in force and Extent but the fewer in Number Their perfect sufficiency is to be measured by the ends for which they are prepared and their Beauty Consists like that of an Army with Banners in the Proportion and Symmetry of the entire Body the mutual Supplies and Succors they afford to one another the Unity of such a Great Variety of things in order to the Attainment of the same great and ultimate end the full and compleat Number of Offices and inferior Ends and the Extream Providence wherewith they are reducible to one supream End which is most High and Excellent It is enough for the Ear if it can hear well tho it is no more able to See or Taste than a Stone it is enough for the eye to see well tho it is no more sensible of Noise then a Rock or a Tree The Office of the Tongue is to Tast well of the Nostril to smell well c. and there is no Defect in any of these because they are every one sufficient for its own immediate end and also tempered and united together that the rest are Supplies to make up the Defect of every single Sence and Organ and altogether perfectly subservient to the whole Man for whose sake they were prepared that he might enjoy the benefit of them all The eye sees for the Ear and the Tongue and all the rest of the Members of the Body the foot supports and carries the eye the hand defends and feeds the Eye the Ear instructs and Counsels the Eye the Nostrils smell for the eye and the Tongue tasts and talks for the Eye which the eye cannot do for it self because it was made to need the assistance of the rest the eye directs all these in Liew of their Services and is of far greater Value then if a man had no other Member but an eye alone For the Eye is the Light of all the members and Great in its Relation to the whole man It sees for the Ear and the Hand and for all and is to all these after some manner Beneficial but without these would be to no purpose There is an infinite Excellency in every Vertue but it is to be sought in its Relation to all the Rest. It is Good for nothing in its Place but for that Particular End to which it is assigned in attaining that end it is subservient to all other Vertues and while it serves all is aided by all The other Virtues remedie the inconveniences to which this doth expose us and being all joyned together earry us safely and securely to our Last end Because the Influence of every one passeth thorow all every single Vertue is Pleasing to God and a means in its place of our whole Felicity The Beauty of all the Vertues is to be sought in Prudence for there they meet in an intire Body their Correspondence and convenience their Symmetry and proportion their Unity and Variety their ful and perfect Harmony makes up the features of the Soul and compleats its Graces just as the Diversity of Members perfects the Body Knowledge gives Light to Love but Love gives Warmth and Feeling to Knowledge Love may perhaps like a Separate Soul dwell in Heaven alone and yet even then it must include all Knowledge and Righteousness and Wisdome and Holiness for if Love know not how to guide it self it will never attain its End nor be a perfect Vertue But here upon Earth t is like the Soul in the Body it must Eat and Drink and see and hear as a thousand Works to do and therefore standeth in need of many Vertues Love without Goodness is perhaps a Thing impossible because it always designs well But Love without Wisdome is a Common Thing for such is all that mistakes its End Love without Discretion is a mischievious Thing Love without Prudence an Helpless Thing Love without Courage a feeble and Cowardly Thing Love without Modesty an impudent and Troublesome Thing Love without the Fear of GOD is Lust and Wantonness and if the most Great and Glorious of all the Vertues stands in need of all its Companions The less and inferior must needs be lame and maimed without the residue especially without the Superior UPON this account it is that so much Care and Study goes to the making up of a Vertuous man All kind of Vertues must concur to Compleat his Perfection The Want of any one Denominates a Vice and makes him Vicious Nay the Want of any one destroys the form and Essence of the rest Vertue is not Vertue but in order to felicity If it hath lost its force it hath lost its Nature As a little Poyson turnes the best Meat from Nourishment into Poyson so doth one Vice cherished and allowed corrupt and viciate all the Vertues in the whole World Hence it is that the Phylosophers say all the Vertues are linked together in the golden Chain of Prudence And that a Thing is made Good by all its Causes Evil by the least Defect For as one Tooth wanting in a Clock makes all the other wheels and Materials Useless tho the frame be never so Elaberate and Curious so doth the abscence of the smallest Vertue make void and frustrate all the residue A man of a Kind and Bountiful Disposition that is loose and intemperate may ruine his Estate and dye like a Prodigal and vain-glorions fool A stout Couragious person that is proud and debauched will be little better then a Souldierly Russian and Live if not like a Thief for Want of Honesty yet like a Swaggering Hector for Want of Discreetion A Man endued with all Kind of Learnning may be Morose and Covetous and by one Vice lose all the Benefit of his Education A Religious Votary that is Splenetick and Revengeful brings a Disgrace upon his whole Profession But he that is Wise and Learned and Holy and Just and Temperate and Couragious and Kind and Liberal and Meek and Humble and Affable and Cheerful and Prudent and Industrious shall be serviceable and Honourable and delightful to others profitable to himself and alwayes Triumphant Especially if he be so discreet and Prudent as to make all these Vertues move like the Stars in their Courses and knows how to apply and manage their Excellencies in their due and proper places upon all occasions for they are so many different in nature that some of their Influences will hit every business and all of them together pass a Grace and Lustre upon each other so Divine and Heavenly that they will make their owner Venerable in the Eys of the World and correct the Malignity of the most injurious and Censorious Which moved our Saviour to exhort us to be Wise as Serpents Innocent as Doves to joyn many Vertues together And occasioned that of the Apostle He that will love Life and see good Days let him refrain his Tongue from Evil and his Lips that they speak no Guile let him eschew Evil and do Good let him seek Peace and
Dominion and throughout all his Immensity to act and do what he will So that in one Instant he can fill both Eternity and Time with enjoyments Every Part and Particle of which shall be infinitely Delightful because of the vigor of his Eternal Power in very Operation Thus is he intirely Acting in Heaven and Earth and Hell at the same time and at all conceivable Distances beyond all Heavens ever Acting because he is Willing Decreeing seeing and ruling there and every where accomplishing his Counsel and Pleasure His Essence and his Will are both the same his Essence is his Act and his Act his Pleasure BY exerting his Almighty Power he begot that Act which is the Means and End of all his Endeavors An Act of Wisdome infinite and Eternal is his Blessedness and Glory We must take heed of conceiving GOD to be one Thing and his Act another for all his Wisdom and Goodness all his Blessedness and Life and Glory are in the Act by which he became the Fountain and the End of all Things He became so freely and yet was so by his Essence from everlasting for Eternity is an infinite Length of Duration altogether present in all its parts in a Stable manner To fill one part of space with Treasures and leave another Empty was not Wise. Common Reason will instruct us that it is better to have all spaces full of Delights than some sew or none And by his infinite Wisdome it is that he Knows how to enjoy what he never needed and to improve his Enjoyments by giving them away INFINITE and Eternal Wisdom does not onely imply the Possibility but the certain Reality and Existence of Eternal Treasures Where least you should wonder how such should be infinite you must needs be informed that God is his own best and most perfect Treasure For if Treasures are by nature those precious Things which are Means whereby we acquire our Ends or those Things which we most Esteem as the Sovereign Objects of our Joy GOD is in both those respects his own Wealth because his Essence is the Means by which he atchieveth all his ends and the Sovereign End of all those Means which he by his Wisdom useth for his Ends. For of him and by him and to him are all things As the Scripture witnesseth Matter is the Dreg of Nature and Dead without Power Power is the Abyss of Nature but void without act Act is the Top and Perfection of Nature it is the fulness of Power the fountain and the means of all that is for Power by transforming it self into Act becometh an act and by that Act produceth and perfecteth all its Works both outward and in ward so is it the Means of all its Productions being so infinitely Simple and various together that nothing but Power exerting it self is in the Nature of the Act by which it is exerted All the Essence of that Act is the compleat Exertion of Eternal Power and yet to it alone we ascribe the Original and Means of all it is the Cause and Means and End of it self as well as of other Things which for its own sake are Produced by it For idle Power can do nothing Meer Power is neither the Cause nor the Means nor the End of any thing Power not Idle but exerted and throughly employed is all Act And this is the Cause of all its Productions because of this Power exerting it self they spring and the Means of all because by this Power exerting it self they are and the End of all because it did all that it might be not Idle but Power Exerting it self or a Glorious Act in its full Perfection IT was an effect of infinite Wisdom wherein GOD by one Act acquired himself and all his Dominion prepared his own and his Creatures blessedness made himself and all his Kingdome Glorious But this is scarcely intelligible because the manner of his Life is incomprehensible we cannot tell how to conceive what the Learned constantly affirm that all Eternity is at one Time All I shall observe in Order to the explaining of this Mystery is onely this that tho the World begins and Ends with Time yet Eternity does immutably include Time and the Operations of Divine Wisdome are various and exactly fitted to their several Seasons yet all the parts of Eternity are filled with Operations which tho they are one in GOD like that of shining in the Sun are manifold in Effects as the Beams of the Sun in their different Works among all the Creatures IT is a natural Effect of infinite Wisdome to make every of its Treasures suitable to its own excellence And that the Wisdome of GOD has done by making every the smallest Thing in his Kingdome infinitely serviceable in its Place and station for the manifesting of his Wisdom Goodness and Glory to the Eye of a clear Beholder And this he hath done by making all his Kingdome oneIntire Object and every Thing in it a Part of that Whole Relating to all the innumerable Parts receiving a Beauty from all communicating a Beauty to all even to all objects throughout all Eternity While every one among Millions of Spectators is endued with an Endless Understanding to see all and enjoy all in its Relations Beauties and Services I cannot stand to enlarge on this otherwise I might illustrate it by a familiar Example No single Part of a stately Monument is so Beatutiful out of its Place as it is in its Place because if it be seen alone it is not understood for the Beauty that results from all consists in Order and Symmetry which by any Division is broken to pieces He Knoweth nothing as he ought to Know who thinks he Knoweth any thing without seeing its Place and the Manner how it relateth to GOD Angels and Men and to all the Creatures in Earth Heaven and Hell Time and Eternity IT is an Act of Wisdome to prize and enjoy what is by Wisdome prepared and Because infinite Wisdome includeth all Wisdome infinite Wisdome at once Knoweth Chuseth Doth Esteemeth and Enjoyeth all that is Excellent It is an Act of Wisdome to make ones self Good and Delightful to others because Honor and Peace and Amity are founded therein It is infinite Wisdome to become infinitely Good and Delightful to others and for that cause to be infinite in Bounty For what is infinitely Good is infinitely Glorious And therefore is it that GOD needing Nothing in himself gives all Things to others Gives them in enjoying them enjoys in Giving them while his Goodness delights in the Felicity of others and in being the Felicity of others For by making them Great and Blessed he magnifieth himself and by replenishing them increaseth his Treasures HOW little soever of this you are able to conceive you may understand that to be like GOD is the way to be Happy And that if GOD hath put it in your Power to be like him it is the extremest Madness in the VVorld to abuse
Blessedness By it he is capable of all their Affections and of the Services which his Laws require By it all Angels and Cherubims are moved to admire and adore his Glory By it all Creatures visible and invisible are made his Treasures By it he is multiplied and magnified in every Soul as the same Object is in several Mirrors being intirely represented in every living Temple of his Eternal essence By it he becometh his own end and the Glorious Author and the King of Heaven By it he liveth a Divine and a Blessed Life and by it he is what he is for ever By it all the Graces Exaltations and Vertues of all his Creatures are made his Joys and their Persons and Praisers are Delightful to him Of all his Laws and Decrees and Counsels his Goodness is the fountain It is the Original and final Cause of all our Thanksgivings Our ease and repose and Satisfaction our Bliss and enjoyment are founded in it and caused by it For its own Pleasure all our Delights are made exquisite in their place and the most of them Eternal For its own Glory it maketh all its Creatures Glorious and prizeth its own Glory because it is the Sovereign Delight of all its Creatures It is every way compleat and perfect as infinitely Convenient as it is Great in Bounty as Good to it self as to all others There is no End of all its Perfection and for that Cause it is Incomprehensible TO be made Partaker of the Divine Nature without having the Goodness of Almighty GOD is impossible Nor can we enjoy his Goodness or bear the similitude of his Glory unless we are good in like Manner We enjoy the Goodness of GOD and may be said to have it either when we have its Similitude in our selves or the Pleasure of it in others Since the Goodness of GOD is the great Object of our Joy its Enlargment is our Interest and the more there are to whom he is Good and the more he communicates his Felicity to every one the Greater Pleasures he prepares for us and the more is our goodness therein delighted To see innumerable Millions in Communion with him and all of them made Glorious and Blessed and every one seated in his throne is the greatest Elevation of our Souls and the highest Satisfaction in the World When our Goodness meeteth his in all Places and congratulates the Felicity of every person we may then use the Words of our Saviour because we are endued with the same Mind and Affection And as he accepts all the Good that is done to his Members as done to himself saying Inasmuch as ye have done it to the least of these my Brethren ye have done it to me Our Souls will reply Inasmuch as thou hast done all this to the least of these my Brethren thou hast done it to me for loving our Neighbours as our selves all Angels and Men will be our fellow Members our Brethren our other selves As we delight in all Acts of Goodness for their own sakes that are done to us so shall we delight in all the Bounties of GOD for theirs who are the partakers of them and in GOD for this very reason Because he is good to all We shall be as Happy in others as in our selves and Esteem the Goodness of GOD our Felicity because it hath prevented our Goodness and done all for them which were it undone we should desire to do our selves because our Goodness is a principle that carries us to delight in their perfect Felicity VVhich that we may do the more Sweetly and with more full Satisfaction and perfect Reason his Goodness to all others is but the Perfection of Goodness to us for they are all made Blesed for our fuller and greater Felicity HAD GOD withheld or withdrawn his Goodness from all others it had not been Greater to us but less The Stars are no hindrance to our Enjoyment of the Skie but the Light and Beauty of the place which we contemplate Were they all annihilated the Heavens would be obscure They do us many Services of which we should be bereaved by their Absence and Destruction GOD by giving Beams and influences to them made our Treasures more rich and fair which are increased and multiplied by their Beauty and Number Did the Sun shine upon us and upon Nothing else it would be less beneficial to us than now it is Its Beams that are scattered seem to be lost yet were they contracted upon one his Body would be consumed and all the rest of the World be dark about him those Rays which fly from the Sun to the utmost parts of the World illuminate all Objects and from them more conveniently return to the Eye with their Beauty and Glory which by those Rayes that are dispersed become visible and Profitable They fall not all upon every single man but work for him in other places begetting Herbs and Fruits and Flowers and Minerals and Springs and Trees and Jewels with all that is rich and delectable in the VVorld for his fruition It serves Beasts and Fowles and Fishes for my sake and for my sake does it serve even Men and Angels That they being more Divine and Glorious Creatures might adorn Heaven and Earth with their Persons which without them would be void and Empty For we all desire to be seen and Known and Beloved and for that Cause without Living Agents should be very Desolate and discontented THUS you see if GOD had given all Eternity and Immensity to a man if he had made no other Creatures but him alone his Bounty had been defective Whereas by the Creation of these he hath filled Eternity and Immensity with Treasures All which he hath made ours by commanding them to Love us as themselves fit to be enjoyed and beloved by us by filling them with his Goodness and making them in his Image For every one of them is to Love all his Creatures as he does and to delight in the Beauty and Felicity of all and to be the joy and Delight of all as as he is And the Greater and the Richer and the fairer they are the more Great and Happy are we because they are made our Lovers and Friends our Brides and Brethren our Sons and Daughters our Fathers and our Servants which the more Honourable and Excellent they are the more Delightful the more Glorious and Blessed these are their Love is the more precious and Acceptable True Goodness removes all Envy and Contention out of the VVorld and introduces nothing but Peace and Bounty and Joy unspeakeable and full of Glory WE Love nothing more then to be Delightful to others and to have our Glory seen is a natural Desire which our Saviour has countenanced by his own Petition It is our Interests that the Eys should be innumerable that see and admire the Glory which we had with the Father in some Sense before the VVorld was that they should see I mean how much we are Beloved of GOD
