to be always For to be always in Duration is such an intrinsical Denomination as springs from the greatest of all God's natural Perfections for it arises from the necessity of his Existence whereby he cannot but be which is the highest degree of Being as being directly opposite to not Being and consequently of Perfection But now to be every where seems rather an extrinsical Denomination relating to somewhat without and such as is not directly contrary to not Being but only to limited Being And if we ascribe the Greater to God why should there be any Controversy about the Less Taking therefore the Supposition for granted we may well consider God as a Being every where Essentially present and consequently as an All-seeing and All-knowing Being to whom all Hearts are open and all Desires known and from whom no Secrets are hid and not only as an idle Observer but as one that takes such strict Notice and Cognizance of what he sees and knows as to treasure and seal it up against the Day of Retribution and to Punish or Reward us accordingly These I take to be the several ways of setting God before us so as to reap any Spiritual advantage from it I come now in the Second place to represent the many and great advantages arising from each and what an excellent Art and Spiritual Expedient it is for Holy Living thus to set God always before us and truly the advantages are very great for as the Habitual Knowledge of God and the Belief of his Existence are the first and general Foundations of all Religion according to that of the Apostle He that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek him So the actual Consideration of him under these Capacities is highly conducive to the Promotior and Accomplishment of all Holiness and Vertue For First to begin with those advantages that naturally spring from the Consideration of God as the Supream Good what can be more excellent than the Love of God 'T is the highest Elevation of a Creature and withal the most pregnant and comprehensive of all the virtuous Dispositions he is capable of 'T is like the Flower or Blossom of a Plant which contains all in it and therefore our Saviour calls it the First and the Great Commandment But now what more effectual means can there be next to the Grace of him who is Essential Love and who as the Apostle tells us sheds the Love of God abroad in our Hearts I say what more effectual means can there be to kindle increase and keep alive in us this Heavenly and Divine Fire than to set God always before us as the Supream Good Can a Man consider any thing barely as Good and not love it when Love it self is nothing else but an Inclination of the Soul to Good He may indeed not proceed to chuse it because it may come into competition with a greater which when it does not the good but the absence of it is to be Chosen as being the lesser Evil but yet notwithstanding he must still love it with a natural Love as long as he considers it as in any degree good Much less then can a Man refuse to love God when he considers him not only as Good but as the Supream Good For here besides that natural inclination which necessarily follows upon the appearance of Good as Good there is this peculiar to be considered that there is no room for Competition with a greater Good and accordingly that natural Love and Inclination which is due to God as Good must needs pass into act and effectual Choice upon the consideration of his being the Supream Good The least degree of Love or Inclination must needs be actual and effectual when it has nothing to outweigh it as the least Weight weighs down the Scale where there is no contrary weight to counterballance and over-rule it He therefore that sets God always before him as the Supream Good and never thinks of him but under that Notion must necessarily and effectually love him as he that looks upon Sin as the greatest of all Evils must necessarily and effectually hate it For the Beauties of God are infinitely Charming and Attractive in themselves and there wants nothing but our serious and due Attention to make them become so to us and the more we apply our Attention to them the more we shall be in love with them What is it that makes the Seraphin burn and flame above the rest of the Angelical Orders but because they see more of the First and Supream Beauty Now as Love depends upon Vision in the other Life so does it upon Contemplation in this and consequently he that considers the infinite Perfection of God most must necessarily love him most Contemplation is the most proper and genuine incentive of Love wherever the Object is truly deserving of it as discovering to us the reasons why it ought to be loved I say where the Object is truly deserving of our Love for otherwise it will serve only to discover its Vanity and so lessen its amiableness which is the reason that the best way to cure our Love to the World is thoroughly to consider it But in case the Object be a true and real Good and such as will abide the Test of Meditation and endure to be weighed and handled on both sides the proper way to beget and increase our Love toward such an Object as this is studiously to Contemplate it and then the Light that is in our Understandings will beget a warmth in our Wills and Affections Experience as well as Reason may inform us that the way to love any thing that is truly good and will bear a near inspection is to look much upon it and consider it thoroughly since even the most indifferent Objects by long stay and dwelling upon them do by degrees so gain upon our Afflictions that we come at last to have a kind of a fancy and a kindness for them and many have gazed and stared upon an ordinary Face so long till they have entertained a more than ordinary Passion And if the meanest Beauty of the Creature by frequent and familiar interviews becomes at length so Lovely and Charming how much more shall the continual Meditation upon the Beauty of the Creator kindle in us a Love towards him and a Delight in him The longer certainly we sit thus under his Shadow the more we shall delight to do so and his Fruit will be the more sweet to our Taste And if the general Consideration of God has such influence upon our Love of him how much stronger will that influence be when we set him before us under the Notion and Capacity of the Supream Good And therefore when the Psalmist in a deep Contemplation of the Beauties of Christ had proceeded so sar as to conclude him fairer than the Children of Men as if wounded to the Heart with the Rays
inlarging upon this 't would be almost as ridiculous to go about to give Light to a thing that is of it so clear as 't is to disbelieve it and he that offers to make the least Question of so evident a Truth is much too absurd to be seriously argued with I shall therefore pass on to the Second Consideration that a good Life which the Psalmist here expresses by keeping Innocency and taking heed to the thing that is Right will certainly bring a Man this Peace at the last And First 't will bring him Everlasting Peace this is plain from the whole tenour of the new Covenant which establishes a standing and never failing connexion between Repentance and Pardon 'T is the very Purchase of Christ's Death that now Repentance may be unto Life and accordingly 't is not only matter of Hope and probable Expectation but 't is made one of the Articles of our Creed that we may obtain Forgiveness of Sins Indeed Repentance is now no where in vain but among Devils and Damned Spirits it would have been so with us too had not Christ died and satisfied the Curse of the Law and the Justice of the Lawgiver and upon that satisfaction erected a new Covenant For the Law knows no such thing as Repentance but the Soul that sinneth must Dye Penitent or Impenitent But 't is the benefit we have by the satisfaction of Christ that now if we repent we shall be forgiven and accepted with God to Salvation and Happiness We shall certainly be saved with it and not without it for Christ did not as some fancy so far undertake for us that we might not Repent and live well but that we might Repent to Purpose He did not design to make our Repentance unnecessary but only to render it useful and efficacious to the ends of Pardon and Reconciliation So that a good Life is not only the means but the only possible means to everlasting Peace and Happiness As it is Secondly to bring us Peace at the Hour of Death nothing else can do it but this and this can and most certainly will as a good life gives us a firm Title to Salvation and Happiness so will it give us a good comfortable Assurance of that Title which is always an unspeakable Peace and Satisfaction but especially at the approach of Death And this is the natural Consequence and Reward of a Life well spent a good Man does his Duty with great Pleasure and Satisfaction but he reflects upon it with greater his Present Joys are very savoury and refreshing but his After-Comforts are much more so But of all the Reviews of his Life none yields him so much Comfort and Satisfaction