Christ is an incredible mystery to them that do not consider the Love of GOD towards Men in the Creation of the World But they that measure it by his Laws and works and see it in the value of their own Souls would think it very Strange if that Love which appeareth so infinite in all other things should be defective only in its Ways of Providence They easily believe it may express it self in the Incarnation Especially Since all Ages are Beautified with the Effects and Demonstrations of this verity that GOD so Loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have Everlasting Life For Love is apt to transform it self into all shapes that the necessity of its Object requires and as prone to suffer as rejoyce with it as apt to suffer for it as with it Many fathers have died for their Children many for their Country but the Love of GOD exceedeth them all To be beloved in our Guilt is exceeding Wonderful but this also is in the Nature of Love it may be provoked with the Guilt or moved with Compassion at the misery of a Sinner WHERE the Love is extreamly violent and the weak Estate of the Object fit for Compassion it is more inclined to Pity than Revenge Tho where the Object is strong and endued with all advantages it is more offended at the Outrage of its Rebellion WHETHER we consider the Nature of Man or his Estate before the Fall we have some reason to believe that he was more Beloved then the Holy Angels for there was more exquisite Care and Art manifested in the Creation of his Person and his Condition was fitted for a more curious Tenderness and Compassion if he offended IF you look into the Nature of Angels and Men you will find this mighty Difference between them Angels are more Simple Spirits Men are Images of GOD carefully put into a Beautiful Case Their Souls would seem equal to the Angels were they not to live in Humane Bodies and those Bodies are Superadded certainly for unspeakable and most Glorious Ends the visible World was made for the sake of these Bodies and without such persons as men are it would be utterly useless The Hypostatical Union of two Natures so unspeakable different as the Soul and Body are is of all things in the World most mysterious and Miraculous Man seems to be the Head of all Things visible and invisible and the Golden clasp whereby Things Material and Spiritual are United He alone is able to beget the Divine Image and to multiply himself into Millions His Body may be the Temple of GOD and when it pleased GOD to become a Creature he assumed the Nature of Man Angels are made Ministring Spirits for the sake of Man and by him alone GOD and his works are United IF you respect his Condition he was made a little lower than the Angels that he might be crowned with Glory and Honour Lower for a Time that he might be Higher for ever The Angels were placed in such an Estate that if they fell it would be with more shame yet if they stood it would be with less Glory For having the Advantages of Greater Light and strength to Sin against them was more Odious and to stand in them less Wonderful While man being more remote from GOD was more Obnoxious to Dangers and more Weak to resist them His Want of Clear Light if he fell would lessen his offence And the Difficulties wherewith he was surrounded if he stood would increase his Vertue which by consequence would make his Obedience more pleasing and much augment his Eternal Glory All which put together when Angels and Men both fell fitted Man rather to be chosen and redeemed he being the Greater Object of Compassion and Mercy THE Degrees and measures of that Mercy which was shewn to Man in his Redemption are very considerable When he was Weak and unable to help himself when he was Guilty when he was an Enemy when he was Leprous and deformed when he was Miserable and Dead before he desired or Thought of such a Thing God freely gave his Son to die for his Salvation and condescended to propose a reconciliation Which should teach us tho higher then the Cherubims and more pure then the Light tho our Enemies are never so base and injurious and ingrateful nay Obstinate and Rebellious to seek a reconciliation by the most Laborious and Expensive Endeavors to manifest all our Care and kindness toward them pursuing their Amendment and Recovery For the same Mind ought to be in us that was in Christ Jesus who being in the form of GOD thought it no Robbery to be Equal with GOD yet took upon him the Form of a Servant and being found in fashion as a man humbled himself to the Death of the Cross Wherefore GOD also hath highly exalted him and given him a Name above every Name that at the Name of Jesus every Knee might bow The very reason why we so infinitely adore him being the incomparable Height and Perfection of his Mercy expressed in his Humiliation and Abasement for us If we would enter into his Glory we must walk in the Way which he hath trod before us for that only will lead us into it THO GOD hath in his infinite Mercy redeemed us from the unavoidable Necessity of being Damned yet hath he with infinite Prudence ordered the Way and Manner of our Redemption in such sort that we are not immediately translated into Heaven but restored to a new Estate of Trial and endued with Power to do new Duties as pleasing to him as those which he required from us in Eden For he Loved a Righteous Kingdome from the Beginning wherein his Laws were to be obeyed Rewards and Punishments expected and administred in a Righteous manner THE Great and necessary Duties in this second Kingdome are Faith and Repentance introduced by his Wisdom and occasioned by Sin necessary for our Justification and Sanctification and Superadded to the former THIS Kingdome of Evangelical Righteousness being founded on the Blood of Christ is by Death and Sin and by the Supernatural Secrets of Love and Mercy made infinitely more Deep and mysterious than the former CHAP. XV. Of Faith The Faculty of Believing implanted in the Soul Of what Nature its Objects are The Necessity of Faith Its End Its Use and Excellency It is the Mother and Fountain of all the Vertues FAITH and Repentance are the Principal Vertues which we ought to exercise in the Kingdome of Evangelical Righteousness because by them alone a Sinner is restored to the Capacity and Power of living in the Similitude of GOD in the Practice of his Divine and Eternal Vertues For without Faith it is impossible to please GOD because we can never believe that he is the Rewarder of all those that diligently seek him without that Credit which is necessary to be given to the Discovery of his Love to them that are
all creatures up braided him with his Guilt every thing aggravated his Sin and increased his Damnation The glory and Blessedness which he lost was his Torment the Honour which he had before was turned into shame the Love of GOD which he had offended increased his Guilt Eternity was a Horror to him his Conscience a Tormentor and his Life a Burden Nothing but shame and Despair could follow his Sin the Light of nature it selfe condemned him and all that he could see was that he was deformed and hated of God For that of the Psalmist is an Eternal verity Thou art not a GOD that hath pleasure in Wickedness neither shall Evil dwell with thee The Foolish shall not stand in thy sight thou hatest all Workers of iniquity Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing The Lord will abhor the Bloody and Deceitful man THE Express Declaration of GOD assured Adam that his Recovery was impossible In the Day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the Death For not being able to dive into the Secret Reservation which depended absolutely upon Gods holy Will and pleasure as an Act of Sovereignty above the Tenor of the Law all that he could see was that he must die the Death because the Veracity of GOD as well as his nature obliged him to fulfil the Denunciation of the Sentence at least as Adam conceived IN the midst of this Black and Horrid Condition the Mercy of GOD appeared like a Morning Star and the Redeeming Love of GOD was that alone which was able by its Discovery to dispell the Mystes of Darkness that were round about him AS all things were before turned into Evil by the force of Sin and conspired to sink him lower into the Bottomless Pit so all the Evils of his present condition were by this infinite Mercy turned to his Advantage and his Condition in many Respects far better than before IT is fit to see how Sin enfeebled his Soul and made him unable to serve GOD that we might the better understand the Manner of his Recovery and how his Spiritual Life and Power is restored in the new strength which he received in his Saviour THE Atcount of it is this By his self Love he was prone to desire all that was Profitable and Delightful to him While therefore GOD infinitely Loved him being apparently the fountain of all his Happiness he could not chuse as long as he considered it but Love GOD and Delight in him it was natural and Easie to celebrate his Praises But when he was hated of GOD tho he could not chuse but acknowledge that hatred Just yet his Self Love made him to look upon GOD in a Malevolent manner as his Greatest Enemy and his Eternal Tormentor All that was in GOD was a Terror to him His power his Eternity his Justice his Holiness his Goodness his Wisdome his Unalterable Blessedness all was a grief and Terror to his Soul as long as the Hatred of GOD continued against him it made him desperate to think it would continue forever and reduced him to the miserable slavery of hating GOD even to all Eternity BUT when the Love of GOD towards Man appeared the Joy wherewith he was surprized was in all Likelyhood so far beyond his Expectation and his Redemption so far above the Powers of Nature that his very Guilt and Despair enflamed him with Love GOD appeared now so Welcome to him and so Lovely above all that was before that it was impossible for him to look upon GOD and not to Love him with Greater Emazement and Ardor then ever Self Love that Before compelled him to hate GOD carried him now most violently to the Love of GOD and the Truth is the Love of GOD in the Eye of the Understanding is the influence of the Holy Ghost proceeding from the Father by the Son into the Soul of the Spectator For GOD is Love and we therefore Love him because he first Loved us A faln man is Still a reasonable Creature and having more reason to Love GOD then he had before is by the pure Nature of his Essence infinitely more prone to Love GOD and delight in him and praise him for ever because he is so mercifully and so Strangely restored Thus are we in Christ restored to the Exercise of that Power which we lost by Sin But without him we can do Nothing WHEN all the Kingdom of GOD was at an End by the fall of man and all the Labor of the Creation lost by the Perversness of him for whom the whole World was made GOD by his Mercy recovered it and raised it out of the Rubbish of its Ruines more Glorious than before Which is the chief reason for the sake for which we introduce the Mercy of GOD as our best pattern For when a man has injured us by Nature there is an End of all the Lovely Exercises of Peace and Amity If natural Justice should be strictly observed but then the Season of Grace arrives and the Excellencie of Mercy shews it self in the Lustre of its Wisdome and so our Empire is continued our loss retrived For by shewing Mercy we often recover the Love of an Enemy and restore a Criminal to the Joy of our freindship We lengthenout our Goodness and Heighten its measure we make it victorious and cloath it with a Glory above the course of Nature And all this we are enabled to do by Coming of Jesus Christ who hath restored us to the Hope of Salvation and taught us a Way to increase our own Goodness by other mens Evils to turn the vices of others into our own Vertues and to Live a Miraculous Life of Worth and Excellency in the midst of Enemies Dealing with men better than they deserve adornig our selves with Trophies by the Advantages of their vileness making our selves more Honourable by the Ignominy they cast upon us more Lovely and Desirable by the Hatred which they bear towards us THE foundations upon which we Exercise this Vertue are wholy Supernatural To be kind to the innocent is but Justice and Goodness but to be Kind to the Malevolent is Grace and Mercy And this we must do because our Father which is in Heaven Causeth his Sun to rise on the Just and the unjust and his Rain to descend on the Righteous and the Wicked Because Mercy is the Head Spring of all our Felicities therefore should we shew Mercy as we have obtained Mercy As the Blood was sprinkled upon the Tabernacle and all its Utensils so is the Blood of Christ upon the Heathens and the Earth and all our Enjoyments They are Daily Monitors of Mercy to us because they are purchased by the Blood of Christ. For of him it is that the Heavens declare the Glory of GOD and the firmament sheweth his Handy work to us sinners at this day The Salvation of Sinners being the only End for the sake of which we can be permitted now to enjoy them THE Incarnation of our Lord Jesus
again divided into two For some of them are Laws that teach us our Duty some of them Propositions only or bare and Simple Affirmations which we call Articles guiding our Apprehensions in the Truth of those Things which are meet to be Known Speculation is intended in the one and Practice in the other NATURAL Doctrines are Objects of Divine Faith only as they are revealed by the Word of GOD. For the Authority of the Witness is that which maketh our Faith Divine They are called Natural because how ever Blind any man is in his present condition upon a diligent Search those Things may be clearly discerned by the Light of Nature Those Doctrines which are Objects of Divine Faith and yet may be found out by the Investigation of Reason are such as these That there is a GOD that the World was made that man was created in GODS Image that he hath Dominion over the works of his Hands that he is or ought to be tenderly Beloved of all mankind that he is to be good and full of Love to others that he is to render all Objects their Due Esteem and to be Grateful for the Benefits he hath received of his great Creator that the first Estate of the Worlds Creation was pure and perfect that Sin came in by the Accidental abuse of the Creatures Liberty that Nature is Corrupted that Death was introduced as the Punishment of Sin that the Soul is Immortal that GOD is infinitely Just and Wise and Holy that he will distribute Rewards and Punishments according to Right that there is such a Thing as Eternity and Immensity that the Body is frail and subject to Diseases that we receive all Things from GOD and depend in the fruition of all upon his Power and Providence that it is Wife to please him and foolish to displease him that Punishment is due to Sin and that GOD hateth it that Reward is due to Vertue and GOD delighteth in it that there is a Conscience in the Soul by which it feels and discovers the Difference between Guilt and Innocence That man is a Sinner that he is prone to Evil and Obnoxious to GODS Wrath that nevertheless he is spared by the Long-suffering of GOD and that GOD Loveth him and desireth his Salvation That there is a felicity and a Supream Felicity appointed for man that he is a free Agent and may lose it if he pleases that misery is the Consequent of the Loss of Felicity that GOD delighteth in all those that Love and practice Vertue that he hateth all those that drown their Excellencies in any Vice that Sorrow and Repentance are necessary for all those that have offended GOD that there is Hope to escape the Punishment of Sin if we endeavour to live as piously as we ought All these things are evident in themselves by the Light of Nature because they may either be clearly deduced from the principles of Reason or certainly discerned by plain Experience And are therefore taught by the Word of GOD either because they had need to be revived and raised up to light from under the Rubbish of our Fall or because GOD would sanctifie Nature by his express Consent or make its Dictates more remarkable and Valid by his Approbation and confirm all by the Seal of his Authority or because a fair Way is laid open by these to more retired and Coelestial Mysteries FOR when we know these Things we are prone to enquire what GOD hath done what Way there is to recover our ancient Happiness what Remedies are prepared for the corruption of Nature how the Guilt of Sin may be removed how we may be aided and assisted in the works of Virtue by