputing about it but in a ready observance of the unquestionable rules and prescripts of it In a word that Religion consists in nothing else but doing what becomes our relation to God in a conformity or similitude to his Nature and in a willing obedience to his holy Will to which by potent incentives it allures and persuades us by representing to us his transcendentlyglorious Attributes conspicuously displayed in the frame order and government of the World that wonderfull Power which erected this great and goodly fabrick that incomprehensible Wisedom which preserves it in a constant harmony that immense Goodness which hath so carefully provided for the various necessities delights and comforts of its innumerable inhabitants I say by representing those infinitely-glorious Perfections it engages us with highest respect to esteem reverence and honour him Also by minding us of our manifold obligations to him our receiving being life reason sense all the faculties powers excellencies privileges and commodities of our natures from him of his tender Care and loving Providence continually supporting and protecting us of his liberal Beneficence patient Indulgence and earnest desire of our good and happiness by manifold expressions evidently manifested toward us it inflames us with ardent love and obliges us to officious gratitude toward him Also by declaring the necessary and irreconcilable contrariety of his Nature to all impurity and perverseness his peerless Majesty his irresistible Power and his all-seeing Knowledge it begets an awfull dread and a devout fear of him By discovering him from his infinite Benignity willing and from his unlimited Power onely able to supply our needs relieve us in distresses protect us from dangers and confer any valuable benefit upon us it engenders Faith and encourages us to rely upon him By revealing to us his supereminent Sovereignty uncontrollable Dominion and unquestionable Authority over us together with the admirable excellency wisedom and equity of his Laws so just and reasonable in themselves so suitable to our nature so conducible to our good so easie and practicable so sweet and comfortable it powerfully inclines and by a gentle force as it were constrains us to obedience By such efficacious inducements Wisedom urges us to all duties of Religion and withall surely directs us as I before said wherein it consists teaching us to have right and worthy apprehensions of the Divine nature to which our Devotion if true and good must be suited and conformed and so it frees us as from irreligion and profane neglect of God so from fond superstitions the sources of so much evil to mankind For he that wisely hath considered the Wisedom Goodness and Power of God cannot imagine God can with a regardless eye overlook his presumptuous contempts of his Laws or endure him to proceed in an outrageous defiance of Heaven to continue hurting himself or injuring his neighbour nor can admit unreasonable terrours or entertain suspicious conceits of God as of an imperious Master or implacable Tyrant over him exacting impossible performances from or delighting in the fatal miseries of his Creatures nor can suppose him pleased with hypocritical shews and greatly taken with superficial courtships of ceremonious address or that he can in any wise favour our fiery zeals fierce passions or unjust partialities about matter of opinion and ceremony or can doe otherwise then detest all factious harsh uncharitable and revengefull proceedings of what nature or upon what ground soever or that he can be so inconsistent with himself as to approve any thing but what is like himself that is Righteousness Sincerity and Beneficence Lastly Wisedom attracts the Favour of God purchaseth a glorious Reward and secureth perpetual Felicity to us For God loveth none but him that dwelleth with wisedom And Glorious is the fruit of good labour and the root of wisedom shall never fall away And Happy is the man that sindeth wisedom and Whoso findeth her findeth life and shall obtain favour of the Lord. These are the words of wise Solomon in the Book of Wisedom and in the Proverbs God loveth her as most agreeable to his nature as resembling him as an off-spring beam and efflux of that Wisedom which founded the earth and established the Heavens as that which begetteth honour love and obedience to his Commands and truly glorifies him and as that which promotes the good of his Creatures which he earnestly desires And the paths she leads in are such as directly tend to the promised Inheritance of joy and bliss Thus have I simply and plainly presented you with part of what my meditation suggested upon this Subject It remains that we endeavour to obtain this excellent endowment of Soul by the faithfull exercise of our Reason carefull observation of things diligent study of the Divine Law watchfull reflexion upon our selves vertuous and religious practice but especially by imploring the Divine influence the original spring of light and fountain of all true knowledge following S. James his advice If any man lack wisedom let him ask it of God who giveth freely Therefore O everlasting Wisedom the Maker Redeemer and Governour of all things let some comfortable Beams from thy great Body of heavenly Light descend upon us to illuminate our dark minds and quicken our dead hearts to enflame us with ardent love unto thee and to direct our steps in obedience to thy Laws through the gloomy shades of this world into that region of eternal light and bliss where thou reignest in perfect Glory and Majesty one God ever-Blessed world without end Amen The Second Sermon 1 TIM 4. 8. But Godliness is profitable for all things HOW generally men with most unanimous consent are devoted to Profit as to the immediate scope of their designs and aim of their doings if with the slightest attention we view what is
