encourage us to the practice of it for we are prompted to it by a kind of natural Instinct we are led to the knowledge of it by Reason by the general vote of Mankind and by the most powerful and prevailing Passions of Human Nature Hope Fear and Shame And to take away all excuse of ignorance from us by an express Revelation from himself so that whenever we omit our Duty or do any thing contrary to it we offend against all these and incur the heavy sentence pronounced by our Saviour that Light is come into the World and men love darkness rather than Light for he that doth evil acts against the Convictions of his own Mind and the Light that shines in his own Soul Thirdly PIETY towards God Righteousness Justice and Charity towards Men are more pleasing to God and more valuable that if we should offer to him all the Beasts of the Forest or the Cattle upon a thousand Hills for to the strict observance of these Duties we are directed and obliged by our very Nature and the most Sacred Law which God hath written upon our Hearts and that we might have no pretence to take us off from them God hath freed us in the Gospel from those many Observances and burdensom Ceremonies wherewith the Religion of the Jews was incumbred that we might better mind Moral Duties and live in the practice of them Fourthly WE see in the last place what is the best way to appease the wrath of God and to reconcile our selves to him God seems oftentimes to have a Controversie with us as with his People of old and at such times we are apt to ask as they did wherewith shall we come before the Lord and bow our selves before the most high God! And we are apt to think as they did that the next way to please him is by external Worship and Devotion which may be good and necessary but these are not the things that God doth mainly require of us it is true Prayers hearing the Word of God and receiving the Sacraments are to be performed but these are but means to a further End and serve to engage us to the practice of the great and essential Duties of Christianity and to promote the Virtues of a good Life There doth appear in many Men a great deal of external Devotion but their Lives and Manners are generally very corrupt and the weighty things of the Law are neglected as Justice Righteousness and Mercy so that we may take up the complaint of the Royal Psalmist help Lord for the Righteous man ceaseth and the faithful fail and till we return to our antient Virtue and Integrity of Life we have reason to think and fear that God will continue to have a Controversie with us notwithstanding all our Zeal and Noise about his Religion which must prevail with us to do Justly to love Mercy and to walk humbly with our God otherwise it will seem to have less power and efficacy than Natural Agents have But if we are truly religious there is an imperceptible spring that guides all our Motions in the Path of Virtue for we cannot see at what passage the good Thought entred neither can we perceive how the good Spirit infuses a Pious desire Thus it is in Nature we see the Sun shine and can feel his warmth but we discern not how he enters into the Bowels of the Earth how his little Atoms steal into the secret Pores of Plants how he impregnates Nature with new Life nay we feel not how our own Spirits move how they start and flie as quick as we think from one end of our Nerves to the other so undiscernable and so puissant is the working of God's Grace in the change of our Minds into an heavenly Temper in imprinting upon our Souls the fair and lovely Notions of Goodness and Truth in laying in our Minds the Seeds of a blessed Immortality whereby the Soul will be gradually exalted to the utmost Perfection in all the Parts and Faculties thereof By Grace and Virtue the Mind is sitted for an everlasting State of Happiness that is the Understanding will be raised to the utmost Capacity and that Capacity completely filled the Will will be perfected with absolute and indefective Holiness with exact Conformity to the Will of God and perfect liberty from all servitude of Sin it shall be troubled with no doubtful choice but with its radical and fundamental Freedom shall fully imbrace the greatest good The Affections shall be all set right by an unalterable Regulation and in that regularity shall receive absolute satisfaction To this internal Perfection will be added a condition proportionably Happy consisting in an entire freedom from all Pain Misery Labour and Want an impossibility of sinning and offending God an Hereditary Possession of all good with an unspeakable complacency and joy slowing from it FINIS BOOKS Printed for and Sold by Charles Harper at the Flower-de-Luce over against S. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet DOctor Willis's Practise of Physick being the whole Works of that Renowned and Famous Physician Rendred into English Second Edit with Fourty Copper Plates Fol. The Historical and Miscellaneous Tracts of the Reverend and Learned Peter Heylyn D. D Now Collected into one Vol. And An Account of the Life of the Author never before Publieshd Fol. The Religion of Protestants a safe Way to Salvation with a Discourse of the Apostolcal Institution of Episcopacy By W. Chillingworth M. A. To which in this Edit is added shewing the Reason why he left Popery Fol. The History of Queen Elizabeth By W. Cawbden King at Arms. Fourth Edition Fol. The Second and Third Parts of the VVorks of Mr. Abraham Cowley The Second containing what was VVritten and Published by himself in his younger Years Now Reprinted together Sixth Edition The Third Part containing his Six Books of Plants never before Published in English viz. 