as that last general Review which he takes of it when he comes to Dye then he has most need of Comfort then he is most fit to relish it and then he has most of it With what strange Delight and Satisfaction does he then reflect upon his past Life and call to mind the good he has done in it those Joys and Consolations which before maintained a gentle course within their own Chanels now begin to swell above their Banks and overflow the Man A kind of Heavenly Light springs up in his Mind and shines forth into his Face and his Hopes and his Desires his Thoughts and his Affections his Presages and his Expectations his Body and his Soul yea the whole Man is full of Glory and Immortality he is conscious to himself of his Sincerity and Integrity that he has not been wilfully and deliberately wanting in any part of his Duty but has rather made this his Exercise and constant concern to keep a Conscience void of Offence towards God and towards Man And as he recollects this with Pleasure so he builds upon it with Confidence and accordingly resigns up his Soul into his Maker's Hands chearfully and couragiously nothing doubting but that that good God whom he has so faithfully served in his Life will take care of him and reward him after Death And for such an Assurance as this there is sufficient ground in Scripture Great is the Peace that they have who love thy Law says the Psalmist And the Righteous hath Hope in his Death says Solomon And says the Prophet The work of Righteousness shall be Peace and the effect of Righteousness Quietness and Assurance for ever And says the great Apostle Our Rejoycing is this the Testimony of our Conscience that in Simplicity and Godly Sincerity we have had our Conversation in the World And we know that we have passed from Death to Life because we love the Brethren says Saint John And again If our Hearts condemn us not then have we Confidence towards God There is indeed some Controversy between the Reformed and the Romish Doctors concerning this Matter the latter generally denying that a Man may be Assured or Certain of his Salvation now though it may and perhaps must be granted that he cannot have an Assurance of Divine Faith nothing being the Object of such an Assurance but for which we have an immediate Revelation from God which cannot ordinarily be said of any Man's Salvation in particular but only of the general and conditional Proposition of the Covenant upon which we build yet I think there is sufficient reason to conclude from the forementioned places of Scripture with many others too numerous and obvious to alledge that a Man upon the consideration of his past life may be so Morally assured of his Salvation as to be out of all reasonable Doubt or Irresolution about it and he that will deny this must oblige himself to maintain one of these Two Propositions either that a Man cannot understand what conditions are required of him in order to a Salvable State or that he can't with any measure of Certainty judge of himself whether he be qualified according to those Conditions The former of which would reflect upon the Sufficiency and Clearness of Scripture which must be allowed to be full and plain in necessary things and the latter would redound too much to the dishonour and disparagement of Human Reason and Understanding since according to this Proposition a Man must be supposed to be so great a Stranger to himself as not to know what passes within his own Breast contrary to which the Scripture supposes in that Question Who knows the things of a Man save the Spirit of Man which is in him It must be acknowledged that this is not a strict Certainty neither of Science nor of Divine Faith but only a Moral and Human Assurance for 't is certain that the Conclusion can be no stronger than the Premises and therefore since one of the Propositions that which contains my own Qualifications is matter only of Experimental Knowledge which is a Human and therefore fallible Testimony 't is certain that the Assurance that rises from the whole can be no more than an Human or Moral Assurance But that is enough
conduct and course of the Divine Dispensation And then as in Musick what is Discord in particular and separately considered will be Harmony upon the whole a far more excellent Harmony to the Intellect than the most curious and artful disposition of Sounds can be to the Sense 'T is true we want Light in this Valley of Darkness and Night of Ignorance to discern this Harmony and beautiful conspiracy of things which is the true ground of all the Discontent that is in the World but hereafter when our eye-sight shall be cleared and fortified to see our Glorious Maker as he is we shall then with the Beauty of his Face behold that of his Providence we shall see the deep Plot of this great and wonderful Drama laid open and unravel'd and how even the most Cloudy and Doubtful states of things wind up into Beauty and Harmony We shall see and be well satisfied that there is a Geometry in his Providence as well as in his Creation and that as all things were made so are they governed too in Number Weight and Measure Then shall we not only patiently and meekly submit to but with full acquiescence and complacency of Spirit rejoyce in the accomplishment of the whole Will of God though is be in the Damnation of our nearest Friends and Relatives Then shall there be an intire resolution of our Wall into the Divine God shall be all in all and his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his manifold and various Wisdom though not fully comprehended yet shall be so much understood as to be fully justified by all his Children In the mean time till we are in a capacity to judge our selves we may and ought to repose a firm confidence in the skill of the Divine Dramatist and believe implicitly that there is a most incomparable Beauty in the whole Scheme and System of this his great Master-piece though to us who sit in a dark corner of the Theatre some of its parts seem obscure and perplex'd that as the Wise Man expresses it Wisdom reaches from one end to another and that he has poured her out upon all his Works And is there now any room for such a Passion as Grief or Discontent after such a Consideration as this Can a Man acting upon this Supposition be so absurd as to be disturb'd at any Accident to repine under any Condition to take to heart the loss of any Friend though another and a better Self though his whole Happiness were compendiously summ'd up in him so as to lose all at a Blow when at the same time he seriously considers that all things are as well as they can possibly be Certainly he that is troubled at any Affliction may well be suspected of one of these two things either of forgetting that God governs the World or of charging him with Male-Administration He insinuates by his Grief and Discontent this much at least that he dislikes the order of the Universe and that if he were placed at the Helm he would steer its Course after another method and does therefore deserve to be remembred of that which Luther told Melancthon when troubled that the Reformation did not move on so smoothly as he would have it Monendus est Philippus desinat esse Rector Mundi Philip is to be put in mind that he leave off governing the World For certainly were we thorougly satisfied of the infinite Wisdom and Goodness of God in the disposal of all events were this Persuasion deeply fixed in us and intimately present with us that all is for the Best we should see Argument enough not only for Patience and Contentment but also for Rejoycing and giving Thanks in all Dispensations we should as Seneca well expresses the Temper of his Wise Man non solum Deo parere sed assentiri not only submit with resignation to the Divine Will but approve and imbrace it with full choice as our best Lot and Portion and say with another excellent Stoick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will not only endure but plead for the dispensations of Providence and justify them to the World We should not then content our selves with that of the Royal Prophet I became dumb and opened not my Mouth because it was thy doing but proceed further and kiss the Cross even while it oppresses and galls our Shoulders and go forth to meet our Sufferings after the example of our Divine Master who withdrew voluntarily to the Garden where he foreknew he should be apprehended and there as freely surrendred himself when he might have escaped We should not so much as wish to have avoided any Calamity and though we took never so much delight in our Paradise yet after we heard the Voice of God walking in the Garden and received his Sentence to depart we should not endeavour a re-entrance though we could remove the fiery Sentinel and prevail with the angry Cherub to sheath his Sword but should rather thank God for his severe Mercy and say with the great example of Patience The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord. There remains yet one Consideration more and that is the Paternal relation of God he that gives