very mean and below us not very base and misbecoming us as men of reason and judgement What have we to doe but to eat and drink like horses or like swine but to sport and play like children or apes but to bicker and scuffle about trifles and impertinencies like idiots what but to scrape or scramble for useless pelf to hunt after empty shews and shadows of honour or the vain fancies and dreams of men what but to wallow or bask in sordid pleasures the which soon degenerate into remorse and bitterness To which sort of employments were a man confined what a pitifull thing would he be and how inconsiderable were his life Were a man designed onely like a flie to buzz about here for a time sucking in the air and licking the dew then soon to vanish back into nothing or to be transformed into worms how sorry and despicable a thing were he And such without Religion we should be But it supplieth us with business of a most worthy nature and lofty importance it setteth us upon doing things great and noble as can be it engageth us to free our minds from all fond conceits and cleanse our hearts from all corrupt affections to curb our brutish appetites to tame our wild passions to correct our perverse inclinations to conform the dispositions of our Soul and the actions of our life to the eternal laws of righteousness and goodness it putteth us upon the imitation of God and aiming at the resemblance of his perfections upon obtaining a friendship and maintaining a correspondence with the High and Holy one upon fitting our minds for conversation and society with the wisest and purest Spirits above upon providing for an immortal state upon the acquist of joy and glory everlasting It employeth us in the divinest actions of promoting Vertue of performing beneficence of serving the publick and doing good to all the being exercised in which things doth indeed render a man highly considerable and his life excellently valuable 'T is an employment most proper to us as reasonable men For what more proper entertainments can our mind have then to be purifying and beautifying it self to be keeping it self and its subordinate faculties in order to be attending upon the management of thoughts of passions of words of actions depending upon its governance 'T is an employment most beneficial to us in pursuing which we greatly better our selves and improve our condition we benefit and oblige others we procure sound reputation and steddy friendships we decline many irksome mischiefs and annoyances we do not like those in the Prophet spend our labour for that which satisfieth not nor spend our mony for that which is not bread for both temporal prosperity and eternal felicity are the wages of the labour which we take herein 'T is an employment most constant never allowing sloth or listlessness to creep in incessantly busying all our faculties with earnest contention according to that profession of S. Paul declaring the nature thereof Herein always do I exercise my self to have a conscience void of offence toward God and toward man Whence it is called a Fight and a Race implying the continual earnestness of attention and activity which is to be spent thereon It is withall a sweet and gratefull business for it is a pious man's character that he delighteth greatly in God's commandments that the commandments are not grievous to him that it is his meat and drink to doe God's will that God's words or precepts are sweeter then hony to his tast that the ways of religious wisedom are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace Whereas all other employments are wearisome and soon become loathsome this the farther we proceed in it the more pleasant and satisfactory it groweth There is perpetual matter of victory over bad inclinations pestering us within and strong temptations assailing us without which to combat hath much delight to master breedeth unexpressible content The sense also of God's love the influences of his grace and comfort communicated in the performances of devotion and all duty the satisfaction of good Conscience the assured hope of reward the foretasts of future bliss do season and sweeten all the labours taken all the difficulties undergone therein In fine the bare light of Nature hath discerned that were it not for such matters as these to spend a man's care and pains upon this would be a lamentable world to live in There was for instance an Emperour great and mighty as ever did wield scepter upon earth whose excellent Vertue coupled with wisedom inferiour perhaps to none that any man ever without special inspiration hath been endowed with did qualifie him with most advantage to examine and rightly to judge of things here who not withstanding all the conveniencies which his Royal estate and well-settled prosperity might afford the which surely he had fully tasted and tried did yet thus express his thoughts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What doth it concern me to live in a world void of God or void of Providence To govern the greatest Empire that ever was in the deepest calm to enjoy the largest affluences of wealth of splendour of respect of pleasure to be loved to be dreaded to be served to be adored by so many nations to have the whole civil World obsequious to his will and nod all these things seemed vain and idle not worthy of a man's regard affection or choice in case there were no God to worship no Providence to observe no Piety to be exercised So little worth the while common sense hath adjudged it to live without Religion V. It is a considerable benefit of Piety that it affordeth the best Friendships and sweetest Society Man is framed for Society and cannot live well without it many of his faculties would be useless many of his appetites would rest unsatisfied in solitude To have a friend wise and able honest and good unto whom upon all occasions we may have recourse for advice for assistence for consolation is a great convenience of life and this benefit we owe to Religion which supplieth us with various Friendships of the best kind most beneficial and most sweet unto us It maketh God our Friend a Friend infinitely better then all friends most affectionate and kind most faithfull and sure most able most willing and ever most ready to perform all friendly offices to yield advice in all our doubts succour in all our needs comfort in all our troubles satisfaction to all our desires Unto him it ministreth a free address upon all occasions with him it alloweth us continually a most sweet and pleasant intercourse The pious man hath always the All-wise God to counsel him to guide his actions and order his steps he hath the All-mighty to protect support and relieve him he hath the immense Goodness to commiserate and comfort him unto him he is not onely encouraged but obliged to resort in need upon him