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foundation in Reason and Nature these do depend wholly upon instruction and memory and cannot be preserved without them but we see among the Rude and Ignorant upon whom hardly any care or instruction is used men have as lively a sense of the difference between virtue and vice in many particulars as the more learned part of the World which is a plain Argument that these things are not conveyed to us by Tradition Nor can they be applyed to humane Policy for many of these things were never enacted by humane Laws and yet they obtain among Mankind as Gratitude Charity and such like Seneca says that Gratitude was never enjoyned by any Law but that of the Macedonians which plainly shews that these things owe their Original to some other Cause and that they are to be attributed to Nature the Author of which is God and the general Consent of Mankind is an argument of their Truth and Reality HOWEVER it is Objected that several Persons and some whole Nations have differed about some of these things so that this Consent is not so general besides the Consent of the World in Superstition and Idolatry may seem to weaken this Argument from the universal Agreement of Mankind about Good and Evil. WE Answer that it is not denied but that Men may so vitiate their Natures Nature may be so vitiated as to lose the Sense of Virtue and Vice as to lose the sense of Virtue and Vice yet it may remain true that Mankind have a natural Sense and Knowledg of them as some by Lust and Intemperance may so spoil their Palates that they may not taste the difference of Meats and Drinks yet this last is never the less natural to Mankind for there is a great deal of difference between Natural and Moral Agents natural Agents always continue the same but voluntary Agents may vary in some things that are Natural especially where Men have Debauch'd their Natures and have offered great violence to themselves more than this the exceptions are not so general as to infringe the universal Consent of Mankind the difference is but in few things and therefore they are taken notice of and being collected together in History they may seem a great many but that they are particularly noted is a sign they are but few what if one Philosopher mentioned that Snow was Black and Ten more had been of his Mind this would have been no objection against the Sense or Reason of Mankind for all Men agree that Self-preservation is a natural Instinct notwithstanding some particular Persons have offered violence to their own Lives As to Superstition or Idolatry there hath been no such agreement of Mankind in that as to prove it to have a Foundation in Nature for it is confessed that it was not always practised in the World but that it had a Beginning and indeed it grew up by degrees and sprang out of the Corruptions of Mankind and therefore Time was when there was no such thing so that it does not owe its Rise to Nature but to the defection of Mankind For while Idolatry prevailed in the World it was condemned by several Men as a stupid and sottish Thing tho they had not the courage to declare against the Practice of it so that whilst it was used by the generality of the World it was censured as a great Folly by those that were best able to judg Lastly WE know what is Virtue and Vice Good and Evil more distinctly Outward Revelation discovers to us what is Virtue and what is Vice by outward Revelation in former Ages of the World God was pleased to reveal his Will several Ways and more especially to the Nation of the Jews the rest of the World being left solely to the dictates of natural Light But in the latter Ages of the World it pleased God to make a publick and more full Declaration of his Mind by his Son and this Revelation is for Substance the same with the Law of Nature our Saviour comprehended it under these two Heads the Love of God and of our Neighbour the Apostle reduceth it to Sobriety Righteousness and Piety for the Grace of God that bringeth Salvation teacheth us to deny all ungodliness and Worldly Lust and to live Soberly Righteously and Godly in this present World so that if we believe the Apostle the Gospel teacheth us the very same things that Nature dictateth to Mankind for these are the very Virtues which natural Light prompt Men unto only we allow a more perfect discovery of them by the Gospel and to convince Men of the Good and Evil that are affixed to Virtue and Vice there are great and eternal Rewards promised to one and endless Punishments threatned to the other so that now Mankind have no cloak for their Sin their Duty being so clearly laid open to them and the Rewards and Punishments of another Life so plainly revealed all the defects of the natural Law and the Corruptions of it through the degeneracy of Mankind being fully supplyed by the Revelation of the Gospel So that we may now much better say than the Prophet could in his days Mich. 6.8 He hath shewed thee O Man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God BUT as to external Revelation it is Objected that the Scripture is very obscure and gives us not sufficient direction in Matters of Faith WE Answer that this Objection hath no Colour of Truth in it for if the Church of Rome to whom are beholden for this Objection against the Word of God and who are ready upon all occasions to quarrel with it Yet they do not deny but the Scriptures are plain as to Precepts of Life and Practice but as to matters of Faith they pretend its defection in as if God had not intended to reveal but conceal his Mind in these things Indeed they have some reason to pretend this considering how hard it is to