Despair has comfort and refreshment answerable to it in infinite Hope 'T is the present food and Support of our Lives 't is the Anchor of our Souls in the midst of all the Storms and Tempests in the World 't is the foretaste of Bliss and Coelestial Glory a Glympse and Appearence of the Beatifick Vision without which to Live is to Dye and to Dye is to perish for evermore THE Great Reason for which a right Hope is accounted so Great a Vertue is because its Objects do really surpass all Imagination The fulness of the GODHEAD in the Soul of Man the Perfection of the Divine Image a Transformation for Glory to Glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord Communion with the Father Son and Holy Ghost infinite Love and Bounty the Estate of a Bride in Communion with GOD the Possession of his Throne with another Kind of sweetness then the Bridegroom himself enjoys the Resurrection of the Body and Life Eternal in a Kingdome where all Occasions of Tears and Fears shall ever be removed Where all Regions and Ages and Spaces and Times and Eterternities shall be before our Eys and all Objects in all Worlds at once Visible and infinitely Rich and Beautiful and Ours Our very Appetites also being ravished with Sensible Pleasures in all our Members not inconsistent with but springing from these high and Supeperior Delights not distracting or confounding our Spiritual Joys but purely Superadded and increasing the same while our Bodies are made like to his most Glorious Body by that Almighty Power whereby he is able to subdue All Things to himself all these infuse their Value and the Hope that is exercised about these Things is a Vertue so great that all inferior Hopes which this doth Sanctifie are made Vertues by it but without this all other Hopes are Debasements and Abuses of the Soul meer Distractions and delusions and therefore Vices I Know very well that Presumption and Despair are generally accounted the Extreams of Hope and the only vices that are Opposite thereunto But I Know as well that there may be many Kinds and Degrees of Hope of which so me may be vicious and some Vertuous and that some sorts of Hope themselves are Vices When ever we make an inferior Desire the Sovereign Object of our Hope our Hope is abominable Idolatrous and Atheistical We forget GOD and magnifie an inferior Object above all that is Divine To Sacrifice all our Hopes to Things unworthy of them or to be Remiss and sluggish in Hoping for Things of infinite Importance is apparently Vicious But to be just to all our Encouragements and to lift up our Eys to the Eternal GOD with an humble Expectation to wait upon him and to hope for all that from his Bounty which his Goodness has promised to desire the most high and perfect Proofs of his Love is the Property of a most Great and Noble Soul by which it is carried above all the World and fitted for the Life of the most high and perfect Vertue CHAP. XVII Of Repentance It s Original its Nature it is a Purgative Vertue It s necessity its Excellencies The measure of that sorrow which is due to Sin is intollerable to Sense confessed by Reason and dispensed with by mercy REPENTANCE is a Sowre and austere Kind of Vertue that was not created nor intended by GOD but introduced by Sin made fair by Mercy in remitting the offence and pardoning the Sin It is a Strange Kind of off-spring which flows from Parents so infinitely different and has a mixture in its Nature answerable to either an Evil which it derives from Sin and a Goodness which flows from Mercy It s Evil is that of Sorrow Indignation and Shame Its Goodness is the usefulness and necessity of the thing considering the Condition we are now in It is highly ingrateful to Sence but transcendently convenient and amiable to Reason for it is impossible for him that has once been defiled with sin ever to be cleansed or to live after in a Vertuous manner unless he be so ingenious as to lament his Crime as to loath acknowledge and detest his Error THE Union of the Soul and Body is mysterious but that Sin and Mercy should be united as Causes so infinitely different for the production of a Child so Black and so Beautiful is the Greattest Wonder which the Soul can contemplate on this side Heaven and will continue to be remembred for ever and appear more Wonderful than before when the perfect Disparity and Opposition between them is clearly seen in the Light of Glory THE Efficient Cause of Repentance is either Remote or Immediate It s immediate Efficient Cause is the Gracious Inclination or the Will of the Penitent its remote Efficient is GOD the Father of Lights from which every Good and Perfect Gift descended It s Material Cause is Sorrow It s Formal Cause which makes it a Vertue is the Reason and Manner of that Sorrow the Equity and Piety wherewith it is attended containing many ingredients in its Nature too long a particular to be described here It s Final Cause is either immediate or ultimate the first is Amendment the last Salvation BEING thus bounded by its Causes its Definition is Easie Repentance is a Grace or Christian Vertue wherein a man confesses hates and forsakes his Sin with Grief that he hath been Guilty of it and purposes of Amendment of Life in Order to His Peace and Reconciliation with GOD that he may answer the Obligations that lye upon him discharge his Duty lay hold on the Advantages of GODS Mercy escape everlasting Damnation and be made a Partaker of Eternal Glory AMONG the Vertues some are Purgative and some are Perfective The Purgative Vertues are all Preparatory to Bliss and are occasioned only by the Disorder of the Soul the perfective are Essential to our formal Happiness and Eternally necessary by the Law of Nature Repentance is not in its own Nature If Simply and absolutely considered necessary to Bliss But in Relation to Sinners it is as necessary as Physick to the Recovery of Health or as the Change it self is by which we pass from the Distemper we are Sick of to the right and Sound Estate which we had lost by the Disease As the malady is accidental so is the Cure For the Nature of Man may be well and perfect without either this or the other He that is originally pure has no need of a Purgative Vertue but he that is faln defiled musts needs rise and wash away the filth before he can be clean FOR this Cause even among the Heathens themselves the more Knowing and Learned have a Conscience of Sin their Priests and Philosophers devised several Rites and Manners of Purgation which they taught and imposed on their Disciples with much Circumstance and Ceremony in order to their Reception Nor was there any Temple or Religion in the World that pretended not something to Diviner Mysteries Which were graced beautified
the Felicity to which we are called out of the Depth of our misery all the Advantages we receive upon our Redemption the Improvements of our miserable Estate the Degrees and Ornaments that are added to the Beauty and perfection of Gods Kingdome upon so sad an occasion as Sin is all these things take up our Thoughts in such a manner that while we are actually and fully Just to these and Loving GOD for his Eternal Love infinitely more than we Love our selves we live in him and are all in raptures of Blesseduess yet is there a Vertual Sorrow which Reason conceives as most due to Sin which being expressed only in the Humility of our Souls and seen as it were underneath the fruition of our Joys in the lowly Conceit we retain of our selves in the confession of our vileness and the deep Sence of our own unworthiness is far Greater now we are restored to the favour and Love of GOD far sweeter to be seen and deeper to be understood than the Grief for Sin would have been had we been not redeemed but Damned forever CHAP. XVIII Of Charity towards GOD. It Sanctifieth Repentance makes it a Vertue and turns it to a Part of our true Felicity Our Love to all other Objects is to begin and End in GOD. Our Love of GOD hath an Excellency in it that makes it worthy to be desired by his Eternal Majesty He is the only Supreme and Perfect friend By Loving we enjoy him REPENTANCE without Love is so far from seating us in the Felicity of Heaven that it is one of the Ingredients of the Torments in Hell a natural Effect of Sin and a great Part of the Misery of Devils Love is a genuine Affection of the Soul and so powerfully Sweet when it is Satisfied and pleased that it communicates the Relish of its own Delightfulness to every Thing near it and Transformes the most Virulent Affections into Smooth Healing Perfective Pleasures Insomuch that in Heaven our Sorrow for Sin shall perhaps be infinite yet the malignity of it so perfectly correctd that tho we continue Eternally Just in rendring our Sins that grief which is their due it shall not discompose our peace norcorrode our Delighs but increase our Repose in the Beauty of our souls and make our Joys more full of Extasie by those Melting Lively Bleeding Resentments which our Love will occasion in the very Grief where with it perfects our Felicity For as the falling out of Lovers is the Renewing of Love so is the Mercy and Kindness of the one even of him that was injured and the calm and secure Indignation wherewith the other hates himself for being guilty of so vile a miscarriage the very Grace and Beauty of the Reconciliation it is a great means of their mutual Endearment and Tenderness ever after the Compassion of him that is Innocent and the humble grief of the Guilty making the Joy of their future Correspondence more Deep and Serious more Vigorous and Enflaming more lasting LOVE is that which Sanctifies Repentance and makes it pleasant both to him that is Beloved and to him that is adored Acceptable and Delightful to him that repenteth as well as to him that had been injured For the Sinners Restauration makes it as Natural to grieve for his Fault as to rejoyce in his Felicity his fad and humble Resentments are his own Satisfaction because he sees himself Just and Rational in them he delighs in his Sorrow because it is Honourable and finds a new Kind of pleasure in his Abasement because it is relieved by the Wonder of his Happy condition and what he hath lost in himself is regained in the pefection and Goodness of his Object THAT GOD is the sovereign Object of Love I scarcely need to mention all I shall observe upon this occasion is that we are more to Love him for his Mercy and Compassion towards us as Sinners then for his Goodness and Bounty expressed at the first as we were Innocent Creatures The Bleeding Spectacle of his Incarnate Deity and the Perseverance of his Miraculous and Transcendent Love after all our Offences is another Kind of Motive to heighten our Charity of and gives it another form as much more Mysterious so much more perfect and Delightful then ever Our Sorrow for Sin infuses a New Sense into Nature a New Beauty into Love and gives as much unto it as it receiveth from it But this being better known by Experience then by description I shall refer you to the Life of Heaven and Grace for more ample satisfaction LOVE as we have shewed may be extended to all Objects in Heaven and Earth all that is Goodly and Amiable being capable of that Affection Hereupon the Word Love is generally used for that Liking and Esteem we have for any thing whether Dead or alive We can Love Life and desire to see Good Days we can Love the Sun and Wine and Oyl and Gold Love our Dogs and Horses fine Clothes and Jewels Pleasures Honours Recreations Houses Riches and as well as Love Men and Women Souls and Angels And evermore our Love expresseth it self in Tenderness and Care for the Preservation of what we Love in Esteem of its Worth and Delight in its Beauty in endeavours also to promote its Welfare as far as it is capable But there is another sort of Love towards Living Objects Divine and reasonable which we call Charity This is that Vertue of which the Apostle saith after he had spoken of all the Miracles Helps Governments Prophesies Tongues and other Gifts of the Holy Ghost that were then in the Church And Yet shew I unto you a more Excellent Way 1 Cor. 12. ult And in the next Chapter Tho I speak with the Tongues of Men and of Angels and have not Charity I am become as sounding Brass or a tinkling Cymbal And tho I have the Gift of Prophesie and understand all mysteries and all Knowledge and tho I have all Faith so that I could remove Mountains and have no Charity I am nothing and tho I bestow all my Goods to feed the poor and tho I give my Body to be burned and have not Charity it profiteth me nothing It is that concerning which our Saviour Speaketh The first of all the commandements is Hear O Israel the Lord our GOD is one Lord and thou shalt Love the Lord thy GOD with all thy heart and with all thy Soul and with all thy Mind and with all thy Strength This is the first Commandement And the Second is like namely this Thou shalt Love thy Neighbour as thy self There is none other Commandement greater then those Nay perhaps it is that of which he saith to his Apostles when they had admired at his Miracles He that believeth on me the works that I do shall he do also and greater Works then these shall he do because I go to the Father For Faith worketh by Love Love is the Life of Faith and without the Works of the
Riddles in the midst of all which to think so well of GOD as he deserveth is the most acceptable thing in the World for it argues a great confidence of his Worth and a Love that is founded on Substantial Causes never to be removed It feedeth the Soul with a lively hope and fair Expectation of great Things from him by which alone we do right to His GODHEAD in acknowledging the Perfection of his Love and Goodness and by which alone we are made able to adore him and to live in Union and Communion with him THERE is great Talk of Friendship it is accounted the only Pleasure in the World Its Offices are highly magnified of all Kindness of Behaviour a through and clear communication of Souls a secure Reliance upon each others Fidelity a perfect Discovery of all our Thoughts Intentions and Resentments an ardent willingness to impart Lives and Estate for the Benefit of our Friend the Reposing of all our Secrets in each others Bosomes to do all services and suffer all afflictions for each others sakes to prefer the Concerns of our Friend upon all Occasions above our own these are the Magnalia Amicitiae Arcana mutuae Benevolentiae the Great and mighty Effects for which Friendship is admired But all these without a good Opinion of our Friend are nothing worth they are but Externals of Friendship the greatest Secret in its Nature is the mutual agreement of Souls and Spirits the Delight which either taketh in the other the honour and esteem they give and receive the Approbation and Love of each others Dispositions the Sence and Admiration of each others Vertues the continual Desire of being alwayes together peculiar Extasie which the Beauty of either occasioneth in the other when of all other Treasures in the World their Persons are the greatest to one another Either is the proper Element and Refrigerium of the others Soul Their Bosomes are the mutual Receptacles and Temples of each others accomplishments whereinto they are received in all their Desert and have Justice done to every degree and Perfection in their Nature their Hearts are the Thrones where they are exalted and magnified and live at Ease are honoured and worshipped extolled and reign as absolute in each others Souls There are some slight aims and Adumbrations of this Friendship on Earth but the best and highest Degree of it here beneath is but a rude and imperfect shadow only GOD is the Sovereign friend all Adoration paid to any one beside is meer Idolatry Our Hearts can be absolutely Sacrificed to none but him because he alone is immutable in Goodness We cannot infinitely honour and delight in any but Him it is he alone that can infinitely honour and delight in us All our Lives Estates and Services are Due to him his Will alone is to be wholly ours because no other Will is infallibly Right Wise Holy but his alone THE Union of our Wills is a Perfection of Love but that at which he aimeth by all his Labours and Gifts and Benefits is our Right and Good Opinion of his Excellencies and Perfections That we should see and discern his interior Properties admire his Graces adore his Perfections adore and magnifie his Beauty and Glory this is the End for which he communicates himself in all his Works and Ways unto us it is the End of the Whole Creation and of all the Excellent Things in the universe for by this he establisheth his Empire in our souls and makes us Pleasing to himself in all our Operations And for this Cause it is that the Apostle plainly tells us that tho we give our Body to be burned and all our Goods to feed the poor without Charity it profiteth nothing To render to GOD the Honour that is due to his Name to receive and admire all his Bounties to rejoyce in all his Operations to adore him in all his Ways to take pleasure in all his Works to fill Heaven and Earth with our Joys and Praises is a Work which cannot but be agreeable by its Nature to his Eternal Essence And if this be the Work of Love it is that which is most Excellent because he is therein both pleased and enjoyed GOD and all his Creatures are united together by Love alone and in the Eternal Exercise of pure and perfect Love all Blessedness and Glory consisteth IF you require what it is to love GOD you will find it worthy of his Highest desire because thereby all our souls nay all his Creatures and his whole Kingdome are perfected for to Love GOD as we ought to do is to Honour him as our Father Benefactor Bridegroom and King to contemplate him as our Cause with Complacency and to rest in him as our End to delight in him as our Creator Preserver Lawgiver and Redeemer to dedicate our selves wholly to that Service whatever it be wherein he is chiefly pleased and delighted It is to love him in himself in all his Works in all his Ways in all his Laws in all his Attributes in all his Thoughts and Counsels in all his Perfections It implies the Knowledge of all Objects the Use of all Means the Attainment of all Ends all Wisdome and Goodness all Obedience and Gratitude all Righteousness and Holiness all Joy and Praise all Honour and Esteem all Blessedness and Glory For it is to Love him with all our Heart and with all our Soul with all our Strength and with all our Might with all our Understanding with all our Will with all our Affection with all the Powers of our soul with all our Inclinations and Faculties in all his Creatures in all his Appearances in Heaven and Earth in Angels and Men in all Kingdoms and Ages It is to see and desire to Esteem and delight in his Omnipresence and Eternity and in every Thing by which he manifesteth himself in either of these so that all Enlargement and Greatness and Light and Perfection and Beauty and Pleasure are founded in it and to Love him to Perfection implies all Learning and Attainment because we must necessarily be acquainted with all Things in all Worlds before we can thorowly and compleatly do it Which here upon Earth to do by Inclination and Endeavour to the utmost of our Power is all that is required of us And if we do it to our utmost it shall be rewarded in the Beatifick Vision with a full and Blessed Pefection with an actual Love exactly resembling his and fully answerable to it in the Highest Heavens THERE are two common Motives of Love among Men the one the Goodness and Excellency of the Person the other his particular Kindness and Love to us And both these are in the Highest Degree in GOD. He is of infinite Goodness and and Excellency in himself for there is nothing Good in the world but what hath received all its Goodness from Him His Goodness is the Ocean and all the Goodnesses of Creatures little Streams flowing from that Ocean Now you would think