us the bitter Cup besides the Essential benignity of his nature has also a near relation to indear him to us he is our Father and therefore cannot but be very tenderly affected toward us He loved us when we were but an Idea in his own Understanding much more does he now when we have actually participated of his Spiritual Nature and not only so but of his peculiar likeness too Add to this that he has shewn himself to be a Father by infinite Favours and Kindnesses some of which border almost upon Fondness and Partiality in so much that they have raised envy in some of the Angels and wonder in all the rest For there are things done for Man which the Angels have long contemplated and yet still desire to look into Shall I not then drink the Cup which my Father this my Father has given me My Father who is too full and perfect to need my Misery though in respect of his Supream Dominion he might to great degrees arbitrarily afflict me who is too wise to mistake my true interest and too good for he is Essential Goodness and his very Definition is Love to prescribe me a Draught which he knows not to be wholsom for me who has given me all the good I enjoy and who has parted with more for my sake than he can possibly take from me in this World for he has given me his Beloved Son the brightness of his Glory and the express Image of his Person shall I then receive good so great a good at his hands and not receive evil Shall I refuse the Cup which my Father this my Father has given me no may the considering Sufferer say I will welcom the sharpest Arrow that comes from his
his Folly will further appear if we consider Secondly the Error and Mistake that must necessarily precede in his Judgment before he does or can make such a Choice all Sin is founded upon Ignorance and Mistake for as 't is impossible to chuse Evil as Evil in general so is it no less imposfible to chuse any particular kind of Evil as Evil and consequently 't is impossible to chuse the Evil of Sin as such The Devil himself as Abstract a Sinner as he is can't love Sin as Sin If therefore it be chosen it must be chosen under the appearance of Good and it can have this appearrance no otherwise than as considered as a lesser Evil for that 's the only way whereby an Evil may appear good or eligible and so it must be considered before it be chosen He therefore that chuses Sin considers it at the instant of Commission as a lesser Evil and therein consists his Error and Mistake he is either Habitually or Actually Ignorant he either has not the Habitual Knowledge of all those things which should preserve him in his Duty or at least he has not the Actual Consideration of them for 't is that which must bring him to Repentance there being no Consideration beyond this And 't is impossible a Man should Sin with the very same Thoughts Convictions and Considerations about him as he has when he Repents This I say is no more possible than for a Ballance to move Two contrary ways with the same Weight and in the same Posture He therefore that Sins wants that Consideration at least to keep him in his Duty which when he Repents brings him to it and is therefore Ignorant and Mistaken The Sum of this matter lies in this form of Argument Whoever thinks Sin a lesser Evil is mistaken in his Judgment but whoever commits Sin does then think it a lesser Evil Therefore whoever commits Sin is mistaken in his Judgment So great is the folly of Sin both in reference to the Absurdity of the Choice and to the Error and Mistake of the Chuser and so great reason has every Sinner to take up that Confession of the Psalmist so Foolish was I and Ignorant and even as a Beast before thee And thus far of the Folly of Sin in general I come now in the Second place to the other ground of the Charge where I am to consider the folly of placing our Happiness and Content in the good things of this World and of that particular sort of Earthly-Mindedness which we call Covetousness It is certainly a very great folly to place our Happiness in any Created Good even in the very Best of the Works of God there is nothing even in Heaven that 's Created which can be our Happiness not the Discourses of Angels not the Love of Seraphins not the Musick of Alleluiahs And therefore the Psalmist excludes all the Creatures even in Heaven as well as in Earth from being the Objects of his Happiness Whont have I in Heaven but thee says he 't would be a great folly therefore to make any Created Good our Happiness even in the very Region of Blessedness But then to place it in any good that this World this Sediment and Sink of the Creation can afford is such a degree of Sottishness and Stupidity as did not Experience convince us that there are such Fools one would hardly think incident to a Rational Creature for it plainly argues that we are grosly ignorant of one of these Two things either of our selves or of the things of the World we are either ignorant of the Dignity and Excellency of our Natures of the Designs and Ends of our Creation and of the Strengths and Capacities of our Appetites which are to be satisfied with nothing less than Infinite or if we do know and consider all this of our selves then we are so much the more ignorant of the World about us to think that there is any thing to be had in this Circle of Vanity to satisfy the importunity of such Hungry and Capacious Appetites So far indeed is any thing in this World from being able to afford us Happiness and Satisfaction that 't is well if it can give us Entertainment and sweeten the otherwise insipid and to some very bitter Draught of Life The wisest Enquirer into the Capacities of Nature will hardly allow it so much as that but says of all here that 't is not only Vanity but also Vexation of Spirit and if we do by an extraordinary Fortune meet with any thing in this World that can a little cool and allay the heat of our great Thirst and refresh the drought of our Spirit yet we are assured by our Saviour who well understood the World though he enjoy'd but little of it that whosoever drinks of this Water shall thirst again and we all find by repeated Experiences that 't is so and our Reason tells us it must be so considering the vast the infinite disproportion between the best things of this World yea of the whole Creation and the largeness the immensity of our Appetites and Capacities which are a plain Demonstration that we were neither made for them nor they for us and that here is neither our Good nor our Evil. And what a Folly then is it to place our Happiness and take up our Rest in such things as these against the Confession and experimental Verdict of the Wisest of Men against the express Declaration and Asseveration of God who made both the World and us and knows the exact Proportion that all his Works have to each other and that a Barn full of Corn can never satisfy the Hunger of a Soul against the united experience of all Men ever since Adam nay and against our own Experience too which will witness to us if we but ask her that we never enjoyed but were disappointed and found our Souls empty when our Arms were full nay and against the Answer of our Reason too which satisfies us of the Necessity of what our Experience confesses to be true and that as it has ever been so so it ever will and must be so I say what a desperate incorrigible Fool must he be who after all this will yet dream of a Heaven upon Earth and place his Happiness in the good of this World The short is there is no Folly or Disappointment like that of being mistaken in ones End and of all Ends none is so foolishly mistaken as our Last End and this can never be more foolishly mistaken than when 't is placed in the things of this World This therefore is a very great instance of Folly and Stupidity and to him that is guilty of it whatever he be for Wit and Parts in other Matters of lesser consequence God justly may and will say Thou Fool. And now if there be so much of Folly in Centring in this World which consists of great variety of Good and wherein there is a great Latitude