find several of their Doctrines in the Scripture but as to the moral Precepts of a good Life they all grant that they are clearly delivered in the holy Scripture so that this Objection about the obscurity thereof doth not lie against what I have been speaking THEREFORE seeing Moral Virtues may be plainly understood by Natural Instinct Natural Reason the consent of Mankind and outward Revelation we must in the next place see how easie and pleasant they are to be practised First THEY are easie because we are assisted in the practice of them by the Holy Spirit of God against all difficulties whatsoever Secondly THEY are both easie and pleasant because they are profitable for all things improve our Understandings and bring peace to our Minds FOR our Christian Race is a Warfare and we have many Conquests to make over the corruptions of our Natures the influences of Sense and the disorders of Passion Whence the difficulties of a virtuous Life do
superadded to the reason of our Minds is of strength sufficient to subdue all the Temptations to evil if the Creation below us by natural instinct doth those things that are regular shall not these higher Principles do the like always preserve us from known evil and determine us to that which is morally good This is the course of things in Nature every Habit begun is greatly weakened by a forbearance of Acts for every thing must be kept up in the way it was produced a Disposition is first wrought by some Acts and if Act be not continued upon Act the Disposition will fail for things that are not brought to a State of Perfection will go back again if they be not maintained in the same way that they were produced Wherefore it will be worth the while to enquire what our most holy Religion aims at and after what manner it doth affect the Person in whom it is lodged Now Religion makes us live up to our highest Faculties and teaches us to practise such Virtues as become rational Beings who bear the Image of the Immortal God and are exalted above the Inferior Creation prompts us to scorn all Actions that are base unhansom or unworthy our State and Relation in which we stand to our Creator forbids us to do any thing that will make us like Beasts or that would sink us into a lower order by Sensuality and Carnal-mindedness or that would transform us into the likeness of Devils by Pride Presumption and Self conceit makes us God-like in Wisdom Righteousness Goodness Charity Compassion in forgiving Injuries pardoning Enemies and in doing hurt to none but good to all as we have power and opportunity advises us to follow the conduct of true and sincere Reason tames the Extravagancy of our Passions and regulates the Exorbitances of the Will permits us the pleasures of our Bodies so far as they may give no disturbance to the Mind produces a sweet and gracious Temper of Soul calm in it self and loving to Mankind begets in us freedom of Spirit and banishes groundless Fears foolish Imaginations and dastardly Thoughts teaches us to have right Conceptions of God that he doth transact all things with Mankind as a loving Father with his Children creates in us a rational Satisfaction and the joy of a good Conscience advances the Soul to its just Sovereignty over inferior Appetites which would disable it for all good and vertuous Acts and render us weak foolish and unfit for any thing that is generous or noble strengthens our Reason against the Onsets of the World Flesh and Devil which is effected chiefly by stifling all manner of Intemperance for it is this that frustrates the Work of Religion either by stupifying or imaging the Spirits or by putting them into irregular Motions 16. An Exhortation to the Practice of Religion Now therefore let us consider whether or no this Religion doth govern our Lives which we must learn not by our acquaintance with Systems and Models of Divinity but by our keeping its Commandments For unless Christ be inwardly formed in our Hearts the Notions of Religion can save us no more than Arts and Sciences whilst they lye only in Books and Papers without us can make us learned For Christ Jesus did not undergo a reproachful Life and Death merely to bring in a Notion into the World without the changing mending and reforming it so that Men might still be as wicked as they were before and as much under the Power of the Prince of Darkness Indeed Christ came to expiate and attone for our Sins but the end of this was that we might forsake all Ungodliness and worldly Lusts 'T is true there be some that dishearten us in this spiritual Warfare and bring an ill Report upon that Land which we are to conquer telling of nothing but strange Giants the Sons of Anak that we shall never be able to subdue others would suggest that it is enough for us if we be but once in a state of Grace we need not take so great pains to travel any farther or that Christ hath done all for us already without us and nothing need more to be done within us Hearken not to them I beseech you but hear what Caleb and Joshua say Let us go up at once and possess it for we are able to overcome them the hugest Armies of Lusts not by our own Strength but by the Power of the Lord of Hosts hear also the wholsom Words of S. Peter Give all diligence to add to your Faith Virtue and to Virtue Knowledg to Knowledg Temperance and to Temperance Patience to Patience Godliness and to Godliness brotherly Kindness and to brotherly Kindness Charity for if these things be in you and abound they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledg of our Lord Jesus Christ For Holiness hath something of God in it and therefore it must needs be a victorious and triumphant thing