words are in the strictest sense the word of God uttered immediately by God himself and may thence command from us an especial attention and regard The History of that which occasioned them is I presume well known neither shall I make any descant or reflexion thereon but do take the words separately as a Proposition of it self affording a compleat instruction and ample matter of discourse And as such they plainly imply two things a Duty required of us to honour God and a Reward profered to us upon performance of that Duty being honoured by God It is natural for us before we are willing to undertake any work to consider the reward or benefit accruing from it and it is necessary before we can perform any duty to understand the nature thereof To this our method of action I shall suit the method of my Discourse first endeavouring to estimate the Reward then to explain the Duty Afterward I mean to shew briefly why in reason the Duty is injoyned how in effect the Reward is conferred 1. The Reward may be considered either absolutely as what it is in it self or relatively as to its rise and whence it comes 1. For it self it is Honour a thing if valued according to the rate it bears in the common market of highest price among all the objects of humane desire the chief reward which the greatest actions and which the best actions do pretend unto or are capable of that which usually bears most sway in the hearts and hath strongest influence upon the lives of men the desire of obtaining and maintaining which doth commonly overbear other most potent inclinations The love of pleasure stoops thereto for men to get or keep Reputation will decline the most pleasant enjoyments will embrace the hardest pains Yea it often prevails over the love of life it self which men do not onely frequently expose to danger but sometimes devote to certain loss for its sake If we observe what is done in the world we may discern it to be the source of most undertakings therein that it not onely moveth the wheels of publick action that not onely for it great Princes contend great armies march great battels are fought but that from it most private business derives its life and vigour that for Honour especially the Souldier undergoes hardship toil and hazzard the Scholar plods and beats his brains the Merchant runs about so busily and adventures so far yea that for its sake the meanest Labourer and Artificer doth spend his sweat and stretch his sinews The principal drift of all this care and industry the great reason of all this scuffling for Power this searching for Knowledge this scraping and scrambling for wealth doth seem to be that men would live in some credit would raise themselves above contempt In such request of such force doth Honour appear to be If we examine why we may find more then meer fashion or mutual imitation and consent to ground the experiment upon There is one obvious reason why no mean regard should be had thereto its great convenience and usefulness for that a man cannot himself live safely quietly or pleasantly without some competent measure thereof cannot well serve the publick perform offices of duty to his relations of kindness to his friends of charity to his neighbours but under its protection and with its aid it being an engine very requisite for the managing any business for the compassing any design at least sweetly and smoothly it procuring to us many furtherances in our proceedings removing divers obstacles out of our way guarding a man's person from offences adding weight to his words putting an edge upon his endeavours for every one allows a favourable ear to his discourse lends an assisting hand to his attempts grants a ready credence to his testimony and makes a fair construction of his doings whom he esteems and respects So is Honour plainly valuable among the bona utilia as no small accommodation of life and as such Reason approves it to our judgment But searching farther we shall find the appetite of Honour to have a deeper ground and that it is rooted even in our Nature it self For we may descry it budding forth in mens first Infancy before the use of reason or speech even little Children being ambitious to be made much of maintaining among themselves petty emulations and competitions as it were about punctilio's of Honour We may observe it growing with Age waxing bigger and stronger together with the encrease of wit and knowledge of civil culture and experience that the maturest age doth most resent and relish it that it prevails most in civilized nations that men of the best parts of the highest improvements of the weightiest employments do most zealously affect it and stand upon it that they who most struggle with it do most feel its might how difficult it is to resist or restrain it how impossible it is to stifle or extinguish it For the Philosopher with all his reasons and considerations cannot dispute it down or persuade it away the Anchoret cannot with all his austerities starve it or by his retirements shun it no affliction no poverty no wretchedness of condition can totally suppress it 'T is a spirit that not onely haunts our Courts and Palaces but frequents our Schools and Cloisters yea creeps into Cottages into Hospitals into Prisons and even doggs men into Desarts and Solitudes so close it sticks to our nature Plato says it is the last coat which a wise man doth put off But I question whether he could shew us that wise man who had done it or could tell us where he dwelt except perhaps in his own Utopian Republick For they who most pretend to have done it who in their discourse most vilifie Honour who talk like Chrysippus that a wise man for Reputation sake will not so much as stretch out his finger or like Seneca that we should doe every thing purely for conscience sake without any regard to mens opinion who make harangues and write volumes against Glory do yet appear by their practice sometimes by so doing to aim at it even as men do usually complain of and eagerly quarrel with that which they most affect and wooe Chrysippus wrote as we are told above 700 books most of them concerning Logical quirks and such as one can hardly imagine what other drift he could have in composing them beside ostentation of his subtilty and sharpness of wit Seneca if history do not wrong him and the face of his actions do not misrepresent him was not in his heart exempt from a spice of Ambition Yea that excellent Emperour M. Aurelius who would often speak like a Stoick could not but commonly act like a Man more by his practice commending Honour then he disparaged it in his words For Story represents him very carefull and jealous of his credit very diligent to preserve it and to repair it