accordingly upon the strength of this Conviction have gone out of the Circle of this World for their Happiness and have proposed to themselves the supream Good for their End and for the wisdom of this their Choice are stiled Children of Light Even these Men are chargeable with this strange Folly and it is here actually charged upon them by the eternal and substantial Wisdom of God in this his weighty Remark upon the Politick Stratagem of the unjust Steward The Children of this World are in their Generation wiser than the Children of Light In the Words there is something implied and something directly asserted 'T is implied 1. That there are a sort of Men who are Children of this World that is who make the Good of this World their End and seek no further for their Rest and Happiness 'T is implied again on the other side 2. That there are a sort of Men who are Children of Light who look beyond this Sphere of Vanity and black Vale of Misery and propose to themselves the Beatitudes of another Life as their true and last End and these our Lord calls Children of Light both from the Object of their Choice the Glories of Heaven being frequently represented in Scripture under the Symbol of Light and from their Wisdom in chusing it 'T is implied again 3. That the former of these notwithstanding the preference here given them do not act according to the measures of true Wisdom and therefore our Lord does not say absolutely that they are Wise but only that they are Wiser in their Generation 4. The thing directly asserted by our Lord is this That notwitstanding their want of true Wisdom that Wisdom which is from above they are however wiser in their Generation than the Children of Light That is that however they are befool'd in the Choice of their End yet they make more prudent Provisions for its Attainment and Security and prosecute it by more apt and agreeable Means and with greater Cunning and Diligence than they who have chosen a better do theirs And in this the Children of this World though great Fools are yet in their Generation in their way and manner Wiser than the Children of Light These I shall make distinct Subjects of Discourse to each of which I shall speak according to the present Order And first of all 't is implied that there are a sort of Men who are Children of this World who make the Good of this World their End and seek no further for their Rest and Happiness 'T is I confess strange that there should be any such considering that the World is no proper Boundary for the Soul even in its Natural Capacity much less in its Spiritual T is too cheap and inconsiderable a Good for an Immortal Spirit much more for a Divine Nature And therefore did not the Commonness of the thing take off from the Wonder 't would seem no doubt as great a Prodigy to see a Man make the World his End as to see a Stone hang in the Air. For what is it else for a Man the weight of whose Nature presses hard towards a stable and never failing Center to stop short in a fluid and yielding Medium and take up with the slender stays of Vanity and lean upon the Dream of a Shadow I say why is not this to be look'd upon as equally strange and preternatural as a Stone 's hanging in the Air Is not the Air as proper a Boundary for a Stone as the World is for a Soul And why then is not one as strange as the other For in the First place one would think it next to impossible that a Man who thinks at all should not consider frequently and thoroughly the vanity and emptiness of all Worldly Good the shortness and uncertainty of Life the certainty of Dying and the uncertainty of the Time when the Immortality of the Soul the doubtful and momentous Issues of Eternity the Terrours of Damnation and the Glorious things which are spoken and which cannot be uttered of the City of God These are Meditations so very obvious so almost unavoidable and that so block up a Mans way and besides they are so very important and concerning that for my part I wonder how a Man can think of any thing else And if a Man does consider and revolve these things one would think it yet more impossible that he should make so vain a thing as this World his End that he should think of Building Tabernacles of Rest on this side the Grave and say it is good to be here So that upon the whole matter were a Man put to the Question whether 't were possible that a Rational and Thinking Creature as Man is should be so far a Child of this World as to make the Good of it his End and seek no further for Rest and Happiness were a Man I say to consider this only in Notion and Theory without having any recourse to Observation and Experience he would go nigh to resolve the Question in the Negative and think it impossible that he who is capable of Chusing at all should Chuse so ill But whether 't is that Men do not heartily believe such a thing as a future state of Happiness and Misery or if they do that they do not actually and seriously consider it but suffer it to lye dormant and unactive within them and so are as little affected with it as if they did not believe it or that they look upon it through that End of the Perspective which respresents it as a great way off and so are more vigorously drawn by the Nearer though Lesser Loadstone or whatever other cause may be assigned for it we are too well assured from Experience that there are such Men in the World Men who going through the Vale of Misery use it not only as a Well to refresh and allay but fully to quench and satisfy their Thirst 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Apostle Phrases it it who mind and relish Earthly things who make the Good of this World their last Aim the Sum total of their Wisbes the upshot of their Desires and Expectations their End Who love it as they are Commanded to love God with all their Heart Soul Mind and Strength who rest and lean upon the World with the whole stress and full weight of their Being who out-do the Curse of the Serpent and whose very Soul cleaves to the Dust. For I demand Is not the Interest of this Animal Life the great Governing Principle of the World Are not the Policies of the Statesman and the little Under-crasts of the Plebeian all put into Motion by this Spring and all guided and determined by this Measure Is not every thing almost reckoned Profitable only so far as it conduces to some Temporal Interest in so much that the very Name Interest is almost appropriated to Worldly Advantage And is not this the great Bias of Mankind Is not most of the Noise and
rather supposing that if we could act by such a Measure it would be an higher and more noble pitch of Vertue Taking therefore the Argument for granted I shall think my self further concern'd only to justify the Vnder-Proposition by shewing that 't is really the most disinteressed part of Religion Now that it is so will be sufficiently evident from this that it respects the Benefits of God meerly as they are past it has indeed the Goodness of God for its Object as well as many other acts of Religion but with this Difference that whereas other acts of Religion respect the Benefits of God as they are to come this respects them as past and consequently can have no Eye upon future Advantage He indeed that gives Thanks may but not as and so far as he gives thanks It may be the End of the Agent but not of the Action For observe though to give thanks for Blessings received be really a Means to procure more as well as other Religious acts yet there is this difference that other acts are not only Means to Blessings but may be used as such to that end without destroying the nature of the acts themselves But now Gratitude towards God though it be really in it self as much a Means in order to future Blessings yet it can't be used and intended to that purpose without so far undoing the very Nature as well as Excellency of the Action For if I give Thanks meerly to get more if that be my design this is not Gratitude but only another way of Begging and so my Praising will indeed fall in and be confounded with Praying which are supposed to be distinct So that the very notion of Thanksgiving excludes all regard to Self-interest and what some highflown Theorists have asserted of Vertue in general that it loses its very Being and Perfection by being Mercenary or done upon motives of Interest is strictly true of this particular Vertue whose very Idea shuts out all respect to self-advantage The short is this vertue of Thankfulness though it be conversant about the goodness and beneficialness of the Divine Nature which is also supposed to be actually exercised upon us yet it does not respect it in order to our Interest but as 't is a Moral Perfection of the same Divine Nature and so is rather an humble acknowledgment of something excellent in God whose Perfections we adore and bear witness to than an Address to him for something of advantage to our selves which as I said before its very idea excludes and cannot at all comport with But now this is more than can be said of any of the other acts of Religion when we Pray 't is for the Relief of our Wants our Faith Jeans upon some future Good and our Hope is a comfortable expectation of it and even Charity it self as it respects God has a mixture of self-regard in it I say as far as it respects God For it must be yielded whatever some pretend to the contrary that there is some sort of Love which may be dis-interessed and pure from any selfish Principle namely Love of Benevolence whereby we may wish well and do well to our Neighbour purely for his Good without projecting any Advantage to our selves But then this is not that Love wherewith we love God who is not capable of our Benevolence but only of our Desire For when we love God we don't pretend to wish any good to him who is already possess'd of all but only wish him as a Good to our selves which is the same as to desire him Charity therefore as it respects God is the same with desire of him and all love of Desire is founded upon Indigence and proceeds from Self-interest So inconsistent and