and his infinite Goodness abused and undervalued all Obligations imposed and all Rewards prepared in vain is worse than to see ones Palace on fire as soon as it is builded or ones Wife smitten with Leprosie and ones only beloved Son run mad For a Child to trample on his Fathers Bowels is nothing in Comparison He therefore that feels what he made GOD to endure what Grapes of Sodom and Clusters of Gomorrah he offered to his Teeth how evil a thing and bitter it is to forsake GOD how the Scripture saith He was grieved at the Heart when he saw the Corruption and Impiety of the Earth and how the Sorrow inflicted was so sore as to make him repent that he had made Man in the World he surely will be more concerned at the Evil he hath done than at any Evil he can otherwise suffer and his Godly Sorrow as Moses's Rod did eat up all the Rods of the Egyptians will devour all other Sorrows whatsoever TO consider that GOD was the first Patient Person in the World must needs sweeten the Bitterness of Patience and make it acceptable unto us to consider that we alone brought it upon our selves and may thank our selves for the folly of its Introduction must make us out of very Indignation against our selves contented to suffer and in pure Justice quietly to digest it but to consider yet further that GOD by bearing our Offences with Patience took off the trouble of them from us and by refusing to ease himself of the greatness of his displeasure in pouring it back again on our own heads digested it so as to turn our eternal Torments into transitory Woes nay into his own Agonies and Pains on the Cross this will help our Reason to rejoyce at our light Afflictions which are but for a moment especially since they work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory The first Impression of that abominable Mischief which occasioned Patience in GOD made it a Calamity but not a Vertue Detestation and Grief in themselves are but Sufferings and meer Sufferings have no Vertue nor so much almost as Action in them If his detestation and grief had broken out in Impatience we had all been destroyed Anger and Fury had been poured down upon us That which made it a Vertue was the great and mighty Continence whereby it was kept in and governed for all our Benefit For it was full of Goodness and Compassion and Mercy and Love and that was indeed the vertue of Patience in which so much Magnanimity and Government did appear so much Wisdom and Stedfastness and Immutability and upon this vertue of that Act whereby he retained his displeasure the whole Kingdom of Grace and the glory of his Mercy and Love and the blessedness and exaltation of his Church is founded it depended upon it and from his Patience it proceeded PATIENCE then is that Vertue by which we behave our selves constantly and prudently in the midst of Misfortunes and Troubles That Vertue whereby we do not only forbear to break out in Murmurings and Repinings or support our selves from sinking under Afflictions or suppress our Discontentments and refrain from Anger and Disquiet but whereby we retain our Wisdom and the goodness of our Mind notwithstanding all the Confusions and Disorders that would disturb us and demean our selves in a serene and honourable manner surmounting the Pains and Calamities that trouble us and that would otherwise overwhelm us While we move in a quick and vigorous manner under our Burthen and by a true Courage improve our Afflictions and turn them into the Spoils of Invincible Reason IT is an easie Observation that Troublous Times are the Seasons of Honour and that a Warlike-Field is the Seed-Plot of great and Heroical Actions Men that live in quiet and peaceful Ages pass through the World as insensibly as if they had all their daies been asleep Hazards and Calamities and Battles and Victories fill the Annals with Wonder and raise Great Men to an eminent degree of Fame and Glory It is Saint Chrysostoms opinion That a Man shews far greater Bravery that grapples with a Disease or surmounts his evil Fortune or behaves himself with Courage in distress bears the burning of his House or the loss of his Goods or the death of his Children with an equal Spirit in the midst of all Calamities retains his Integrity with Humility and Patience and Blesses GOD chearfully submitting with Resignation to his Will and shews himself Constant in all Estates then he that in the midst of a prosperous Condition buildeth Hospitals and Temples shineth in the exercise of Bounty and Magnificence and obligeth all the World without any other Expence than that of his Monies A Pelican that feeds her young ones with her Blood is a more Noble Bird than an Eagle that fills her Nest with Ravine though taken from the Altar For though that of a Sacrifice be the more Sacred food that of ones own Blood is more near and costly TIMES of Affliction are Seed-times for a future Harvest We are made perfect through Sufferings though the Way be mysterious and the Manner almost incomprehensible whereby the Sufferings we endure conduce to our Perfection Consider the Patience of Job how great a spectacle his Sufferings made him to GOD Angels and Men and how glorious he became by his Patience to all Generations THIS Vertue has an Appearance by reason of its Objects and Materials so cross to its disposition that if any thing be difficult in all Nature to be understood Patience is one it being a thing of the most deep and obscure value It s Nature and Effect seem contrary to each other It raises a Man by depressing him it elevates by overwhelming it honours by debafing it saves by killing him By making a Man little and nothing it magnifies and exalts him No Act of Love is attended with such bleeding Circumstances as that of Cruel Resolution in exposing our selves to all Calamities that can befal our Souls for our Beloved's sake It is the glory of the good Shepheard that He laies down his life for the Sheep And for this very Cause is our Saviour honoured by GOD and Men because being in the form of GOD he made himself of no Reputation but took on himself the form of a Servant and died the most cursed Death of the Cross for the sake of the World Wherefore saith the Text that is For which very Cause GOD also hath highly exalted him and given him a Name which is above every Name that at the Name of JESUS every Knee should bow of things in the Heaven things in the Earth and things under the Earth Nor is this Gift of GOD so purely Arbitrary but that it has a foundation in Nature Angels and Men do not bow their Knees only because they are commanded but because they see Reason to incline them to bow their Knees There is something in our Saviours Nature Action and Merit that deserves
its own Light the felicity of the Enjoyment becomes its own fortress and security For he that is throughly Happy has so much work to do in Contemplation and Thanksgiving that he cannot have while to be concerned with other mens disorders he loves his Employment too well to be disturbed and will not allow himself the thoughts of Revenge or Anger IN two things Meekness is greatly profitable to a Mans self Possession and Triumph He that permits the Tumult of the World to enter into his Soul and suffers the Temple of the Holy Ghost to be defiled with Rage and Anger makes it an unfit habitation for the Blessed Spirit Doves will not dwell in Pigeon-Houses disturbed or haunted with Vermin nor can Felicity be enjoyed but by serene and quiet Thoughts that are full of tranquillity For where Envying and Strife is there is Confusion and every evil Work But the Wisdom that is from above is first pure then peaceable gentle and easie to be intreated full of Mercy and good Fruits And the fruit of Righteousness is sown in Peace of them that make Peace Which must of necessity precede fruition as Triumph followeth WERE I for my life to interpret that Text of our Saviour The Meek shall inherit the Earth I should in the first place say that every Knowing man may enjoy the beauty and glory of the whole World and by sweet Contemplations delight in all the abundance of Treasures and pleasant Varieties that are here upon Earth especially since by the Ordinance of Nature all men are to be his peculiar Treasures This he might do I say did all men love him and fill the World with Glory and Vertue But since all is confounded by their perverseness and disorder his Fruition is utterly lost unless he will forgive all Injuries and by the vertue of Meekness maintain the quiet of his own Soul in the midst of their distempers The Meek man is not fretted nor disturbed but may enjoy all Still and the unspeakable Joy which all the Glories of Gods Kingdom do afford him shall make him more meek and able also to pacifie and rule and heal the minds of his Enemies and even by the love of Sinners to recover his Right and ancient Fruitions TO be able to live at quiet and enjoy the felicity of Heaven and Earth notwithstanding all the attempts of our Enemies makes them mad when they see they cannot fret us and so by Consequence a greater Revenge is seated in Meekness than in Revenge it self For our Repose is their punishment and torment that hate us Their vexation falleth on their own head when they see they miss of their aim and cannot molest us but it is a joy to see our selves seated in a throne of Repose clean out of their reach it breeds a kind of triumph and ovation in the Soul The secret Conscience of its own Power is a glory and satisfaction unimaginable HE that masters his own Passion is master of anothers mans and seldom falls into those Broils and Inconveniencies that are the destruction of ungoverned and hasty Spirits Which made Solomon to say He that is slow to Anger is better than the Mighty and he that ruleth his Spirit than he that taketh a City HE that troubleth his own house shall inherit the Wind he that is nice and exquisite in exacting all Faults shall never be beloved They are disobliging angry testy men that are hated and the Revengful that do frequently fall into mischief But to be kind to the Unthankful and the Evil and to deal with all men better than they deserve is the way to be beloved by the worst of men and admired by the best MEEKNESS is the retreat of Goodness and the only force in the rear of Liberality He that does one Injury after forty Kindnesses blots out the memory of all his Courtesies and he that revenges an Injury seems to do one For he that did the Wrong seems innocent to himself because he felt it not and seeming innocent takes the Revenge as an undeserved Injury and is lost for ever Now some Injuries we must expect from our best Friends which are alwaies lost for want of Meekness So are all the Benefits we do unless we will forgive as well as give But an Injury forgiven is forgotten by him that did it and the Friendship continues at the expence and to the honour and comfort of the Pardoner as if no Offence had ever been committed Nay if afterwards he comes to see the Candor of his abused Friend he that did the Injury loves him better than before because he pardoned the Wrong MEEKNESS as it preserves Friendship between two makes Goodness invincible and unalterable in one He shall not be good long whose Goodness dependeth on others Merits He is a miserable weak man that is of an Exceptious humor he is a trouble to his own flesh and subject to the power of every Wasp whether he shall be good or no. He is quickly stopt in his Careir of Vertue and easily turned out of the way that is apt to be infected with anothers Malice He carries no Antidotes about him and for want of a Preservative is in danger of the Contagion Meekness is a means of the health of the Soul a Passionate man being all over sore is covered with hot and angry Boils which cannot be touched IT preventeth much mischief in Families An occasion of Anger is like a spark of Fire it is of great Consequence where it falleth If it falls into barrels of Gunpowder it blows up the World if into green Wood or watery places it does no harm Penitent Tears and the verdure of Humility prevent such flames and extinguish the quarrel If Wild-fire be thrown I will put it out with my foot and not by throwing it back give my Enemy the advantage of retorting it upon me A soft Answer pacifieth much Wrath but virulent Speeches are a fire-ball tossed to and fro of them that love Death BY Revenge a man at best can but preserve himself by killing his Enemy but Meekness well managed destroys the Enmity preserves the Person and turns the Enemy into an excellent Friend MEEKNESS is not the way to Peace and Repose and Victory only but to Honour and Glory As it is the strength it is the Glory of a man to pass over a Transgression He that is lightly angered is quickly lost and a fickle Friend is not worth a farthing A straw and a feather shall forfeit all the Obligations in the World in some Tempers Nay he that is Revengful is a dangerous Person and with an Angry man thou shalt not go He has the Plague upon him and is prohibited Company All this is dishonourable But a man that is a resolved and stable Friend that cannot be alter'd that will not change though he be wronged but forgive and pity and continue to serve and love his Friend though he shews him some dirty Tricks he that will surmount all by invincible
that though the disproportion between them and their Assurance or Hope or Desire seem infinite and the end which they aim at by their Magnanimity is judged impossible though their attempt appear a ridiculous madness to them to whom the Verities of Religion appear incredible yet they are no whit discouraged or disheartened at the matter but stoutly march on being animated by the alarum of such a Trumpet such a Drum as Magnanimity is His Faith is more Divine by conquering the discouragements of the World than if he met with no censure or opposition IF you would have the Character of a Magnanimous Soul he is the Son of eternal Power and the Friend of infinite Goodness a Temple of divine and heavenly Wisdom that is not imposed upon by the foul and ragged disguises of Nature but acquainted with her great Capacities and Principles more than commonly sensible of her interests and depths and desires He is one that has gone in unto Felicity and enjoyed her beauties and comes out again her perfect Lover and Champion a Man whose inward stature is miraculous and his Complexion so divine that he is King of as many Kingdoms as he will look on One that scorns the smutty way of enjoying things like a Slave because he delights in the Celestial way and the Image of GOD. He knows that all the World lies in Wickedness and admires not at all that things palpable and near and natural are unseen though most powerful and glorious because men are blind and stupid He pities poor vicious Kings that are oppressed with heavy Crowns of Vanity and Gold and admires how they can content themselves with such narrow Territories yet delights in their Regiment of the World and paies them the Honour that is due unto them The glorious Exaltation of good Kings he more abundantly extols because so many thousand Magnanimous Creatures are committed to their Trust and they that govern them understand their Value But he sees well enough that the Kings glory and true repose consists in the Catholick and eternal Kingdom As for himself he is come unto Mount Sion and to the City of the living GOD the Heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable Company of Angels to the General Assembly and Church of the First-born which are written in Heaven and to GOD the Judge of all and to the Spirits of Just men made perfect and to JESUS the Mediatour of the New Covenant And therefore receiving a Kingdom which cannot be moved he desires to serve GOD acceptably with reverence and godly fear And the truth is he can fear nothing else for GOD alone is a consuming fire He very well understands what the Apostle saith and dares believe him I cease not to give thanks for you making mention of you in my Prayers that the GOD of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Glory may give unto you the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the knowledge of him the eyes of your Understanding being enlightened that ye may know what is the HOPE of his Calling and what the RICHES of the GLORY of his INHERITANCE in the Saints And what is the EXCEEDING GREATNESS of his POWER to us-ward who believe according to the WORKING of his Mighty Power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own RIGHT HAND in the HEAVENLY places far above all Principality and Power and Might and Dominion and every Name that is named not only in this WORLD but in that also which is to come And hath put ALL THINGS under his feet and he gave him to be HEAD over all Things to the CHURCH which is his BODY THE FULNESS OF HIM THAT FILLETH ALL IN ALL. Now to him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the Power that WORKETH in us Unto him be Glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all AGES World without end Amen A great and a clear Soul knoweth that all these intimations must needs be true for it is an amazing Miracle that they should be otherwise Infinite Love and Eternal Blessedness are near allyed and that these should cease is contrary to all Nature in GOD in the Soul of Man in Heaven in Earth in the order of the Universe and contrary to all that VISIBLE GLORY which in the World appeareth CHAP. XXIX Of Modesty It s Nature It s Original Its Effects and Consequences MODESTY is a comely Grace in the Behaviour of a Man by which he piously dissembleth his own Perfections and blusheth at his Praises It springeth from a certain fear and sence of his Imperfection 'T is the shadow of Guilt and a beautiful cover of Original Corruption It is sometimes Natural and which is contrary to all other Vertues more truly vertuous for being so For then it is Simple Genuine and Real but studied Modesty is affected and artificial yet where Nature has not been so obliging as to give the endowment 't is not altogether to be condemned since it is agreeable to the best of our conditions in this World and supplies a defect in his Nature that is born without it IT is akin to Shame yet increases the honour of him that wears it it is the shade of Vertue yet makes it brighter It is a tincture of Humility visible in a vermilion and deeper die and the more natural and easie the more sweet and delightful IT charms the Envy of those that admire us and by seeming to extinguish our worth gives it a double beauty It reconciles a man to the Enemies of his Grace and Vertue and by a softness irresistible wins a Compassion in all Spectators It is a Vertue which by refusing the honour that is due unto it acquireth more a real Counterfeit and the only honest and true dissimulation It is an effeminate yet a laudable quality a spice of Cowardice more prevalent than Courage a Vertue by which we despise all meaner Honours while we are ambitiously carried to the highest Glory It seemeth inconsistent with Magnanimity yet is her youngest Sister IT hath not many Objects nor are its Aims apparent nor its Ends conspicuous It is the Mother of fine and delicate Resentments its strength consisteth in tenderness and fear He that is Magnanimous in one respect may be modest in another Praises and Commendations are the fuel of its Nature it feedeth upon them while it grows by rejecting them It delights in what it feareth and is full of discords but more full of harmonies It is pleased in its displeasure and alwaies fighteth with its own Repugnancies It is a Vertue mixt of Sence and Reason its region is in the Body more than in the Soul and in all its Spiritual motions it is attended with Corporeal impressions The Blood and Spirits dance in the Veins as if Nature were delighted with its own Confusions By captivating the favour of Men upon Earth it affecteth the very Angels in Heaven with much of pleasure It