Scripture as a thing considerably good which may be regarded without blame which sometimes in duty must be regarded It is there preferred before other good things in themselves not despicable For A good name is better then precious ointment yea A good name is rather to be chosen then great riches saith the Wise man 'T is called a Gift of God for There is a man saith the Preacher to whom God hath given riches and honour Yea not onely a simple Gift but a Blessing conferr'd in kindness as a reward and encouragement of goodness for By humility and the fear of the Lord saith he again are riches and honour Whence it is to be acknowledged as an especial benefit and a fit ground of thanksgiving as is practised by the Psalmist in his Royal Hymn Honour saith he and Majesty hast thou laid upon him Wisedom also is described unto us bearing in her left hand riches and honour and Wisedom surely will not take into any hand of hers or hold therein what is worth nothing No we are therefore moved to procure her because exalting her she shall promote us She shall give unto our head an ornament of grace a crown of glory shall she deliver to us We are also enjoyned to render Honour as the best expression of good will and gratitude toward them who best deserve in themselves or most deserve of us to our Prince to our Parents to our Priests especially to such of them as govern and teach well to all good men Have such in reputation says the Apostle And were not Honour a good thing such injunctions would be unreasonable Yea because we are obliged to bear good will toward all men S. Peter bids us to honour all men From hence also that we are especially bound to render Honour unto God himself we may well infer with Aristotle that Honour is the best thing in our power to offer To these considerations may be added that we are commanded to walk 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 decently or speciously which implies a regard to mens opinion to provide things honest in the sight of all men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is not onely things good in substance but goodly in appearance to have our conversation honest before the Gentiles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 again that is fair or comely and plausible such as may commend us and our profession to the judgment of them who observe us S. Paul also exhorts us to mind not onely what things are true are just are pure but also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what-ever things are venerable or apt to beget respect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what-ever things are lovely or gracious in mens eyes and esteem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what-ever things are well reported or well reputed of He requires us not onely if there be any vertue any thing very good in it self but if there be any praise any thing much approved in common esteem that we should mind such things Lastly the blessed state hereafter the highest instance of Divine bounty the compleat reward of goodness is represented and recommended to us as a state of Honour and Glory to be ambitious whereof is the character of a good man To every man saith S. Paul shall God render according to his works to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek glory and honour and immortality Eternal life Such is the Reward propounded to us in it self no vile or contemptible thing but upon various accounts much valuable that which the common apprehensions of men plain dictates of reason a predominant instinct of nature the judgments of very wise men and Divine attestation it self conspire to commend unto us as very considerable and precious Such a Reward our Text prescribes us the certain the onely way of attaining 2. Such a benefit is here tendred to us that which yet more highly commends it and exceedingly enhances its worth by God himself I saith he will honour 'T is sanctified by coming from his holy hand 't is dignified by following his most wise and just disposal 't is fortified and assured by depending on his unquestionable word and uncontrollable power who as he is the prime Authour of all good so he is in especial manner the sovereign dispenser of Honour The King we say is the fountain of honour What any King as the Representative and Delegate of God is in his particular Kingdom that is Almighty God absolutely and independently in all the world Both riches and honour said good King David come of thee for thou rulest over all in thine hand is power and might in thine hand it is to make great and to give strength unto all He whose grants are in effect onely sure and valid whose favours onely do in the end turn to good account he freely offers us most desirable preferment he doth himself graciously hold forth most authentick patents by virtue of which we may all become right honourable and persons of quality indeed having not onely the names and titles the outward ensigns and badges of dignity such as earthly Princes conferr but the substantial reality the assured enjoyment thereof For man can onely impose law upon tongues and gestures God alone commandeth and inclineth hearts wherein Honour chiefly resideth He offers it I say most freely indeed yet not absolutely he doth not goe to sell it for a price yet he propounds it under a condition as a most just and equal so a very gentle and easy condition 'T is but an exchange of Honour for Honour of honour from God which is a free gift for honour from us which is a just duty of honour from him our sovereign Lord for honour from us his poor vassals of honour from the most High Majesty of Heaven for honour from us vile worms creeping upon earth Such an overture one would think it not onely reasonable to accept but impossible to refuse For can any man dare not to honour invincible Power infallible Wisedom inflexible Justice will any man forbear to honour immense Goodness and Bounty Yes it seems there are men so mad as to reject so fair an offer so bad as to neglect so equal a duty Let us therefore consider what it is that is here required of us or wherein this honouring of God consists that we may thereby discern when we perform this duty when we are deficient therein II. There are several ways of honouring God or several parts and degrees of this Duty all which we may referr to two sorts conceiving the Duty as a compound made up of two main ingredients correspondent to those two parts in which they reside and of which our nature consists which distinction S. Paul suggesteth when he saith Glorifie God in your body and in your spirit which are God's one of them being as it were the form and Soul the other as the matter and Body of the Duty 1. The Soul
