are called the Lights of the Earth that enlighten all about them for they are ever distilling wise Advices which however they may at first seem grievous yet they insinuate by degrees and get possession of the Vnderstanding they are frequently awakening those with whom they discourse to the consideration of God's Goodness the Eternity of their own Souls putting them upon the best improvement of their time exciting them to the Love of God and of their Neighbour taking all wise occasions to reprove the Wickedness of Men and to restrain their exorbitant Courses So their Example is of great force to amend their Brethren because it is a greater encouragement to go before a Man and shew him the Path of Virtue than only to give him direction 't is true Religion and Virtue are more lovely in the notion and definition of them than they are in the Person in the definition they are pure and have nothing of Allay but in the Person they are attended with mixture and imperfection yet Virtue is more lively in the Person and they say that a Man who shoots can better take his aim at a living than a dead Mark because there is something in Life that commands a more steddy attention and makes us look more intently upon it tho Religion and Virtue may he represented with more Advantage in a Discourse and a Man may be better convinced that way of their Excellency yet Example satisfies one of the practicableness of the thing For Holiness would appear an impossible thing and not to be attained were it not that we have it made familiar to us and easie for our imitation in the Lives of virtuous Men who by their Counsel and Instruction point out the way of Virtue to us but by their Example they take us by the hand and lead us in that way And it is incredible of what Advantage a few great Examples may be to reform the World chiefly if their places have given them any advantage of ground and do make them subject to the notice of others thus the Example of Socrates had an influence upon Athens and the severe Life of Cato upon the People of Rome 'T is true indeed the Nature of Man leaneth to evil and is insensibly drawn away by bad Examples yet it is not so degenerate but it may receive some Impressions of Virtue from the Lives Company and Conversation of good Men who in respect of Counsel and Instruction are the Lights of the World so in respect of their Example they are the Salt of the Earth for a Man of severe Innocency and Justice is as so much Salt cast into the World to preserve the Manners of Men from Putrefaction a Man of a gentle and conversable Temper of a peaceable and reconciling Mind is like so much Balm to heal the Wounds and Exasperations of Mens Spirits a Man of a strict Piety and lively Devotion of an ardent Zeal and active Industry for Goodness is as so much Fire or Life sent down from Heaven to awaken the drowsie Worlds and rowze the endeavours of others after the best things a Man of eminent Holiness doth discourage the Vngodliness of Men and one of a wise and grave Behaviour doth restrain their Vanity and Folly Thus the Preservation and the Bettering of the World must be ascribed to virtuous Persons as an Effect and as a Reward of their Goodness for they are ever persuading Men to be better and they keep 'em from growing worse and God doth not only reward them in their Persons but all who are near or related to them shall thrive the better for their sakes thus the eminent Faith of Abraham and the Sincerity of David had an influence upon the Happiness of Israel for many Generations Therefore if we would avoid being imposed upon and would take just Measures of our selves we are to judg of our Condition as the Psalmist directs Psal 18.21 according as we have kept the ways of the Lord and have not wickedly departed from God For the best proof the Schools afford is a Demonstration by the Effect as for instance if you are to prove the Being of a God the best way to do it is from what he hath made so the best Method for a Man to prove himself to be virtuous is from what he does Thus our Saviour hath told us a good tree bringeth forth good fruit and an evil one evil fruit Now it is a Matter of great consequence to know whether we be in a state of Salvation or not we are apt to puzzle our selves with obscure Marks of Grace and doubtful Signs of our good State but there is one plain and sensible Mark which will silence all Jealousies and that is the keeping of God's Commandments this we may come at without searching into the Records of Heaven or diving into the secret Counsels of God Perhaps there is nothing in Religion more to be wondered at than to see so many Christians in continual Anxieties about their State and so few that can arrive to any competent degree of assurance in this matter Whereas the Scripture every where nakedly declares to Men their Duty and has plainly laid down the Precepts of a holy Life and all along supposes that by Obedience to these Men may certainly know whether they love God or not that by giving all diligence to abound in Grace and the Virtues of a holy Life they may make their Calling and Election sure For there are two different States of Men 15. There are two different States of Men. one is wherein Sin prevails in the other Religion and Goodness take place these two differ in degrees as wide as Heaven