what Means our Reconciliation with GOD is wrought and in what manner we ought to demean our selves that we may be accepted of him for the knowledge of our former health is necessary for the clear apprehension of our present Sickness and the sense of our Infirmitie fits us for the Physician When we know all that Nature can teach and see something needful that Nature cannot unfold when we are condemned by our Conscience yet feel our selves beloved find that we have forfeited all yet see the Glory of the creation continued for our use and service stand in need of an Atonement yet Know not where to get it our Exigency meeting with the grace of GOD the sence of our Misery and Hope united our own Guilt and GODS Mercy of both which we have the feeling and experience adopts us for the Reception of the Holy Gospel wherein those thing are revealed that come in most fitly to answer our Expectations Satisfaction for Sin by the Death of Christ and the Incarnation of his GODHEAD above the course of Nature for that End His active and passive Obedience in our Stead our Justification thereby the application of his Merits to our souls by faith the Glory which we owe him for so great an undertaking the coming down of the Holy Ghost to Sanctifie our Nature and the dignity of Both these Persons by reason of their Unity in the eternal Essence for the manifestation of which the Mysterie of the Trinitie is largly revealed these supernatural Points come in so suitably and are so agreeable to Nature so perfectly fit in their places so marvellously conducive to the perfection of the Residue that the very Harmony and sweetneess of altogether is enough to perswade us of their Credibility and then the Matter of fact comes in with the Testimony and Authority of GODS Word assuring us that these Things are so by History and Prophesie The Miracles at our Saviours Birth alone one would think enough to clear the business much more if we take in all the Miracles of his life wherein his Glory appeared as of the only begotten of the Father more fully yet if we take in the Miracles of his Death and abundantly more if the Glory of his Resurrection and Ascension be added But especially the Coming down of the Holy Ghost and the Power the Apostles received from heaven all the Prophesies that went before and all the successes that followed after all the Faith and Learning of the Fathers all the Canons and Decrees of Councils all the Transactions of the World drawn down to our own Age in a continued series illustrate and confirm all that is revealed BUT you will say How shall we know such Histories to be true and that such Prophesies and Prophets were in their several Ages Since we never saw the same with our eyes and there are many sleights and Fables in the World How dost thou know there are any Antipodies Thou didst never see them Or that there is any Sea which thou didst never behold Or that the next River has a Fountain Head Is not the Universal Tradition of all the world wherein the Church of Rome nay the Catholick Church is but a little Part a clear Light for a matter of Antiquitie attended with a Stream of Effects and
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
of all his Creatures We shall honour our Parents for his sake and preserve the Life of our Neighbour We shall not rob him of his happiness in his Wife nor wrong him in her Chastity and Fidelity towards him We shall not steal from him nor diminish his Possessions We shall not defame him nor hurt him by Lies but vindicate and preserve his Reputation it will be our joy and Satisfaction to see his honour clear and unblemished We shall not injure him so much as in a thought nor covet ought that is his either for necessity or pleasure but study to add to his Contentments WERE all the World as full of this Love as it ought to be Paradice would still continue and all Mankind would be the Joy and Glory of the whole Creation The Love of GOD towards all would dwell and abide in every Soul and the Felicity of all would be the particular Joy of every person All the Earth would be full of Repose and Peace and Prosperity nothing but Honour and Kindness and Contentment would replenish the World Which leads me now to that other Branch of Love which is Charity to our Neighbour CHAP. XIX Charity to our Neighbour most natural an Easie in the Estate of Innocency Adams Love to Eve and his children a great Examplar of our Love to all the World The Sweetness of Loving The Benefits of being Beloved To Love all the World and be beloved by all the World is perfect security and Felicity Were the Law fulfilled all the World would be turned in Heaven CHARITY to our Neighbour is Love expressed towards GOD in the Best of his Creatures We are to Love GOD in all the Works of his Hands but in those especially that are most near unto him chiefly those in which he manifesteth himself most clearly and these are they that are most like him most exalted by him most loved of him and most delightful to him ANGELS and Men are so distinct from the residue of the Creation that all the Works of GOD as if they were Things of another Kind are put in Subjection under their feet They were made in his Image and are often called the Sons of GOD. They are the Sovereign Objects of his Eternal Love every one of them considered a part is so Glorious as if he were the Sole individual friend of GOD and King of the Universe so that they are to be treated in another Manner as High and Sacred Persons elevated a-above the Race of ordinary Creatures as a Progeny of Kings that are all of them friends to the King of Kings Ambassadours representing his Person in whom he is injured or Obliged I confess there are many Disguises that overcast the Face of Nature with a vail and cloud these Sovereign Creatures the Excellency the Absence and Distance and unknown Nature of Angels the Perversness of Nature the Ignorance and Unkindness and Disorders of Men Darken and Eclipse this Glorious Duty and make it uncouth and difficult to us But all these Disorders came in by Sin and it is expedient to remove the Confusions that blind us in our miserable Estate and to look upon this Vertue of Charity in the Naked Beauty which appeareth to us in the Light of Eden IN the Purity of Nature Men are Amiable Creatures and prone to Love To great Advantages of which Sin and misery hath bereaved us and to which we are restored but in Part even then when we are Sanctified Where the Beauty of the Object is intire and perfect and the Goodness of the Spectator clear and undefiled to Love is as Natural and Easie as for fire to enflame when applied to convenient matter For the Beauty of the Object is Oyl and Fuel to the affection of the Spectator It is not more Easie to delight in what is pleasant than it is to desire what is Good and Amiable To be commanded to take pleasure in it is Liberty not Constraint To be forbidden would be hard A Prohibition would be the Severest Law and the most cruel Bondage There was no Possitive Law in Eden that required a Man to Love his Neighbour it was a Law of Nature The Nature of the Object required it and our Nature prompted it self thereunto The Service that Law required was perfect freedome Adam was commanded to Love Eve by a silent Law Surprized by her Beauty and captivated by the Chains of Nature He was amazed at so fair a Creature her Presence was so Delightful that there was no need of a Law an injunction had imported some Sluggishness in the zeal of his Affection His Appetite and Reason were united together and both invited him to lose himself in her Embraces She was as acceptable a Present of the Love of GOD as Wisdome and Goodness could invent for him He was too apt to admire her had not her Soul been as worthy as her Symmetry was transcendent He admired the Bounty of the Donor in so Great a Gift and Great Part of his Life was to be spent in the Contemplation of his Treasure He had a Noble Creature made in the Image of GOD for him alone Her soul was far more excellent in Beauty then her Face a Diviner and more Glorious Object than the whole world Her Intelligence and Vivacity Her Lofty and clear Apprehensions Her Honour and Majesty Her Freedome of Action her Kindness of Behaviour her Angelical Affections Her fitness for Conversation Her sweet and Tender Principles a million of Graces and Endowments conspiring to enrich Her Person and Perfection made all the World to serve Adam with one Degree of Pleasure more in serving and pleasing her The Universe seemed to be Nothing but the Theatre of their mutual Love as if all the World were made for nothing else but to minister to her for his sake and to make him happy in the Enjoyment of Her While the fruition was sanctified by a Just acknowledgement and Thanksgiving to the Author WE produce Eve only for a President this first sweetness is but a Pattern and Copy of what follows fair Prologue to a more magnificent scene and used by us as a meer Introduction Adam was able to Love Millions more and as She was taken out of his side so were they to spring from his Bowels All to be as Great and fair and Glorious as she as full of Soul and as full of Love As the Woman was the Glory of man so were their Off-springs the Glory of both I mean they had been so by the Law of Nature had not the due course of it been disturbed Which Accident is wholy to be fathered on Adams fondness to please his Wife and to be mothered upon her Lightness and Credulity But we being here to disclose the Felicity which is hid in the fulfilling of GODS Laws and to justifie his Love in commancing this Charity to our Neighbors must not regard the Malevolence of Men but look upon the pure Intention of the Law and the success that would have
and Eternal Reason The similitude of which Reason being the Essence of the Soul all these things fall out for our glory and satisfaction also NOW if GOD himself acquired all his Joyes by Temperance and the glory of his Kingdom is wholly founded in his Moderation We may hope that our Moderation and Temperance in its place may accomplish Wonders and lead us to the fruition of his by certain steps and degrees like those that are observed in the Womb towards Manhood and in the School of our Childhood towards perfect Learning TOO much Rain or too much Drought will produce a Famine the Earth is made fertile by a seasonable mixture of Heat and Moisture Excess of Power may overwhelm but moderation is that which perfecteth and blesseth the Creation ALMIGHTY Power is carried far beyond it self or really is made Almighty by vertue of that Temperance wherein Eternal Wisdom is eternally Glorified IF any thing be wanting to the full demonstration of the perfection of GODS Kingdom it is the consideration of his Delay for we are apt to think he might have made it Eternally before he did But to this no other Answer is necessary though many might be made then that all Things were from all Eternity before his Eyes and he saw the fittest Moments wherein to produce them and judged it fit in his Wisdom first to fill Eternity with his deliberations and Counsels and then to beautifie Time with the execution of his Decrees For were there no more to be said but this his Empire is eternal because all Possibilities nay and all Impossibilities are subject to his Will But if it be confessed that Eternity is an everlasting Moment infinite in duration but permanent in all its parts all Things past present and to come are at once before him and eternally together Which is the true Reason why Eternity is a standing Object before the Eye of the Soul and all its parts being full of Beauty and Perfection for ever to be enjoyed IF any man be disposed to cavil further and to urge that GOD might at the very first have placed Angels and Men in the state of Glory the Reply is at hand that GOD very well understandeth the beauty of Proportion that Harmony and Symmetry springs from a variety of excellent Things in several places fitly answering to and perfecting each other that the state of Trial and the state of Glory are so mysterious in their Relation that neither without the other could be absolutely perfect Innumerable Beauties would be lost and many transcendent Vertues and Perfections be abolished with the estate of Trial if that had been laid aside the continual appearance and effect of which is to enrich and beautifie the Kingdom of GOD everlastingly That GOD loveth Man far more than if he had placed him in the Throne at first and designeth more Glory and Perfection for him than in that dispensation he could have been capable of all which springeth from the Restraint of his Power in some occasions that it might more fully be exerted in the perfection of the whole and of all things that were possible to be made might end in the Supream and most absolutely Blessed Therefore upon the whole Matter we may conclude with solomon Happy is the man that findeth Wisdom and the man that getteth Understanding For the Merchandize of it is better than the Merchandize of Silver and the Gain thereof than of fine Gold She is more precious than Rubies and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared with her Length of Daies is in her right hand and in her left hand Riches and Honour Her Waies are waies of Pleasantness and all her Paths are Peace She is a Tree of Life to them that lay hold upon her and happy is every one that retaineth her The LORD by Wisdom hath founded the Earth by Understanding hath he established the Heavens My Son let not them depart from thine Eyes Keep sound Wisdom and Discretion Wisdom is the principal Thing therefore get Wisdom and with all thy Getting get Understanding For the same Wisdom which created the World is the only Light wherein it is enjoyed CHAP. XXIV Of Patience It s Original How GOD was the first Patient Person in the World The Nature and the Glory and the blessed Effects of his Eternal Patience The Reason and Design of all Calamities Of Patience in Martyrdom The extraordinary Reward of ordinary Patience in its meanest obscurity PATIENCE is a Vertue of the Third estate it belongs not to the estate of Innocence because in it there was no Affliction nor to the estate of Misery because in it there is no Vertue but to the estate of Grace it appertains because it is an estate of Reconciliation and an estate of Trial wherein Affliction and Vertue meet together In the estate of Glory there is no Patience THIS is one of those distastful Vertues which GOD never intended It received its bitterness from Sin its life and beauty from GOD's Mercy If we dislike this Vertue we may thank our selves for we made GOD first to endure it And if all things are rightly weighed no Creature is equal to GOD in Sufferings We made it necessary for the Eternal GOD-HEAD to be Incarnate and to suffer all the Incommodities of Life and the bitter Torments of a bloody Death that he might bear the Penance of our Sins and deliver us from eternal Perdition THE Corporeal Sufferings of our Saviour are not comparable to the Afflictions of his Spirit Nor are there any Sufferings or Losses so great as those we cast upon the GOD-HEAD He infinitely hateth Sin more than Death and had rather be Crucified a thousand times over than that one Transgression should be brought into the World Nothing is so quick and tender as Love nothing so lively and sensible in resenting No loss is comparable to that of Souls nor any one so deeply concerned in the loss as GOD Almighty No Calamity more peircing than to see the Glory of his Works made Vain to be bereaved of his Desire and frustrated of his End in the whole Creation He had rather we should give him the Blood of Dragons or the cruel Venom of Asps to drink than that we should pollute our selves or his Kingdom with a Sin Nay it were better if without a Sin it could be done that the whole World should be annihilated than a Sin committed For the World might be Created again with ease and all that is in it be repaired with a word but a Sin once committed can never be undone it will appear in its place throughout all Eternity Yet is so odious and so infinitely opposite to the Holiness of GOD that no Gall or Wormwood is comparable thereunto To see his Beloved blasted his Love despised and his Son rebellious to see the most amiable Law in the World broken his Kingdom laid waste and his Image defaced to see all his Labour marred and spoiled his Benefits slighted