Authority which enjoyns them It is an aggravation of Impiety often insisted upon in Scripture that it slurrs as it were and defames God brings reproach and obloquy upon him causes his Name to be profaned to be cursed to be blasphemed and 't is answerably a commendation of Piety that by the practice thereof we not onely procure many great advantages to our selves many blessings and comforts here all joys and felicities hereafter but do also thereby beget esteem to God himself and sanctifie his ever-blessed Name cause him to be regarded and reverenced his Name to be praised and blessed among men It is by exemplary Piety by providing things honest in the sight of all men by doing things honourable and laudable such are all things which God hath been pleased to command us that we shall be sure to fulfill that precept of S. Paul of doing all things to the glory of God which is the Body of that duty we speak of Secondly But there are deserving a particular inspection some members thereof which in a peculiar and eminent manner do constitute this Honour some acts which more signally conduce to the illustration of God's glory Such are 1. The frequent and constant performance in a serious and reverent manner of all religious Duties or Devotions immediately addressed to God or conversant about him that which the Psalmist styles Giving the Lord the honour due to his Name worshipping the Lord in the beauty of Holiness 2. Using all things peculiarly related unto God his holy Name his holy Word his holy Places the places where his honour dwelleth his holy Times religious Fasts and Festivities with especial respect 3. Yielding due observance to the Deputies and Ministers of God both Civil and Ecclesiastical as such or because of their relation to God the doing of which God declares that he interprets and accepts as done unto himself 4. Freely spending what God hath given us out of respect unto him in works of Piety Charity and Mercy that which the Wise man calls Honouring the Lord with our substance 5. All penitential Acts by which we submit unto God and humble our selves before him As Achan by confessing of his sin is said to give glory to the Lord God of Israel 6. Chearfull undergoing afflictions losses disgraces for the profession of God's truth or for obedience to God's commands As S. Peter is said by his death suffered upon such accounts to glorifie God These signal instances of this duty represented as such in Holy Scripture for brevitie's sake I pass over craving leave onely to consider one most pertinent to our present business and indeed a very comprehensive one which is this 7. We shall especially honour God by discharging faithfully those offices which God hath intrusted us with by improving diligently those talents which God hath committed to us by using carefully those means and opportunities which God hath vouchsafed us of doing him service and promoting his glory Thus he to whom God hath given Wealth if he expend it not to the nourishment of pride and luxury not onely to the gratifying his own pleasure or humour but to the furtherance of God's honour or to the succour of his indigent neighbour in any pious or charitable way he doth thereby in especiall manner honour God He also on whom God hath bestowed Wit and parts if he employ them not so much in contriving projects to advance his own petty interests or in procuring vain applause to himself as in advantageously setting forth God's praise handsomely recommending goodness dexterously engaging men in ways of vertue doing which things is true wit and excellent policy indeed he doth thereby remarkably honour God He likewise that hath Honour conferr'd upon him if he subordinate it to God's honour if he use his own credit as an instrument of bringing credit to goodness thereby adorning and illustrating Piety he by so doing doth eminently practise this duty The like may be said of any other good quality any capacity or advantage of doing good by the right use thereof we honour God for that men beholding the worth of such good gifts and feeling the benefit emergent from them will be apt to bless the donour of them as did they in the Gospel who seeing our Saviour cure the Paralytick man did presently glorifie God who had given such power unto men But especially they to whom Power and Authority is committed as they have the chief capacity so they are under an especial obligation thus to honour God they are particularly concerned to hear and observe that Royall proclamation Give unto the Lord O ye mighty give unto the Lord glory and strength Give unto the Lord the honour due unto his name When such persons like King Nebuchadnezzar returned to his right senses do seriously acknowledge their power and eminency derived from God alone when they profess subjection unto him and express it in their practice not onely driving others by their power but drawing them by their example to piety and goodness when they cause God's Name to be duly worshipped and his Laws to be strictly observed when they favour and encourage Vertue discourage and chastise wickedness when they take care that justice be impartially administred innocence protected necessity relieved all iniquity and oppression all violence and disorder yea so much as may be all affliction and wretchedness be prevented or removed when they by all means strive to promote both the service of God and the happiness of men dispensing equally and benignly to the family over which their Lord hath set them their meat in due season providing that men under them may live a peaceable and quiet life in all godliness and honesty doing which is the business allotted to them the interest as it were of God which he declares himself concernedly to tender and by their ministry to prosecute when they carefully doe such things then do they indeed approve themselves worthy honourers of their High Master and Heavenly King then do they truly act God's part and represent his person decently When the actions of these visible Gods are so divinely good and beneficial men will be easily induced yea can hardly forbear to reverence and magnifie the invisible Founder of their Authority By so doing as they will set before mens eyes the best pattern of Loyalty as they will impress upon mens hearts the strongest argument for Obedience and respect toward themselves as they shall both more plainly inform and more effectually persuade people to the performance of their duty unto them then by all the law and all the force in the world as they will thereby consequently best secure and maintain their own honour and their own welfare for men will never be heartily loyal and submissive to Authority till they become really good nor will they ever be very good till they see their Leaders such so they will together greatly advance