they are freely given are not to be despised THAT which I desire to teach a man is How to make a Good use of all the Advantages of his Birth and Breeding How in the Increase of Riches and Honors to be Happy in their Enjoyment How to secure himself in the temptations of Affluence and to make a man glorious in himself and delightful to others in Abundance Or else if Affliction should arise and the State of Affairs change how to triumph over adverse Fortune and to be Happy notwithstanding his Calamities How to govern himself in all Estates so as to turn them to his own advantage FOR tho felicitie be not absolutely perfect in this World nor so compleat in Poverty as in a great and plentiful Estate you are not to believe that wealth is absolutely necessary because sometimes it is requisite to forfeit all for the sake of Felicity Nothing is absolutely necessary to Bliss but Grace and vertue tho to perfect Bliss Ease and Honour be absolutely necessary THERE are many degrees of Blessedness beneath the most Supream that are transcendently Sweet and delightful And it sometimes happens that what is most bitter to Sence is pleasant to Reason RATHER then make Shipwrack of a good Conscience we must do as Mariners in a storm cast our riches over board for our own Preservation It is better losing them then our selves VERTUE is Desirable and Glorious because it teacheth us through many Difficulties in this Tempestuous World to Sail Smoothly and attain the Haven CHAP. II. Of the Nature of Felicity its Excellence and Perfection THE Peripateticks so far forth as they contemplated the Nature and Estate of man in this World were Wise in defining the Goods of the Body Soul and Fortune to concur to Mans perfect Happiness For Difficulties and Conflicts are not Essential to the Nature of Bliss nor confistent with the fruition of its fulness and Perfection THERE is the Way and the journeyes end IN the Way to Felicity many things are to be endured that are not to be desired And therefore is it necessary to make a Distinction between the way to Felicity and the Rest which we attain in the end of our Journey THE Goods of the Soul are absolutely necessary in the Way to Happiness the Goods of the Body are very convenient and those of Fortune Commodious enough But the latter of these are not with too much eagerness to be pursued THE Goods of the soul are wisdom Knowledg Courage all the Virtues all the Passions Affections Powers and faculties And these you know are absolutely necessary THE Goods of the Body are Health Agility Beauty Vivacity Strength and Libertie and these shall in Heaven it self together with those of the Soul he enjoyed By which you may discern that the Goods of the Body are real Parts and Ingredients of Happiness THE Goods of Fortune are food and Rayment Houses and Lands Riches Honours Relations and Friends with all those convenient Circumstances without the Body that are subject to chance By which vertue is assisted and of which a noble use may be made in Works of Justice Hospitality Courtesie and Charity which may redound to our greater Felicity here and in heaven THE more Honor and pleasure we enjoy the Greater and more Perfect is our present Happiness Tho many times in the Way to Felicity we are forced to quit all these for the Preservation of our Innocence GALLANT Behavior in flighting all Transitory things for the Preservation of our Virtue is more conducive to our future Perfection then the greatest ease imaginable in our present condition IT is incumbent upon us as a special part of our Care to take heed that we be not ensnared by the easiness of Prosperity and that we do not set up our Rest in the Way to Happiness nor deceive our selves in thinking the Goods of Fortune Essential nor discourage our selves by thinking it impossiable to be Happy without them Our Thoughts and Affections must be always disentangled that we may run with Alacritie the Race set before us and close with the Sublimest Perfection of Bliss as our only portion and Desire FELICITY is rightly defined to be the Perfect fruition of a Perfect Soul acting in perfect Life by Perfect Virtue For the Attainment of which Perfection we must in the Way to Felicity endure all Afflictions that can befall us For tho they are not Parts of Felicity themselves yet we may acknowledge them great Advantages for the Exercise of Virtue and reckon our Calamities among our Joys when we bear and overcome them in a virtuous Manner because they add to our Honor and contribute much to our Perfection both here and hereafter FOR this purpose we are to remember that our present Estate is not that of Reward but Labour It is an Estate of Trial not of Fruition A Condition wherein we are to Toyl and Sweat and travail hard for the promised Wages an Appointed Seed Time for a future Harvest a real Warfare in order to a Glorious Victory In which we must expect some Blows and delight in the Hazzards and Encounters we meet with because they will be crowned with a Glorious and joyful Triumph and attended with ornaments and trophies fa r surpassing the bare Tranquillity of idle peace WHEN we can cheerfully look on an Army of Misfortunes without Amazement we may then freely and Delightfully contemplate the Nature of the Highest Felicity ARISTOTLE never heard of our Ascension into Heaven nor of sitting down in the Throne of GOD yet by a lucky Hit if I may so say fell in point blanck upon the Nature of Blessedness For a perfect fruition by perfect virtue is all that can be thought of It implies our Objective and our formal Happiness OBJECTIVE Happiness is all the Goodness that is fit to be enjoyed either in GOD or in his Creatures while Formal Happiness is an active Enjoyment of all Objects by Contemplation and Love attended with full Complacency in all their Perfections PERFECT Fruition implies the Perfection of all its Objects Among which GOD himself is one Angels and Saints are next the World also with all the variety of Creatures in it the Laws of GOD and his wayes in all Ages his Eternal Counsels and Divine Attributes are other Objects of our Content and Pleasure Unless all these be perfect in their Nature Variety Number Extent Relation Use and Value our fruition cannot be simply perfect because a Greater and more perfect fruition might upon the production of better Objects be contrived and no fruition can be truly perfect that is not conversant about the highest things The more Beautiful the Object is the more pleasant is the enjoyment But where Delight may be increased the Fruition is imperfect A Perfect Soul is a Transcendent Mystery As GOD could not be Perfect were it possible there could be any Better Essence then he so neither would the Soul be perfect could any more Perfect Soul be created IT is a Soul
Splendor of the whole World would vanish upon the Extinction of the Sun And one Instants Cessation from the Emission of its Beams would be its Extinction A Soul is a more Glorious Thing than the Sun The Sphear of its Activity is far Greater and its Light more Precious All the World may be filled with the splendor of its Beams Eternity it self was prepared for it Were there but one Soul to see and enjoy all the Creatures upon the suspension of its Light all the Creation would be rendred vain Light it self is but Darkness without the Understanding THE Existence of many Souls is so far from abating the value of one that it is by reason of their multitude more useful and Excellent For the value of the Objects imputes a Lustre and Higher value to the Light wherein they are enjoyed And if Souls themselves are more excellent than all other Creatures and arewith and above all other to be enjoyed that Power whereby this Soul is able to enjoy them is more to be esteemed upon the account of those Souls than for all the other Creatures which are made for the same GOD himself and his holy Angels are Objects of the Understanding Those Felicities and Glories which the Sun cannot extend to the Soul can comprehend All which since their Fruition depends upon that Act of the Understanding by which they are considered reflect a Lustre and add a value to that Knowledge by which the Soul does attain them Whereupon it follows that the infinite value of all these is seated in the intellect and as the Power so the Act of Knowledg on which their Fruition dependeth is of infinite use and Excellency As the loss is infinite when the Soul is bereaved of them so is the mage which it suffers by failing of its Light whether that Defect be voluntary or imposed by some outward Impediment AS for the Use of Knowledge it is apparent enough For the Relation between the Use and Excellency of things is so near and intimate that as nothing Useless can be at all excellent so is every Excellence in every Being founded in its usefulness The use of Souls is as great as their Excellency The use of Knowledge as endless in Variety as in Extent and Value KNOWLEDGE is that which does illuminate the Soul enkindle Love excite our Care inspire the mind with Joy inform the Will enlarge the Heart regulate the Passions unite all the Powers of the Soul to their Objects see their Beauty understand their Goodness discern our Interest in them form our Apprehensions of them consider and enjoy their Excellences All Contentments Raptures and Extafies are conceived in the Soul and begotten by Knowledge all Laws Obligations and Rewards are understood by Knowledg All Vertues and Graces of the Mind are framed by Knowledge all Advantages are by it improved all Temptations discerned all Dangers avoided all Affairs ordered all Endowments acquired all the Ornaments of Life all the Beauties of the inward Man all the Works of Piety are affected by Knowledge In the Light of knowledge all Pleasures arise and as Fruits and Flowers are begotten in the Earth by the Beams of the Sun so do all kinds of Joy spring from the Creatures and are made ours by the help of that Knowledge that shineth on them its last Off spring are Eternal Thanksgivings and Praises The Divine Image and the Perfection of Bliss are sounded in Knowledge GOD himself dwelleth in the Soul with all his Attributes and Perfections by Knowledge By it we are made Temples of the Holy Ghost and Partakers of the Divine Nature And for this cause it is that St. Paul prayeth That we might be filled with the Knowledge of his Will in all Wisedome and Spiritual Understanding that we might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing being fruitful in every Good Work and increasing in the Knowledge of GOD strengthened with all Might according to his glorious Power unto all Patience and long-suffering with Joyfulness giving Thanks to the Father who hath made us meet to be Partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light who hath delivered us from the Power of Darkness and translated us into the Kingdom of his Dear Son THE Sun is a glorious Creature and its Beams extend to the utmost Stars by shining on them it cloaths them with light and by its Rayes exciteth all their influences It enlightens the Eyes of all the Creatures It shineth on forty Kingdomes at the same time on Seas and Continents in a general manner yet so particularly regardeth all that every Mote in the Air every Grain of Dust every Sand every Spire of Grass is wholly illuminated thereby as if it did entirely shine upon that alone Nor does it onely illuminate all these Objects in an idle manner its Beams are Operative enter in sill the Pores of Things with Spirits and impregnate them with Powers cause all their Emanations Odors Vertues and Operations Springs Rivers Minerals and Vegetables are all perfected by the Sun all the Motion Life and sense of Birds Beasts and Fishes dependeth on the same Yet the Sun is but a little spark among all the Creatures that are made for the Soul the Soul being the most High and Noble of all is capable of far higher Perfections far more full of Life and Vigour in its uses The Sphere of its Activity is illimited its Energy is endless upon all its Objects It can exceed the Heavens in its Operations and run out into infinite spaces Such is the extent of Knowledge that it seemeth to be the Light of all Eternity All Objects are equally near to the splendor of its Beams As innumerable millions may be conceived in its Light with a ready capacity for millions more so can it penetrate all Abysles reach to the Centre of all Nature converse with all Beings visible and invisible Corporeal and Spiritual Temporal and Eternal Created and Increated Finite and Infinite Substantial and Accidental Actual and Possible Imaginary and Real All the Mysteries of Bliss and Misery all the Secrets of Heaven and Hell are Objects of the Souls Capacity here and shall be actually seen and known hereafter WERE Almighty Power Magnified by filling Eternity with created objects and were all the Omnipresence of God full of Joys it is able when assisted by his Divine Knowledge to look upon all and tho every one of them should have an infinite Depth within an Endless variety of Uses a Relation to all the rest of the World the Soul as if it were able to contract all its strengths from all the expansions of Eternity and space and fix them upon this Moment or on this Centre intirely beholding this alone in all its fulness can see its Original its End its Operations Effects and Properties as if it had nothing to consider but this alone in a most exquisite and perfect manner IT is not to be denied that every Being in all Worlds is an Object of the Understanding
to Love without Obligation or Reward to be the Sole Author of all Felicity and to over-flow with Goodness of himself freely without any Motive to prevent the Beauty and Existence of his Object and to Love from all Eternity in an immutable manner And this is the nature of Divine Love Howbeit even here are infinite Ends and Causes of his Love tho they are all in Himself For he Loves that he may Love and begets that Love which is his Essence His Love is the foundation of all his Treasures the Cause and End of the whole Creation and that alone by which he proceeds from himself to all his Creatures and by those to himself again for ever All his Kingdome and Greatness and Pleasure all his Wisdome and Goodness all his Life and Perfection is seated in Love which is his Beauty and his Holiness his Bounty and his Godhead He Loves therefore that he may be all Beauty and Goodness and Holiness and that he may enjoy himself and the Eternal Pleasure of his Essence in Glory and Blessedness for ever IT is GOD alone that Loves by his Essence Angels and Men may Love by Inclination but their Affection is Accidental to their nature begins in time may alter and cease It is subject to Chance Obligation and Reward and ought to be guided according to the Pleasure of an Higher Agent In this it differs from the Love of God but in many things there is a great Agreement and proportion between them For GOD has made the love of Angels and men so like his own by extending their Knowledge to all objects that infinite Perfections are contained in their love It is as GODLIKE as any Thing created is capable of being for Almighty Power and infinite Wisdome are employed in the production of it FOR the better understanding of this Love we will consider it in the power of Loving in the inclination to Love in its act and Perfection It may seem a surprizing verity but the Power of Loving is as necessary to Blessedness and Glory as life it selfe an inclination to love as necessary as the Power and the act of Love as necessary as the Inclination The world is useless without Life and Life without Love the Body without the Soul the Soul without the Power of Loving the Power of Loving without the Inclination the Inclination without the Act. IN the Power of Loving I shall note nothing at present but its Extent and Capacity In Beasts it is confined but in Men it is Endless As a Beast is unable to examine what spaces are above the Heavens so is it unable to extend its Affections beyond the memory of things perceived for a Beast cannot represent to it self the Idea's of its Progenitors nor see into Ages that are before its birth nor contemplate Objects that will be after it is Dead But man can see and know and love any object in any Age or Kingdom in the World He can look into any Region tho it be never so far removed and be as familiary conversant with any Person or Transaction there when represented once in a clear Light as with any Object in his own country He can look into Eden consider Adams Dust in its first Creation survey the Procedure of God in his Six Dayes Works pass out of Time into Eternity it self run up to the Original and fountain Head of all existence ponder the nature of GOD search in his Bosom for his Eternal Counsels pierce into the Centre of the Earth and survey the Circumference of all Immensity His Love can follow his Knowledg in all its flights while in spirit he can be present with all the Angels He is able to Love not only his Family and Relations but all the City and Country where he liveth all the Kingdom all the Cities and Kingdoms in the world all the Generations in all Kingdoms all the Spirits of Just men made perfect all the Cherubims and Seraphins and GOD blessed for ever This is the extent The capacity of Love is so alsufficient that his Affection is not diminished but the more he loves one the more he is able and the more inclined to love all that are united to him As in ordinary friendship the more we love the Father the more we love his Wife and all his children For the more we love any Person the more we love all that love him or are beloved by him As the reasons of our Love increase so may our Love it selfe the capacity of Love being so indeficient that it never can be exceeded or surmounted by its Object THE Capacity of Love being so exceeding vast multiplies and heightens in the Soul of man that is apt to overflow of its own Accord For nothing is so prone to communicate it self as that Active Principle of Love that Soul which is Generous and Divine being disposed to the exercise of Love because therein it findeth its Proper Element The very Sun is not more inclined to communicate its Beams then the Soul to love For the Soul being made in the Image of GOD who is Love by his Essence must needs be like him in Power and Inclination and is made for nothing else but the Attainment of its perfection so that it can never rest till it actually love after his similitude Some Operation it must of Necessity have For as all Life so all pleasure is founded in Action IF Love in its Perfection be considered all that is lovely is Beloved by the soul all the Capacity of Love is filled with its objects and all the Goodness of the Creator and his Creatures at once enjoyed It is the Life and pleasure and enlargment of the Soul it is the Wisdom and Goodness and Glory of the Soul I confess there be many Errors and Diseases in Love and that Love is alwayes miserable in its Effects that is vicious yet it so bewitches the Sences that the Soul being captivated by the Force of present Delight is violently carried in an irresistible appetite to those Things which Reason condemnes and advises to shun as Evil. Medea's faction most prevails in the World Video meliora proboque Deteriora Sequor LOVE is then a vice when it is irrational and illegal rebellious and Sensual Blind Defective Unjust Absurd When Evil things are beloved when Good things are preferred above the Better and the Best neglected VERTUOUS Love is that which proceedeth from a well governed understanding and is seated in a Will that is guided by Reason It renders to all things their just Due and is the Powerful Parent of all Kind of Vertues This Love may be considered either in its Properties or Effects the last of which relate to the Soul it self to the Conversation of the whole man to all its Objects when it is well understood it will be found the proper and immediate Means by which we attain our Perfection and Felicity CHAP. VII What Benefit GOD himself does receive by his Eternal Love That when our
and Eternities we render all Things their Due we reap the Benefit of all we are Just and Wise and Holy we are Grateful to GOD and Amiable in being so We are not divided from but united to him in all his Appearances Thoughts Counsels Operations we adorn our souls with the Beauty of all objects whatsoever are transformed into the Image of GOD live in communion with him nay live in him and he in us are made Kings and Priests unto GOD and his sons forever There is an exact and pleasant Harmony between us and all the Creatures We are in a Divine and spiritual Manner made as it were Omnipresent with all Objects for the Soul is present only by an Act of the understanding and the Temple of all Eternity does it then becom when the Kingdom of GOD is seated within it as the world is in the Eye while it lives and feels and sees and enjoyes in every object to which it is extended it s own its objects Perfection IF by our voluntary Remisness or Mistake or Disorder we dote upon one Object or suffer some few things to engage our Souls so intirely as to forget and neglect all the rest we rob all those we desert of their due Esteem and abridge our selves of that Liberty and Extent wherein the greatness of our soul consisteth As if the Sun that is made to shine upon all the World should withdraw its Beams from the Stars and the Heavens and chuse to shine upon nothing else but a Spire of Grasse a grain of Dust or a little sand We lose innumerable Objects and confine our selves to the Love of one by sacrificing all our Affection to that become guilty of Idolatry in one respect of Atheism in another For we elevate that Creature which we love alone into the place of GOD and we rob the Creator of that supream affection which is due unto him And in so doing bereave our selves of the Sovereign Object in the fruition of which all the rest are happily enjoyed Thus when a man so Loveth his Wife or Children as to despise all mankind he forfeits his Interest in all Kingdoms and the Beauty of all Ages is taken from his Eys his Treasures are contracted and his Felicity is maimed and made Defective When a Covetous man doteth on his Bags of Gold the Ambitious on Titles of Honor the Drunkard on his Wine the Lustful Goat on his Women the foolish Hector on his Dice and Duels they banish all other Objects and live as absurdly as if a King should relinquish his Crown and confine his Thoughts and Care to a Country Mannor I will not deny but that there are many Disorders and Evils in the World many Deformities Sins and Miseries but I say two things first that in the Estate of innocency wherein all things proceeded purely from GOD there was no Sin nor sickness nor Death nor Occasion of Complaint or Calamity Secondly that all the Evils that are now in the world men brought on themselves by the Fall And there is great need of distinguishing between the works of GOD and the works of men For all that GOD did is Lovely and Divine nothing is bitter and distasteful but what we have done himself surveyed the whole Creation and pronounced concerning every Thing that it was exceeding Good So that he was in all his Works an Object of Complacency To these we add two Considerations more That of all the Evils and Mischeifs