it at their Hands The wonderful Love wherewith he loved us is the Root the Soul and Glory of his Passion It is wonderful as it made him willing to become Death and Sin and a Curse for us But the height of our Extasie is in the Reality of his Passion and in the full accomplishment of all its Purposes IT is the Vertue of Love which is infused into Patience and the chief Elixir of its Nature is founded in the Excellency of a Spirit that Suffers for anothers sake This therefore we ought ever to remember That Patience when it is a Vertue springs from Love and that this Love is chiefly towards GOD and next that to our Neighbour When we suffer any thing for GOD's sake or for our Neighbours good we suffer in a Wise and Vertuous manner And the Honour which follows such a Suffering is the Crown of Glory which it shall for eyer wear It is a vain and insipid thing to Suffer without loving GOD or Man Love is a transcendent Excellence in every Duty and must of necessity enter into the Nature of every Grace and Vertue That which maketh the solid Benefit of Patience unknown its Taste so bitter and comfortless to Men is its Death in the separation and absence of its Soul We Suffer but Love not Otherwise Love to the Person for whose sake we Suffer is its own support and comfort It makes the Action to be valuable and insuses a sweetness into all the Affliction it can make us endure A Sweetness answerable to the Welfare and Pleasure which is either caused or secured to our Object thereby Our own growth in the approbation and esteem of the Person we love is the desirable Greatness which we covet to attain which can no way be confirmed and increased so perfectly as by Suffering for him For our Fidelity Sincerity Reality Vigour Life and Industry can never be made so fair and apparent as when we pursue our love and are carried by it to the utmost extremities of Death and Misery and labour through all disasters Persecutions and Calamities to obey and honour and please and glorifie the Object which in times of quiet we pretend to love In an easie and prosperous Estate there is little difference between Friendship and Flattery but he that sticks firm in Calamity is a Friend indeed The Trial of Love consists in the difficulties it endures for its Beloved AND for this Cause it is that GOD will expose us to so severe a Trial himself ordaining some Trials in the beginning but permitting more when we brought them upon our selves Many also he suffereth to come which we daily bring upon our own heads by our own folly Some he inflicteth perhaps himself for the Chastisement of our Sins or the Medicine of our Souls to abate our Confidence and to excite our Care to awaken us out of our Lethargy and to quicken our sence both of our Miserable Condition and our need of his Favour to humble our Rebellion to heal and purge our Corruptions to moderate our Passions to heighten our Penitence to abate our Pride to increase our Ardour in Devotion and Prayer to make our subjection to and dependance on him Clear to stir us up to a more strict Examination of our selves in our Thoughts Words and Deeds least some Jonas or other should lie in the Ship that continues the Tempest upon us to enkindle our Compassion towards our afflicted Brethren and to enflame us with more perfect Zeal and Love towards GOD It is like Wormwood that imbitters the Nipple to wean us from the World and augment our desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ to make us groan after our Eternal Rest and long for the glorious Liberty of the Sons of GOD. Sometimes he suffereth Tribulations and Trials to come upon us by the Perverseness of Men who being left at Liberty in their dominion over the World are the principal Authors of all the Troubles and disorders in it To know the several springs and sources of Affliction is very expedient for our Patience and Contentment much dependeth upon it A confused Apprehension makes us blind but a clear Sight distinguisheth between the Will of GOD and the Corruption of Nature which in our selves and others is the principal Cause of all our disturbances BE it by which of all these Occasions it will or for which of all these Ends it can befal us it is evermore to increase our Conquest and to make us like the King of Sufferings pure and perfect And the Consideration of Gods over-ruling Power and Providence therein which makes all these Things work to together for our good begetteth a grateful Admiration in us as well as a sence of our dependance on his Goodness which increaseth the Fear of GOD in our Souls and animates us with great Wonder that he should put his hand to touch the vile and evil Off-spring of our Sin and turn all into Good and make it to rest in our Exaltation and Glory by his Wisdom and Mercy Concerning GOD's End in bringing and permitting all these Evils the Scripture is very frequent It was one of Job's Contemplations What is Man that thou shouldest magnifie him and that thou shouldst set thine Heart upon him and that thou shouldst visit him every Morning and try him every Moment Man is magnified by his Trials It was David's Observation The LORD is in his holy Temple the Lords Throne is in Heaven his Eyes behold his Eye-lids try the Children of Men. The Lord trieth the Righteous but the Wicked and him that loveth Violence his Soul hateth It was Daniel's Prophesie And some of them of Understanding shall fall to try them and to purge and to make them White even to the time of the End GOD himself expresseth his own Resolution I will bring part of them through the fire and will refine them as Silver is refined and try them as Gold is tried They shall call on my Name and I will hear them I will say It is my People and they shall say The LORD is my GOD. THE meaning of all which places is not as if GOD did stand in need of all these Trials to know what is in us for he knoweth what is in Man from all Eternity before these Trials come he searcheth the Heart and trieth the Reins and discerneth the thoughts and purposes of the Soul He seeth every Inclination in the seed every Grace in the secret habit of the Mind and every Vertue in the Root They lie in the Seed but yet he seeth a mighty difference between quiet Habits and effectual Operations for they differ as much as the Root and the Blossom or the Blossom and the Fruit. For Vertues to lie asleep in the Soul and for Vertues to be actually and fully perfected is as great a difference as for a Vine to be of a generous kind and prone to bear but to remain without Fruit or for a Vine to bring forth
WHERE there is no hope that the Beauty of what we love may be regained Meekness hath lost its Vertue and with that its Existence For if it be impossible that an evil Person should ever be reclaimed it is to no purpose to be Meek He that can never be delightful more is utterly useless Meekness therefore which derives its solidity and Power from its End is in such cases utterly abolished For this cause it is that we are to esteem our Saviours Blood the ground on which it stands since all Nature without his Incarnation Death and Passion could never restore a Sinner to the possibility of becoming Just and Amiable This Vertue of Meekness respects the future beauty and perfection of an Object that is now deformed It must needs be of transcendent excellency since the practice of Meekness is acquired by the price of our Saviours Blood and the first step to its exercise did cost the death of the Eternal GOD. IT is a transcendent Vertue because the Means of introducing it are wholy Supernatural It carries us above all the Rules of Nature above all the Principles of Reason and in that is Supernatural For by Nature we are to be Just and Good towards all that are Innocent and kind to all those to whom Kindness is due but it is not by Nature either just or rational that we should love any Creature that is Evil and how GOD came to do it first is an infinite VVonder Though now since he hath first loved us who are so vile nothing is more natural than that we should do as we are done unto imitate him and love those whom our Creatour loveth With Pity and Benevolence at first that we may hereafter do it with full Complacency That Humane Nature is infinitely exalted by the Incarnation of the Son of GOD is confessed by all those that believe the Article of our Saviours Incarnation that the Earth how base soever it seem is the Bride of Heaven it s own quiet and the embraces of the Skies that make it the Centre of all their Revolutions sufficiently demonstrate though few have observed that the Sun and Moon and Stars dance attendance to it and cherish it with their Influences while the Earthly Globe is crowned with the fruits of all their secret Endeavours That the Angels desire to look down into those things which are done upon Earth the very Scriptures witness and yet for all this it would seem a New Doctrine to affirm that there are Works done here upon Earth that are by Nature above the Heavens Yet all the Operations of the Holy Ghost and all the Good Works of Holy Men especially the Meekness and Patience of the Saints which are founded on the greatest Miracle in all Eternity the Love of GOD to Sinners and his stupendious Humiliation and Passion for them are set upon a higher Basis than all Nature except that of the Deity can afford unto us Which Note I make for our greater encouragement to the works of Meekness They are all in Nature like the effects of our Saviours Love to the greatest Offendors Reason it self is now exalted above all its former heights and there is reason since our Saviours Death for the doing of that which no reason before he designed to forgive and Die for us could lead us to do THAT GOD through the greatness of his Love may condescend to such Indignities as are infinitely unworthy of him we see by the Examples of Kings and Queens and other high and delicate Personages that suffer their Children to play with their Beards and the Tresses of their Hair which other Persons dare not so much as approach for the Reverence of their Majesty I have oftentimes admired at the mean Offices to which Parents stoop and the familiar boldness they permit to their little ones to play with their Scepters and Crowns and Eyes and Lips with their Breasts and Jewels and sometimes to pinch and hurt nay and to defile them too being unmindful of their State and far from all Anger and Indignation But the free Pardon and desire of the Return of vicious and debauched Children is a nearer instance and resemblance of GOD in his gracious Dispensations who suffers all Nature still to attend us though we continually prophane his Name and injure his eternal Goodness by our manifold Transgressions THIS Example of GOD who died for Sinners in the Person of his Son and prayed for his Tormentors in the very Act of their Cruelty and Rage against him should prevail with us to esteem all those whom he owneth for his Children as our own Bowels and to be as Meek and Condescending to all Mankind as Parents are to their Children The Reasons of which Duty are thus variously offered to our Consideration TO labour after those Principles only that establish our repose in the estate of Bliss and Innocency is utterly impertinent to our present Condition Were all the World a Paradice of Ease 'T were easie then to live in Peace Were all men Wise Divine and Innocent Just Holy Peaceful and Content Kind Loving True and alwaies Good As in the Golden-Age they stood 'T were easie then to live In all Delight and Glory full of Love Blest as the Angels are above But we such Principles must now attain If we true Blessedness would gain As those are which will help to make us reign Over Disorders Injuries Ingratitudes Calamities Affronts Oppressions Slanders Wrongs Lies Anger 's bitter Tongues The reach of Malice must surmount and quell The very Rage and Power of Hell NO Man but he that came down from Heaven and gave his Apostles power to handle Vipers and drink any deadly thing without harm was able to reveal the way of Peace and Felicity to Sinners He and only he that made them able to trample Satan under feet and taught them how to vanquish all the Powers of Darkness was worthy to make known this glorious mystery of Patience and Meekness by which in despite of all the Corruptions and Violences in the World the holy Soul of a quiet Man is armed and prepared for all Assaults and so invironed with its own repose that in the midst of Provocations it is undisturbed and dwells as it were in a Sanctuary of Peace within it self in a Paradice of Bliss while it is surrounded with the howlings of a terrible Wilderness Nothing else can make us live happily in this World for among so many Causes of Anger and Distaste no man can live well but he that carries about him perpetual Antidotes and Victories THERE are two things absolutely necessary to Felicity outward Security and inward Contentment Meekness is as it were the Bulwark of Security which though it be as soft as Wool is able with more success to repel the violence of a Cannon-Bullet than the rough temper of a Stone-Wall Contentment springs from the satisfaction of Desire in the sight and fruition of all Treasures and Glories And as the Sun is surrounded with
we are in our own till we are gone a little further but on the other side of all this Baseness we find a better Life in Communion with the Deity For asmuch then saith St. Peter as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh arm your selves likewise with the same mind for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of Men but to the will of GOD. For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles when we walked in Lasciviousness Lusts Excess of Wine Revellings Banquettings and abominable Idolatries wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of Riot There is a motion from Vice to Vertue and from one degree of Grace to another by which we leave the phantastick World with all its Shews and Gauderies and through many Afflictions and Persecutions come to the real and solid World of Bliss and Glory WHAT hand Humility has in leading us through all Afflictions and in facilitating the way of Pressure and Calamity I need not observe I shall note the Errour which men incur by their Weariness and Haste who because they do not immediately see the Bliss of Humility and Patience if they do not curse yet they boggle at all Calamity These men ought to be informed that the middle of the Way is not the place of Rest and Perfection They must pass thorow all these things to the further Regions of Clarity and Glory Men are not to stick in Calamities themselves but if Humility lead them to suffer all Indignities with Patience it must lead them further to the bottom of their estate and condition to the true light and to the clear and perfect sight of their own Vileness In which they shall see their Original their Misery their Sin their Glory their GOD and themselves their Bliss and their Forfeiture their Recovery and their Saviour their Hope and Despair their Obligations in the height of eternal Love and Bounty and their shame and confusion in the depth of their Apostasie and Ingratitude their infinite demerit and GODS infinite Mercy the riches of free Grace and their own Unworthiness And in all these the length and breadth and depth and height of the Love of GOD which passeth Knowledge that they might be filled with all the Fulness of GOD. HUMILITY makes men capable of all Felicity All deep Apprehensions and great Resentments all extents and distances of things all degrees of Grace and Vertue all Circumstances that increase the guilt of Sin all Adorations Prostrations Admirations Debasements Thanksgivings Praises Exaltations are founded in Humility All the Fulness of all Estates all Honour and Obedience all Devotion and Worship all the beauty of Innocence all the deformity of Sin all the danger of Hell all the cost of our Redemption all the hatred of our Stupidity and Perverseness all the hope of Heaven all our Penitence and Grief all our Fear and Expectation all our Love and all our Joy are contained in Humility there they are expressed there they are exercised There they are enlarged and beautified in like manner There they grow deep and serious and infinite there they become vigorous and strong there they are made substantial and eternal All the Powers of the Soul are employed extended and made perfect in this depth of Abysses It is the basis and foundation of all Vertue and Gratitude whatsoever It is in some sort the very fountain of Life and Felicity it self For as nothing is great but in comparison of somewhat less so nothing is sweet but what is New and Eternal All Life consists in Motion and Change The pleasure of Acquiring is oftentimes as great and perhaps alwaies greater than that of Enjoying