with inconveniencies numberless yet did he exactly conform his practice to his rule being no less indefatigable and incessant in his Devotion then he was in his business Who ever managed a greater Empire then Constantine Yet every day as Eusebius reporteth at stated times shutting himself up he alone privately did converse with his God The most pious men indeed have never been idle or careless men but always most busie and active most industrious in their callings most provident for their families most officious toward their friends most ready to serve their country most abundant in all good works yet have they always been most constant in Devotion So that experience clearly doth evidence how reconcilable much Devotion is to much business and that consequently the prosecution of the one cannot well palliate the neglect of the other II. No better can any man ward himself from blame by imputing the neglect of Devotion to some indisposition within him thereto For this is onely to cover one fault with another or to lay on a patch more ugly then the sore 'T is in effect to say we may sin because we have a mind to it or care not to doe otherwise Our indisposition it self is criminal and as signifying somewhat habitual or settled is worse then a single omission it ought therefore to be corrected and cured and the way to doe it is by setting presently upon the practice of the Duty and persisting resolutely therein otherwise how is it possible that it should ever be removed The longer we forbear it the more seldom we perform it the stronger surely will our indisposition grow and the more difficult it will be to remove it But if with any degree of seriousness and good intention we come indisposed to Prayer we may thereby be formed into better disposition and by continual attendence thereon we shall God's grace co-operating which never is wanting to serious and honest intentions grow toward a perfect fitness for it Prayer by degrees will become natural and delightfull to us The Eighth Sermon EPHES. 5. 20. Giving thanks always for all things unto God THESE words although as the very Syntax doth immediately discover they bear a relation to and have a fit coherence with those that precede may yet especially considering S. Paul's style and manner of expression in the preceptive and exhortative part of his Epistles without any violence or prejudice on either hand be severed from the Context and considered distinctly by themselves And to avoid encumbrance by farther comparison so taking them we may observe that every single word among them carries with it something of notable emphasis and especial significancy The first Giving thanks expresses the substance of a Duty to which we are exhorted The next I mean in order of construction to God denotes the Object or Term to which it is directed The following always determines the main Circumstance of this and all other Duties the Time of performance The last for all things declares the adequate Matter of the Duty and how far it should extend These particulars I shall consider severally and in order I. First then concerning the Duty it self to give thanks or rather to be thankfull for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth not onely signifie gratias agere reddere dicere to give render or declare thanks but also gratias habere gratè affectum esse to be thankfully disposed to entertain a gratefull affection sense or memory in which more comprehensive notion I mean to consider it as including the whole Duty or Vertue of Gratitude due to Almighty God for all his benefits favours and mercies I say concerning this Duty it self abstractedly considered as it involves a respect to benefits or good things received so in its employment about them it imports requires or supposes these following particulars 1. It implies a right Apprehension of and consequently a considerate Attention unto Benefits conferred For he that is either wholly ignorant of his obligations or mistakes them or passes them over with a slight and superficial view can no-wise be gratefull Whoso is wise and will observe these things even they shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord. Men shall fear and shall declare the work of God for they shall wisely consider of his doings The works of the Lord are great sought out of all that have pleasure therein O tast first and then see that the Lord is good This is the method that great Master of Thanksgiving prescribes first experimental notice then wise consideration then gratefull sense then publick acknowledgment And those we find both by him and by the Prophet Isaias in the very same words reprehended as wickedly ingratefull persons who regarded not the work of the Lord nor considered the operation of his hands 'T is part therefore of this Duty incumbent on us to take notice of diligently and carefully to consider the Divine Benefits not to let them pass undiscerned and unregarded by us as persons either wofully blind or stupidly drowzie or totally unconcerned 'T is a general fault that the most common and frequent the most obvious and conspicuous favours of God like the ordinary Phaenomena of Nature which as Aristotle observes though in themselves most admirable are yet least admired the constant rising of the Sun upon us the descent of fruitfull Showrs the recourse of temperate Seasons the continuance of our Life the enjoyment of Health the providential dispensation of Wealth and competent means of livelihood the daily Protection from incident dangers the helps of improving Knowledge obtaining Vertue becoming happy and such like most excellent Benefits we commonly little mind or regard and consequently seldom return the thanks due for them Possibly some rare accidents of Providence some extraordinary Judgment some miraculous deliverance may rouze and awaken our attention as it is said of the Israelites When he slew them then they sought him and remembred that God was their Rock and the high God their Redeemer but such advertency is not the effect so much of Gratitude as of curiosity or of necessity the notable rarity invites or some powerfull impulse commands our notice But the truly gratefull industriously design and are studious to know thoroughly their obligations that they may be able to render answerable returns for them 2. This Duty requires a faithfull Retention of Benefits in memory and consequently frequent Reflexions upon them For he that is no longer affected with a Benefit then it incurrs the sense and suffers not it self to be disregarded is far from being gratefull nay if we believe the Philosopher is ingratefull in the worst kind and highest degree For Ingratus est saith he qui beneficium accepisse se negat quod accepit ingratus est qui dissimulat ingratus qui non reddit ingratissimus omnium qui oblitus est He that falsly denies the reception of a Benefit and he that dissembles it and he that doth not repay it