And as the Devils are always active to encourage Evil so the heavenly Host of blessed Angels are as busie in promoting that which is good for we cannot imagin but that the Kingdom of Light should be as true to its own Interest and as vigilant for the enlarging it self as the Kingdom of Darkness But then by Holiness is not meant a mere Performance of the outward Duties of Religion but an inward Soul and Principle of divine Life that enliveneth the dead Carcast of all our outward Devotions For this is the vulgar Error of Mankind they have dreadful Apprehensions of Fire and Brimstone whilst they feed in their Hearts a true and living Fire that is the Hell of Lusts which miserably scorches their Souls and they are not concerned at it they do not perceive how Hell steals upon them whilst they live here And as for Heaven they gaze abroad for it as for some great and high Preferment that must come from without and never look for the beginnings of it to arise within in their own Minds Whereas nothing without us can make us either happy or miserable nothing can either defile or hurt us but what goeth out from us I shall now shut up all with these two Considerations to persuade you farther to the Love of Virtue From the desire we all have after Truth which is not held up by wrangling Disputes and syllogistical Reasonings but by the Purity of our Hearts and Lives neither would it fail of overcoming the World did not the Sensuality of our Dispositions and the Darkness of our false Hearts stop its passage And from the Desires we have of a true Reformation which must be begun in our own Hearts and Lives for all outward Forms and Models thereof are of little worth without the inward Amendment of our own Souls For the baser Metals are not changed by their being cast into a good Mold or by being made up in an elegant Figure neither will adulterate Silver pass when the Touch-stone tryes it neither can we
errour or draw on a Bargain the more easily MATTERS of rarity and fancy have no certain Estimation therefore we must be moderate in the price that we put upon them so much the rather because in these things we are left to be our own Judges Neither should we venture so far as to go to the utmost limits of what is Lawful for he that will walke upon the very brink the least step awry will tumble him down so he who will do the utmost of what he may do will sometime or other be tempted to what he should not act for it is a short and easie passage from the edges of what is lawful to what is unlawful and evil Therefore in that latitude which Trading Men have of Gain they are bound by this Rule of Justice to shew favour to the Poor and Necessitous to practice Ingenuity towards the ignorant or unskilful and moderation towards all Men. WHERE they have any doubt about the equity of their dealings they should choose the safest part for not only a good Conscience but a quiet one is to be valued above Gain therefore in Matters of Duty they ought to do the most in divisions of Right and proportions of Lucre where there is any Dispute they ought to choose the least for this is always the safest course Now the circumstances that vary Cases are infinite so that when all is done much must be left to the equity and chancery of our own Breasts Neither can it be determined how much a Man may get in the Pound and no more for he may make a greater Gain at one time than another of the same thing he may take those advantages which the change of things and the Providence of God gives him he may take more of some Persons than others provided he use all men righteously he may use some favorably I shall not descend to any more Particulars on this Head for the sake of Sir Thomas More 's Observation of the Casuists in his time that they did not teach Men not to Sin but did shew them how near they might come to Sin and not commit it THE second Species of particular Justice we call Distributive Justice Distributive Justice adjusts due Rewards and Punishments which is concerned in adjusting due Rewards and Punishments and in dealing with every Man according to his desert For many Men doing the same thing do not deserve alike great Persons and private Men carry not away the same reward of their Actions The Husbandman sells his Corn at the same Rate to the Prince and to the Beggar but the same Action of the King and of the mean Person is not rewarded in the same measure Seeing therefore doing of Justice is nothing else but dealing equally with all Parties as near as we can that all things may come to equality or which is the same to equity we are to observe that there are two ways which we are to take in all our Actions of doing Justice First ONE is called medium Rei which is always the same and is that medium Arithmeticum which Aristotle and other Moralists talk of at large Secondly THE other is medium rationis vel proportionis and is called medium Geometricum which is not always the same but varies according to persons times occasions and other circumstances NOW the principal thing which is to be respected in the doing Justice is that which we call equity How Equity and Justice differ as it stands in opposition to the rigour or strictness of Law And here we must observe that there is some difference between Justice and Equity tho sometimes they are put together and are taken for the same thing what the Laws and common Reason will allow that we call just but equity considers the circumstances of the Case and will grant allowance if they do require it for equity doth moderate the Rigour of the Law sometimes there may be what is just and no equity in the Case but sometimes there is both just and equal in