The long possession of that which we have alwaies had takes away the sence and maketh us dull Old and Common things are less esteemed unless we rub up our Memories with some helps to renew them and our sences together Gifts are alwaies sweeter in the coming than in the abiding with us And if what I observe in the course of nature be of any force there is no possibility of enjoyment at least no perfection in fruition without some relation to the first Acquisition Old things are apt to grow stale and their value to be neglected by their continuance with us I have noted it often in the joy that young Heirs have when they first come to their Estates and the great felicity which Lovers promise to themselves and taste also when they meet together in the Marriage-bed The pleasures of all which pass off by degrees not solely by reason of our dulness and stupidity but far more from a secret in the nature of things For all Delight springs from the satisfaction of violent Desire when the desire is forgotten the delight is abated All Pleasure consists in Activity and Motion While the Object stands still it seemeth dead and idle The sence of our want must be quick upon us to make the sence of our enjoyment perfect The rapture proceeds from the convenience between us the marvellous fitness that is in such Objects to satisfie our Capacities and Inclinations The misery and vacuity must needs be remembred to make that Convenience live and to inspire a sence of it perpetually into us The coming of a Crown and the joy of a Kingdom is far more quick and powerful in the surprize and novelty of the Glory than in the length of its Continuance We perceive it by the delight which Lovers taste in recounting their Adventures The Nature of the thing makes the memory of their first Amours more pleasant than the possession of the last There is an instinct that carries us to the beginning of our Lives How do Old men even dote into lavish discourses of the beginning of their lives The delight in telling their old Stories is as great to themselves as wearisom to others Even Kings themselves would they give themselves the liberty of looking back might enjoy their Dominions with double lustre and see and feel their former Resentments and enrich their present Security with them All a mans Life put together contributes a perfection to every part of it and the Memory of things past is the most advantagious light of our present Condition Now all these sparkles of Joy these accidental hints of Nature and little raies of Wisdom meet together in Humility For an Humble man condescendeth to look into his Wants to reflect upon all his Vices and all his Beginnings with far deeper designs than is ordinarily done WE recount these ordinary discoveries of the inclination of Nature because Humility is if I may so speak the Rendezvous of their perfection All the stirrings of Grace and Nature all the acts of GOD and the Soul all his Condescensions and beginnings to advance us all his Gifts at their first coming all the
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
fear he did not understand it As Seneca luckily hit upon that saying Deus me solum dedit toti mundo totum Mundum mibi soli GOD gave me alone to all the World and all the World to me alone yet could not understand it For had he Known what it was he said he would have made a better use of it and been more copious and explicite in the Illustration An actual Respect had to infinite Obligations and Rewards a Desire in every action to please an infinite and eternal Lover to Glorifie a Divine and Endless Benefactor to bring forth the fruits of infinite Benefits and to be truely Grateful for all the Advantages of a mans Creation that is made to have Dominion over all the World these are higher and better Qualifications of those Vertuous Actions which Christians perform than Heathens understood And yet if nature were divested of its Corruption the Natural Man that is no Christian might by the Light of Nature be fitted to understand them And the Truth is I wonder much the World being so Beautiful and Glorious in every Eye so really deep and valuable in Worth so peculiarly applied to the use and service of every person that the Heathens did miss the fruition of it and fail to measure themselves and their Felicity by the Greatness of its Beauty and the Joy which all the Creatures ought to produce in the mind of Man by their real Services For the Earth is really better than if all its Globe were of beaten Gold the Seas are better than if all their Abysses were full of Diamonds the Air is better than if all the space between us and the Skys were full of Scepters and the Sun alone a greater Treasure then all the wealthy Mines in the Indies every man is surrounded with all the Light of their Advantages and so much served by them as if no man but himself were alive in the World So that it is a natural and easie Investigation even for Heathens themselves to discern the mystery of Bliss and to discover the misery of Humane Nature to be founded in some Disease of the Will or Understanding And to return from Inadvertency and Sloth to Truth and Righ Reason which was the ready Way to true Felicity For they Knew not the Arcanum or Hidden mystery of Divine Laws nor the Excellency and Perfection of immortal Souls which make every one a Soveraign and Transcendent Creature yet they might easily observe the miserable Effects of Eternal Solitude and in external Services how useful and comfortable men were ordained by Nature to be to one another EVERY man Loves to have many Eys fixt on his Beauty and to have many Delightful Objects and Transactions for his own Be the Theatre never so Magnificent the Actions and the Actors are more Delightful to the Spectators than the Gildings and Dead Engravings Were all other men removed out of the World to make room for one the empty Theatre would remain but the Spectacle be lost all the Cities and Kingdoms and Ages would be removed with all that was lively and rare and Miraculous in all their Occurrences Palaces and Temples had been prevented Houses and Villages Fields and Vineyards The World had been a Wilderness overgrown with Thorns and Wild Beasts and Serpents Which now by the Labor of many hands is reduced to the Beauty and Order of Eden It is by Trades and Occupations that a man gets him Corn and Wine and Oyl c. all which he would have been without had he never seen any Company but himself condemned to Idleness and melancholly Vertues and Praises had been things unknown Admiration and Honor Love and Knowledge the mysteries of Religion and Piety all the speculations of Wisdom for want of Education had been lost at least the Sence and Exercise of these Bright and Glorious Things for wont of Conversation Corrupted Nature being prone to afford no other fruits but Barbarism and Ignorance in that Solitary Condition For the Powers of the Soul are improved by Tradition and it is by the Information of others that our minds are awakened to perceive the Dignity of our own Nature the Value of all the Creatures and our Interest unto them But Religion teaches us far more the Beginning and the End of the World how highly we are honored and beloved of GOD the Manner wherein we are to converse with him the transcendent Excellency of Souls and the Divine Perfections of the Deity What his Omnipresence and Eternity is how we are to be enlarged in our Apprehensions and Desires and prepared for infinite and Eternal fruitions in what Quality and Capacity we are to live in the world and Exercise Vertue how we are to spend our Time and employ our Powers on all Objects every one as Lord of the Creation and the friend of GOD How all Angels and Men are commanded to Love us as themselves and by that Love to serve and delight us more than by all other Actions and Offices whatsoever That every Soul is a more excellent Being than the visible World more nearly allyed to God and more precious in it self than any Treasure whatsoever That it is endued with Powers Inclinations and Principles so fitly subservient and conducive to Blessedness that any one of these is more Delightful then all inanimate Things in the Contemplation and Enjoyment of which we may justly be lost in Wonder and Extasie All this by the Light of Nature is asserted but covered with so Gross a vail that we discern it not till it is newly revealed by the Ministery of Men. And upon all these Accounts are Men themselves which are generally mistaken to be Impediments Means Assistances of our Happy living BUT however familiar and near and easie these Great and evident Truths appear it so happened that the Heathen Philosophers were Blind unto them and in the midst of their Searches after Felicity failed of the Discovery they became vain in their Imaginations placing felicity in a meer Apathy or conceited 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a self-sufficiency or in a brave Contempt of all misfortunes in a forced Contentment Dark and empty or in Sensual Pleasures or in the Goods of fortune either alone or conjoyned with those of the Soul and Body which they lamely enumerated and knew not how to imploy as if the Discovery of the highest and best Truths in nature had been reserved for him that redeemed Nature and the Plainest Truths had been appointed to honor and attend that Religion which brought supernatural My steries to Light by the Preaching of the Gospel BY this last the Qualifications of an humble and pious Soul a Penitent and Grateful Person sensible at once of his infinite Guilt and Grandure were introduced Another foundation laid upon the Meritorious Death and Passion of GOD the Son of GOD a Second Love continued in the Deity to the miserable after an infinite forfeiture all the Oracles and Visions and Miracles by which the Nature of Man
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
Imperfection of ours NOR is the reason of his Love to the utmost Perfection less then infinite You Know that all impure Things upon Earth are dull and Obscure as Vile in Esteem as Base and faint in their Operations Neither will a Lump of Dirt shine like the Sun nor a Mudwall be Resplendent like polisht Marble All Glorious Things have a Height of Intensness in them and owe most of their Beauty to the Motion of their Strength and Activity But GOD is a more High and Necessary Thing than these Perfection is his Essence and he could not be himself upon any Abatement It is a great Wonder I But the smallest Thing in the world may spare somewhat of it self rather than that which is infinite Upon the least substraction that which is infinite is made finite and the Loss is infinite We cannot be at all Beloved by Almighty GOD unless we are infinitely Beloved For to Love and neglect us at the same time is impossible and to be able to do infinite Things for us and yet to do but some of them is to Love and neglect us at the same time T is Love in what it does neglect in what it leaveth undone The Reason why it is our duty to Love him infinitely is because he infinitely Loved us Did he not exert all his Power himself he would never command us to exert ours The Love of all Perfection is his Essence and must be infinite for its own Perfection The least flaw in a Diamond abates its Price one Tooth awry or wanting in a Clock doth make it useless Dead flies corrupt the Apothecaries Oyntment so doth a little folly him that is in Reputation for Wisdome and Honour The Greater his Reputation and Wisdome is the more Grievious a Disparagement is any Srain Nor is GOD above these Rules for his Essence it self is the Ruled of ours and the Higher his Divinity is the more Exquisite is its Care of its own Perfection There is no Danger of being Severe in our Expectations for GOD does infinitely hate any Defect in himself more then we tho we infinitely hate it and enjoys himself only as he is an Object Worthy of his own infinite Love and Honour FROM GODS Love of Righteous Action it proceedeth that he made ours so compleatly capable of becoming Righteous and that he adventured a Power into our Hands of offending It is a strange thing that the Excess of the Hatred of all Sin should make Sin possible and that the most perfect Righteousness should be the Accidental Cause of Unrighteousness But yet it is so an infinite Love to the Best of all possible Things made the worst of all things that could be possible excepting those that are impossible which yet we need not except TO read these Riddles aright you must vnderstand that even Impossibles themselves are conceiveable Things and may be compared with Possible and Actual That the Highest and Best of all that are Possible are the most Easie with GOD and most near to his Nature that inforior Possibles are more remote and only thought on in the second place that Things Impossible are the worst of Evils and Things Actual the Best of GOODS For nothing is impossible but that GOD should lye or Dishonour or displease or deny himself or abuse his Power or suspend his Goodness or injure his Creatures or do some such thing which is contrary to his Nature yet very conceiveable because he is a free Agent and has a kind of Power were it not prevented by his Eternal Act whereby he is able to do these Impossible things Nothing is Eternally Actual but the Goodness and Wisdome and Holiness of GOD or some such Thing as his Righteousness and Blessedness and Perfection All which spring from his Will and are Eternally his pleasure as well as his Essence In the idle Power of being and doing all Excellent Things there is much Hazzard and danger but he freely and voluntarily became all these from all Eternity He wrought all Righteousness and Wisdom and Goodness from everlasting and by so doing became the fountain of all that is Glorious from all Eternity The Worst of all Possible Evils are the Sins of Men Which have an infinite Demerit and Vileness in them yet are truely possible And the reason of their Possibility is thus accounted Impossible which are worst of all are Sins in GOD. TO make Creatures infinitely free and leave them to their Liberty is one of the Best of all Possible Things and so necessary that no Kingdome of Righteousness could be without it For in every Kingdome there are subjects capable of Laws and Rewards and Punishments And these must be free Agents There is no Kingdome of Stones nor of Trees nor of Stars only a Kingdome of Men and Angels Who were they divested of their Liberty would be reduced to the Estate of Stones and Trees neither capable of Righteous Actions nor able to Honor or to Love or praise without which Operations all inferior Creatures and meer Natural Agents would be totally Useless So that all the Glory of the World depends on the Liberty of Men and Angels and therefore GOD gave it to them because he delighted in the Perfection of his Creatures tho he very well knew there would be the Hazzard of their abusing it and of Sin in that abuse when they had received it The abuse of it he infinitely hated yet could not prevent it without being Guilty of a Greater Evil. He infinitely hated it because those Actions of Love and Honor which should spring from the right use of it were the onely fair off-spring for the sake of which the whole World was made and without the right right use of their Liberty all Creatures Angels and Souls would be in vain he could not Prevent it without being himself Guilty of what in them he abhorred FOR himself to be Guilty was the worst of Evils and absolutely impossible T was better let them make their Power vain themselves then do so himself For the Author of that vanity be it who it will is the Author of the Sin If they would make it vain He could not help it for him to divest them of the use of Liberty after he had given it was as inconsistent with himself as it was with their Beauty to abuse it the Act of giving it by taking it away being made vain He infinitely hated that the Liberty should be frustrated which he gave unto men for their more perfect Glory he laid all Obligations upon them to use it well and deterred them as much as was possible from abusing it but would not transfer their fault upon himself because he fore saw they were about to do it which he certainly had done had he made their Power vain himself after he had given it Either to refuse to give the Power or Having given it to interpose and determine it without their Consent was alike detrimental to the whole Creation For indeed it is