and Hell which Places we must not believe to be all hereafter for both the one and the other are in some measure begun here upon Earth They who are made like to God in the frame and temper of their Minds who live according to the everlasting and unchangeable Rules of Goodness Righteousness and Truth may be properly enough said to have made their entrance already into Heaven But they who confound the difference of good and evil who care not to approve themselves to God by leading good and holy Lives do partake of the diabolical Nature and are already entred into the state of Hell Wherefore it behoves us to keep the ways of the Lord with Diligence and Care which the Judgment of right and wrong true and false good and evil doth require For this is the very Grammar of Religion and being built upon these first Principles it grows higher by degrees according to every ones Capacity and Ability in moderating his Faculties for the several purposes of it Now the first thing in Religion is to refine a Man's Temper and the second is to govern his Practice for if it do not mend Mens Spirits and regulate their Lives it is much inferiour to any Principle in Nature which is sufficient to and doth attain its effect But the Grace of God
therefore consists the true Gallantry of Spirit when it controuls all those lower Powers that ought to obey Reason when it defends the Authority thereof against all the rebellious Attempts of Passion and Concupiscence For unless our Souls had been lodged in Bodies full of unreasonable Inclinations they would not have been capable of exercising many Choice Virtues such as Temperance Sobriety Chastity Patience Meekness and all the rest that consist in the Empire of Reason over Appetite For Virtues of this sort are never attributed to God because He being of a Nature purely Spiritual hath no unruly Appetites to govern But because the Nature of Virtue is placed in the Minds ruling the Affections Providence hath furnished it with Instruments for that purpose for the Soul having its principal Residence where the Nerves have their Original that convey all Motions backward and forward it is able by an immediate Influence to command all the animal Motions of the Body For if the Superior Part should not be strong enough to govern the Inferior it would destroy the very Being and Existence of Good and Evil and render Mankind utterly uncapable of Goodness and Morality Although sensual Inclinations false Principles vicious Examples and wicked Customs are the inducements and occasions of much Vice yet the Superior Powers of the Mind are able to give check and control to our brutish Lusts and Passions so that it is much in our own Power to attain to Virtue and Happiness were it not for a wilful inconsiderateness the spring and head of that Torrent of Wickedness that has always overflown the greatest part of the World for if every Man be endued with rational Faculties if he can reflect upon the Essential Differences of Good and Evil together with their natural products if he can observe what things tend to his damage and what minister to his advantage and if it be most apparent that vertuous Practices are infinitely more conducive to the Interest and Happiness of Man than Vice and Luxury then no other Reason can be given why Men are so unanimously vicious but only because they are wilfully or carelesly unreasonable especially when the Rules and Directions of Religion are all sober and practicable when it doth not flatter Men with Romantick degrees of Happiness upon fond and fantastick Principles but complies with the Conditions of Human Life for we have no high-strain'd Paradoxes such as the Stolcks had against the Convictions of Sense and Experience but we are allowed to esteem of every thing as we find and feel it above all we are charged to purge our Minds of froward Humors and to sweeten them with mild Principles to moderate and command our Passions and in all Circumstances to govern our selves by the Laws of Wisdom and Moderation with which when the Mind is furnished it is able to extract something beneficial to its own Interests from the most malicious Accidents and may be Serene in the midst of Storms Contented in the midst of Disappointments But suppose there were nothing in Virtue but Hardships and Difficulties a perpetual Force and Violence to Nature a constant War with the World and the Flesh cannot we endure all this for an endless Reward for we must have a very mean Opinion of Heaven if we do not think it worth the Obedience and Service of a few years how difficult soever that were for the Expectation of a future Happiness hath been that Principle from whence that Confidence and Courage hath arisen whereby vertuous Persons have been supported in their Sufferings for that which is good But besides the future Reward that doth await them the Lovers of Virtue are the happiest Men upon Earth for these two Reasons First Because their Virtue tends to the Preservation and Continuance of the World Secondly To the bettering of the Condition and Manners of Mankind For the World would crack about our Ears 13. The world is kept up by Virtuous Men. and sink under the weight of its own Wickedness did not virtuous Men put in their Shoulders to uphold the Fabrick Cardan indeed is very inquisitive how Human Societies were