the same matter now wheresoever there is equity against strict Justice there equity ought to take place AND when we consider how much we are beholden to the Mercies of God for our Being and daily Maintenance we shall not think it safe to appear in the defence of strict Justice not to stand upon all Strict Justice not to be stood upon that the rigour of the Law can desire For this is the Apostles Rule Let your moderation that is your Clemency and Compassion be known unto all men it being a Habit whereby a Man is enabled and inclined to deal according to the equitable sense of the Law and is placed betwixt the two Extremes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rigour or summum jus on the one hand insisting too much on the Letter and relaxatio nimia remitting too much from the true sense of it on the other side Now both these Extremes the excess and the defect being evidently Vices it must follow that the Medium betwixt them must be a Virtue and have in it the Obligation of a Duty AND if we do not act as it commands us we shall not only depart from the Nobleness of a Christian Spirit but we shall take such a course as that a cancell'd Obligation may return upon us as it did upon that wicked Servant in Saint Matthew who because He did not forgive his Brother a small Debt after his Lord had so freely forgiven him a great one was afterwards taken and cast into Prison because he had not compassion on his Fellow-servant as his Lord had pity on him IN all our humble Applications to God Almighty we both hope and pray that He would not be extreme to mark what we have done amiss but overlook our manifold Infirmities And I dare say He is very unmindful of Humane Nature it self who can harden himself against all Compassion to his Brethren when at any time they are mistaken or surprized THEREFORE let Just and Equal be thus stated What common Reason or the letter of the Law will admit may be accounted just but equal considers all Circumstances and allows for Errours or any unavoidable Accidents To be just is to demean our selves according to the Laws of the Place wherein we live To be equal is to consider all things that are reasonable and to act accordingly FOR this temper of Mind will render us gracious and merciful consequently most like unto God who is just and Righteous in all his ways full of mercy and compassion For it is every ones Tenure and security where this Virtue doth not take place there will be nothing but Fraud and Cozenage and every man will be unsafe it supports Human Society which otherwise would soon fall into Strife and confusion it is agreeable to the principles of our Natures We were made to these things and we force our selves and offer violence to our Faculties whenever we do an unjust Action that is cruel or unrighteous It
they converse as dangerous and unworthy Persons THE deficient Extreme of Prudence is called Simpleness or Folly which consists in such a vicious Habit as is contracted by the frequent neglect or refusal of the Advices of Prudence This is properly both a Sin and a Punishment Folly opposite to Prudence Having this peculiar brand of Infamy upon it beyond all other Vices that whereas some men have been so impudent as to take a pride in their dishonest Actions yet none have ever been so wretched as to boast of their Folly This being amongst all Men counted most reproachful and that which will render one most contemptible THIS is not the same with Natural Folly a principal defect of the Mind which may be called Stolidity or the Extremity of Dulness But the Folly we speak of doth rather come from the depravedness of the Will It proceeds from a depraved Will when it will not hearken to any thing delivered to it by right Reason and when men have once acquiesced in untrue Opinions false Judgments and have registred them as authentick Methods in their minds it is no less impossible to insinuate the Counsels of Prudence or to speak intelligibly to such Men than to write legibly upon a Paper already scribled over the immediate cause hereof is prejudice and of prejudice a false Opinion of our own knowledg When this hath a predominancy over the Understanding then we have no Passion but from it and we shall not be permitted to listen to the Voice of the wise Man speak he never so wisely What Lightness of Mind is THERE is also a Lightness in some Men's minds that produceth Folly An Example whereof is in them who in the midst of a serious Discourse have their minds diverted to every little Jest or witty Observavation which maketh them depart so often from their Discourse that all they say looks like a Dream or some studied Nonsense Thus prejudice and Levity are the causes of most of those Follies mankind are guilty of either their minds are prepossessed and barr'd up against all sober and prudent Instructions or they are so aiery and inconstant that for want of Ballast they cannot fasten upon any steady Principles when this is the state of the mind all its Actions will be rash and irregular nothing will be done according to the Measures and Counsels of Prudence neither will it know how to make use of any occasions for the obtaining the great End of its Creation A present cure for these Evils is Prudence which is the Art of Business directing a Man in the practical Affairs of Life to what is fit and convenient according to the variety of Circumstances it consists in a solid Judgment to discern the Tempers and Interests of Men the state of Business the probabilities of Events and Consequences together with a presentness of mind to obviate sudden Accidents For without this exactness of Judgment to distinguish between things we shall