and Displeasure Because he is infinitely Offended and displeased at Evil Deeds he guards and fortifies his Law deterres men from displeasing him by the fear of infinite Punishments Encourages men to please him by proposing infinite Rewards and the Truth is the infinite Approbation and Esteem which he hath for Wise and Holy Deeds produceth a Delight and Complacency in them which is the principal Part of the Reward Nothing is more honourable then to be Praised and honoured by the King of Kings The infinite Hatred of Evil Deeds is the very Torment it self that afflicts the Wicked T is but to see how much we are hated of GOD and how base the Action is no other fire is needful to Hell The Devils chiefest Hell is in the Conscience They are obdurate and feared that cannot discern and feel The Wound which they inflict on themselves who grieve and offend their Creator It is easie to see the Necessity of that Justice which springs from Holiness and that GOD could not be infinitely Holy were he not infinitely Just in like manner THAT his Punitive Justice springs from his Goodness is next to be observed He punishes them that are hurtfull to others He is most severe in pleading the Cause of the Fatherless and the Widow Himself is persecuted when his Saints are molested and he faults for which the untoward servant was punished are particularly those of beating his fellow Seruants A good man by how much the more tender and compassionate he is by so much the more is he provoked at any gross Affront or abuse of the Innocent Every soul is the Bride of GOD and his own infinite Goodness which deserves infinite Love is infinitely Beloved by him He infinitely tenders it and avoids its least Displeasure but its Displeasure is infinite at every Sin and consequently his Anger when such a Sovereign Beauty as his infinite Goodness is offended by it THE foundation of his Righteous Kingdome and of the Room prepared for his Eternal Justice to act in is infinitely deeper and must in other Discourses more full and copious on that Theme be shewn And to those we refer you All we shall observe here is that this Punitive Justice being GODS infinite Zeal whereby he vindicates his abused Goodness His Goodness must of necessity proceed it and be abused before he can be Angry and before his Anger can be accounted Justice His Dominion is infinite but cannot be Arbitrary in a loose Construction because it is infinitely Divine and Glorious CHAP. XIV Of Mercy The indelible Stain and Guilt of Sin Of the Kingdom which GOD recovered by Mercy The transcendent Nature of that Duty with its Effects and Benefits SUCH is the infinite Justice of God and the Severity of his Displeasure at Sin his Holiness so Pure and his Nature so irreconcilable his Hatred so real and infinite against it that when a Sin is committed his Soul is alienated from the Author of the Crime and his infinite Displeasure will ever see the Obliquity and ever loath the Deformity therein THE Person of a man is concerned in and always represented in the Glass of his Action Union between him and his Deeds is Marvellous T is so close that his Soul it self is hated or Beloved in his Actions As long as it appeareth in that deed which is Odious and Deformed he can never be Beloved HOW slight soever our Thoughts of Sin are the least Sin is of infinite Demerit because it breaketh the Union between God and the Soul bereaveth him of his Desire blasteth his Image corrupteth the Nature of the Soul is committed against infinite Goodness and Majesty being as the Scripture speaketh Exceeding sinful because it is committed against infinite Obligations and Rewards displeasing to all the Glorious Angels abominable to all the Wise and Holy utterly against all the Rules of Reason and infinitely Opposite to the Holiness God who is of purer Eys then to behold the least Iniquity So that unless there be some way found out to deliver the Soul from the Guilt of Sin to blot out the Act and to purifie it from the Stain there can be no Reconciliation between GOD and a Sinner That an offence so infinite should be Eternally punished is the most reasonable thing in the World NOTHING but infinite power and Wisdome is able to wash away Leprosie of guilt and to restore the Soul to its former Beauty and Perfection Without which all Pardon is vain and the Soul dishonourable and sick unto Death as long as the shame and Confusion of its Guilt does lie upon it Which cannot be removed by feeble Tears nor by Acts of Indignation against our selves nor by any Penitence or Sorrow of ours For if these could prevail the Divels might repent and be cleared of their Trespasses long agoe THAT no Law of Works can justifie Sinners is evident enough from that of the Apostle For if there had been a Law given which could have given Life verily Righteousness should have been by the Law GOD was not so prodigal as without an infinite Cause to expend the Blood of his Son And the principal Cause for which he came was that he might be made a Curse and Sin for us that we might be delivered from the Curse of the Law and be made the Righteousness of GOD in him THE reason why the Devils cannot he saved is because the Son of GOD took not upon him the Nature of Angels but the seed of Abraham And there is no other name given under Heaven among men whereby we may be saved but only the name of Jesus who offered up himself a sacrifice for us that he might purifie to himself a peculiar people Zealous of Good Work He pacified the Wrath of God by his Death and satisfied his Justice in our nature and washed us in his Blood and made us Kings and Priests unto GOD. To him be Glory and Dominion forever Amen IT was the Design of Christ and it became the Mercy of GOD in our redemption to take away all the filth and Deformity of Guilt in which the Perfection of his Love and Power appeareth Even as Christ also Loved his Church and gave himself for it that he might Sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of Water by the Word That he might present it to himself a Glorious Church not having Spot or Wrinkle or any such thing but that it might be holy and without Blemish For the Church of GOD being his Bride and we Members of his Body and of his Flesh and of his Bones it was meet that we should be restored to the Perfection of Beauty and if not recover the same enjoy a Better Righteousness than we had before THE Light of Nature could discover nothing of all this and therefore it was taught by Revelations and Miracles and Oracles from Heaven AS all things before his fall were subservient to mans Glory and blessedness so all things after his fall became opposite to him
with Preparatory Washings Humiliations Fashions Attirs Watchings Retirements Shavings Sprinklings Anoyntings Consecrations Sacrifices or some other Disciplines like unto these to be endured and past thorow before their Votaries could be admitted to their mysteries All which Rites as they made a great shew because they were sensible so were they apt to put a magnificent face on their Religion to dispose the Persons exercised by them to a more complying Obedience and to beget a Reverence mixt with Awful Admiration in their ignorant Spectators All which nevertheless were but Emblematical Ordinances signifying something invisible that was necessary to be done of which the Priests themselves knew not the meaning They had the name of Paenitentia in their Common Conversation but applied it to profane and Trivial occasions But Repentance in Religion which is the Soul and substance of those mystical Observations a broken and Contrite Heart an internal Sorrow for their sin was a thing unknown so that all their Appearances how magnificent soever were but Empty shells REPENTANCE alone though never so simple and short in its name being of such value that GOD accepts one contrite Groan above all the Ceremonies even of his own Law And therefore he saith Thou desirest not sacrifice else would I give it thou delightest not in Burnt offering The Sacrifices of GOD are a Broken Spirit A broken and a contrite Heart O God thou wilt not despise FOR tho Repentance be not in it selfe a desirable Vertue nor so much as a Vertue till there be a sphere and Occasion for it wherein to be exercised tho Repentance in it selfe be far worse then obedience yet upon the Account of our Saviours Merits and GODS Love to Sinners it is preferred above the Greatest Innocency and Purity whatsoever For there is more Joy in Heaven over one sinner that repenteth then over Ninety and nine Just persons that need no Repentance If the Soul be of greater value than the whole World if the loss of any Thing we esteem increaseth the sence of its excellency if our Saviour justly and rationally compareth himself to a Shepheard that leaveth Ninety and nine sheep in the wilderness to seek one that is gone astray if he rejoyceth when he hath found it more for that one that was lost then for the ninety and nine which he had in safety if his Delight in the success of his Labours be answerable to their Greatness if the frustration of all his Desires and painful endeavours in seeking it be infinitely Grievious and the Vertues more Amiable and Wonderful which sinners exercise after their Redemption if their Love and their joy and their praise be increased by the extreamity of their Distress and the multitude of the sins that are forgiven them if their Communion with GOD be more sweet and their Happiness more exalted and the Kingdom of GOD it selfe made more sublime and Glorious thereby Repentance hath something more in it then Perfection had before the fall and as sinners have made themselves more infinitly Indebted so are they infinitly more subject to the Arbitrary Disposal of Almighty Power infinitly more Capable of Obligations and Rewards infinitely more Obliged for Pardon and deliverance as well as infinitly more Obnoxious to Divine Justice their Fear and Danger is infinitly Greater they stand in need of infinite Grace and Mercy which when they receive and enjoy their Love and Gratitude are proportionably greater their Delights are more quick and vigorous and full and so are their praises BUT before a sinner can atchieve all this or GOD enjoy the fruit of his Salvation he must needs repent for Repentance is the true and substantial Preparation of the Soul the only Purgative Vertue by which it is fitted for these Divine Attainments It is we confess in outward Appearance a slight invisible Act but as Great within as Wide and Comprehensive as the Heavens It receiveth the Vertue of the Divine Essence of the whole Creation of infinite Mercy of the Blood of Christ of his Humiliation Merit Exaltation Intercession and glory of all the Work of Redemption into it self and having fed it self digested them it receiveth strength by the Influence of these to dispence all their Vertue again in the Production of those Fruits for the sake of which GOD hath filled all the World with miracles the Verdure and Maturity and Perfection of which shall with their beauty and sweetness continue in life and Florish for ever IF we respect Man alone and the things that are done in himself by Repentance it seemeth a Vertue of infinite value It divests him of all his Rebellion Pride and vain Glory strips him of all his Lust and Impiety purges him of all his corruption Anger and Malice pares off all his Superfluities and excesses cleanseth his Soul of all its filthiness and pollution removeth all that is so infinitly Odious to GOD and makes him amiable and Beautiful to the holy Angels It sits and prepares him for all the exercises of Grace and Piety introduces Humility and Obedience into his Soul makes him capable of a Divine Knowledge and makes way for the Beauty of his Love and Gratitude inspires Fortitude and Prudence and Temperance and Justice into his soul renues his Nature and makes â—im a meek and patient Person restores him to that Wisdom and Goodness he had lost cloaths him with rightteousness and true Holiness and seats him again in the Favour of GOD. By Repentance he recovers the Divine Image and by Consequence it extends to all that Blessedness and Glory which is for ever to be enjoyed REPENTANCE is the Beginning of that Life wherein all the sweat Labour of the Martyrs all the Persecutions and Endeavours of the Apostles all the Revelations of the Prophets all the examples of the Patriarchs all the Miracles of old Time all the Mysteries of the Law all the Means of Grace all the Verities of the Gospel begin to take full force and Effect in obtaining that for which they were intended Which sufficiently intimates the value of the Grace and how highly well pleasing it must be to GOD It is the Conception of Felicity and the New Birth of the Inward Man the Dereliction of the Old and the Assumption of a New and more coelestial Nature It is the Gate of the Heavenly Kingdome which they that refuse to enter at can never enjoy It is one of the Keys of Death and Hell by which the Gate of the Prison is unlockt nay the very knocking off the Chains and Manacles of Satan the very Act wherein we regain our Liberty and become the Sons of GOD and Citizens of Heaven It was fitly Typisied in the old Law by the Laver that was set at the Door of the Tabernacle for the Priests to wash in before they entred into the Sanctuary to walk in the Light of the Golden Candlesticks to offer their Devotions at the the Incense Altar and to partake of the shew bread on the Golden Table In
the Outward Court they enjoyed the society of the visible Church the sight of the Bloody Altar which answers out Saviors Cross erected in the World and the Benefit of their Outward Profession which consisted in their Admission to the Visible Ordinances and exterior Rites of Religion But that Court was open over head obnoxions to showers in Token that a bare Profession is not Enough to shelter us from the Dangers and Incommodities that may be rained down in Judgments upon us from the wrath of GOD whence the face of Heaven is overcast with Clouds and Covered with black and Heavy Displeasure till we wash and be clean and enter by penitence into the Invisible Church of which the Second Court is a Figure wherein we are illuminated by the Holy Ghost and offer up the sweet Perfumes of our Thanksgivings and Praises being admitted to feed upon the Heavenly Feast represented by the Shew-bread Table we are never received into the Society of the Saints and Angels bainted out in the Cheruhims and Palm Trees round about on the inside of its Walls nor Covered over head with a vail to protect us A vail of Blew to represent the inferior Heaven wherein Cherubims were interwoven to represent the Angels looking down upon us a vail of Goats-hair concealed and unseen above that of Blew to signifie the fruits of our Saviour Life and another of Rams-skins died Red to signifie the Blood of Christ by which we are secured from all the Displeasure which otherwise for Sin was due to us The Goats hair fitly resembles the Active Obedience or the Righteousness of Christ for as much as Hair may be clipped off and a Covering made of it while the Beast is alive For so might Christ have been perfectly Righteous tho his Life had never been Taken away But red is the Color of blood the Skin importeth Death for as much as it cannot be fleyed off without the destruction of the Creature These vails therefore as they were above the other were of higher and more mysterious importance And spread over the inclosed and invisible Court into which none but Priests and Levites entered that washed at the Laver to intimate the security only of those that are washed in the Laver of Regeneration and make Kings and Priests unto God being purged from their old sins and sanctified and illuminated in a secret Spiritual manner For as they only that tarried in their Houses were under the protection of the Paschal Lamb whose Blood was sprinkled on the Lintils of their Gates and Doors when the destroying Angel past through the Land of Egypt to kill the First-born of Man and Beast So onely they that keep within the Pale of the Invisible Church are under the Shaddow of the Almighty because they only dwell in the secret place of the most High and they alone are under the Coverture of that Powerful Blood which speaketh better things than the Blood of Abel but pleads for the preservation of them onely that repent and believe and is therefore effectually spread over the Invisible Church alone Which in another Type is exhibited by the mixture of the Blood and Oyl which was sprinkled upon the Priests and Lepers that were cleansed Sanctification and Justification moving alwayes together hand in hand the Unction of the Holy One or the Oyl of Love and Gladness annointing all those that are washed and only those are