unprincipled is the Discourse of those who talk of Loving God purely for himself and his own absolute Perfections without regarding our own advantage therein We may indeed love our Neighbour so but so we cannot love God for to love God is to desire him to desire him as our Good and Happiness and all love of Desire proceeds from Want and ends in Fullness And if Love it self must give the Precedency to Thanksgiving I suppose none of the other acts of Religion will offer at a competition with it But you 'll say does not our Saviour call Love the First and the Great Commandment To this I answer that by Love there is meant either Love of Benevolence or Love of Desire if Love of Benevolence that is no immediate act of Religion God not being capable of being so loved as was urged before And therefore we may allow this to be the principal Commandment without any contradiction to the present Discourse which proceeds wholly concerning Acts of Religion But if the love here spoken of be love of Desire then this is said to be the First and the Great Commandment not because it excells all the rest by its own proper value but because it vertually contains and is productive of them all there being nothing so difficult or naturally displeasing which he that truly loves that is Desires God will refuse to do for his sake And therefore 't is that in another place Love is said to be the fulfilling of the Law that is vertually and potentially as 't is a general Mother Vertue and the principle of a more particular and special Obedience And in this respect indeed Love is the first and the great Commandment but if we consider the proper dignity and excellence of the action he that praises God honours him more and expresses himself more generously than he that Loves him For he that loves God loves him for his own good in order to his Happiness and well-being but he that Praises him so far as he does so does it not upon any self-end but meerly because he thinks it just and equitable that a Creature should acknowledge and adore the Excellency of his Creator which certainly is the noblest as well as the justest thing a Creature can do Indeed Love is the only Divine or Religious Vertue that can with any pretence vye with Praise and Thanksgiving and accordingly 't is observable that of all the vertuous acts and habits that are now requisite to quality a Man for Heaven none shall be thought worthy to be retained in it but only these Two Praise and Love all the rest shall be Super-annuated and cease as having no further occasion for their Exercise these two only shall remain to be the entertainment of Angels and Angelical Spirits to all Eternity But though Divine Love be equal with Praise as to this respect in point of Permanence and Duration yet in point of Generosity it comes far short of it for indeed to speak properly Love is no further excellent than as it partakes of the nature of Praise no further than as 't is one way of acknowledging the Divine Perfections For what commendation is it for me to Love what is my good and makes for my
that special and excellent Portion of it Glory and Happiness If we consider it according to the former sense then to have our Conversation in Heaven will be to be perpetually mindful of our Mortality and that we are Citizens of another World and must shortly take our leave of this to have a constant prospect into that other World which must be our last Home and to be always looking beyond the Horizon of Time to the Long Day of Eternity to dwell in the Meditation of the Four last things Heaven Hell Death and Judgment how great they are in their Consequence how certain in the Event and how near in their Approach and in consideration of all this to be always preparing for our great and final Change But if we consider it according to the latter and stricter Sense then to have our Conversation in Heaven will be frequently to contemplate the Infinite Perfections of the Divine Essence the First of Beings and the Last of Ends and the unconceivable Happiness of those who shall enjoy the Communications of his Blessedness to Contemplate and have always in view that weight of Glory that incorruptible Crown with which the Sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared no not to be mentioned To Meditate Day and Night upon that happy time when we shall be Partakers of Moses's Wish and be admitted to that intimate and naked Vision of that Mysterious and Incomprehensible Excellence which is too great for our Mortal Faculties and which none can See and Live When we shall see him not in Symbols and Figures not in Glories and sensible Manifestations but openly and clearly really and as he is and from seeing him be transformed into his Likeness To meditate upon the blessed Society of Saints and Angels upon the delicious repasts of Anthems and Alleluiahs and that more ravishing Harmony of Divine Love and intellectual Sympathy upon the elevated and raised Perfections of a glorified Soul the inlargements of its Understanding and the sublimations of its Will and Affections and upon the Angelical Clarity and Divine Temper of our Resurrection Body In sum upon all those glorious things which are spoken and which even he that saw them could not utter of the City of God and upon the infinite Consolations of that joyful Sentence Come ye Blessed of my Father Inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the World Lastly to contemplate all this not coldly and indifferently as a thing that is a great way off or as an uncertain Reversion or maginary Utopia but as a state that will shortly and certainly be and with that Faith and Assurance which is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen to Dwell Converse and have our Civil Life in Heaven for so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies as if we were already Inhabitants of that Blessed Place and actual Members of that Sacred Policy and Community This is to have our Conversation in Heaven this is that Heavenly-Mindedness which the great Apostle who had personally conversed in the Third Heaven and seen there more than he could utter proposes to the imitation of his Followers and for which he esteemed himself fit to be an Example Which leads me to shew Secondly what a reasonable and becoming thing it is for a Christian thus to have his Conversation in Heaven and to convince him that it is so let him consider First That the other Life is the state we are chiefly intended for without respect to which there is nothing in this considerable enough to justify the Wisdom and Goodness of God in making the World that here we have no abiding City no durable concern and consequently what a folly 't is to let our Thoughts dwell where we but Sojourn our selves that this present state both by reason of its shortness and other Vanities is upon no other account considerable than as 't is an opportunity for and a Passage to the next that as it was not worth while for God to make it so neither is it for us to live in it if it were not in order and relation to something further that 't is a short Voyage and where the Haven lies always in sight that 't is the greatest short-sightedness imaginable not to see beyond so little a prospect as the Grave and the greatest stupidity and dotage to confine our Cares and Affections on this side of it if we do 'T is true indeed if there were no other state but the present 't would be our greatest Prudence to make as much of it as we could though 't were more vain and contemptible than 't is because 't is our All 't would then be as reasonable to have our Conversation on Earth as now 't is to have it in Heaven and the Epicure's Proverb would then be as Wise as any of Solomon's Let us Eat and Drink for to Morrow we Dye But since we are assured by him who brought Life and Immortality to light through the Gospel that there is another state and that our Death is but the beginning of a new and never to be ended Life this one would think should deserve and engross all our Thoughts and Affections our Meditations and Discourses and that we should be no more concerned with the things of this World than a Ghost is that only comes to do a Message of Providence and when his Errand is over vanishes and disappears Or if we did at any time condescend to interest our selves in the Affairs or lawful Entertainments of this Life methinks it should be only transiently and by the by as the Hungry Disciples pluck'd the Ears of Corn just to serve a present Necessity or as the Israelites ate the Passover in hast with our Loins girt our Shoes on our Feet and our Staff in our hand Secondly Let him consider that as the other state is the chief and proper state of Man so Heaven is the good and happiness of that state that 't is the true and natural Centre of our Rest our Home and Native Region that the Joys there are unspeakable and full of Glory such as the Senses of Man cannot tast such as his Understanding cannot at present conceive and such as it will never be able to comprehend Joys that are without example above experience and beyond imagination for which the whole Creation wants a Comparison we an Apprehension and even the Word of God a Revelation That Eternal Word of God which opened to us a Prospect of a future state and brought Life and Immortality to light yet he attempted not to give us a representation of the Heavenly Felicity but thought fit rather to cast that unexpressible Scene of Glory into a Shade For indeed to what purpose should the Son of God go about to reveal the Secrets of the Kingdom to us since if it were possible to describe it as it is yet 't is not possible for us to conceive it as