not be able to tell in some cases what is Vice and what is Virtue where the former is like the latter as it is in the instances of Pride and greatness of Spirit Religion and Superstition Quickness and Rashness Chearfulness and Mirth So of Ambition and Sufficiency Government and Tyranny Liberty and Licentiousness Subjection and Servitude Covetousness and Frugality NOW the just limits and boundaries of these Things Prudence necessary to judg between the limits of some Virtues and Vices none but a wise and skilful Man can judg of who can discern one from the other notwithstanding their great resemblance and can give to every Cause its proper Actions and Effects It is therefore necessary for every one that desires to be a prudent Man to observe his own Actions and the original of them his Thoughts and Intentions with great care and circumspection else He shall never arrive in any tolerable manner to the knowledg of what He doth well or ill And lest all this diligence should be insufficient as the partiality to himself will certainly render it it is very requisite for him to betake himself often to wise and good Men who may with all freedom admonish him of his Failings and direct him to their proper Remedies For we must not think that we live one day without Faults or that those Faults are undiscovered And He is happy who hath a discreet Friend to observe his Conversation The use of a Friend and to tell him where its Errours are this is the Way to grow better and this is the most likely Way to perfect himself in Virtue and Prudence which prudence depends very much upon experience without which no Person of ever so great Capacity can ever arrive to be a Wise Man more than a Fruit to maturity without Time It is true all Mens Apprehensions are naturally alike what one sees Red another sees not Green and Aloes is not bitter to one and sweet to another And that one Man is more learned is not because he knows otherwise than another but it is because he knows more Consequences and more proportions by his greater Industry and Experience WHEN Experience hath made us prudent then there will be no inconveniences in Human Life but we shall be aware of so that nothing shall be able to disturb our Happiness when the Philosophy of Speculative Men would take us off from all Employments that we may live in ease and quiet This teaches us to manage publick Affairs and all manner of Negotiation without making the least breach of the peace in our minds when their Wisdom Prudence the best manager of our Conversation for fear of danger would have us never go to Sea our prudence would have us govern our selves wisely since we are embarked and steer our course in the best manner when one will not allow us to go to a Feast lest we should be surfeited either with the Food or the Wine the other shews us how we may be abstemious when we come to them WHEREFORE Prudence teaches us better Lessons for a life of Virtue than Philosophy can pretend to For she hath much Study but little Experience She can advise well but cannot act The advantage of Reading Men rather than Books whereas the Reading of men rather than Books enlarges our Souls for the Entertainment of the best and most useful Notions frees them from that narrowness of Spirit which scarce ever leaves the retired and solitary Student But if he will come abroad and walk with wise Men he shall be wise He shall understand the Customs and Humours of Men the Business and Duties of Life the Government and Events of Providence He must go out of the World if he would wholly avoid wicked Men but his prudence will be seen so in ordering his Conversation that he may not be polluted by their Company And one chief reason why in the Universities themselves men do not make so great a progress either in Piety or Learning as might be
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
are naturally full of Hope or Fear according as they follow or go against these Principles who is so confident and bold as he who hath behaved himself well and virtuously who is so strong and well armed against the force of the Powers of Darkness against the apprehensions of a dreadful Judgment these things are so terrible that they must needs raise our fears but the honest Man who is not conscious to himself of any guilt is secure in his own Mind from any harm or prejudice from the Divine Justice either here or hereafter whereas guiltiness creates fears of danger without any other reason for it and so the Scripture informeth us that the wicked flyeth when no Man pursueth him nay when a Man hath done a secret fault which no Eye is privy to nor no human Law can punish yet even then he is constantly under the torment of his own thoughts and hath a natural dread of a superiour Being to whom the most hidden Actions of Men are known and whose Justice will not spare to punish FOR Men have naturally the Notions of good and evil within them which in the plain cases of Right and Wrong will tell them what they ought to do and what they ought to avoid so that in acting well they will be justified and acquitted in their own Minds but in doing the contrary they will be condemned BUT yet there is a considerable difficulty in this matter because the Opinions of Men have been much divided about Virtue and Vice the different Laws and Customs of several Nations seem to argue that they are not so well agreed about these things consequently the difference between Good and Evil is not so well known more than this there is in Mankind a propension to evil and Men are generally vicious which seems to contradict that natural Instinct which shews us as we say what is Virtue and what is Vice