washed in clean and pure water they alone being effectually sprinkled with the Blood of Christ who of GOD is made unto us Wisdome and Righteousness and Sanctification and Redemption FOR if God should take Pleasure in us before we were pure his Complacency would be false and his Delight unrighteous Till we are Delightful to him we can never be Honorable nor Glorious before him Nor ever be pleasing to that Goodness which is indelible tho latent in our own Souls till we feel our selves clean and Beautiful IF any thing in the World can commend the value of Repentance or discover the infinite use and necessity of it this will certainly be a consideration Effectual That tho GOD love us with an infinite and eternal Love tho he magnifies his Mercy infinitely over all our Deservings tho Jesus Christ loved us so as to sacrifice himself in our places tho he made infinite satisfaction to the Justice of God for our Sins tho the Holy Ghost came down from Heaven for our sakes may tho we ourselves were taken up into Heaven all this would he of little avail and we should quickly be tumbled down again if only Sin were Delightful to us and our Wills so obstinate that there was no place for Repentance in our Hearts no sorrow nor Contrition for the Offences we had committed It is not the Love of GOD to us so much as our love to him that maketh Heaven It may surprize you perhaps but shall certainly instruct you for the Love of GOD may be infinite yet if it be unseen breed no delight in the Soul if it be sleighted and despised it shall increase our Cuilt Shame and Deformity and make us the more Odious which it must needs do when we are impenitent For so long it is manifest that we are neither Sensible of his Love nor Just unto it The taste of its sweetness and the Pleasure we take in his infinite Love is the Life of Blessedness and the Soul of Heaven It is the Concurrence of our Love and His when they meet together that maketh Heaven HERE upon Earth we ought actually to grieve and repent for our Sins But should GOD require a measure in our Grief answerable to its Causes our Repentance it self would be an Hell unto us For the Grief would be Endless and insupportable Right Reason requires that we should be infinitely afflicted for the infinite folly and madness of Sin But the Mercy of GOD dispenseth with our Grief so far that it takes off the Pain which its infinitâ— Measure would inflict upon our sense and accepts of an Acknowledgement made by our Reason that it ought to be infinite if strict Justice were exacted at our Hands Our intention is in the Course of Reason to be infinitely and Eternally grieved for the Baseness of the Act and the Vileness we have contracted and so we should be dâ—d its Effects continue and abide forever for then we should be hated of GOD and become his Enemies World without End But the Removal of that Hatred and the infinite Mercy whereby we are forgiven hath a kindly Operation on the Soul of every Penitent and the Joy it infuseth restrains and limits the Excess of our Sorrow it leaves the Intension of Grief and its inclination in the Mind yet stops the persecution and relieves our Reason by diverting the stream of its Operations and Exercises it engageth its actual Resentments upon other Objects which turn it all into Love and Adoration Praise and Thanksgiving Joy and Complacency For the Love of God continued after our fall and
him a Madman that should say the Sea were not greater then a trifling Brook and certainly it no less folly to suppose that the Goodness of GOD doth not as much nay infinitely more exceed that of all the Creatures The Sun is a lively Mirror of that Eternal Act of Love which is the Glory of his Essence but it is infinitely less prone to communicate its Beams and doth less Good to it self and infinitely less to all other Creatures It shines for their sakes nevertheless and clothes it self with Glory by the splendor of its Beams and is an Emblem of GOD who exerteth his Power with infinite Pleasure and by communicating his Essence in an infinite Manner propagates his Felicity and Glory to the utmost Height and Perfection By proceeding from himself to all Objects throughout all Worlds he begets and dwelleth in himself he inhabits Eternity in a Blessed and more vigorous Manner by establishing the Felicity of all his Creatures and become theirs infinite and Eternal Glory Wherein his particular Kindness and Love to us appeareth because he hath fitted us with Qualities and Powers adapted for so great an End and as particularly appropriated all to us as the Sun to the Eye of every Spectator For our Bodies and our Souls are made to enjoy the Benefit of all and his Desire is that we should attain the End for which we are created On his side all is prepared on ours nothing is wanting but Love to embrace and take pleasure in his Goodness which shineth in all these Things and created them on purpose that being manifested by them we might delight in it for ever HE that loveth not GOD with all his Heart liveth a Life most contrary to Nature For to Love is as natural for the Soul as to shine for the Sun and the more Lovely any thing is the more prone we are to Delight in it if any thing be infinitly Amiable weare prone to Love it in an infinite measure we prefer the Better above the worse cannot rest but in the best of all Reason is the Essence of the Soul and tends always to the utmost Perfection The more Divine and Glorious any Thing is the more high and Noble is the Love that we bear it No Beauty less then the most Perfect no Pleasure no Wisdome no Empire no Learning no Greatness Wealth or Honour less then the most sublime can be our full Satisfaction no little degree of Love nothing less then the most Supreme and violent can content us So that GOD being most truely perfect in all these is the Adequate Object of all our Desires and the only Person sit to be esteemed in an infinite manner It is as natural for Man to Love him as to desire and delight in any being which supplies the ordinary and daily necessities of his Life TO Love him as we ought implies two things that are agreable to the Nature of Love yet very rarely to be found among the Sons of Men a desire to please him and a Desire to enjoy him The Desire of Pleasing is a constant fruit and effect of Love For he that Loves is very desirous to approve himself and to do whatsoever he thinks will be grateful to his Beloved According to the Decree of Love the desire is more or less Where we Love Earnestly we are extreamly Earnest and Careful to please Where Love is remiss there is little need or Regard of any thing But infinite Love It is impossible to declare what favour and Zeal it will produce If we Love GOD we shall keep his Commandements with a Tenderness and Desire so extreme that no Joy will be so great as the Observation of his Laws It will be with us as it was with our Lord Jesus Christ it will be our Meat and Drink to do the Will of our Father which is in Heaven The measure of our Love will not infuse some slight and faint Endeavours of Pleasing but put us on the most painful and costly Duties make us willing to forsake our own Ease Goods Friends yea Life it self when we cannot keep them without offending our Creator THE desire of Enjoying is constantly seen in our Love to one another If any man hath a friend whom he intirely loveth he desires his Conversation Wishes to be always in his Company and thinketh the Time long till he and his friend be together And thus will it be in our Love to GOD if as great and Hearty as it ought to be In this Life our Enjoyment of GOD is more imperfect more compleat and perfect in the Life to come Here upon Earth we desire to converse with him in his Ordinances in Prayer Meditation hearing his Word in receiving the Sacrament which are intended all for this purpose to bring us into a neerer Intimacy and familiarity with GOD by speaking so to him hearing him speak and shew himself to us If we love him indeed we shall highly Value these Ways of Conversing with him it is all here upon Earth whereby we can enjoy him It will make us with David esteem one Day in his Courts better than a thousand We shall delight in all the Means of approaching to him as often as possible and use them diligently to the End of uniting us more and more unto him who is the Object of our Desire and the Life of our Souls And for as much as there is another Enjoyment of GOD which is more compleat and perfect we shall groan earnestly desired to be dissolved and be with Christ where we may see no more in a Glass but Face to Face and Know as we are Known For Love is strong as Death many Waters cannot quench Love neither can the floods drown it Affliction Persecution Sickness any thing that will bring us to Heaven will be acceptable and Delightful IF you would know more fully why GOD desires to be Beloved you may consider that Love is not onely the Motive and Incentive to Vertue the Cause of Obedience but the form and Essence of every Grace and the fufilling of the Law We shall chuse him for our GOD and have no other GODS but him no Delights no Sovereign Enjoyment but him alone We shall honour him with all our Souls and adore him with every Power of our Will and Understanding We shall not regard Images and shadows but worship him immediately in Spirit and in Truth We shall not take his Name in vain nor contentedly stand by when others abuse it But shall praise his Name and desire to see it glorified throughout the World For Love desires the Honour and delights in the Glory and Advancement of its Beloved We shall reverence his Sanctuary and keep his Sabbaths desiring Rest from other Avocations that we may contemplate his Glory in all his Works For his sake we shall observe the Laws of the second Table and Love our Neighbour as our self For to Love him is no Impediment but a Strong Engagement and incentive to the Love
followed had it been as it might have been perfectly observed ALL Adams Children had been himself divided and multiplied into millions and every one a Greater Treasure to him than the whole world The Stars had not been by a thousand Degrees so great an Ornament to the skies as they to the Earth an ofspring of Incarnate Angels an assembly of corporeal Seraphims a Race of Celestial Kings every one loving and Honouring Adam as the Fountain of their Being and the Author of their Well being of the one in begetting them of the other by standing and abiding in his Integrity They had all been so many Pledges of his Wives Affection Monuments of love New and Powerful Endearments Enlargements of their Parents Being Mirrors and Memorials of both their perfections For all had been made for every one and every one had been the Joy nay and the Beauty of all All had been every ones Objects and every one the Spectator of all every one would have delighted in the Beauty of all and all had conspired and strived together in the love of every one their concurrence infulfilling the Law would have banished all sin and Oppression Discontentment and sorrow Wrong and Injury Theft and Murder and Adultery and Lying out of the World there had been no noise of War or Contention or anger or Envy or Malice or Revenge this accursed the Black Guard had never appeared but all would have been Delightful to one another Affections Honours Benefits and Services Pleasures Praises and Prosperities these alone had filled the World with Beauty Security Peace and Glory Wisdome Goodness Love and Felicity Joy and Gratitude had been all that had been Known had Love been intirely and inviolably observed BUT where GODS Laws are broken there is confusion and every Evil Work Which nevertheless does more highly commend the excellency of his Nature and reflect a Praise upon that Authority which must first be despised before any Misery can come into the World If the Duty which the Law requires be all sweetness and Felicity and Glory Compleatly good and on every side Advantageous and Profitable we that fail in the Discharge of our Duty may be condemned but GOD is to be admired and still to be confessed most Glorious and Holy because he delights in the welfare of his Creatures and makes Religion so desireable a Mystery and enjoynes such admirable Things as would make all transcendently Blessed and Good and Perfect were they perfectly observed He designes that all should be amiable whom we are commanded to Love and that we should be not only prone to Love but actually full of it and the reason why he consistutes Love as the Sovereign Law is because as our Saviour saith There is none other greater Commandement none more Blessed or Divine or Glorious none more conducive to our Bliss his pleasure the perfection of his Kingdome Removing the Law of Love it is impossible to put another Law in its Place which can answer the Designs of his Wisdome and Goodness of comply with the Exigencies of our Estate and condition It is as easie to change the Nature of GOD and devise another deity as Good and convenient as to invent a better Law then this which is plainly of all other the most Divine and Holy If we ascend up into Heaven and take a perfect account of all the Opperations and Effects of Love as they appear in Glory we may first give our selves the Liberty of Wishing and consult what of all Things possible is most fit to be desired Had we a Power to chuse what Kind of Creatures would our selves be made could we desire to be any thing more great and Perfect then the Image of GOD In the full extent and utmost height of its Nature it is the Resemblance of all his Blessedness and Glory To have Beings without Power or power without Operations will never make us like GOD because by an infinite and Eternal Act of Power he is what he is Actions are so necessary that all Felicity and Pleasure is continually founded in some act or other and no Essence is of any value but as it employs it self in a delightful manner What Law then would we have to regulate our actions by Since Actions are of different Kinds some good some Evil some convenient some Hurtful some Honourable and some Delightful some Base and Odious some are Miserable and some are Glorious we would chuse such a Law to guide our Actions by as might make them honourable and delightful and good and Glorious All these are with Wisdome and Blessedness shut up in Love And by Love it is that we make our selves infinitly Beautiful and Amiable and Wise and Blessed while we extend that Delightful and Blessed Affection to all objects that are Good and Excellent so that on this side we have all we can desire Essences Laws and Actions that most tend to our full and compleat perfection If on the other side we look after objects for this Affection and desire to have some Creatures most Excellent and fit for their Goodness to be Beloved what Creatures can we wish above all other that can be made to satisfie and please us Can any thing be more high and perfect then the similitude of GOD GOD is LOVE and his Love the Life and Perfection of Goodness There is no Living Goodness so sweet and amiable as that alone none so Wise none so Divine none so Blessed VVhat Laws can we desire those Creatures to be guided by but the Laws of Love By Love they are made Amiable and delightful to us by Love they are made Great and Blessed in themselves All Honour and Praise Benevolence and Good-will Kindness and Bounty Tenderness and Compassion all Sweetness and Courtesie and Care and Affabilitie all Service and Complacency are shut up in Love It is the Fountain of all Benefits and Pleasures whatsoever All Admiration Esteem and Gratitude all Industry Respect and Courage are shut up in Love and by Love alone doth any object of ours Sacrifice it self to our Desire and Satisfaction So that on that side our Wishes are Compleated too while the most High and Blessed and Glorious Creatures love us as themselves For thereby they are as much our Felicity as their own and as much take pleasure and Delight therein As for GOD his Way is perfect like curious needle work on either side compleat and exquisite ALL that we can fear or except against is his Omission in forbearing to compell his Creatures to love whether they will or no. But in that Liberty which he gave them his Love is manifested most of all In giving us a Liberty it is most apparent for without Liberty there can be no Delight no Honour no Ingenuity or Goodness at all No action can be Delightful that is not our Pleasure in the Doing All Delight is free and voluntary by its Essence Force and Aversion are inconsistent with its nature Willingness in its operation is the Beauty