which men have introduced there is not one left uncorrected in his Kingdome Secondly that GOD bringeth Order out of Confusion Light out of Darkness Good out of Evil and by a Providence irresistable and a Power infinite so limiteth and divideth all that even Evils themselves become the Matter of his Victory the Ground of his Triumph They are all improved and he makes the Greatest Evils Objects of Joy and Glory NOW if all Things before GOD are fit to be enjoyed all Good Things perfect all Evil overcome if without any Change of Place or Scituation all Things are naked and open before his Eyes and there be no Walls to exclude or Skreens to hide no Gulph to pass nor Distance to over come but all things equally neer and fair there is some Hope that the same Felicity is prepared for the soul which is made in his Image and that every thing being fit for GOD is full of infinite Depth and Beauty For which Cause St. John being in Spirit saw all the Kingdomes of the World become the Kingdomes of the Lord and of his Christ and heard every Creature which is in Heaven and on the Earth and under the Earth and such as are in the Sea and all that is in them saying Blessing and Honor and Glory and Power be unto him that Sitteth upon the Throne and to the Lamb for evermore This we are the rather induced to believe because the Faithful Servant is commaned to enter into the Joy of his Lord and our Masters Joys are the Rewards of Believers Our Savionr telleth us his Lord will make his Wise Servant Ruler over all his Goods in one-place and over all that he hath in another TO see beyond all Seas and through all interposing Skreens and Darknesses is the Gift of the Understanding and to be able to Love any Object beyond the Skies any Thing that is Good from the Centre of the Earth to the Highest Heavens is the Property of the Soul which it exerciseth here by Parts and Degrees but shall at once exert at the Day of Consummation The Infinity of the Father in the Son the Godhead of the Son in the Holy Ghost will entirely be enjoyed IT is the Glory of man that his Avarice is insatiable and his Ambition infinite that his Appetite carries him to innumerable Pleasures and that his Curiosity is so Endless that were he Monarch of the World it could not satisfie his Soul but he would be curiously inquisitive into the original and End of Things and be concerned in the Nature of those that are beyond the Heavens For having met with an infinite Benefactor he would not be sit for his Bounty could any finite Object satisfie his Desire and for this Cause is his Reason so inquisitive to see whether every thing be Delightful to his Essence which when he findeth agreable to his Wish and to exceed his Imagination it is impossible to declare how his Avarice and Ambition will both rejoyce how much his Appetite will be satisfied and his Curiosity delighted To sit in the Throne of GOD and to enjoy Communion with him in those Things which neither Eye hath seen nor Ear heard nor hath it entered into the Heart of Man to conceive is no mean thing the Advancement is infinitely Greater then we are able to understand No young man can gaze upon a Beauteous face with greater Pleasure no Epicures Sence he ravished with more Delight than that which he apprehends in so Glorious a fruition THE very sight of
other mens Souls shining in the Acts of their Understanding throughout all Eternity and extending themselves in the Beams of Love through all Immensity and thereby transformed every one of them into a Sphear of Light comprehending the Heavens every Angel and every Spirit being a Temple of GODS Omnipresence and Perfection this alone will be a ravishing Spectacle to that Goodness which delights to see innumerable Possessors of the Same Kingdome Much more will the Perfection of the Kingdome it self which by infinite Wisdome is so constituted that every one is the Sovereign Object the First born and Sole heir and End of the Kingdome Every one the Bride of GOD every one there a King yet without Confusion or Diminution every one distinctly enjoying all and adding to each others fruition TO understand all this and not to delight in it is more miserable then not to understand it To see it without being able to enjoy it is to pine away in a prison from whence we see the Glory of a Palace and repine in our misery at the Pleasures of those that are about it To delight in these Things without being affected with them is impossible Nor is there any Affection but that of Love whereby we can enjoy them THE Angels see the Glory of GODS Kingdom and delight in it the Damned see the Joys of the Blessed and are tortured by them the Wicked upon Earth neither see nor are affected with them the Saints on Earth apprehend them in part and believe them desire and endeavour after them they wait with Expectation for the whole and by certain degrees as it were in a Glass enjoy the Image and Reflection of them As many as they comprehend they actually delight in for their love is awakened and extended to the goodness of all they understand which it feeds upon by meditation and turnes into Nourishment for the Beneffit of their Souls which are made more Great and Strong and Vigorous by their Fruitions But without Love it is easie to see that no Goodness can be at all enjoyed GOD does desire Love from us because his Wisdom very well knows that without Love the World would be in vain and the End of the Creation frustrated his Goodness is diffusive and infinitly desires to communicate it self which it cannot do unless it be Beloved To receive it is the highest service we can do unto it nothing being more agreeable to the Nature of his Goodness then that it should be enjoyed His Blessedness consisteth in the pleasure he taketh in the Felicity of others and brancheth it self out into two Parts the Pleasure of Communicating all to others and the pleasure of receiving all from others in the satisfaction which he taketh to see others Blessed in the Returns of those joys and Praises which are offered up to his Goodness and Glory His Glory desires to be seen and delighted in To be esteemed and beloved to be honored and admired is natural to Glory the Brightness of whose splendor is more Sensibly Pleasant in the Reflection of its face and in the Joy that it makes in anothers Soul His Holiness takes Pleasure in pure and upright Actions of all which Love is the fountain There is an Objective fitness and Excellency in Love for which it is infinitely valued by him It is one of the first and immediate Properties of Love to desire to be beloved to make its object most Amiable and Beautiful as well as Blessed to be united to it to have its own Goodness acknowledged its Essence approved its excellency desired admired and delighted in to see all its Actions Appearances Gifts and Tokens esteemed and to feel its own Efficacy in the Grateful Acceptance it finds in the Raptures it occasions in the flames it enkindles in anothers Soul Now Love is the fountain of all Honour Gratitude Praise and Esteem By Love the Soul is transformed into the Similitude of GOD by love made Bright and Beautiful all its Blessedness and Glory are founded in its Love it is by Love it self made Communicative and Diffusive and Great and Rich and as the Scripture speaketh fit for Delights All Obedience and service are founded in Love And if a Creature that is Beloved must freely give up it self to anothers Pleasure before it can shew its Love or intirely be enjoyed Love is of all other things in the World most fit to answer Love because the very heart and Soul is given thereby to the Person that desires it LOVE is the Fountain of all Benefits and Pleasures House Estate and Lands Authority Wealth and Power Life it self is consecrated and Devoted by a Lover to his Object So that on our side all is given to GOD by Love as well as by Love it is received from him The Heavens and the Earth and all the Creatures are Gifts and Tokens of his Love Men and Angels are a Present of his Love which he hath infinitely adorned and made endlessly serviceable to every Soul that is Beloved All these his Love would have us to receive with a due Esteem and therefore is it than of his Love he will have us to exercise our reason aright and Love them as much as their Goodness deserveth When we see and understand their Excellence and Esteem them according to the transcendent value that appeareth in them we adorn our selves with their fair Ideas we enlarge and beautifie our Souls with Bright and clear Apprehensions and which is much more with regular and well ordered Affections we enrich our selves and increase our Greatness in the fruition of his Gifts we are lively and pleasant and vigorous Creatures full of Knowledge and Wisdome and Goodness and fit to offer up all these things unto him again while we empty them as Helps and Advantages in that Service which we pay unto him For our Love to himself is enkindled by these Incentives and while we sacrifice our selves and them unto him we delight in nothing more then to see him that is so Great in Love and Bounty the Author and Possessor of all his Glories CHAP. VIII Of the Excellency of Truth as it is the Object and Cause of Vertue The Matter and form of Vertuous Actions That their form is infinitely more Excellent then their Matter and the Heathen Morality infinitely defective and short of the Christian. I do not see that Aristotle made the End of Vertue any other then a finite and temporal Felicity which is infinitely short of that felicity which is here begun and enjoyed for ever He did not make GOD the Object and End of the Soul and if all Acts are distinguished into their Kinds by their Objects and their Ends those Vertues must be infinitely base that have no other Objects or Ends but Creatures and those only Divine and Noble that flow from an infinite and Eternal Original respect an infinite and Eternal Object rest in an Infinite and Eternal End His Difinition of Felicity importeth all this but his Behavior makes me to
your Power and to neglect his Treasures but it is infinite VVisdome by the best of all possible Means to embrace and enjoy them Because an infinite End is thereby attained even GOD himself who is thereby made the portion of the Soul and its Reward forever THE best of all possible Means whereby we can acquire his Eternal Treasures is to imitate GOD in our Thoughts and Actions to exert our Powers after his Similitude and to attain his Image which is after GOD in Knowledg Righteousness and true Holiness For by Knowing all Things as GOD Knoweth them we transform our Souls into an Act of Knowledge most Bright and Glorious By Loving all Things as GOD Loveth them we transform our VVills into an Act of Love which is most Sweet and Blessed VVe enrich and Beautifie our selves with the Image of his Goodness while we communicate our Souls in our Powers to all Objects in his whole Eternity VVe magnifie our selves by magnifying Him in all his Works We do right to our selves by doing right to GOD and all other Things VVhich for as much as we must here on Earth learn by Degrees and can never perfectly accomplish the VVork till it is given us in Heaven it is VVisdome to walk in the Paths of Righteousness as far as we are able and to do those Things here tho small and defective which he will recompence with a Reward so perfect hereafter IF ever we be so happy as to come to Heaven his VVisdome shall be our VVisdom his Greatness our Greatness his Blessedness our Blessedness his Glory our Glory All his Joys and Treasures shall be ours his Life and Love ours and Himself ours for evermore HIS VVisdome is made ours because it is the Light in which we shall see Light and learn thereby to inherit all Things the Exemplar and Original of our VVisdome the Fountain and Patern of all our Joys the Author and Inventor of all our Delights the End and Sum of all our Desires the Means of all our Felicity our very Blessedness and Glory CHAP. X. Of Righteousness How Wisdome Justice and Right Reason are shut up in its Nature What GOD doth and what we acquire by the Exercise of this Vertue RIGHTEOUSNESS and VVisdome are neer allyed For to be Just towards all Objects is to render them their spiritual Due their Due Esteem It is VVisdome because thereby we attain our End and enjoy their Excellency It is Right Reason because to value all Things just as they are tendering to them neither more nor less then they deserve is to do Right to our selves and them it is a Vertue because by force thereof we attain our Happiness For the better understanding of this Vertue we must Know that there is a Righteousness of Apprehension a Rightteousness of Esteem a Righteousness of Choise and a Righteousness of Action Righteousness of Thought is that Habit by Vertue of which we think aright forming and framing within our selves aright Apprehensions of all Objects whatsoever This tho it be the First and smallest Part of Righteousness is of Great importance because no man can use that aright the Nature of which he does not apprehend He that mistakes his Hand for his Meat will rise hungry from Table He that mistakes a Fiddle for an Axe will neither cut Wood well nor make good Musick The Misapprehension of Great and Transcendent Objects whether visible or Spiritual is not perhaps so Gross but more pernicious and Destructive He that apprehends GOD to be a Tyrant can neither honour GOD nor Love him nor enjoy him He that takes Vertues to be vices and apprehends all the Actions of Religion unpleasant will loath and avoid them He that conceits Nothing in the World to be his own but his low Cottage and course diet will think it needless to praise his Maker and will deny himself to be happy in those narrow and Mean enjoyments He that thinks all the wealth is shut up in a Trunk of Gold will little regard the Magnificence of the Heavens the Light of the Sun or the Beauty of the Universe RIGHTEOUSNESS in esteem is that Habit by Vertue of which we value all things according as their Worth and Merit requires It presupposes a right Apprehension of their Goodness a clear Knowledge of all their excellencies It is a Virtue by which we give to every thing that place in our Soul which they hold in Nature It is wonderful both for its extent and Value For there is Room enough for all Objects in the esteem of the Soul and it is by esteem that they are honored perfected and enjoyed A wise man will actually Extend his Thoughts to all Objects in Heaven and Earth for fear of losing the Pleasure they afford him which must necessarily spring from his esteem of their excellency HONOUR and Esteem are neer a kin How the Creatures are honoured by esteem needeth not to be unfolded but how they are perfected by it is a little Misterious A thing is then perfected when it attains its End Now the End for which all things were made is that they may be seen and enjoyed They are seen that they may be esteemed and by an intelligent and right esteem are all enjoyed In our esteem therefore they find and attain their end and by attaining that are consequently perfected The Application of Actives to Passives is a mystery in Nature of very great and General Importance In all Pleasures Cures and Productions All satisfactions Joys and Praises are the happy off-spring of Powers and Objects well united Both the one and the other would lie void and barren if they never met together and when they meet their Union must be regular wise and holy GOD is an Object of Mans Esteem Which unless it were able to render him his Due and Quadrat with his Excellencies a man could never be Righteous towards GOD. For that Esteem is void of Righteousness that either exceeds or falles short of its Object If it becometh us to fulfil all Righteousness it becometh GOD to endue us with the Power of Esteeming all that is Good and Excellent according to the Worth and Value thereof For which cause he enables us to Esteem all that we can see in Heaven and Earth and in the Heaven of Heavens For this Esteem is the Foundation of that choise which is the Original Spring of all excellent Actions Even GOD himself meeteth his Honour in the esteem of our Souls He is injured by the Sacrilegious Impiety that robs him of his Esteem being infinitely Quick and Tender in apprehending he is more jealous of his Honour and more grieved when he loseth it then any other His Wisdom and his Love are infinitly offended when they are slighted and profaned but pleased extreamly when they are sanctified and honored and that they are by a just Esteem And for this cause he hath made us able to attend him in all his Works and in all his ways and to have Communion with him in
highly Amiable and and Delightful to be seen Not only because his soul is transformed into an Intelligible World transcendent to all that is created by the Ideas of GOD and his Works erected in the mind but his Affections are framed in a living and incomparable Order according as every Cause and Object requires There is something in the Soul of a Righteous man that fitly answers all Obligations and Rewards It is transformed into the Image of GOD in such a sort that in the Righteous Act which it becomes GOD for ever dwelleth and appeareth THE Effect of Righteousness in GOD is so Great that whereas all Impossibles are stark naught all things which it is possible for GOD to do are fair and excellent all the Best are made actual by the execution of his Righteous Decree By this the Son of GOD is in the bosom of the Father and the Spirit of GOD proceedeth throughout all Eternities to his own perfection For the Righteousness of GOD is not like the Righteousness of Men that may be permitted to sleep and intermit their Operations an Accidental Habit distinct from their Essence which may sometimes exist when it doth not work but it is Quick and Powerful and ever in action and is indeed the Act it self which is his eternal Essence and his Son begotten of it self for ever For Wisdom is more moving then any motion she passeth and goeth through all things by reason of her Pureness It is the Breath of the Power of GOD and a pure Influence flowing from the Glory of the Almighty the Brightness of the Everlasting Light the unspotted Mirror of the Power of GOD and the Image of his Goodness Being One it can do all things and remaining in it self maketh all things new and in all Ages entering into holy souls she maketh them Friends of GOD and Prophets GODS Righteousness is the end and effect of it self His Essence is an infinite and Eternal Act of Righteousness and Wisdome which filleth his Kingdom with the Majesty of its Glory and by coming into Being in a voluntary Manner giveth to all Things their Essence and Perfection Because it cometh into Being in a voluntary manner it is mysterious and incomprehensible THE Glory of this Act is derived from himself and springeth purely from the Perfection of its pleasure Of its Pleasure it is what it is and as the Son of GOD is LIGHT of LIGHT so he is Wisdome of Wisdome Righteousness of Righteousness Life of Life and Goodness of Godness For it is infinite VVisdome that found out the Perfection of this Act and Eternal Righteousness that first atcheived it The Righteousness atcheived could not spring from any but Eternal Righteousness in it self atcheiving it which is unbegotten in the Person of the Father Begotten in the Person of the Son and Proceeding in the Person of the Holy Ghost to all its Creatures and Operations in its Actions existing and abiding Perfect for ever IN GOD to Act and to Be are the same Thing Upon the suspension of his act his Essence would be gone whereas our Essence may without its Act or Operation remain And if his Act existeth by Acting his Righteousness is and existeth of it self and by it self compleateth its Essence forever It is not the Power of being Righteous but the Exertion of that Power which is the Parent of Eternal Righteousness GOD having such an infinite Delight in the Righteous Act which himself is designed to make us such Righteous Acts as himself is And when we perfectly do what we ought we shall in Operation and Extent be like unto him being perfect as our Father which is in Heaven is perfect for we shall see as we are seen and Know as we are Known In the mean time GOD hath taken care to endue us with Power to make our perticular Actions compleatly Righteous Every little Act we perform is a fruit Off-spring of the whole Creation infinite Love is delighted by it infinite Glory and Blessedness acquired A Creature of infinite Value is preserved the Crown is put upon all GODS VVorks and all the Spectators Angels and Men are Eternally pleased For being done it is admitted into Eternity and shall remain in its Place and be visible forever For the Lord will Come who both will bring to Light the hidden Things of Darkness and will make manifest the Counsels of the Hearts And then shall every man have Praise of GOD. All that was done shall be remembred forever and be praised and admired by the Holy Angels Esteemed by all Saints and Crowned with Acceptance by GOD Almighty VVhich will turn to the Joy of the Righteous because of the innate Goodness of their Souls which moveth them to delight in nothing more then in becoming in all their Righteous Actions Objects of Complacency to GOD and his Creatures CHAP. XI Of Goodness Natural Moral and Divine its Nature described The Benefits and Works of Goodness GOODNESS is a vertue of the first Estate a Divine Perfection in GOD by which he is and enjoys his Blessedness In Men it is an Habit or an Act of the Soul by force of which they Love and delight in all that is Blessed T is that by which all Creatures Communicate themselves to others Benefit all Living Creatures affect others and delight in doing Good unto them In GOD it is that infinite and Eternal Act from which all other Goodnesses spring and on which they depend The Nature of Goodness is founded in a Convenience between that which is Good and that to which it is profitable If we consult its several Kinds there is a Natural Goodness a Moral and a Divine NATURAL Goodness is the Aptitude of Corporeal Beings to produce such profitable and healing Effects as the enjoyer desires The Nutritive Power in Aliment the Medicinal Vertue in Herbs the Pleasing Quality in Perfumes the Grateful Lustre in Precious Stones the Comfortable Heat in fire the Beautiful splendor in the Sun the Refreshing Moisture in the Sea the Reviving Nature of the Air the solid Convenience and fertility of the Ground all these are Physically Good But this is Goodness in the meanest Degree being no more then the natural fitness of Dead Agents that are made to act by a Fatal Necessity without sence or Desire tho their Action be answerable to the several Exigencies of other Creatures MORAL Goodness includeth all the Perfections of the former and something more For Life and Liberty enter its Existence and it is Wisely exercised in Love and Vertue A clear Understanding and a free will are the principles of those Actions that are Morally Good they must flow from Ingenuity and Desire tho the Person doing them be subject to anothers Empire and made to give Account of his Actions The Nature of its Excellence is very deep and retired because it consists more in the Principal and Manner of its Operation than the Thing that is Done and is measured more by the Intention then the