the one as well as to mean us from the other Nay to speak the truth it will not so much support us under these Evils as take them away and render them slight and inconsiderable For suppose the worst that can be Death and a Painful Death he that has his Conversation in Heaven views the Glory that shall be revealed there and at once sees that the sharpest Sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with them no more than the Point of a Circle is with its Circumference He contemplates the Joy that is set before him and so indures the Cross and despises the Shame and the Pain too For a view of Heaven will mitigate any Cross upon Earth and help us to incounter any Affliction as St. Stephen did his Martyrdom He is one of those steddy Men the Psalmist speaks of who are not afraid at any evil Tidings but his Heart stands fixed in the Lord. Much less will he for the dread of any Persecutions or Worldly Losses deny his Religion or by a Trimming and Hypocritical Mode of Behaviour court the Favour of those in Power or by any sinful compliance part with a good Conscience He sees nothing so great or so terrible in this World as to fright him into any such unworthinesses no they that do so have not their Conversation in Heaven but are Earthly Sensual and Devilish and for all their Pretences to Self-denial deny nothing of themselves that I know of but their Understandings He that truly converses in Heaven sees infinitely more there than he can either get or lose here and can therefore never be guilty of such a Foolish Exchange as to gain not the whole but a little of the World and lose his own Soul Thirdly This Dispensation of Life is the best Preparatory for Heaven that can possibly be for besides that the greatness of that Happiness makes him that Contemplates it despise any good or evil that may here stand in competition with it he further considers the Nature and Quality of that Happiness that it is an union of the Soul with her best and last end that it is a clear Vision and an ardent Love of God who cannot be seen by him that Lives much less by him that Lives ill and this must needs put him upon thinking that a Holy and Divine frame of Spirit is absolutely requisite not only as a Condition to our Admission into Heaven but also as a Condition of Enjoyment without which there is no being Happy even when we are there And from this Consideration he naturally passes to fit himself for the enjoyment of his Maker to Purify himself as he is Pure to Purge Refine and Spiritualize his Nature that so he may be qualified for the refined Joys of Heaven The short is there are Two things that must and will be considered by him that has his Conversation in Heaven the Greatness of the Happiness there and the Nature of it and each of these has a particular influence for the preparing him for it The former will make him Temptation-Proof against any present good or evil that shall stand in his way to his great Prize and the latter will contribute to form and fashion the frame of his Mind into a likeness and affinity with the end which he proposes But both together will so strongly influence the Man that he will become perfectly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dead to himself and to all the Luscious Relishes of the Corporeal Life and the Life of God will be triumphantly seated in him so that now he has but one only Will in the World which is to have none at all of his own but to annihilate himself that God may be all in all in him And thus while like Moses he converses with God on this holy Mount his Face shine with a Divine Glory and he is transfigured into the likeness of him whom his Soul loves Fourthly and Lastly This is a dispensation of Life that affords the greatest Pleasure and Satisfaction of any in the World to ascend the top of the Mystical Pisgah and thence to take a survey of the Happy Land to contemplate the infinite Perfection of God and the Happiness of those Blessed Spirits that enjoy him the Order of Angels and that noble and blessed Communion of Saints to contemplate the last and richest Scene of Providence and the Discovery of all the rest that went before when the reason of all difficult and perplexing Appearances shall be made plain and the manifold Wisdom of God set in a clear Light to have our Minds imployed about the greatest and best things to walk with God and keep a constant Communication with Heaven must needs be the sweetest as well as the noblest and most worthy Entertainment on this side of it Intellectual Pleasures are certainly greater than Sensual even by the Confession of the greatest Sensualists as may appear from this single instance in that Men will abstain from the greatest Pleasures of Sense that they may not lose a good Reputation which is an Intellectual good and as Intellectual Pleasures are greater than Sensual so this is the greatest of those that are Intellectual Concerning this the same may be said that is of Wisdom that her Ways are Ways of Pleasantness and that all her Paths are Peace that she is a Tree of Life to them that lay hold upon her and happy is every one that retaineth her That they who eat of her shall yet be Hungry and they that drink of her shall yet be Thirsty For there is a certain inexhaustible Well of Pleasure a fathomless Abyss of Delight in this Heavenly Conversation which they only who have experimented it can conceive and which even they want Power to describe This I know will be far from satisfying some Voluptuaries who are sunk so low into the contrary Life that of Sense and Carnality that they will think a Man Mad that shall either Talk or Live at this Abstracted rate but to these I have Two things to say First That their having no notion of the Pleasure of this Dispensation is no Objection against it the thing may be true for any thing they know or can say to the contrary for they are not during the quick sensibility and invigoration of the lower Life proper Judges in the case any more than the Sense it self is of an Intellectual Object for these things are spiritually discerned by a certain Divine Tast and Sensation which is a Faculty which these Men want The other thing I shall commend to the Sensualist is this that since he is too scrupulous and sceptical to take our word for it he would endeavour after such a degree at least of Spiritual Purification as to try the Experiment that as the Psalmist speaks he would Tast and See how good and pleasant this Heavenly Conversation is and then I 'm much mistaken if he does not find that all the Madness lay on his side if
strong Argument for it that is consistent with it and these do necessarily infer it Thus his Omnipotence Omnipresence and Omniscience render him abundantly able to sit at the Helm of this great Vessel and his Goodness and Justice ingage him to undertake the Charge He that contemplates the former can no longer question How doth God know can be judge through the dark Cloud Nor he that contemplates the latter suspect that he purposely declines the Office and walks idle and unconcern'd in the Circuit of Heaven Besides the Perfections of God would not appear so conspicuously if there were no Providence 'T is great to Create but 't is more to Govern a World as the Skill of the Artist is more seen in well ordering and artfully touching the Strings of a Musical Instrument than in the first making and framing of it And if it be once granted that there is a Providence 't is an absurd and ridiculous conceit to consine it as some do to the Supralunary Regions for the same Arguments that infer the being of Providence in general conclude also for the Universality of it 'T is most congruous to think that the Providence of God is of equal extent with his Creation for sure that which was not too mean to be Created cannot be too mean to be Governed and that the same loving and Harmonious Spirit that first moved upon the face of the Waters and ranged the most minute particles of Matter into Beauty and Order does still run through the now Organized Mass and preside over and sweetly direct not only the Greater but also the Lesser Motions of this his most exquisite Machine For without this the Harmony of the Universe would be very defective and its parts disproportionate and ill-forted 'T is true Beauty and Order would dwell above but all would be Chaos and Confusion below and the Earth would still be without form and void And thus the irregularity of the Lower World