example not to fear because he has overcome the World we may safely sing O Death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy Victory And challenge all the powers of Heaven Earth and Hell to the combat Which for one single person to do against all the Creation is the most Glorious Spectacle which the universe affords Who shall separate us from the Love of Christ shall Tribulation or Distress or Persecution or Famine or Nakedness or Peril or Sword as it is writen for thy sake we are Killed all the day long we are accounted as Sheep to the slaughter Nay in all these things me are nore then Conquerors through him that loved us For I am perswaded that neither Death nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor Height nor Depth nor any other Creature shall be able to separate us from the Love of GOD which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. A REMARK To be Couragious is the Easiest thing in the World when we consider the certain success which Courage founded on Goodness must needs attain For he that makes his Fortitude subservient onely to the excess of his Love has all the Powers of Heaven and earth on his side and the Powers of Hell that are already subdued are the only foes that are to be vanquished by him To dare to be Good is the Office of true and Religious valour And he that makes it his Business to oblige all the world he whose design it is to be delightful to all mankind has nothing to overcome but their error bitterness which by meekness and Kindness and Prudence and liberality will easily be accomplished For they all love themselves and cannot chuse but desire those that are kind and Serviceable to them and must so far forth as they love themselves honor delight in their Benefactors So that Courage thus guided by Prudence to the works of Charity and goodness must surely be safe and prosperous on earth its Admirableness and its Beauty being a powerful Charm an Invincible Armour CHAP. XXII Of Temperance in Matters of Art as Musick Dancing Painting Cookery Physick c. In the works of Nature Eating Drinking Sports and Recreations In occasions of Passion in our Lives and Conversations It s exercise in Self-denial Measure Mixture and Proportion Its effects and atchievments PRUDENCE giveth Counsel what Measure and Proportion ought to be held in our Actions Fortitude inspires Boldness and Strength to undertake and set upon the Work but it is Temperance doth execute what both of them design For Temperance is that Vertue whereby the actions of Prudence and Power are moderated when they come to be exerted IT is the Opinion of some that as Patience respects Afflictions so Temperance is wholy taken up in moderating our Pleasures and hath no employment but in the midst of Prosperities But since there are certain bounds which Fear and Sorrow ought not to exceed Temperance hath its work in the midst of Calamities and being needful to moderate all our Passions hath a wider sphere to move in than Prosperity alone its Province is more large and comprehensive including all estates and conditions of Life whatsoever OTHERS there are that admit of its use in all Conditions but confine it to one particular employment even that of enlarging or bounding the Measure of every Operation but in real truth it has another Office and that more deep perhaps and more important than the former For Actions are of two kinds either Mixt or Simple Where the work is single and but one it is exprest in nothing else but the Measure of the Action that it be neither too short nor too long too remiss nor too violent too slow nor too quick too great nor too little But where many things are mixt and meet together in the Action as they generally do in all the affairs of our Lives there its business is to consider what and how many things are to enter the Composition and to make their Proportion just and convenient As in preparing Medicines the skill whereby we know what is to be put in and what left out is of one kind and that of discerning how much of every Ingredient will serve the turn of another The skill of Mingling is like the vertue of Prudence but the actual tempering of all together exhibits the vertue of Temperance to the Life because it reduces the Skill to its operation It s End is the beauty and success of our Endeavours OF what use and value Temperance is in our Lives and Conversations we may guess by its necessity force and efficacy on all Occasions THE fit mixture and proportion of the four Elements in all Bodies is that upon which their Nature Form and Perfection dependeth Too much of the Fire too much of the Water too much of the Air too much of the Earth are pernicious and destructive There is an infinite wisdom exprest in the Mixture and Proportion in every Creature BEAUTY and Health Agility Repose and Strength depend upon the due Temperament of Humane Bodies The four Humors of Choler Melancholy Flegm and Blood are generally known But there are many other Juyces talkt of besides by the discreet and accurate mixture of which the Body of a Man or Beast is perfected Some great inconvenience alwaies follows the excess or defect of these Disorder and Disproportion go hand in hand and are attended by Sickness and Death it self IN matters of Art the force of Temperance is undeniable It relateth not only to our Meats and Drinks but to all our Behaviours Passions and Desires All Musick Sawces Feasts Delights and Pleasures Games Dancing Arts consist in govern'd Measures Much more do Words and Passions of the Mind In Temperance their sacred Beauty find A Musician might rash his finger over all his strings in a moment but Melody is an effect of Judgment and Order It springs from a variety of Notes to which Skill giveth Time and Place in their Union A Painter may daub his Table all over in an instant but a Picture is made by a regulated Hand and by variety of Colours A Cook may put a Tun of Sugar or Pepper or Salt in his Dishes but Delicates are made by Mixture and Proportion There is a Temperance also in the Gesture of the Body the Air of the Face the carriage of the Eye the Smile the Motion of the Feet and Hands and by the Harmony of these is the best Beauty in the World either much commended or disgraced A Clown and a Courtier are known by their Postures A Dancer might run into Extreams but his Art is seen in the measure of his Paces and adorned with a variety of sweet and suitable Behaviours A Physician may kill a man with the best Ingredients but good Medicines are those wherein every Simple hath its proper Dose and every Composition a fit admixture of good Ingredients A Poem an Oration a Play a Sermon may be too tedious
as they are unto thee Vessels of Glory and Felicitie How will they love us when they find our Care Brought them all thither where they are When they conceive what terrour 't is to dwell In all the punishments of Hell And in a lively manner see O Christ eternal Joyes in thee How will they all delight In praising thee for us with all their might How sweet a Grace how infinite WHEN we understand the perfection of the Love of GOD the excellency of immortal Souls the price and value of our Saviours Blood the misery of Sin and the malady of distemper'd Nature the danger of Hell and the Joyes of which our sorest Enemies are capable the Obligations that lie on our selves and the peace and blessedness of so sweet a Duty Compassion it self will melt us into Meekness and the wisdom of knowing these great things will make it as natural to us as Enjoyment it self as sweet and easie as it is to live and breath It will seem the harshest and most unnatural thing in the World to sorbear so fair so just so reasonable so divine a Duty NOR is it a small comfort that the more vile our Enemies are the more price and lustre is set upon our Actions Our Goodness is made by their Evil the more eminent and conspicuous we improve their Injuries and turn them into Benefits we make a Vertue of Necessity and turn their Vices into Graces make them appear more abominable and vile if they continue obstinate and the greater their Perversness is the more great and honourable is our Vertue It was the praise of Moses that the Man Moses was the Meekest man upon all the Earth yet one passionate expression lost him so much in the esteem of GOD that it hindered his entrance into the Land of Canaan How great an Instrument he was nevertheless in the Conduct and Felicity of the Jews and how much he profited the whole Nation by his Meekness Sacred story does record How Joseph also dealt with his Brethren how he saved all the Family of Israel in the Root by his Meekness and by Meekness purchased an everlasting Name of Glory and Renown all Christian Ages and Nations understand where his Praises are celebrated to this day And the benefit thereof is spread abroad and propagated throughout all Generations for evermore CHAP. XXVI Humility is the basis of all Vertue and Felicity in all Estates and for ever to be exercised As Pride does alienate the Soul from GOD Humility unites it to him in Adoration and Amity It maketh infinite Blessedness infinitely greater is agreeable to the Truth of our Condition and leads us through a dark and mysterious way to Glory MEEKNESS respecteth others faults Humility and Penitence our own But Humility is more large than Penitence and is a distinct Affection of another nature Penitence is an exercise of the Affection of Sorrow and that only for Sin Humility is an acknowledgment of all our Vileness it respects our Original out of nothing as well as our Guilt our Weakness and Unworthiness our dependance upon anothers Will our Debt and Obligation the duty of Obedience and Allegiance which we owe and all the naked Truth of our Condition It confesseth our homage and is sensible of our Smallness and Subjection All that a man hath received it distinguisheth from what he is of himself And its Fruits or Effects are suitable to its Nature It is the Vertue by which we think basely of our selves and behave our selves in a lowly and submissive manner It makes us soft and pliant as Wax susceptible of any form that shall be imposed on us by our Benefactour and prone to Gratitude It is accompanied with a high and mighty sence of Benefits received and made Noble by the honour which it inclines us to return to GOD and Man for all the goodness which they shew unto us It is of incomparable use in our Felicity because it magnifies our esteem of all our happiness and glory IT is not through Ignorance or want of good Will that we speak nothing of Vices the woful deformity of which being exposed to view near the excellence of Vertue would put a greater lustre on all their brightness but the abundance of matter which Vertue it self doth afford forbids us to waste our Time and Paper in the description of their Contraries The glory of their nature being so full and perfect in it self that it needeth not the aid of those additional Arts which labour to set off the dignity of imperfect things by borrowed Commendations And besides this the mischief and inconveniency of every Vice is so great and manifold that it would require a distinct and intire Volume to unfold the deformity of their destructive nature so fully as their baseness and demerit requires It is sufficient therefore here to observe that Pride is of all other things most odious to GOD because it puffeth up the Soul with Self-conceit is forgetful of its Original void of all Gratitude and prone to Rebellion Is it not an odious and abominable thing for a Creature that is nothing in himself to flie in his Creators face and to usurp a dominion over it self to the apparent wrong of its Soveraign Lord to rob its Benefactor of all the glory of his Bounty to renounce and deny all dependance on him and to forswear its homage and allegiance to ascribe all its Glories to it self and abhor all sence of honour and gratitude to look upon it self as the sole original and author of all its Greatness and to be dazled so with the brightness of its condition as to forget the true fountain of it the goodness and the love of him that first raised him to all that Treasure and Dominion to dote on its own Perfections without any reflexion on the Bounty of him that gave them All this is to act a Lie and to be guilty of apparent Falshood It is as full of Fraud and Injustice as is possible and as full of Folly as it is of Impiety For Pride aimeth at the utmost height of Esteem and Honour and is fed by its own beauty and glory yet foolishly undermineth and blasteth the Person it would advance with the greatest baseness and shame imaginable it devours the Beauty which ought to seed it and destroies the Glory in which it delighteth The higher the greater the more perfectly glorious and blessed the Person is that is exalted his Ingratitude which is the dregs of Baseness is the more black and horrid and provokes the greater detestation It forfeits and renounces all the Delight which the goodness of its Lord and Benefactor affordeth it cuts off the Soul like a branch from the root that gave it life and verdure it tends all to division alienation and enmity it turns that Complacency which is its only bliss into wrath and indignation And whereas it delights in nothing more than appearing highly amiable in the eyes of all Spectators it falleth into contempt and
the welfare of his Subjects were there nothing else in the Duty but that consideration is an infinite encouragement He that receiveth you receiveth me is such an obligation that as it is all Goodness in it self so is it all Motive unto us Eternity will scarce be sufficient to fathom its depth Do we feed GOD himself in feeding the Poor and his eternal Son Jesus Christ Are these Needy persons the Representatives of the GODHEAD in whom we are to shew all our affection love and gratitude to the fountain of all Life and Happiness How infinite ought our Liberality to be when we consider the excellency of our Bliss and Benefactour Are they beloved are they all his Sons the very express image of himself all disguised and concealed Kings all Temples of eternal Glory What measure can confine or shut up our bowels Are the Spectators so innumerable so divine so blessed so nearly allyed to our selves so rich and great and beautiful are they so deeply concerned in the welfare of others and does every act of Charity extend to all shall we appear in the very act it self eternally before them What a vast ambition of pleasing all these glorious Persons should be exprest in every operation of the Soul As every Thought is seen throughout all eternity and every Word that is spoken here on Earth heard in the utmost extents of immensity so is there a kind of Omnipresent greatness in the smallest action for it is vertually extended through all the omnipresence of Almighty GOD even as every Centre wherein it can be done is eternally near nay and within him in the remotest part of his omnipresence 'T is dilated in a moment and fills the immensity of GOD with its nature According to its kind it affecteth all his Essence in all spaces whatsoever YET is there a Rule for the bounding of all external acts of Charity and another for improving it Intelligence is the light wherein Alms-deeds ought to shine and attain their glory Love is the soul of Compassion and Zeal the fervour of Perfection without which though a man bestow all his Goods to feed the Poor and give his Body to be burned it profiteth nothing Where this great abyss of goodness is Prudence may dispence it as it seeth occasion All other Vertues attending upon it it is impossible to destroy it self here on earth unless the case be so urgent that it is better die than to live in the World For a good man sheweth favour and lendeth but it is added He will guide his affairs with discretion The first Rule is to secure the life and growth of the tree by causing it so to bear one year that it may bring forth fruit another It is no good husbandry to cut it down nor any charity to make it wither and expire And on this very account a Charitable man must preserve himself that he may do more good by continuing longer able to do it HE that will examine the proportions and measures of his Liberality may take this Rule for the second Let thy Superfluities give place to other mens Conveniencies thy Conveniencies to their Necessities thy Necessities to their Extremities A third Rule is this Our Riches must be expended according to the several Circumstances and occasions of our lives A Liberal man will not pinch and starve his Servants For it is contrary to the nature of Bounty to oppress any to hurt any to