kept up and affirms the Cause why they did not disband and run into Confusion to be the mutual Vices and Wickednesses of Men one Ambitious Man opposing another and checking him in his Designs one Knave discovering another one Cruel Man keeping another in awe And the Politicians think that the World is sustained by their little Arts and Devices in Government But these are but like Anticks in a Building that seem to crouch and bend under the weight of it as if they bore it up when they do nothing less but have as much need of being prop'd up themselves as any other part of the Structure 'T is not the Wise the Noble and the Strong that are sufficient Pillars to bear up the World but the weak things the holy righteous and good Man upon whom the whole stress and weight of it lies For wicked Men be they never so high and great are but rotten Supporters they are so far from contributing to its Preservation that they are continually soliciting God's Judgments and drawing down his Vengeance upon the Earth Thus the corrupt Conversation of the Men of Sodom was the Vapor that did ascend to Heaven and gather into a Cloud of Wrath which did for a long time hang over those Cities And Righteous Lot only hinder'd its being poured out upon them and when he was removed they fell into Desolation as in a Moment So the Places where Virtuous Men dwell are enriched with many Blessings for their sakes and the Persons with whom they converse are happy as it were by Concomitancy they enjoy much Prosperity and are freed from many Evils by reason of their Neighborhood to good Men for the Psalmist hath told us that God blesseth the habitation of the righteous nor shall any plague come nigh his dwelling Thus the Lord was with Jacob and prospered Laban for his sake and He was with Joseph and blessed the Aegyptian's House for his For the World must needs be the better for such as are ever ready to relieve those that are in Want to feed an Enemy if he be hungry to give Drink to the Thirsty to pity the Miserable to bind up the Wounds of the Lame and to cloath the Naked to do any Man a Kindness and reconcile all Differences And if a Virtuous Man be in a more publick Capacity then the Effects of his Goodness will be more large and diffusive He will be of a more publick benefit and advantage And we must take notice that nothing doth conduce more to the Happiness of the World than the bettering Mens manners now this Virtuous Men do these two ways 1. By their Counsel 2. By their Example 14. The condition of Mankind is made better by the Counsels of good Men. Their Lips preserve the soundest Knowledg and they are ever instructing others in the ways they take themselves hence they
than the open Cruelty of Decius or Dioclesian Hospitals another work of Magnificence Secondly HE will erect Hospitals for the Poor and Maimed Now this sort of Magnificence doth very much serve the Publick Interest for those who do these things for the sake of their own private Fancies and not for the common Good are Magnificent as some of the Church of Rome are Charitable when they erect Sanctuaries for wilful and Capital Malefactors to fly to when they found such Monasteries as are the Nurseries of a blind Devotion But to be vertuously Magnificent is with daily Provisions to feed the Hungry not the superstitious to entertain those that are unfit for Labour not loitering Wanderers or Pilgrims Thirdly THE Man who deserves praise for his Magnificence takes care to provide those Houses in which the most notorious Offenders may either be corrected or secured that those who are not so far gone in Wickedness as to be past Remedy may be called back again and amended by just and necessary Chastisement that those who have broken through all the Fences of Law may be taken out of Human Society which they would otherwise destroy and bring into Confusion HAPPY the miserable The go … of Mankind promoted by this Virtue who partake of these Works of Magnificence more happy they who lay out their Money and Revenues for the publick benefit of Mankind to instruct the ignorant in Schools to heal the diseased in Hospitals to lash the back of the Sinner in Bridewells and to cure the unsound mind in Bethlem's NOW the Works of Magnificence whether they be publick or whether they be private they are to be performed with all Pomp and State They are especially seen in Feasts and Entertainments either of our Friends or of Men of the highest Quality or else in building stately Houses Castles Churches and Theatres That Man who knows how in the most seemly fashion to manage these Undertakings is truly Magnificent The Errours of such as are Magnificent BUT here the Magnificent Person is very prone to run into a very ill Extreme Having great things much in his thoughts his mind is apt to fly too high out of the reach of Prudence then He falls to the building of Oblelikes Colossus's and Pyramids This Distemper swell'd the Heads of many in old time who spent great Sums upon magnificent Piles vast and sumptuous Statues great and mighty Vanities For Solomon the best Judg of these things hath passed this Sentence upon them that they are all so The Judgment of Solomon upon these … ngs For Eccl. 2. After He had made great Works planted Vineyards and had built stately Houses made Pools of Water for the Trees that bring