would cast a disparagement upon the whole System of things as the untunableness of one or two Instruments dis-recommends the whole Musical Consort 'T is therefore necessary to affirm that the Providence of God extends to both Worlds as the Sun Beautifies and Inlightens each Hemisphere In this respect also as well as others that Divine Comparison will hold God is Light and in him is no Darkness at all But though nothing be too small or inconsiderable for the Comprehensive reach of the Divine Cognizance yet we may reasonably suppose that he considers the value of his Creatures and proportions his Providential Care according to their different excellencies Now throughout all the order of the Visible Creation Man is the most noble and accomplished Being and consequently the chiefest Object the most peculiar Charge of Providence so peculiar that as the Creation of other Sublunary things carried a particular respect to Man so is their Government too chiefly in subordination to his Interest And indeed 't is no more than what by the Measures of Proportion we are warranted to suppose that he should have a more than ordinary Interest in the care and superintendency of his Creator who was made by an immediate Pattern from himself and with his solemn Counsel and deliberation Nor is this ever waking and broad Eye of Divine Providence open only on Societies and Communities of Men and intent only upon the Revolutions of States and Kingdoms but also watches over the affairs and concerns of every particular Person in the World no Man is too little and despicable for the notice of Providence however he may be overlook'd by his Fellow-Creatures for we are told in Scripture not only of the Guardian Angel of the Jews and the Prince of Persia but that we should take heed how we offend or despise even the meanest of Men because of the interest they have among the Angels of special Presence the Courtiers of Heaven Nay we are told by the same infallible Oracle that even the very Hairs of our Head are all numbred so that not only the Meanest of Men but even the meanest things relating to them their most indifferent and insignificant concerns are under the charge and care of Providence And if the care of Providence be so very punctual and exact even to Grains and Scruples in the most trifling and indifferent Concerns of Man we may with great reason conclude that it is much more so in our more weighty and considerable Interests And since not only our present but future Happiness depends much upon various junctures of Circumstances and States of Life we have consequently reason to conclude that these are more particularly conducted by God's Providential Hand and accordingly that Affliction comes not forth of the Dust neither does Trouble spring out of the Ground but are disposed and ordered by God and Arrest us with a Divine Commission And accordingly the excellent Wisdom of our Church in her Office for the Visitation of the Sick piously orders the Minister to exhort the Sick Person after this Form Dearly beloved know this that Almighty God is the Lord of Life and Death and of all things to them pertaining as Youth Strength Health Age Weakness and Sickness Wherefore whatso ever your Sickness is know you certainly that it is God's Visitation c. As indeed we have reason to think that every other Affliction is as well as Sickness that there is a Chastising as well as Destroying Angel and that all Plagues are from God as well as those of Egypt that no Calamity can either privily steal or violently break in upon us without the Divine notice and particular permission But that every bitter Draught which we take is weighed mingled and reach'd out to us by an invisible Hand by the Dispensation of Providence that 't is a Cup which our Father has given us Our Infinitely Wise Good and Compassionate Father one who knows to chuse for us infinitely better than we can for our selves and whose Infinite Goodness Love and Faithfulness give us all possible assurance that he will use his Wisdom for our best Interest and give good Gifts to his Children Which leads me to consider the Second general Proposition that therefore we ought to submit to every Dispensation with all Patience Meekness Contentedness and Resignation of Spirit Patience and Resignation under all Providential dispensations however difficult in the Practick has yet perhaps more to be said for it in the Theory than any one instance in all Morality but I am obliged by the limits of my Discourse to confine my Thoughts at present to such Arguments and Considerations only as may be afforded by the excellent Nature Attributes and Relation of God For 't was for this reason alone that our Blessed Lord chearfully submitted to the drinking of his Bitter Potion because 't was given him by his Father The Cup which my Father bas given me And that this is a Pillar strong enough for so great a weight a sufficient Argument
of his Divine Beauty he presently adds Thy Arrows are very Sharp They are indeed Lord Jesus they are very Sharp and Keen like the Sword that proceeds out of thy Mouth and how is it that we can resist the Power of thy Sovereign Beauty Thou woundest the Seraphin and Cherubin and all the Orders of Angels with the Arrows of thy Love and they burn at the Rays of thy Divine Light and Glory Whom have they in Heaven but thee and what is there on Earth that they desire in comparison of thee But we who are every day vanquished and led in triumph by Meaner Beauties stand yet proof against thy Diviner Charms and feel none of the impressions of thy Love But 't is our Blindness that is our Defence and our unattention is the Shield that repels thy Darts We do not Contemplate thee as thy Angels do nor as we our selves do the Beauties of this Sensible World Oh do thou then open and six our Eyes upon thee and they will soon receive in thy Divine Rays engage but our Minds to Contemplate thee and then we shall not chuse but love thee Nor is this the only advantage of setting God before us as the Supream Good for as this is a consideration of excellent use to excite and quicken in us the Love of God so does it also Secondly contribute both to convince us of the Worlds Vanity and to support us under that Conviction He that is not sensible of the vanity of Created Good had need present God to his Thoughts as the Supream Good that he may have a right sense and apprehension of it and he that is had need Meditate upon God under the same notion that he may have wherewithal to support his Mind under such a Conviction and this way of setting God before us is a very effectual means to do both The vanity of the Creature never appears with that advantage of clearness and conviction as when we Contemplate the Fullness and Excellency of the Creator which presently weakens and puts out all the Luster of the World as the Sun does that of a Candle meerly by out-shining it And when a Man by the help of this Contemplation is arrived to this sense and conviction the same will also serve to support him under it 'T is supposed here that the Man will then stand in great need of some Support or other and that very justly for the Soul of Man being not her own End and Good must needs rely on something without for her Happiness and as long as she thinks that this may be found among the Creatures she is pretty well satisfied and at ease But no sooner is she awakened out of this pleasing Dream into a Conviction of the World's Vanity but she has lost her hold has nothing to enjoy nothing to rest upon and what a barren disconsolate condition must she be then in unless she has some other Refuge to retreat to for her Support And what other Support can there or need there be but the Consideration of the Divine Fullness and Greatness which will make abundant Supply for all the Deficiency that is in the Creature were it infinitely more vain than it is and so relieve that Conviction which it has occasioned But Thirdly This is also a general Remedy against all other Trouble and Sadness as well as against that which arises from the Conviction of the World's Vanity the best Consolation of an Afflicted Mind is to think upon God this will chear and refresh the Soul when Rational Discourses and Wise Sentences are applied in vain for if your Sorrow proceed from Fear what more proper relief than to Meditate upon the Power of God who is able to deliver us from the worst of Evils If from Love or Desire what better allay can be found than to Contemplate the Perfection of God who is able to satisfy our most Craving Appetites If from Distrust or Despair what can we do better than Meditate upon the Goodness and Faithfulness of God who loves whatever he has made knows our frame and considers that we are but Dust If from the consideration of the ill state of Mankind either as to Sin or Misery how can we satisfy our selves better than by Meditaring upon the excellent order and conduct of the Providence of God who governs the World in a way becoming his infinite Perfections and disposes all things sweetly And so in like