is ingratefull but most ingratefull of all is he that forgets it It is a sign the Benefit made no deep impression on his mind since it left no discernible footstep there that he hardly ever thought of making recompence since he hath suffered himself to become altogether uncapable of doing it neither is there any hope of his amending the past neglect no shame no repentance no fair occasion can redeem him from Ingratitude in whom the very remembrance of his obligation is extinguished If to be sensible of a present good turn deserved the title of Gratitude all men certainly would be gratefull the Jews questionless were so When Almighty God by his wonderfull power in extraordinary ways delivered them from the tyranny and oppression of their prevalent enemies when he caused streams to gush forth from the bowels of a hard rock to refresh their thirst when bread descended from Heaven in showrs and the winds were winged with flesh to satisfie their greedy desires then surely they were not altogether unsensible of the Divine goodness then could they acknowledge his power and be forward enough to engage themselves in promises of correspondent observance toward him for the future But the mischief was immediately after as the Psalmist complains They forgat his works and the wonders he had shewed them They remembred not his hand nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy They refused to obey neither were mindfull of the wonders that God did among them as Nehemiah confesses in their behalf Of the Rock that Begat them they were unmindfull and forgot the God that formed them as it is in Deuteronomy They distrusted his Promises repined at his dealings disobeyed his Laws and treacherously apostatized from his Covenant Such were the fruits of their ungratefull forgetfulness which therefore that people is so often charged with and so sharply reproved for by the Prophets On the contrary we find that great pattern of Gratitude the Royal Prophet David continually revolving in his thoughts imprinting upon his fancy studying and meditating upon recollecting and renewing in his memory the results of Divine favour I will remember saith he thy wonders of old I will meditate of all thy works and talk of thy doings and I remember the days of old I meditate on all thy works I muse on the works of thy hands and Bless the Lord O my soul and forget not all his benefits and My mouth shall praise thee with joyfull lips when I remember thee upon my bed and meditate on thee in the night-watches because thou hast been my help No place unfit it seems no time unseasonable for the practice of this Duty not the place designed for rest not the time due to sleep but as David thought more due to a wakefull contemplation of the Divine goodness Whose vigilant Gratitude we should strive to imitate devoting our most solitary and retired our most sad and serious thoughts not the studies onely of our closet but the consultations also of our pillow to the preservation of those blessed Idea's that neither length of time may deface them in our fancy nor other care thrust them out thence It was a satyrical answer that of Aristotle and highly opprobrious to mankind who being asked 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What doth the soonest grow old replied 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thanks and so was that adagiall verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 No sooner the courtesie born then the resentment thereof dead Such reproachfull Aphorisms we should labour to confute especially as they are applicable to the Divine favours by so maintaining and cherishing our thanks for them that they neither decay with age nor prematurely die nor be buried in oblivion but may resemble the pictures and poetical descriptions of the Graces those goodly Daughters of Heaven smiling always with a never-fading serenity of countenance and flourishing in an immortal youth The middle we may observe and the safest and the fairest and the most conspicuous places in Cities are usually deputed for the erections of Statues and Monuments dedicated to the memory of worthy men who have nobly deserved of their Countries In like manner should we in the heart and centre of our Soul in the best and highest appartments thereof in the places most exposed to ordinary observation and most secure from the invasions of worldly care erect lively representations of and lasting memorials unto the Divine bounty constantly attending to which we may be disposed to Gratitude Not one blessing not the least favourable passage of Providence ought to perish with us though long since past and removed out of the sphere of present sense We must not in our Old age forget who formed us in the Womb who brought us into the light who suckled our Infancy who educated our Childhood who governed our Youth who conducted our Manhood through the manifold hazzards troubles and disasters of life Nor in our Prosperity our affluence of good things our possession of Canaan should we be unmindfull of him who relieved us in our streights who supplied our wants sustained our adversity who redeemed us from Egypt and led us through the wilderness A succession of new and fresh Benefits should not as among some Savages the manner is for the young to make away the old supplant and expunge ancient ones but make them rather more dear and venerable to us Time should not weaken or diminish but rather confirm and radicate in us the remembrance of God's goodness to render it as it doth gold and wine more precious and more strong We have usually a memory more then enough tenacious of injuries and ill turns done us let it never be said to the disgrace of that noble faculty that we can hardly forget the discourtesies of man but not easily remember the favours of God But farther 3. This Duty implies a due Esteem and valuation of Benefits that the nature and quality the measure and quantity the circumstances and consequences of them be well expended else the Gratitude is like to be none or very defective For we commensurate our thankfulness not so much to the intrinsick excellency of things as to our peculiar estimations of them A Cynick perhaps would not return more thanks for a diamond then for a pebble nor more gratefully receive a talent of gold then an ounce of copper because he equally values or rather alike contemns both Wherefore we find our never-to-be-forgotten example the devout Thanksgiver David continually declaring the great price he set upon the Divine favours admiring and displaying their transcendent perfections their wonderfull greatness their boundless extension their excessive multitude their endless duration their advantageous circumstances the excellent needfulness convenience and seasonableness of them together with the admirable freeness wisedom and power of the Benefactour shining forth in and by them I will praise thee O Lord saith he among the people I will sing unto thee among the nations For thy