abundantly more clear and apparent herein for in all those Creatures that perfect themselves by the Service which they do the Service it self is a sufficient Recompence while those upon which we feed being more Corruptible are exalted in their Beings by being turned into ours And the Trade of Bees in the Hony they make for us and the Warmth of sheep in the fleeces they bear for us the Comfort of Birds in the feathers they wear and the Nests they build for us and the pleasures of Beasts in the off-spring they beget and bring up for us these things shew that GOD is Good to all and that his mercy is over all his Works And if any perish in our Service the Bloody Characters of his Love and Goodness are the more Stupendious All Nature is sacrificed to our Welfare and all that we have By pure Nature to do till Sin marres all is to admire and enjoy that Goodness to the Delight of which we sacrifice our selves in our own Complacency And in real truth if it be a great Wonder that any Goodness should be thus infinite the Goodness of all other Things without that Goodness is a far Greater If it be Wonderful admire and adore it CHAP. XII Of Holiness Its Nature Violence and Pleasure It s Beauty consisteth in the infinite Love of Righteousness and Perfection THE infinite Love of his own Goodness is the Holiness of GOD. There are infinite Pleasures and perfections in its Nature that Merit an infinite Esteem and Desire His Goodness is all Beauty and his Holiness all Fire and flame in pursuing it His Holiness is all Beauty and his Goodness all Fire and flame to enkindle it The infinite Excess of his Eternal Goodness is its own Holiness and the Beauty of Holiness is Excess of Goodness For if Righteousness and Holiness be well distinguished Righteousness is that Vertue by which GOD doth apprehend affect and Esteem all Excellent Things according to their value and chuse and do always the Best and most Excellent Holiness is the Love which he beareth to his own Righteousness Which being infinite makes him infinitely enflamed with the Love of the most perfect Actions and carries him with an infinite Ardor to the performance of them For tho it be a Righteous Thing to esteem the Righteousness of GOD in an infinite manner yet there is as much difference between Righteousness and the Love of Righteousness as between an Object and the Affection embracing it Tho here also the Affection the Object are the same Thing For this Holy Esteem and Love of Righteousness is Righteousness it self for it does but render Righteousness its due tho the Affection be infinite which it bears unto it HOLINESS if it be strictly defined is that Vertue in GOD by which he Loveth the most Perfect Things and infinitely delighteth in them For by Vertue of this Affection he shunneth and hateth all that is profane pursuing and delighting in all that is Holy For the Object of Holiness may be Holy as well as the Affection Whereupon it followeth that Holiness is of two kinds either the Holiness of the Affection or the Holiness of the Object They bear a Relation to each other yet are absolute Perfections in themselves For the Hatred of all Defects Imperfections Blemishes and Errors is a Glorious thing in itself yet relates to the Perfection of those Objects from which it would remove those odious Imperfections The Perfection of all Objects when they are free from all Blemishes is a Glorious Thing in it self too yet is Acceptable to that Affection that desires to see a Compleatness and Perfection in every Object And all is resolved into the same Goodness of which we have been speaking FOR infinite Goodness must needs desire with an infinite violence that all Goodness should be compleat and Perfect and that Desire which makes to the Perfection of all Goodness must infinitely avoid every slur and Miscarriage as unclean and infinitely aim at every Grace and Beauty that tends to make the Object infinitely perfect which it would enjoy It cannot desire less then infinite Perfection nor less then hate all Imperfection in an infinite Manner All Objects are made and Sanctified by the Holiness of GOD. It is the measure and strength and Perfection of Goodness THE Holiness of GOD is sometimes called in his Oracle The Beauty of Holiness As if all the Beauty of GOD were in this It extends to all Objects in Heaven and Earth from the Highest to the Lowest from the Greatest to the Meanest from the most Pure to the most profane with a Goodness and Wisdome so infinitely perfect disposing all that some way or other every Thing might answer its infinite Affection It infinitely hates all that is Bad and as infinitely desires to Correct the same The Influence of that Affection by which GOD abhorreth the least Spot in his Kingdome reaches to the Perfection of every Object and the is real proper fountain of all the Perfection of Life Glory And for this Cause in all Probability do the Angels so continually cry Holy Holy Holy Lord GOD of Hosts because the Brightness of his Infinite Glory and Perfection appeareth in his Holiness the violence of his Eternal Love and the Excess of Goodness It may be also because all the Heights of Created Perfection owe themselves to this Holiness all the Raptures and Extasies of Heaven depending on the Zeal wherewith GOD is carried to perfect Blessedness All which are occasioned by those pure and Quintessential Joys those most sublime and Perfect Beauties which they see and feel every where effected by the irresistible Strength of that Eternal Ardor SINS of Omission have an unknown Guilt and Demerit in them They unsensibly bereave us of infinite Beauty To let alone that Perfection which might have been infinite to pass by or neglect it to exert Almighty Power in a remiss and lazy manner is infinitely Base and Dishonourable and therefore unclean because so Odious and Distastful Lukewarmness is Profane as well as Malice And it hath pleased GOD to brand it with a worse and more fatal Censure No folly or iniquity can dwell with him Omission is both To be hated is to be rejected but to be beloved Lukewarmly is to be embraced with polluted and filthy Armes And for this Cause the fire of his Jealousie burns most devouringly about the Altar He will be sanctified in all them that draw nigh unto him and but to touch his Ark irregularly is to be consumed Nor is this any other then a concomitant of his Holiness and an evident Testimony of his Love to perfection For it First shews that on his own Part he maketh our Powers Perfect that we may be able to see and adore him worthily and next that he delights in no Adoration but the most Worthy It moreover shews that he infinitely delights in the Perfection of his own Actions for otherwise he would not be so severe against the
and Nations upon Earth adoring his Glory in the Highest Heavens Especially to see the manner of his satisfaction by way of Sacrifice in our stead the laying of our Sins upon his Head the sprinkling of his Blood upon all Nations so lively represented the Necessity of such a Saviour exhibited by the Rigor and Severity of the Law his Person and his Office being pointed out in so particular a Manner all this as it is sweet Heavenly so does it enrich the Contemplation of the Soul make it meet to walk in Communion with GOD in all Ages adoring his Wisdome and Goodness and Power admiring delighting in the fulness of his Love And all these most Great Transporting Things we receive into our souls by Faith alone BUT that which above all other Things is most satisfactory is to see Jesus Christ the end of the Law and the centre of time the main Business of all the Dispensations of GODS Providence and the only Hinge upon which all mysteries both of the Law and Gospel Principally turn HAD he come in the Beginning of the World there had been no Room nor Place for all these Prophesies and Figures and Expectations and Miracles Precedeing his Birth we had had nothing but a bare and naked Tradition that he had been in the world which by the carelesness of men had passed away like a Dream and died unprofitably As we may plainly see by their Backwardness to believe these Things notwithstanding their strength and Beauty and the reiterated Appearances of GOD to excite and awaken Man-kind notwithstanding his care to erect a Ministery among us for this very end that Jesus Christ might be Known HAD he not been GOD and MAN in one Person had no satisfaction been necessary for our sins had he not made satisfaction for us there had been no Necessity of believing on his name The light of nature had been sufficient to guid us to sorrow and Obedience all this trouble and care might have been spared all this Oeconomy might have been changed into a Government of less expence and the most of these proceedings had been impertinent and superfluous For they all receive their Attainment and Perfection in Jesus Christ who is the fulness and substance and Glory of them NOR is it the excellency of Faith alone that it looks back upon Ages past it takes in the Influences of all these that it may bring forth fruit in our Lives for the time to come For what is it but the Faith of these things attended with the Glory which is intimated by them that made so many Divine and Heavenly persons so many Wise and Holy Heroes so many Saints and Martyrs What can enflame us with the love of GOD inspire us with Courage or fill us with Joy but the Sence of them A true and lively Faith is among Sinners the only Root of Grace and Virtue the only Foundation of Hope the only Fountain of excellent Actions And there fore it is observed by the Apostle Paul that by Faith Abel offered a more Excellent sacrifice than Cain by Faith Enoch walked with GOD by Faith Noah prepared an Ark in which being warned of GOD he saved himself from the general Deluge by Faith Abraham did such Things as made his Seed to multiply above the Stars of Heaven by Faith Moses despised the Honours and Treasures of Egypt and endured as seeing him that was invisible What should I say more saith the Apostle For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and of Barak and of Sampson and of Jeptha of David also and of Samuel and of the Prophets who through Faith subdued Kingdoms wrought Righteousness obtained Promises Stopped the mouths of Lions Quenched the violence of fire escaped the Edge of the Sword out of Weakness were made strong waxed valiant in fight turned to flight the Armies of the Aliens Women received their Dead raised to Life again and others were tortured not accepting Deliverance that they might obtain a better Resurrection and others had tryal of cruel Mocking and Scourges yea moreover of Bonds and Imprisonments They were stoned they were sawn asunder were tempted were slain with the sword they wandred about in Sheep-skins and Goat-skins being destitute afflicted tormented of whom the World was not worthy they wandered in Deserts and Mountains and in Dens and Caves of the earth All these things were done through Faith while yet there were but a few Things seen to encourage them But the whole Accomplishment of mysteries and myracles is far more fair and vigorous and enflaming the Beauty of the whole Body of GODS Dispensations fitly united in all its Parts being an eternal Monument of his Wisdom and Power declaring the Glory of his Love and Kingdom in a more Eminent manner and making us more then conquerors in and thorrow Jesus Christ who loved us and gave himself for us CHAP. XVI Of Hope It s foundation its Distinction from Faith its Extents and Dimensions its Life and Vigor its Several Kinds its Sweetness and Excellency JANUS with his two Faces looking backward and forward seems to be a fit Emblem of the Soul which is able to look on all Objects in the Eternity past and in all Objects before in Eternity to come Faith and Hope are the two Faces of this Soul By its Faith it beholdeth Things that are past and by its Hope regardeth Things that are to come Or if you please to take Faith in a more large and Comprehensive Sence Faith hath both these Faces being that Vertue by which we give Credit to all Testimonies which we believe to be true concerning Things past present and to come Hope is a Vertue mixt of Belief and Desire by which we conceive the Possibility of attaining the Ends we would enjoy and are stirred up to endeavour after them Faith respects the Credibility of Things believed to be True Hope the Possibility and Goodness of their Enjoyment The Simple Reality of Things believed is the Object of the one the facility of their attainment and our Interest united are the Object of the other HOPE presupposes a Belief of the Certainty of what we desire It is an Affection of the Soul of very general Importance Which forasmuch as it is founded on Faith and derives its strength from the Sure Belief of what we hope to attain and there can be no fruition of that which is not really existent to lay the foundation of our Hope more firmly we will again consider the Objects of Faith in the best Light wherein their apparent certainty may be discerned THE Objects of Divine Faith revealed in the holy Scripture may fitly be ranked into three Orders For the Matter of the Bible being partly Historical and partly Prophetical and partly Doctrinal the Objects of Divine Faith fall under these three Heads of Doctrine History and Prophesie THE Doctrine of the Scripture is of two sorts for some Doctrines are Natural some are Supernatural The Natural are
Vertue of a man they think seated in this They forget that Policy and Learning and Prudence and Gratitude and Fidelity and Temperance and Industry and compassion and Bounty and Affability and Courtesie and Modesty and Justice and Honesty are Vertues and that in every one of these there is something fitting a Man for the Benefit of the World Nay they have lost the Notion of Vertue and know not what it is Those things by which a man is made serviceable to himself and the World they think not to be Vertues but imagineâ— Chimeraes which they cannot see then deny they have any Existence A Man is capable of far more Glorious Qualities then one of them And his Courage it self may be raised to far higher Ends and purposes then Buffoons and Thrasonical Heroes can dream of IT is to be noted here that any one of those Things that are called Vertue being alone is not a Vertue It is so far from aiding and setting us forward in the Way to Happiness that oftentimes it proveth a Great and intollerable Mischief and is never safe but when it is corrected and guided by the rest of its Companions To stir no further then Courage alone What is Courage in a Thief or a Tyrant or a Traytor but like Zeal and Learning in a pernicious Heretick YOU may note further that Goodness is a principal Ingredient in the excellency of this Vertue tho it be distinct in its Nature from the Being of Courage A brave man will expose his Life in an Honest cause for the Benefit and preservation of others tho not for the Dammage or Destruction of any He will slight his own safety and despise his Repose to make himself a Saviour and a Benefactor A true Courage holdeth Vertuous Actions at such a Price that Death Imprisonment Famine Dishonour Poverty Shame Indignation all Allurements and Temptations are nothing compared to the Performance of Heroick Deeds He exceedeth all constraint and walketh in the Glorious Liberty of the Sons of GOD. THE last note which I shall offer to your Observation on this Occasion is this for the Illustration of the Reason and excellency of GODS Dispensations The Great End for which GOD was pleased not to seat us immediately in the Throne but to place us first in an estate of Trial was the Multiplication of our Vertues For had we been seated in the Glory of Heaven at the first there had no such Vertues as Patience and Courage and Fidelity been seen no Faith or Hope or Meekness no Temparance or Prudence or self Denial in the World Which Vertues are the very clothes and Habits of the Soul in Glory The Graces and Beauties of the Soul are founded in the exercise of them Actions pass not away but are fixed by the permanent Continuance of all Eternity and tho done never so long ago shall appear before the Eye of the Soul for ever in their places be the Glory of their Author the Lineaments and Colours of his Beauty seen by GOD and his holy Angels and Delightful to all that love and delight in worthy things Our Life upon Earth being so diversified like a Sphere of Beauty so variously adorned with all sorts of Excellent Actions shall wholly and at once be seen as an intire Object rarely and curiously wrought a Lively Mirror of the Nature of the Soul and all the Elements of which it is compounded all the Parts that conspire in its Symetry all the Qualities Operations and Perfections that contribute to its Glory shall afford wonder and pleasure to all Spectators While every Soul shall be concerned more in its Actions then in its Essence indeed its Essence how ever considerable is of little or no Value in Comparison of its Operations Every Vertue being the Natural Off-spring and production of the Soul in which its Vigor principally appeareth an effect discovering the Nature of the cause and the sole occasion of its shame or Glory For if the Essence of the Soul be all Power and its power exerted in its operation the Soul must needs enter into its Actions and consequently be affected with all that befalls its Operation All Acts are Immortal in their places being enbalmed as it were by Eternity till the Soul revive and be united to them Then shall it appear in its own Age and in eternity too in its last life enjoying the Benefit of its first And in that sence is that voice from Heaven to be understood which commanded the Divine to write Blessed are they that die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their Labours and their Works do follow them For the Glory of the place is nothing to us if we are not endued with those Glorious Habits which will make our Souls all Glorious within We must be Glorious and Illustrious our selves and appear in Actions that will Beautifie the Throne to which we are exalted THAT these Actions may be Great and Amiable manifold and Excellent is the desire of every soul the natural Wish and Expectation both of Reason it self and of self Love HOW Glorious the Counsel and Design of GOD is for the Archieving of this Great End for the making of all Vertues more compleat and Excellent and for the Heightening of their Beauty and Perfection we will exemplifie here in the Perfection of Courage For the Hieght and depth and Splendor of every Vertue is of great Concernment to the Perfection of the Soul since the Glory of its Life is seated in the Accomplishment of its essence in the Fruit it yeildeth in its Operations Take it in Verse made long ago upon this occasion For Man to Act as if his Soul did see The very Brightness of Eternity For Man to Act as if his Love did burn Above the Spheres even while its in its Urne For Man to Act even in the Wilderness As if he did those Sovereign Joys possess Which do at once confirm stir up enflame And perfect Angels having not the same It doth increase the Value of his Deeds In this a Man a Seraphim exceeds To Act on Obligations yet unknown To Act upon Rewards as yet unshewn To keep Commands whose Beauty 's yet unseen To cherish and retain a Zeal between Sleeping and Waking shews a constant care And that a deeper Love a Love so Rare That no Eye Service may with it compare The Angels who are faithful while they view His Glory know not what themselves would do Were they in our Estate A Dimmer Light Perhaps would make them erre as well as We And in the Coldness of a darker Night Forgetful and Lukewarm Themselves might be Our very Rust shall cover us with Gold Our Dust shall sprinkle while their Eyes behold The Glory Springing from a feeble State Where meer Belief doth if not conquer Fate Surmount and pass what it doth Antedate THE Beatifick Vision is so sweet and Strong a Light that it is impossible for any thing that Loves it self