manner in all other instances whatever be the occasion of our Trouble and Sadness no Consolation like Meditating upon God and setting him before us It is so if we think upon him at large but more especially if we contemplate him as the Supream Good This is a more immediate and direct remedy against all Sorrow for Good is directly contrary to Evil and the Sense of Good will counterpoise the Sense of Evil if it be an equal good and if it be a greater it will overcome and swalit up nay and leave some dgrees of pure Happiness behind so that the Man shall rather enjoy than suffer But now 't is impossible for a Man to represent God to his Thoughts as the Supream Good as his proper End and Happiness without a strong sense of his Goodness and Perfection he must in a great measure taste and seel that Good which he Contemplates and even this Obscurer Vision of God is in some degree Beatisick And what grief or sadness of Mind then is there which this strong sense and taste of God will not overcome and which will not be quite dissolved swallowed up and lost in the Contemplation of the Supream good Upon which Considerations well might the Psalmist say When I am in Heaviness I will think upon God He might have thought upon his Royal Greatness and the pomp and Magnificence of his Court or upon his Riches or upon his Friends or upon his Victories and Triumphs or if none of these would do he might have taken his Harp into his Hand and have driven away the Evil Spirit of Melancholy by Musick from himself as he did before from Saul But he had a better expedient than all this When I am in Heaviness I will think upon God Nor is this all for should we not also upon the strength of this Consideration despise and disrelish all those vain Pleasures which betray us into Sin Should we not be above the Temptations of either Honour Pleasure or Profit Should we not be secure from that Foolish Exchange which those that pass for the Wisest among us frequently make I mean that of gaining the World and losing on 's own Soul Lastly should we not endeavour by all Means possible to qualify our selves for the blessed Enjoyment of this Supream Good and in order to that to cleanse our selves from all Filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit and to Purify our selves as he is Pure Yes we should the Love of God would easily constrain us to all this and the serious application of our
Interest any otherwise than as by loving I acknowledge and bear witness to the excellency and amiableness of the Object beloved That therefore which is excellent in Love is not my Coveting the Divine Good which I do purely for my own Pleasure and Profit but my bearing witness to it And yet even here Praise will have the Preeminence because this acknowledges the Divine Perfections Directly and Expressly which the other does only Implicitly and by Consequence So that in every respect Praise and Thanksgiving will be found to be the greatest honour and glorification of God which sufficiently establishes the Proposition laid down That the most principal and most acceptable part of Religion consists in Praise and Thanksgiving And here before I go any further give me leave by the way First to deplore the general defect of our common â—oâ—â—t-Devotions Secondly To commend the excellent Constitution of our Publick Liturgy As to the First 't is a sad thing to consider that so Divine and so Angelical a Service as that of Praise and Thanksgiving which is so highly preferred in the Sacred Writings and which the Man after God's own Heart was so very eminent and remarkable for the Burthen of whose Devotion lay in Anthems and Alleluiahs should be so neglected and so little regarded as it is That that which is so much the imployment and business of Heaven should be so little valued upon Earth and what the Angels esteem so Divine a Service should have so little share in the Devotions of Men. There are but few even of the Devouter sort that are duly sensible of the excellency of Praise and those that have a considerable sense of it are generally very backward to the Duty and very cold in the Performance Our Necessities often call us to our Prayers and supply us with Devotion in them but as for praise it seems a dead and heartless Service and we care not how seldom or how indifferently it be performed Which common Backwardness of ours the Scripture also supposes by its earnest and frequent Exhortations to this Duty But the Church of England to her great Commendation be it spoken proceeds by another Measure in her Devotions enjoyning Praise as largely and as frequently as Prayer she has taken her Copy from the Man after God's own Heart and as Hosannah and Alleluiah Prayer unto God and Praises of God divide the whole Book of Psalms so do they her Liturgy which is a Service of Praise as well as of Prayer This the Church admonishes us of in the very Preface and Entrance of her Excellent Service telling us that we Assemble and Meet together to render Thanks for the great Benefits that we have received at God's hands and to set forth his most worthy Praise Then the Priest Praise ye the Lord to which the People The Lord's Name be Praised And this is done in all our Hymns as the Venite O come let us Sing unto the Lord c. And in that noble Hymn called the Te Deum We Praise thee O God we acknowledge thee to be the Lord. Thus again in the Benedictus Blessed be the Lord God of Israel c. where we bless God for the. Redemption of the World by Christ which also we do in the Jubilate and in the Blessed Virgins Magnificat My Soul does magnify the Lord c. So again in the Cantate Domino and the Nunc Dimittis and Deus Misereatur Let the People praise thee O God let all the People praise thee Besides the Gloria Patri and many particular Offices of Thanksgiving and the whole Psalter of David which is a considerable part of the Church Service So truly sensible was the wisdom of our excellent Mother both of the great worth and importance of this Duty of Praise and of the general Back wardness and Coldness of Men in applying themselves to it But I proceed now in the Second place to consider what are the things we are chiefly concerned to Praise and Thank God for These in general are those things which relate to our Spiritual Concern and our grand Interest in another World for the same general Order is to be observed both in our Prayers and in our Praises and as we are chiefly to Pray for Spiritual Blessings so 't is for them that we are chiefly to return Thanks More particularly we are concerned to thank God as the Wisdom of our excellent Church directs us for his inestimable Love in the Redemption of the World by our Lord Jesus Christ for the means of Grace and for the hopes of Glory And among these means of Grace I think we are not in the last place concerned to thank him for disposing us in such outward circumstances of Life as are advantagious to our Salvation it being hardly imaginable how much the diversity of these contributes to our Living well or ill How many Persons of excellent Dispositions of great Attainments and of greater Hopes have we known to be utterly spoiled and ruined meerly by falling into ill hands as we have it recorded of the young Disciple of St. John in Ecclesiastick Story And so again on the other hand how many Persons of Vicious Inclinations and more vicious Lives have been diverted out of the Road of Destruction meerly by some accidental Occurrence some little Providential hit that happened to cross their way There is an Ingenious Gentleman of considerable Character and Figure in the Learned World who makes that Grace of God whereby he conducts Men to Holiness and Happiness to be nothing else but only a happy train or disposition of external Circumstances and Occurrences As suppose a Man falls into some very sharp Affliction which works him into a softness and tenderness of Mind while he is under this sensible and pliant disposition he happens to meet with a good Book which strikes upon the same String of his Soul after this he lights into good Company where the former Disposition receives a new and further improvement and so on in a train of Accidents the latter still renewing the Impression of the former till at length the Man is perfectly brought over to a new Order and Habit both of Mind and Life Now though for several weighty Reasons too many to be here alledged I cannot be of this Gentleman's Mind so far as to make the Divine Grace which in Scripture is frequently ascribed to the Holy Spirit of God working within us to be nothing else but a course of well-laid Circumstances yet I may and must needs say that I think the outward Circumstances of Life have a very great stroke upon the moral conduct of it and that the success of inward Grace does very much depend upon outward Occurrences For not to argue from the different manner of Education upon which the quality of our future life does generally as much depend as the fortune of the Boul does upon its delivery out of the Hand 't is common and easy to observe that some Men are