trample upon any He will be good to all and to those most that are near unto him GOD hateth robbery for burnt Offering or that Strangers should eat the Childrens meat or that Beggars or Riotous persons should devour the right of a mans Servants He that does brave acts abroad but is a Niggard within doors has a glorious train spread abroad like a Peacock but stands upon black feet and may bear that unlucky bird for his Crest which is the emblem of Pride and Vain-glory. So is it with young Prodigals that oppress poor Tradesmen by defrauding them of their Debts yet are lavish enough to the Poor and Needy This is a defect with which Goodness is inconsistent and it blasteth their Charity It is better take off 100 pound a year from ones benevolence to the poor than wrong a Servant or Creditour of a shilling The Rule therefore is this First secure the works of Necessity have food and rayment for thy self keep out of debt Next render to every man his due in point of Justice and employ no man thou canst not pay rather perish thy self than oppress another If thou art able and hast any thing to spare then let the miseries of the Needy be supplied in the works of Compassion and Charity but let not all be swallowed up here thy Neighbours and Acquaintance and Friends and Kindred claim a share and thou must secure something for the works of Courtesie and Hospitality So order all both in thy Estate and Life that the kindness of GOD may shine in all So doing thy Stewardship shall be acceptable to the whole World and thy Memory blessed among men and Angels Our Saviour when he wrought his Miracles as he opened the eyes of the blind healed the sick cast out Devils raised the dead gave food to the hungry tongues to the dumb ears to the deaf and legs to the lame so did he give advice to the ignorant and interpret all his design by those Parables and Sermons which attended his Cures Good Counsel is oftentimes a greater gift than a Trunk of Mony While the Iron is hot it is time to strike Good Counsel is like a bitter Pill that must be gilded with Liberality If the Word of GOD be like good seed the heart in which it is sown is softened by Sorrow and ploughed up by affliction and prepared to receive it by the husbandry of Providence And the properest Season that can be chosen for Instruction is the time of Obliging He that intendeth the welfare of the Soul by all the good works he doth to the Body is deep and perfect in Charity A wise man will improve his advantages and enrich his Gifts with pious discourses A Benefactour has authority to talk what he listeth and bribes his Auditor to patience by his Bounty Since He that winneth Souls is wise a profound Liberality will not let slip a golden Opportunity nor suffer his Gift to be dark and insignificant He will make mention of the glory of GOD and the Love of Christ the guilt of Sin the danger of Hell and the hope of Heaven and alwaies endeavour to make his Love apparent to that GOD for whose sake he pities the Poor and is kind towards all For as much as man hath two parts and his Body is without the Soul but a putrid Carkass he will put life into his Mony and inspire his Munificence with all his Reasons that his Bounty may consist of two parts in like manner and have a Soul for its Interpreter Liberality to the Soul is
in the World These are the end of Self-preservation And it is impossible for us to love our selves without loving these Without loving these we cannot desire them without desiring canot enjoy them We are carried to them with greater ardour and desire by the love of our selves Preservation is the first but the weakest and the low'st principle in nature We feel it first and must preserve our selves that we may continue to enjoy other things but at the bottom it is the love of other things that is the ground of this principle of Self-preservation And if you divide the last from the first it is the poorest Principle in the World TO love another more than ones self is absurd and impossible In Nature it is so till we are obliged or perhaps till we see it our interest and find it our pleasure It is a surprize to an Atheistical fool That it should be ones interest to love another better than ones self yet Bears Dogs Hens Bees Lions Ants do it they die for their young-ones Nurses Fathers Mothers do it Brides and Bridegrooms frequently do it and so do Friends All valiant Hero's love their Country better than themselves Moses would have his Name blotted out of the Book of Life rather than the Israelites destroyed St. Paul could wish himself accursed from Christ for his Brethren the Jews and they both learnt it of their Master who made himself a Curse and even Sin for us And it was his interest to do it If we are immortal and cannot but be blessed it must needs be our interest to love him that is more blessed than we better than our selves because by that love we enjoy his blessedness which is more than our own and by that Love it is made ours and more than ours Is not all our Glory and Vertue and Goodness seated in the excess of this perfect love Do not all brave and heroical deeds depend upon it and does not the man deserve to be burnt as an enemy to all the World that would turn all men into Knaves and Cowards and destroy that only principle which delivers them from being Mercenary Slaves and Villains which is the Love of others That alone which renders a man useful to the World is the Love of others He that destroyeth this would pluck up all Gratitude by the roots all Worth Goodness and Honour No wonder therefore he should be an Atheist since Nature is so base and abominable before him But its Principles are oftentimes so generous in Truth that they are too great for themselves Nothing is so ordinary in the false way as that of loving others better than our selves Even Dogs have starved themselves to death upon the absence of their Masters How many Fathers have gone down with sorrow to their Graves and lost all the comfort of their lives in the death of their Sons How many Mothers have broken their hearts for the death of their Children How many Widows have buried themselves alive for the loss of their Husbands I mean by sequestring themselves from all the delights and pleasures of the World How many Lovers dote and wax pale and forget their Meat Sleep and Employment and run mad for their Mistresses Are there no such Examples or is there no strength in such Examples as these But to love GOD better than ones self seemeth more unnatural Ah vile the more base and more wicked we How we should love GOD better than our selves is easie to unfold by the principles of Self love and Self exaltation Take it in the manner following and when you have seen its possibility consider the glory of doing it the benefit and felicity and honour that is in it For it is all worth and pleasure goodness and beauty Gratitude and Vertue wisdom and security perfection and excellency We love our selves more in doing it than it is possible to do without it IT is natural to all them that love themselves to love their Benefactors and all those things that are conducive to their welfare pleasure satisfaction And the more they love themselves the more apprehensive they are of the benefit they receive and the more prone to love that which occasions it The more goodness we find in any thing the more we are prone to love it and the more we love it the more to take pleasure in it And if we find it highly convenient and extreamly delightful we had not seldom rather die than part with it we love our selves only that we might live to enjoy that glory or delight or beauty or convenience that we find so agreeable It often falls out for want of acquaintance with delightful things that we think nothing so powerfully sweet as to engage our Soul beyond the possibility of retrieving it self and that nothing can cleave so strangely to our minds as to be nearer and dearer than Life it self Yet oftentimes we find men of this opinion changing their minds when they have chanced to taste some sweetness in Nature they were not aware of and then to become such miraculous Converts that they love not themselves but for the sake of that delight which they have found in the World I make it a great Question would men sink into the depth of the business Whether all Self-love be not founded on the love of other things And whether it be not utterly impossible without it Only the love of those things is so near and close to the love of our selves that we cannot distinguish them but mistake them for one and the same If the Sun were extinguished and all the World turned into a Chaos I suppose there are few that love themselves so but they would die which plainly shews that the love of the World is inseparably annexed with the love of our selves and if the one were gone the other would be extinguished especially if the sweetness of the Air and its freedom and ease were changed into fire and torment For then we would surely desire to die rather than endure it which shews that the love of ease and repose is greater than the love of our very Beings though not so perceivable till we have examined the business But if there be any pleasure or goodness or beauty truly infinite we are apt to cleave unto it with adhaesion so firm that we forget our selves and are taken up only with the sence and contemplation of it The ravishment is so great that we are turned all into extasie transportation and desire and live intirely to the object of our fruition The power of infinite delight and sweetness is as irresistible as it is ineffable And if GOD be all beauty and delight all amiable and lovely truly infinite in goodness and bounty when we see him and taste the grace of his excellency the blessedness and glory wherewith we are amazed possesseth us intirely and becometh our sole and adaequate concern After that sight it is better perish and be annihilated than live and be bereaved of it
defiled by the Guilt of Sin For as long as we think GOD to be an infinite and Eternal Enemy to all Offenders we cannot use any Endeavor to please him because we Know there is no Hope of Reconciliation and the vanity of the Attempt appears like a Ghost that always haunts us and stands in our Way to oppose and discourage us in the Archievment we would undertake For to Fight with Impossibility is so Foolish a thing that Nature it self keeps us back from doing it Till therefore we believe our Reconciliation possible we have no Strength at all to endeavour our Salvation Our Despair oppresseth and frustrates our Desires with the inevitable Necessity of our Eternal shame and Guilt and misery TO believe that GOD will be so Gracious as to pardon our horrible Apostacy and Rebellion is a Work so Great that GOD accepteth it instead of all other Works of Innocence and Piety to believe that he hath given his Eternal Son to dy for us and that he so Loved us as to come down from Heaven to suffer the wrath of GOD in our stead is so much against the Dictates of Nature and reason that GOD imputeth this Faith alone for Righteousness not as if there were no Good Works necessary beside but by this alone we are justified in his Sight and out Justification cannot be ascribed to any other Work of ours whatsoever Howbeit that which maketh Faith it self so Great a Vertue is that we thereby receive a Power and an Inclination with all to do those Works of Love and Piety the Performance and the Reward of which was the very End of our Saviours Coming THAT there is implanted in Man a Faculty of believing is as certain as that his Eys are endued with the Faculty of seeing or his Soul with Knowledge or any other Faculty And that this Power implanted is of some Use in Nature is as sure as any Thing in the World For nature never gave to any thing a Power in vain this therefore being one of the Powers of the Soul must have a certain End ordained for it And its use is the Excercise of Faith in order to that End OBJECTS of Faith are those Things which cannot be discovered but by the Testimony of others For some things are known by Sence some by Reason and some by Testimony Things that are Known by Sence are present some time or other to the Senses themselves Those Things which Reason discovers are Known as Effects are by Causes or as Causes by Effects a Good and rational Demonstration being made by the Concatenation of Causes and Effects depending upon each other whereby Things remote from Sence are evident to Reason because the one is necessarily implied by the existence of the other But some Things there are which have no such necessary Dependance at all such are the fortuitous Occurences that have been in the World with all those Actions of free Agents that flow meerly from their Will and pleasure For of these there can be no certain Knowledge when they are past but by History and Tradition That the World was made so many years ago that Man was created in an estate of Innocency that he fell into Sin that GOD appeared and promised the seed of the Woman to break the Serpents Head that there was a Flood that Sodom and Gomorrah was burnt by fire that all the World spake one Language till the Confusion at Babel that there were such men as Julius Caesar or Alexander the Great or such as Abraham and Moses and David that the children of Israel were in Egypt and were delivered from thence by Miracles that they received the Law in the Wilderness and were afterwards setled in the Land of Canaan that they had such and such Prophets and Priests and Kings that Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary that he was GOD and Man that he died and rose again that he ascended into Heaven and sent the Holy Ghost down upon his Apostles Nay that there is such a City as Jerusalem all these things can no other Way be understood but only by Faith for no Light of Nature nor principle of Reason can declare such verities as these among which we may reckon these that all the Nations in the World except that of the Jews were Pagans and Idolatrous till the Gospel began to come forth from Jury that by the Miracles and Perswasions and Faith and Patience and Persecutions and Deaths of the Martyrs they were converted and forsook their Dumb Idols and erected Temples to the GOD of Heaven that his Eternal Son was crucified in Judea that such Emperors made such Laws that such Councils were held in such Ages that such and such Fathers sprung up in the Church that there is such a Place as Rome and Constantinople these and many Millions of the like Objects to them that live in this Age and never stirred any further then the English Coast are revealed only by the Light of History and received upon Trust from the Testimony of others Nevertheless there is as great a Certainty of these Things as if they had been made out by Mathematical Demonstration or had been seen with our Eys FOR tho there are some false and some Doubtful Testimonies yet there are also some that are True and Certain And least all Faith should be utterly blind and vain and uncertain there are External Circumstances and inward Properties by which those Testimonies which are true and infallible are distinguished from others ALL those Things that are absolutely necessary to the Welfare of Mankind the Knowledge of which is of general Importance that are unanimously attested by all that mention them and universally believed throughout all the World being as firm and certain as the Earth or the Sun or the Skye it self We are not more Sure that we have Eys in our Heads then that there are Stars in the Heavens tho the Distance of those Stars are many Millions of Leagues from our Bodily Organs THE Objects and Transactions which in former Ages occur to our Eys I mean the Spiritual Eys of the intelligible Soul that are seated within are by Faith received and brought to the understanding When they are transmitted to our Knowledge their Nature is apprehended immediately by the Soul and their existence examined by Reason There being certain clear and infallible Rules by which their Truth or falshood may be discerned And for this Cause is it that we are commanded to Try all Things and bold fast that which is Good It is our Duty to be ready always to give a reason of the Hope that is in us For Reason is a transcendent faculty which extendeth to all Objects and penetrates into all misteries so far as to enquire what probability may be in them what Agreement or repugnance there is in the Nature of the Things revealed what Harmony or Contradiction there is in the Things themselves what Correspondence in all the Circumstances what consistence between those