To this Objection we answer that all Mankind are agreed that those Moral Virtues before mentioned ought to be practised and that the contraries to them are Vices and ought to be rejected if any one particular person happen to be of another mind he is as rarely to be met with as Monsters and no more to be drawn into an Argument against the truth of this Assertion than a Man being born with three Legs can be an Argument that Men naturally have not two All Men have agreed that God is to be worshiped though they differ much about the particular circumstances of his Worship keeping of Faith all Men have held to be a Duty though some say Faith is not to be kept with Hereticks but this is no prejudice to the Truth it must be granted that there is not the like evidence in all things that there is in some and many things are not so clear but that partial and inconsiderate Men may have wrong conceptions about them but these may be remedied if Men will be wise and consider things as they should do if they will lay aside violent prejudices and self-Interest for if they will govern themselves like Men and not be hurried away with Passion It is one thing to know what Virtue is and another to live according to that knowledg they may come to understand what is good and what is evil it must be confessed there is a great corruption in human Nature and we must consider that it is one thing to own the difference between Virtue and Vice another thing to live and act according to this judgment Although Men have the Notions of Good and Evil yet after all they may choose the Evil and refuse the Good and this the Apostle speaks of in Rom. vii 27. I delight in the Law of God in the inward Man that is my mind consents to it as Holy Just and Good but here he tells us he felt another Law in his Members warring against the Law of his Mind and bringing him into Captivity to the Law of Sin and Death according to that of the Poet Video meliora proboque Deteriora sequor For a Man may be convinced of his Duty but not act accordingly FOR by natural Instinct we know what we ought to do antecedent to all Reason and Discourse Secondly Natural Reason tells us what is our Duty OUR Duty is also discovered to us by natural Reason for the force of moral Actions are planted in Mens Minds and woven into the frame of their Natures but to make our Duty more plain God by the light of Reason hath shewed us what is good and what is evil and not only so but he stamps upon them the Authority of Laws for these two are very different to apprehend a thing good for us to do and to be under the Obligation of a Law to do it for to this it is necessary we should apprehend it to be the Will of our Superior that we should perform it NOW our Reason doth discover to us what is Virtue and that the Lord our God doth require our Obedience to it First BY shewing us how convenient and agreeable it is to our Natures Secondly BY the tendency of it to make us happy and to free us from Evil and Misery NOTHING is more suitable to our Natures than to have an esteem of what is great and excellent and Mankind being taught that all Perfection is in God we must adore him for that which is good doth naturally beget Love and Reverence so it is agreeable to our Natures to honor our Parents to be grateful for Benefits received to be just and righteous to be charitable compassionate and temperate to be meek humble and prudent Those that act contrary to these Duties offer an Affront to their own Natures and feel a pain in themselves however they may carry it to others BESIDES these things tend to make us happy and to free us from Misery for Reason considers the consequences of things and we call that Virtue or Good which will bring some benefit to us and that Evil or Vice which is like to bring upon us some Inconvenience upon this account Reason doth shew us what is good and what is evil to begin with Piety towards God nothing is more reasonable than to make him our Friend who is able to make us happy or miserable and the way to make him our Friend is to observe all the Vertues of a good life on the contrary Impiety or a neglect of Vertue is plainly against our Interest for this is to disoblige him who is more able to make us miserable than all the World besides and without whose Favour nothing can make us happy so that our Reason will require us to live vertuously as for instance If Nature did not teach us Gratitude Discretion would it being the only way to obtain a second Favour to be thankful for the first Humility may seem to be a thing of no great Advantage but he that shall consider what contempt Pride exposeth a Man unto will be
practice of Virtue it is as impossible that a Man should he happy or pleased as for a sick Man to find ease by removing from one Bed to another because the Distemper is lodged within his Breast all the Disorders of which must be quieted before we can be happy for Happiness must be in our Hearts and it must spring out of our own bosoms and from thence thro the comfortable influence of God's Holy Spirit must all our Peace and Pleasure flow Wherefore I cannot conclude this whole Discourse with a better or more persuasive Exhortation than that which S. Paul makes use of to the Philippians Phil. iv 8. Finally Brethren whatsoever is right sincere and true whatsoever is comely grave and venerable whatsoever is fair just and equal whatsoever is sacred pure and holy whatsoever is generous noble and lovely whatsoever is of credit value and esteem if there be any Vertue if there be any Praise think of these things FOR these things the Lord will have us to do God's Will must be the Rule of our Actions and his Will