extream disgrace before all the Creatures in Heaven and Earth that look upon it and behold its Unworthiness No Toad has so much deformity or poyson or malignity as Pride in its nature It is the ruine of all that is great and turns the brightest of the Seraphims into the most abominable of Devils NOW if Pride be so pernicious and be by nature though a meer Phantasie so destructive what shall Humility be which is full of truth and reality How forcible how divine how amiable how full of truth how bright and glorious how solid and real how agreeable to all Objects how void of errour and disparity how just and reasonable how wise and holy how deep how righteous how good and profitable how mightily prone to exalt us in the esteem of GOD and Man How agreeable to all its Causes and Ends how fit and suitable to all the circumstances of Mans Condition I need not say more It bears its own evidence and carries Causes in it that will justifie our Saviours words He that humbleth himself shall be exalted He that is puffed up has but a counterfeit glory but Humility is full of solid glory It s beauty is so amiable that there is no end of counting its proportions and excellencies The Wise man that saw into the nature of all things very clearly said long before our Saviour was born Pride goeth before a fall but before Honour is Humility He that exalteth himself must needs be humbled because the Colours are envenomed wherewith he painteth his face which in a little time is discerned and at the very first instant the Painting begins to turn into a Canker THE Amiableness of Humility appeareth by its Excellency on these two the greatness of its beauty and success is founded It is so agreeable to all the principles of Nature and Grace and Glory to all the desires of Angels and Men to all the designs of GOD himself and to all the interests and concerns of the Soul that it cannot but be the most advantagious Vertue in the vvhole World It is strange that a man should look with the same Eye upon two Objects so infinitely distant and different from each other But at the same time he seeth GOD and Nothing Heaven and Earth eternal Love and Dust to be his Original Self-love and Justice Wisdom and Goodness Joy and Gratitude have the same Objects but look upon them in a several manner and are very differently affected with them Humility regards all Objects high and low Good and Evil but with a peculiar remark and notice of its own It takes them in in another light and discerns them all with another kind of sence It is in some manner the taste of the Soul Their Truth appeareth to the eye of Knowledge their Goodness is apprehended by the â—â—fe of Love the perfection of their serviceableness to the most perfect End is discerned by Wisdom the benefit which all Spectators receive is the delight of Goodness the incomprehensible depth and mysterious intricacy of their frame and nature is the peculiar Object of our Wonder and Curiosity they help our Faith as they shew a Deity and the truth of all Religion and Blessedness As they are the gifts of GOD they are the provocations of Gratitude and as they are aggravations of Sin they are respected by Repentance As they are the means of our Glory and our proper Treasures they are the Objects of Contentment but Humility looks upon them in relation to its Unworthiness compares them with it self and its own deserts and admires the disproportion that is between them It useth them all as grounds of a deeper and profounder Lowness in the esteem which it ought to have of it self and as the incentives to Love and Gratitude which it paies in the depth of a more profound Acknowledgment and Adoration THIS habit or affection of the Soul is not inconsistent with its Joy and Glory as by some foolish people that are by Ignorance and Errors far from GOD is generally supposed but highly conducive and subservient to its perfection It gives us the tenderest and greatest sence it passeth thorow all things embraceth the Poles and toucheth all Extreams together The Centre it self is but the middle of its profundity it hath a Nadir beneath it a lower point in another Heaven on the other side opposite to its Zenith In its own depth it containeth all the height of Felicity and Glory and doubles all by a mystery in Nature It is like a Mirror lying on the ground with its face upwards All the height above increaseth the depth of its Beauty within nay turneth into a new depth an inferiour Heaven is in the glass it self at the bottom of which we see the Skie though it be not transplanted removed thither Humility is the fittest Glass of the Divine Greatness and the fittest Womb for the conception of all Felicity for it hath a double Heaven It is the way to full and perfect Sublimity A man would little think that by sinking into the Earth he should come to Heaven He doth not but is buried that fixeth and abideth there But if he pierceth through all the Rocks and Minerals of the inferiour World and passeth on to the end of his Journey in a strait line downward in the middle of his way he will find the Centre of Nature and by going downward still begin to ascend when he is past the Centre through many Obstacles full of gross and subterraneous Darkness which seem to affright and stifle the Soul he will arrive at last to a new Light and Glory room and liberty breathing-place and fresh-air among the Antipodes and by passing on still through those inferiour Regions that are under his feet but over the head of those that are beneath him finally come to another Skie penetrate that and leaving it behind him sink down into the depth of all Immensity This he cannot do in his Body because it is gross and dull and heavy and confined but by a Thought in his Soul he may because it is subtile quick aiery free and infinite Nothing can stop or exclude it oppress or stifle it This local descent through all the inferiour Space and Immensity though it brings us to GOD and his Throne and another Heaven full of Joyes and Angels on the other side the World yet is it but a real Emblem of the more spiritual and mysterious flight of Humility in the mind We all know that the way to Heaven is through Death and the Grave beyond which we come to another Life in Eternity but how to accommodate this to the business of Humility few understand By this Vertue we are inclined to despise our selves and to leave all the garish Ornaments of Earthly bliss to divest our selves of the splendors of Temporal prosperity and to submit to all Afflictions Contempts and Miseries that a good Cause can bring upon us In the eyes of other men we are beneath their feet and so
depths and changes of our Condition all our Desires all our primitive and virgin Joyes the whole story of our Creation and Life and Fall and Redemption in all the newness of its first appearance all our Wants and Dangers Exigencies and Extremities all our Satisfactions and Delights are present together in our Humility and are so infinitely near and present thereunto so sweet and vigorous in their mixture so strangely powerful in their influence that they inspire our Hearts enter our Thoughts and incorporate with our Souls and are as near and sweet as our present condition be it never so blessed All put together is far more sweet than our present Condition a great part of our felicity and glory is in it while we take it in by our Conceptions here and apply it to our Souls in an humble manner but it will be much more our felicity in Heaven It is of so much concernment that a Great Divine in our English Zion said The greater part of our eternal happiness will consist in a grateful Recognition not of our Joyes to come but of Benefits already received NOW look into the office and work of Humility I will not tell you how here upon Earth it shunneth all strife and contention about Places and all the Mischiefs consequent thereto nor of the Unity and Peace and Honour it produceth These are all but Temporal Benefits It has ten thousand other Walks and Circuits and periods of Revolution I will tell you how it behaves it self in Paradice and in Heaven HUMILITY by leading us to the bottom of our Condition sets our Original before our eyes considers that eternal abyss of Idleness and Vacuity out of which we were taken that miracle by which we were made of Nothing How destitute we should have been in our selves had not GOD created the World had he not been pleased to communicate himself and his Glory to us How weak and unable we were to devise or desire any Felicity yet how infinitely necessary the preparation of it after we were created How great our desires and expectations were how sore and urgent our wants and necessities how much we needed infinite Wisdom and almighty Power to fill Immensity with the omnipresence of their Glory and to fill their omnipresence with Effects and Treasures How gracious and good GOD was to do all this for us without our asking and how justly Davids rapture may be taken up by the Soul The King shall joy in thy strength O Lord and in thy Salvation how greatly shall he rejoyce Thou preventest him with the blessings of Goodness thou settest a Crown of pure Gold on his head His glory is great in thy Salvation Honour and Majesty hast thou laid upon him For thou hast made him most Blessed for ever thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy Countenance We might have been made and put in the condition of Toads who are now created in the Image of GOD have dominion over all his Works and are made capable of all Eternity The infinite condescention of GOD is the amazement of the Soul The depth of its low estate increaseth the height of its exaltation All that it wanted in it self it findeth in the goodness of its Benefactour and the joy of being so Beloved is greater than that of having all these things of our selves for ever For the Love of GOD alone and his goodness in Giving is our last and best and proper Felicity Hereupon follows the extinction of all Envy Regret and Discontentment the sacrificing of our selves the annihilating of our selves the lowliness of our selves And the Exaltation of GOD and the Adoration of GOD and the Joy of adoring the Greatest of all other The Amity and Friendship between GOD and his Creature the Unity of both and their happiness for ever Without this Humility of looking into the bottom of our first Condition all this is impossible And for this cause is Humility an eternal Vertue in all estates for ever to be enjoyed I might have said exercised THUS in the estate of Sin and Misery all the odiousness of our Guilt all our despair and deformity all our shame and misery all the necessity of Hating GOD and being hated of him comes before the eyes of an humble Soul with all the mercies and condescentions of eternal Love in the work of Redemption AND in the state of Glory it self all the particular Sins Neglects Rebellions Apostasies and Villanies we committed against GOD after all his mercy and goodness in the Death of his Son how infinitely base we were in despising all his Bounties and Glories how infinitely those Offences made us unworthy of Heaven and the eternal Glory we now enjoy how marvellous and incomparable his Love was in pursuing us with so much Long-suffering and Patience how amiable he is and how vile and unworthy we are in all this it is the office of Humility to feel and ponder Thus you see its work and you may easily conjecture at its eternal Reward All things are in it in the utmost height and depth of Resignation and Contentment enjoyed I need not observe that sweetness of Conversation that Civility and Courtesie that springs from Humility The Meek and Lowly are the same men the Kind and Charitable and the Affable and the good are all of them Humble and so are all they that prefer others above themselves and render themselves amiable by honouring their Inferiours and giving place to their Equals At least they imitate Humility as Complemental Courtiers do for their advantage And it is no small token of its excellency that the greatest enemies of Humility and Vertue are forced sometimes to flie to it for succour as those that well know they can never thrive nor prosper in the World without Esteem nor gain Esteem without covering their Vices under the mask of Vertue All the advantages and effects of this will be enjoyed eternally CHAP. XXVII That Contentment is a Vertue Its Causes and its Endi Its Impediments Effects and Advantages The way to attain and secure Contentment THOUGH we have not named it in our first distribution of Vertue into its several kinds yet the commendation which Contentment hath in Scripture imports it to be a Vertue so does the difficulty of attaining it and the great and mighty force it is of in our Lives and Conversations Having Food and Rayment saith the Apostle let us therewith be content For Godliness with Contentment is great Gain Where he fitly noteth that Godliness is the original of true Contentment and that the Gain of so great a Vertue is inestimable The truth is it is impossible to be happy or grateful without it A discontented Mind is exceeding prone to be peevish and fretful and throws a man into all the indecencies of Avarice Ambition Envy Treason Murther Contention Turbulency Murmuring Repining Melancholy and Sowrness Anger Baseness and Folly into all the Malevolence and Misery which can disorder the Soul or disturb the World Suspicion
Communion with him can be its satisfaction The Terrours Allurements and Censures of men are the dust of its feet their Avarice and Ambition are but feebleness before it Their Riches and Contentions and Interests and Honours but insignificant and empty trifles All the World is but a little Bubble Infinity and Eternity the only great and soveraign things wherewith it converseth A Magnanimous Soul is alwaies awake The whole globe of the Earth is but a Nutshell in comparison of its enjoyments The Sun is its Lamp the Sea its Fishpond the Stars its Jewels Men Angels its Attendance and GOD alone its soveraign Delight and supream Complacency The Earth is its Garden all Palaces its Summer houses Cities are its Cottages Empires its more spacious Conrts all Ages and Kingdoms its Demeans Monarchs its Ministers and publick Agents the whole Catholick Church its Family the eternal Son of GOD its Pattern and Example Nothing is great if compared to a Magnanimous Soul but the Soveraign Lord of all Worlds Mistake not these things for arbitrary flourishes of Luxuriant fancy I speak as I am inspired by Felicity GOD is the Cause but the knowledge of a Mans self the Foundation of Magnanimity Trismegistus counteth thus First GOD secondly the World thirdly Man the World for Man and Man for GOD. Of the Soul that which is sensible is Mortal but that which is reasonable Immortal The Father of all things being full of Light and Life brought forth Man like unto himself whom he loved as his proper Off-spring for he was all Beauteous having the Image of his Father This in his Poemander Again he saith Man is a divine and living thing not to be compared to any Beast that lives upon the Earth but to them that are above in the highest Heavens that are called Gods Nay rather if we shall be bold to speak the truth he that is a MAN INDEED is above them He is infinitely greater than the gods of the Heathen And a God like unto himself as the Wise Man observes he cannot make At least saith Trismegistus they are equal in Power For none of the things in Heaven will come down upon Earth and leave the limits of Heaven bur a Man ascends up into Heaven and measures it He knoweth what things are on high and what below And that which is the greatest of all he leaveth not the Earth and yet is above so mighty and vast is the greatness of his Nature Wherefore we must be bold to say that an Earthly Man is a Mortal God and the Heavenly GOD is an Immortal MAN THIS is the Philosophy of the ancient Heathen wherein though there be some Errors yet was he guided to it by a mighty sence of the interiour Excellency of the Soul of Man and the boldness he assumes is not so profane but that it is countenanced here and there in the Holy Scripture GOD himself said unto Moses Lo I have made thee a God to Pharoah Again he telleth him concerning Aaron He shall be to thee instead of a Mouth and thou shalt be to him instead of God And again concerning all the Great men of the World in general I have said ye are Gods but ye shall die like Men. But let us see the Reason of the Heathen a little on which he foundeth his great Opinions In one place he maketh his Son Tatius to say I conceive and understand not by the sight of mine Eyes but by the intellectual Operation c. I am in Heaven in the Earth in the Water in the Air I am in the living Creatures in Plants in the Womb every where Whereupon he asketh him Dost thou not know O my Son that thou art born a God and the Son of The One as I am And the ground of this Question he unfoldeth in another place thus Consider him that contains all things and understand that nothing is more Capacious than that which is Incorporeal nothing more swift nothing more powerful but of all other things it is most Capacious most swift and most strong And judge of this by thy self Command thy Soul to go into India and sooner than thou canst bid it it will be there Bid it pass over the Ocean and suddenly it will be there not as passing from place to place but suddenly it will be there Command it to flie into Heaven and it will need no wings neither shall any thing hinder it not the fire of the Sun nor the AEther nor the turning of the Sphears nor the bodies of any of the Stars but cutting through all it will flie up to the last and furthest Body And if thou wilt even break through the Whole and see those things that are without the World if there be any thing without i.e. if the World be confined thou maist Behold how great Power how great swiftness thou hast Canst thou do all these things and cannot GOD After this manner therefore contemplate GOD to have all the whole World in himself as it were all Thoughts or Intellections If therefore thou wilt not equal thy self to GOD thou canst not understand GOD. For the like is intelligible by the like Increase thy self to an immeasurable Greatness leaping beyond every Body and transcending all Time become ETERNITY And thou shalt understand GOD. If thou belive in thy self that nothing is impossible but accountest thy self Immortal and that thou canst understand all things every Art every Science and the manner and custom of every living thing become higher than all Height and lower than all Depth comprehend in thy self the qualities of all the Creatures of the Fire the Water the Dry and the Moist and conceive likewise that thou canst at once be every where in the sea in the Earth at once understand thy self not yet begotten in the Womb Young Old Dead the things after Death and all these together as also all Times Places Deeds Qualities Quantities thou maist or else thou canst not yet understand GOD. But if thou shut up thy Soul in thy Body and abuse it and say I understand nothing I am afraid of the Sea I cannot climb up into Heaven I know not who I am I cannot what I shall be what hast thou to do with GOD For thou canst understand none of those fair and good things but must be a lover of the Body and Evil. For it is the greatest evil not to know GOD. But to be able to Know and to Will and to Hope is the strait Way and the divine Way proper to the Good It will every where meet thee and every where be seen of thee plain and easie when thou dost expect or look for it It will meet thee Waking Sleeping Sailing Travelling by Night by Day when thou speakest and when thou keepest silence For it is nothing which is not the Image of GOD. His Close is most divine And yet thou sayest GOD is Invisible but be advised for who is more manifest than he For therefore he made all things that thou by