forth Fruit got large and numerous herds of great and small Cattle had gathered mighty heaps of Silver and Gold and filled his Treasury therewith upon a review of all the works his Hands had wrought and upon all the pains He had taken He concludes with the truest judgment that ever was pronounced upon the World that all was Vanity Whereupon it may be supposed my Lord Bacon made this wise Observation that Truth is a a naked and open Day-light which doth not shew the Masks and Triumphs of the World half so stately as Candle-lights do and no man doubts that if there were taken out of men's minds vain Opinions flattering Hopes false valuations of Things and the imaginations of Grandeur but it would leave the minds of many who make a great Figure poor shrivel'd things full of melancholy and indisposition and unpleasing to themselves BUT there is a way to lay up our Treasure in Heaven The deeds of Charity entitle us to Heaven to be magnificent on Earth and great in Heaven then this Blessedness must be gotten by doing such remarkable deeds of Charity as I have mentioned and if we do so our Names shall endure for ever when Mausoleum's are buried and Pyramids are mouldred into dust It is Aristotle's Notion in his Epistle to Philip that the acts of Beneficence have something in them equal to God and the whole life of mankind was comprised in conferring and returning Benefits 'T is true there have been some morose Spirits such as Chrysippus and Seneca who have made plausible Harangues against Glory but in the very doing this they have appeared to aim at it Whereas it is the spur to good Works if it be made use of by one who hath passed through the Temple of Virtue to that of Honour And a man may with as much reason argue against Eating and Drinking as endeavour to banish the love of Glory that arises from the Works of Magnificence unless this did rouze the Souls of men perhaps a barbarous Sloth or a brutish stupidity would soon overspread the World no care would be taken to promote or sustain the Seats of ingenuous Arts or the Tribunals of State This carries Men upon the noblest and most Heroick Attempts and Human Nature without it would be a sluggish and unactive thing IT was the Thirst after Glory together with some private Ambition that incited the Egyptian Kings to be at so vast charge in the building the Pyramids and the Egyptians of lower Quality spared for no cost to cut out Caves or Dormitories in the Lybian Deserts which by the Christians are now adays called the Mummies and all this was undertaken for the sake of an Opinion amongst them that so long as the Body endured so long the Soul continued with it not as animating it but as unwilling to leave her former Habitation Why should not the same Thirst for the Glory of the Christian Religion move us to do such Works as may shine before Men and glorifie our Father which is in Heaven IT is not empty Fame that we must seek for it is not with Wind that we must fill our selves We want a more solid Substance to repair us A man pinched with Hunger would be very unwise to seek rather to provide himself of a gay Dress than a good Meal We are to look after that whereof we have most need and that is Virtue When this is acquired then the outward Ornaments of Magnificence may be made use of Epicurus his opinion of Magnificence Which were so despised by Epicurus that He made this one of the Precepts of his Sect Conceal thy Life He would not have his Disciples in any sort to govern their Actions by the common Reputation or vulgar Applause But Horace was of another Opinion who says Paulùm Sepultae distat inertiae Calata virtus Concealed Virtue differs not much from dead Sloth which if it were absolutely true then a man would be no further concerned to keep his Mind in order which is the true Seat of Virtue than as the actions of it are to be seen by others whereas Glory is but the shadow of true Virtue For Repulsae nescia sordidae Intaminatis fulget honoribus Nec sumit aut ponit secures Arbitrio popularis
of a dubious and uncertain signification but openly declares the Truth to men therefore these practices above mentioned are contrary to that Simplicity and plain-heartedness which ought to be in the Conversation of every Christian Such Simplicity as was observed in a Groom of the Bed-Chamber to Henry VIII who always gave his Answers very warily that he might not be taken in a Lye insomuch that it was good Sport with the looser Courtiers to try if they could entrap him It being his Lot to attend the King in his Bed-Chamber having laid him in his Bed He took his leave the King slips out of his Bed and silently went after him the Gentleman being come among the Courtiers He was asked Is the King a Bed He answered warily I left him in his Bed by which Reply he defeated all their Art For had he answered positively Yes as it was expected the King was at his back ready to have given him the Lye This is but a merry Story yet it doth commend to us a serious Lesson concerning that care which we ought to have in all out Discourses that we speak nothing either deceitfully or falsely AND by occasion of this Story we may without trespassing against the Argument We handle look into a Question heretofore managed with some Heat betwixt Parsons the Jesuit a great Patron of Artificial Evasions in Speech