Tertullian calls such Philosophers negotiatores famae Merchants for fame and it is perchance some part of their cunning in that trade which makes them strive to beat down the price of this commodity that they may more easily engrosse it to themselves However experience proves that such words are but words words spoken out of affectation and pretence rather then in good earnest and according to truth that endeavours to banish or to extirpate this desire are but fond and fruitless attempts The reason why is clear for 't is as if one should dispute against eating and drinking or should labour to free himself from hunger and thirst the appetite of Honour being indeed as that of Food innate unto us so as not to be quenched or smothered except by some violent distemper or indisposition of mind even by the wise Authour of our nature originally implanted therein for very good ends and uses respecting both the private and publick benefit of men as an engagement to Vertue and a restraint from Vice as an excitement of industry an incentive of courage a support of constancy in the prosecution of worthy enterprises as a serviceable instrument for the constitution conservation and improvement of humane society For did not some love of Honour glow in mens breasts were that noble spark quite extinct few men probably would study for honourable qualities or perform laudable deeds there would be nothing to keep some men within bounds of honesty and decency to deterr them from doing odious and ugly things men not caring what others thought of them would not regard what they did themselves a barbarous sloth or brutish stupidity would overspread the world withdrawing from common life most of its ornaments much of its convenience men generally would if not altogether shun society yet at least decline the cares and burthens requisite to the promoting its welfare for the sustaining which usually the chief encouragement the main recompence is this of Honour That men therefore have so tender and delicate a sense of their Reputation so that touching it is like pricking a nerve as soon felt and as smartly offensive is an excellent provision in nature in regard whereto Honour may pass among the bona naturalia as a Good necessary for the satisfaction of nature and for securing the accomplishment of its best designs A moderate regard to Honour is also commendable as an instance of humanity or good will to men yea as an argument of humility or a sober conceit of our selves For to desire another man's esteem and consequently his love which in some kind or degree is an inseparable companion of esteem doth imply somewhat of reciprocal esteem and affection toward him and to prize the judgment of other men concerning us doth signifie that we are not oversatisfied with our own We might for its farther commendation allege the authority of the more cool and candid sort of Philosophers such as grounded their judgment of things upon notions agreeable to common sense and experience who adapted their rules of practice to the nature of man such as they found it in the world not such as they framed it in their own fancies who have ranked Honour among the principal of things desirable and adorned it with fairest elogies terming it a divine thing the best of exteriour goods the most honest fruit and most ample reward of true Vertue adjudging that to neglect the opinions of men especially of persons worthy and laudable is a sign of stupid baseness that to contemn them is an effect of unreasonable haughtiness representing the love of Honour rightly grounded and duly moderated not onely as the parent and guardian as productive and preservative of other Vertues but as a Vertue it self of no small magnitude and lustre in the Constellation of Vertues the Vertue of Generosity A Vertue which next to the spirit of true Religion next to a hearty reverence toward the Supreme Blessed Goodness and that holy Charity toward men which springeth thence doth lift a man up nearest to Heaven doth raise his mind above the sordid desires the sorry cares the fond humours the perverse and froward passions with which men commonly are possessed and acted that Vertue which enflames a man with Courage so that he dares perform what reason and duty require of him that he disdains to doe what is bad or base which inspires him with Sincerity that he values his honesty before all other interests and respects that he abhorrs to wrong or deceive to flatter or abuse any man that he cannot endure to seem otherwise then he is to speak otherwise then he means to act otherwise then he promises and professes which endows him with Courtesie that he is ready to yield every man his due respect to afford any man what help and succour he is able that Vertue which renders a man upright in all his dealings and correspondent to all his obligations a loyall Subject to his Prince and a true lover of his Country a candid judge of persons and things an earnest favourer of what-ever is good and commendable a faithfull and hearty friend a beneficial and usefull neighbour a gratefull resenter and requiter of courtesies hospitable to the stranger bountifull to the poor kind and good to all the world that Vertue in fine which constitutes a man of honour who surely is the best man next to a man of conscience Thus may Honour be valued from natural light and according to common sense But beyond all this the Holy Scripture that most certain standard by which we may examine and determine the true worth of things doth not teach us to slight Honour but rather in its fit order and just measure to love and prize it It indeed instructs us to ground it well not upon bad qualities or wicked deeds that 's villainous madness not upon things of a mean and indifferent nature that 's vanity not upon counterfeit shews and pretences that 's hypocrisie but upon reall worth and goodness that may consist with modesty and sobriety it enjoyns us not to be immoderate in our desires thereof or complacencies therein not to be irregular in the pursuit or acquist of it to be so is pride and ambition but to affect it calmly to purchase it fairly it directs us not to make a regard thereto our chief principle not to propound it as our main end of action it charges us to bear contentedly the want or loss thereof as of other temporal goods yea in some cases for Conscience sake or for God's service that is for a good incomparably better then it it obliges us willingly to prostitute and sacrifice it chusing rather to be infamous then impious to be in disgrace with men rather then in disfavour with God it in fine commands us to seek and embrace it onely in subordination and with final reference to God's honour Which distinctions and cautions being provided Honour is represented in Holy