the Soul of Liberality Paradice and Heaven are better to be given than Gold and Silver And every Good man will imitate the Apostle who was ready not to impart the Gospel of GOD only but his own Soul to the benefit of those for whom Christ died THIS one thing further I desire you to note He that soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly but he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully In the Kingdom of Heaven every man receiveth his Penny because all their Joyes are common and equal Their Treasures shall be the same but they will differ in Glory The same GOD the same Angels the same Men all the same Objects shall be round about every man Every man shall see and enjoy all the Glory of his eternal Kingdom because every ones life and felicity shall be perfect But yet their works follow them and every man shall be cloathed in the beauty of his own actions Vertues and Graces There may be twenty Children in the same family yet all of several Features There may be a thousand Trees in the same Orchard yet all of different kinds The same brightness and glory may be round about them the same skie cover them the same Earth support them the same Stars serve them the same Sun shine upon them the same Sea the same Dew the same Air and Nourishment feed them and yet the one be more fair and honourable and excellent than the other All the World does know that a Tree laden with Fruits and Blossoms is far more beautiful than a Tree that is barren and unfruitful And the degrees of Beauty are according as the Fruits are more or less And as the Fruits they bring forth adorn them so do their own works praise them in the Gates Heaven as it is a Kingdom of Light and Knowledge is a Kingdom of Perfection Righteousness and Justice flourish there in their fulness and every several degree of excellence is entertained with an answerable degree of esteem according to the number and greatness of their Vertues every one is honoured by Saints and Angels NOW least these Fruits should receive any impediment by the Vices and Corruptions of men order is taken that we should love our Enemies bless them that curse us do good to them that hate us pray for them that despightfully use and persecute us By which means it is that a Liberal man surmounts all obstacles whatsoever lives among Dragons as if he were surrounded with Doves and though he be environed with Devils is as if he were conversant with Angels Because he takes no notice of any Vice in any man to stop him but is as Liberal as if all were full of worth and vertue Nay he is more good and more miraculous Their Vices their Provocations their Disorders cannot stain or imbitter his Nature but he will be alwaies chearful and bright and fair and free and perfect To love the amiable and be kind to the beautiful is natural and easie It is not given to the Angels but to visit the Faithful and the Penitent But to love the Evil to be kind and good and serviceable to the Deformed and the Odious to the Injurious and Ungrateful is somewhat more than Angelical We learn it not of them but of GOD and of his eternal Son who hath commanded us to be the Children of our Father which is in Heaven for he maketh his Sun to rise on the Evil and on the Good and sendeth rain on the Just and on the Unjust Even Publicans and Sinners do in some manner as much as Angels love them that love them In Heaven they have no malignity or malice or wrong to overcome all that they love is Beauty and Goodness unless they learn of Jesus Christ and imitate him here on Earth towards us Sinners But our duty is far greater and our opposition more Which is intimated also in our Saviours words For if ye love them which love you what reward have you Do not even the Publicans the same And if ye salute your Brethren only what do ye more than others Do not even the Publicans so Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect In the Close of all I beseech you to consider this one most cogent and weighty expostulation It is the beloved Disciples If a man say I love GOD and hateth his Brother he is a Liar for he that loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen Our Neighbours are not only the representatives of GOD but they are here upon Earth are visible are present with us are Corporeal as we are and alwaies near us our actions among them are palpable and our Conversation with them real GOD is invisible and absent from us he is afar off in the highest Heavens Incorporeal and Incomprehensible If we are remiss and careless in our duty towards our Neighbour all our devotion towards GOD will be but imaginary our Religion will degenerate into an idle and vain Chimera become a weak and feeble shadow be seated in the fancy and dwindle away into an aiery Speculation The reality of Religion consists in the solid practice of it among the Sons of men that are daily with us The difficult and serious actions of our Lives abroad feed our Meditation in all our retirements and infuse a reality and strength into our Devotions which make them solid and substantial CHAP. XXXI Of Magnificence in GOD. Its resemblance in Man The chief Magnificence of the Soul is Spiritual It is perfectly expressed in the outward Life when the whole is made perfect and presented to GOD. GOD gives all his Life to us and we should give ours all to him How fair and glorious it may be GOD being proposed as the Pattern of our Liberality and Kindness by our Saviour the nature of his Bounty is sit to be considered for our Information which is great and publick and advantagious to many In some of his private dispensations it walks under the notion and form of Liberality as it giveth food and Rayment Gold and Silver Houses and Lands to particular persons But in other effects of his eternal love which are great and publick its nature is changed into the highest Magnificence MAGNIFICENCE is a Vertue scarcely to be found but in Kings and Emperours It is busied in erecting Temples and Triumphal arches Magnificent Theatres Colledges and Universities Aquaeducts and Palaces Royal Momuments and Pyramids Marts Havens Exchanges and all those other great and mighty things wherein the glory of Imperial Power is made conspicuous and whereby whole Nations are benefited and Kingdoms adorned GREAT Power Riches Wisdom and Goodness must concur in the effect which is truly Magnificent It must be of great lustre and glory as well as of publick use and benefit and as it is wrought with great labour and expence be imparted by a great Soul and freely given to the good of the People For Magnificence
The fall from so great a height would fill the Soul with a cruel remembrance and the want of its former glory and bliss be an infinite torment Now if it loved nothing but it self it could endure all this rather than forsake it self or lose or be bereaved of its essence it would endure any misery whatsoever Or to speak more correct and accurate sence it would be incapable of any Passion Patience or Misery but only that which flow'd from its abolition Nothing could prejudice it but the change of its Being THAT is not likely to love it self after the way which some conceive proper to Self-love which is willing to forsake it self upon any Misery and apt to forget it self upon any great felicity It loves it self that it might enjoy such a pleasure but loves that pleasure so much beyond it self that it is ready to go out of it self and is almost beside it self for the fruition of it Loving it self only for that end and that chiefly and for its own sake it loves that far more than it loves it self And there is no limit nor bound when it once begins to love any thing more than it self it may proceed eternally and provided its Object be infinitely more excellent it will easily and greedily love it infinitely more than it can it self and value the continuance of its own life only for the sake of that which it so infinitely esteems and delights in It is true indeed it presupposes its Capacity but what would that capacity be worth were it not for Objects WERE there no SUN it were impossible for so fair an Idea to be conceived in a Mirror as is sometimes in a Glass when it is exposed to the skie The Mirror is in it self a dark piece of Glass and how so much fire and flame and splendor should come from it while it is a cold Flint or piece of Steel how it should be advanced by any Art whatsoever to so much beauty and glory as to have a Sun within it self and to dart out such bright and celestial beams no man could devise Yet now there is a Sun the Matter is easie 't is but to apply it to the face of the Sun and the Glass is transformed And if GOD dwelleth in the Soul as the Sun in a Mirror while it looketh upon him the love of GOD must needs issue from that Soul for GOD is love and his love is in it The impression of all his Beauty swallows up the Being of the Soul and changes it wholly into another nature The Eye is far more sensible of the Day and of the beauty of the Universe than it is of it self and is more affected with that light it beholds than with its own essence Even so the Soul when it sees GOD is sensible only of the glory of that eternal Object All it sees is GOD it is unmindful of it self It infinitely feels him but forgets it self in the Rapture of its Pleasure BUT we leave Illustrations and come to the reason of the thing in particular The Soul loving it self is naturally concerned in its own happiness and readily confesseth it oweth as much love to any Benefactour as its bounty deserveth And if the value of the Benefit be the true reason of the esteem and Reason it self the ground of the return A little Kindness deserveth a little love and much deserveth more Reason it self is adapted to the measure of the good it receiveth and for a shilling-worth of Service a shilling-worth of Gratitude is naturally paid For a Crown or a Kingdom the Soul is enflamed with a degree of affection that is not usual Now GOD created and gave me my self for my Soul and my Body therefore I owe him as much as my Soul and Body are worth and at the first dash am to love him as much as my self Heaven and Earth being the gifts of his Love superadded to the former I am to Love him upon that account as much more as the World is worth and so much more than I love my self If he hath given all Angels and Men to my fruition every one of these is as great as my self and for every one of those I am to love him as much as that Angel or Man is worth But he has given me his Eternity his Almighty Power his Omnipresence his Wisdom his Goodness his Blessedness his Glory Where am I Am I not lost and swallow'd up as a Centre in all these Abysses While I love him as much as all these are worth to which my Reason which is the essence of my Soul does naturally carry me I love him infinitely more than my self unless perhaps the possibility of enjoying all these things makes me more to esteem my self and increases my Self-love for their sake more than for my own Thus when I see my self infinitely beloved I conceive a Gratitude as infinite in me as all its Causes Self-preservation is made so natural and close a Principle by all the hopes and possibilities to which I am created Those Hopes and Possibilities are my tender concern and I live for the sake of my infinite Blessedness Now that is GOD And for his sake it is that I love my self and for the glory and joy of delighting in him I desire my continuance and the more I delight in him my Continuance is so much the more dear and precious to my self Thus is GOD infinitely preferred by Nature above my self and my Love to my self being thoroughly satisfied turns into the Love of GOD and dies like a grain of Corn in the Earth to spring up in a new and better form more glorious and honourable more great and verdant more fair and delightful more free and generous and noble more grateful and perfect The Love of GOD is the sole and immediate Principle upon which I am to act in all my Operations NOW if you enquire what Advantages accrue by this Love to the Soul of the Lover we are lost again in Oceans of infinite Abundance The strength and brightness and glory of the Soul all its Wisdom Goodness and Pleasure are acquired by it founded in it derived and spring from it as we have before declared upon the Nature of Love The solution of that one Question will open the mystery Whether we gain more by his Love or our own All that we gain by his Love amounts to the Power of Loving the Act of Loving we gain by our own and all that depends upon it BY his Love he existeth eternally for our Enjoyment as the Father of GLORY which is begotten by it self but we do not gain all this by his Love but by our own Some man would say We gain our Souls and Bodies by the Love of GOD all Ages and Kingdoms Heaven and Earth Angels and Men infinite and eternal Joyes because all these were without our care or power prepared by him and his love alone They were prepared indeed by his Love but are not acquired or enjoyed by
it He so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son and with him all the Laws and Beauties of his Kingdom but unless we love him unless we are sensible of his Love in all these and esteem it we do not enjoy our Souls or Bodies Angels or Men Heaven or Earth Jesus Christ or his Kingdom Rather we trample upon all and despise all and make our selves deformed All these do but serve to increase our Damnation and aggravate our Guilt unless we love and delight in their Author and his Love it self will eternally confound us So that we gain and enjoy the Love of GOD by ours Now Love returned for Love is the Soul of Gratitude In that act and by it alone we gain all that is excellent And beside all these become illustrious Creatures It is more to our avail to be Divine and Beautiful than to see all the World full of Delights and Treasures They would all be nothing to us without our Love Nothing does so much alienate and estrange the Soul from any Object as want of Affection All the Kingdom of Heaven is appropriated and made ours by Love alone The inferiour perfections of our own Essence are gained by Love and by it we accomplish the end of our Creation We receive and enjoy all the benevolence of GODS former Love by ours are made excellent in our selves and delightful to GOD which can never be brought to pass any other way but by our Love alone By Loving him as we ought to do we enable him to take pleasure in us And this is of all other the greatest benefit We cloath our selves with the similitude of all his Attributes and shine in his Image by Love alone Our Love as it acquires crowns our Perfections with his infinite Complacency This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased is a voice that can be directed to none but him only that loveth GOD with an eternal Love He cannot rest satisfied in any that hate or despise him The eternal complacency and delight of GOD whereby we are crowned with eternal Glory is acquired and receives its Being in a manner by Love alone NOW to love GOD is to desire Him and his Glory to esteem him and his Essence to long for him and his Appearance to be pleased with him in all his Qualities and Dispositions or more properly in all his Attributes and Perfections to delight in all his Thoughts and Waies It is to love him in all his Excellencies And he that is not resolved to love every Excellency in him as much as it deserveth does not love GOD at all for he has no design to please him But he that purposes to do it must of necessity love GOD more than himself because he finds more Objects for his Love in GOD than in himself GOD being infinitely more excellent than he But if this seem a grievous task it is not a matter of Severity but Kindness We mistake its nature the Duty does not spring from any disorder in GOD not from any unreasonable or arrogant Selfishness as base and foolish men are apt to imagine but from his Excellency it naturally springeth from the greatness of his Worth And it is our freedom when we see his infinite Beauty to love it as it deserveth When we so do we shall infinitely love it more than our selves because it is infinitely better And indeed shall find it so conveniently seated in the Deity for us that could it be transposed or remov'd it would no where else be fit for our fruition It is that eternal act of Love and Goodness that made all the Kingdom of Glory for us that Care and Providence that governs all Worlds for our Perfection that infinite and eternal Act that gave us our Being That Beauty is it self the Deity and wherever it appeareth there GOD is The GOD HEAD is the Beauty in which we are all made perfect And because we were nothing we must be infinitely pleased that he is Eternal because it is his eternal Act that gives us a Being and the Act Oh how Divine It is his Beauty and Glory Can we chuse but love that Act which is all Goodness and Bounty Which prepares for and gives to us infinite felicity If we love our selves we must needs love it for we cannot forbear to love the fountain of all our delights and the more we love it the more ardently we delight in it the sweeter and more transporting will all our Raptures be the more feeling and lively the more divine and perfect will our Souls and our Joyes be When we know GOD we cannot but love him more than our selves and when we do so his Blessedness and Glory will be more than ours we shall be more than Deified because in him we shall find all our Perfection and be eternally Crowned We must of necessity sit in his Throne when we see him enjoying all his Glory because his Glory is his Goodness to us and his Blessedness our Felicity Because in the acts of our Understanding we shall eternally be with him and infinitely be satisfied in all his Fruitions That Excellency which obliges us will enable us to love him more than our selves and while we delight in him for our own sakes we shall steal insensibly into a more divine and deeper Delight we shall love him for his And even in point of Gratitude adore his Glory To Adore and Maligne are opposite things to Envy and Adore are inconsistent Self-love is apt to leap at all advantages and the more we love our selves the more prone we are to covet and wish whatsoever we see Great and Excellent in another But he hath conquered our Envy by his infinite Bounty and made us able to adore him by the Perfection of his Essence To cover the Perfections of him we adore is impossible It is impossible to adore him whom we would spoil and rob of his Perfections For Adoration is a joyful acknowledgment of the infinite Perfections of an Adorable Object resting sweetly in them with acquiescence and rejoycing It is prone to add and to offer more An adoring Soul is in the act of sacrificing it self to the Deity and with infinite Complacency admiring and adoring all his Glories HIS Glories will be inspired into the Soul it self for the healing of that Envy to which it is otherwise addicted And instead of Robbery and Discontentment and Blasphemy and Covetousness the Soul shall be full of Honour and Gratitude and Complacency and be glad to see its GOD the full and eternal act of Perfection and Beauty It was from all eternity impossible there should be any other but he and he from all eternity has so infinitely obliged us that were it possible for any other to have been it would not be desirable He hath obliged us and we love him better than any other Should we fancy or conceive another a Power from all Eternity acting should we suppose it possible that a Power besides