and others of his time the Bishops of Lincoln and Durham THE Question was Whether or no in case of some hazard it were lawful to use any fine Device of Language to abuse such as were set to interrogate us in those Points wherein there was evident danger of speaking the Truth THE handling this Question at large would require more time to dispatch it Truth is to be spoken in cases of danger than can be well afforded yet for the present we will answer That all these Shades and Illusions by which Men evade direct and open Language in case of danger are in themselves unlawful For if we once so speak as if we accounted them lawful that might befal us which befel Calvin in the Question of Usury He granted indeed Usury to be lawful but He so fettered and entangled his Grant with Restrictions and Reservations that He who practised according to his Rule should gain but little by it For what will the Reader conclude upon this by Calvin's judgment Vsury is lawful This shall be Warrant enough for his practice as for Restrictions and Reservations he will make use of them according to his own discretion The same may chance to befal us in this Question concerning the lawful use of Dissimulations Equivocations unlawful Concealments Equivocations and all subtle Evasions in Speech when there is evident danger of speaking the Truth directly For Experience tells us that Men are apt to use all manner of Fallacy and Artifice to save themselves and their own Stakes not only before the Magistrate but also in that solemn case of a Corporal Oath before God himself What would they do then if we should adventure to pull up this Hedg and pronounce it lawful to use all the Art of a deceitful Tongue INDEED Men of brave Spirits and clear Virtue such as Cato or Coriolanus who have precisely observed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exact Justice have made no scruple to use these shiftings to save themselves or their Friends For when we remember our selves and what kind of Persons we live amongst we find it true what was wisely said periculosum est in tot humanis erroribus sold innocentiâ vivere The Best of us all are sometimes forced to make use of By-ways when the High-way is beset with Thieves when we deal with Children with Fools with sick Persons with our Enemies in the Field according as it is said dolus an Virtus quis in Hoste requiret yea with our familiar Friends we are compelled to make use of Art and Sleights to cozen them for their benefit honesto misericordi mendacio calamitosi Civis Saluti consulimus Quod mendacium licet in genere vitiosum est tamen temporibus necessarium IF we would be better informed concerning this Point Gro. ca. 1. lib. 3. our best way is to consult the most Excellent Grotius cap. 1. lib. 3. de jure belli pacis where we find it at large discussed out of all kind of Authors both Human and Divine But after all that can be said upon this Theme we can by no means absolve these kind of Actions from Iniquity and Sin only thus far we will go as to declare them pardonable when they are done upon constraint and high inconveniency and take 'em to be allowed of as Moses permitted Divorce only because of the hardness of men's hearts BUT before we conclude we must bewail the sufferings of Truth under the hands of those Teachers The sufferings of Truth lamented who to all the various inclinations of Men can carve 'em out what Religion they please This is the fruit of a dull Superstition when foolish men are persuaded they need not trouble their heads with the care of Truth but leave that wholly to the Priest who will suffer nothing to pass for it but what bears his mark and License who hath assumed a Power by an Index expurgatorius to blot Truth out of the best Books Where this Tyranny prevails it is a misfortune to be born with Understanding WE cannot likewise but lament the ill usage of Truth when Men labour to darken it with Metaphors or by being too credulous or by opposing the Evidence of Sense it self by Scepticism Besides for the discovery hereof in many matters of Controversie we know not how far we may rely on the testimony of Antiquity nor how far we are to follow the Tract of Human Reason especially when there are so many Mists cast before us by the deceits of others that one had need of a better Eye-sight than what is left us by the fall of our Fore-father Falshood wears the disguise of Truth For all great Errours have ever been intermingled with some Truth And indeed if Falshood should appear alone unto the World in her own true shape and Native deformity she would be so black and horrid that no man would look upon her and therefore she hath always had an Art to wrap her self up in a Garment of Light by which means she passes freely disguised and undiscerned This was elegantly signified in the Fable thus Truth at first presented her self to the World and went about to seek Entertainment but when she found none being of a generous Nature that loves not to obtrude her self upon unworthy Spirits she resolved to leave Earth and take her flight for Heaven but as she was going up she chanced Elijah like to let her Mantle fall and Falsehood waiting by for such an opportunity snatch'd it up presently and ever since goes about disguised in Truth 's Attire AND there is always some Truth that gives being to