must be the Rule of all our Actions whose Laws are like himself just and holy pure and undefiled unchangeable and everlasting fitted to the first Age of the World and to the last to the wisest and to the simplest to the times of Peace and of War established against all alterations and occurrences whatsoever for there is no time in which a Man may not be just and honest merciful and compassionate humble and sincere a Conversation thus tempered we ought to continue and carry along through honor and dishonor through all the terrors which evil Men or Devils can place in our way and if we consider the Nature and Reason of Things Virtue only doth qualifie and dispose us for the injoyment of God Vertue only doth qualifie us for the enjoyment of God because it quiets the Mind rectifies all its Faculties governs the Affections cleanses the whole Soul from all sin and pollution whereas if it were possible for a wicked Man to be admitted into the presence of God or a local Heaven to see all the glories and delights of that Place and State all this would signifie no more to make him happy and contented than heaps of Gold and Consorts of Musick a well spread Table or a rich Bed can bring any relief to a Man in the Paroxism of a Fever or in a sharp fit of the Stone the Reason is because the Man's Spirit will still be out of order till he be put into a right Frame by Virtue and Godliness 'T IS true all Men naturally desire ease and happiness because all Natures would fain be pleased and contented but they hunt after it Men are apt to mistake their Happiness where it is not to be found Men say loe here is happiness and loe there in a high Place in a great Estate or in earthly Delights but believe them not they are all shadows when you come to embrace them therefore your Happiness must be nearer and more intimate to your Minds than any thing this World can afford for those who look after the Pomps of this World grow vain and inconstant lazy and negligent those who covet the applause of the People are often disappointed of the felicity they hoped for because the People guide not themselves by Reason but Chance All outward things coming thus short of rendering us Happy we must expect our Happiness in observing the Duties and in obeying the Precepts of Virtue because they are upon all accounts for our advantage and are founded upon the Interests of Mankind so that if it were not that the God of this World did blind Mens Eyes and abuse their Understandings from discerning their true Interest it were impossible so long as Men love themselves and have a desire of their own Happiness but they should be virtuous If men sought their true Happiness they must be Virtuous for God promiseth to make Men happy for ever upon condition that they will do those things that will make them happy and easie in this World considering our infinite obligations to God the unquestionable Right and Title he hath to us and his Sovereign Authority over us he might have imposed Laws and have given us such Statutes as were not so good for us but so gracious a Master hath he been as to link together our Duty and our Interest and to make those things instances of our Obedience which are Natural means and Causes of our Happiness IT hath been antiently observed that Pythagoras his Learning ended in a few Musical jingles Thales his Wisdom in some uncertain Astronomical fansies Heraclitus his Contemplations concluded in Solitude and weeping Socrates his Renowned Philosophy led him to the practice of unnatural Lust Diogenes his sharpness of Wit to use his body to endure all manner of nastiness and coarse Labour Epicurus his Inventions and Discourses of which he boasts so much set him down contented with any kind of pleasure The same thing may be said of the Stoicks and Peripateticks WE must therefore be much out of the way if we search for Happiness in their Lessons and neglect our most Holy Religion Religion is the surest foundation of our Hopes which whosoever does he will unsettle the strongest Foundation of our hopes he will make a terrible confusion in all the Offices and Opinions of Men he will destroy the most prevailing Argument to Virtue he will remove all human Actions from their firmest Centre he will deprive himself of the prerogative of his immortal Soul and will have the same success that the ancient Fables make those to have had who contended with their Gods of whom they report that many were immediately turned into Beasts Whereas if we were to contrive a way to make our selves happy we should pitch upon just such Laws as those of Christianity are The Laws of Christ are most agreeable to the frame of our Natures they are so agreeable to the Frame of our Natures and Understandings they require of us so Rational and Spiritual a service of God they oblige us to perform Duties so plainly necessary and beneficial to us the harshest and most difficult Precepts thereof tending upon one account or other to our manifest advantage it being very reasonable for a Man to be sorry for what he hath done amiss and to amend his Life for the future to mortifie Lusts and Passions which are so disorderly and troublesom to the Mind to bring down every proud Thought which fills a Man with insolence and contempt of others to be patient in the meanest Condition which will prevent those anxieties that come from the contrary Passions to love Enemies and forgive Injuries which removes the perpetual torments of a malicious and revengeful Spirit FOR a Man is accomplished by two things First BY his being enlightened in his intellectual Faculties which is the perfection of his Understanding Secondly BY his being well directed