all things written in the book of the law to do them Gal. 3.10 and it is written Deut. 27.26 2. It may be meant thus not that he is guilty of all distributively for it is supposed that he hath kept all the rest but collectively as Estius notes for that he doth transgress the law which is a collection of all precepts namely as the law is one copulative As the whole face is said to be hurt when but one part is hurt as Isidor Clarius notes But 3. He is said to be guilty of all because he doth offend against him that did give all he violates that absolute and supreme authority by which all is established and so doth by way of interpretation in effect transgress all in as much as he doth sin against that Majesty by which all was equally imposed And this Exposition is agreeable to what followeth in the Apostle For he that said Thou shall not commit adultery said also Thou shalt not kil and thus every Commandment even of the second Table doth oblige our obedience upon the consideration of the same Law-maker God Had the Laws of the second Table been no more then humane had they had no other Majesty for their sanction but such as breatheth in the clay we might then have conceived an alleviation of the fault in compare with Commandements purely Divine And yet also Humane laws do bind in the virtue of a law Divine that we should be obedient to them the matter being lawful but since all the Precepts which respect our neighbor have one and the same authority with the rest and were informed by the same eternal Majewy we can have no excuse for our disobedience specially if we do withall take notice that God in Scripture hath given us such signification of his will that sometime he would have us perfer our duty of obedience to those of the second Table before those of the first Table when the matter of the first Table is ceremonial and the case of the second Table is necessary then that word of God takes place I will have mercy and not sacrifice For the laws of the second Table are moral and commanded because they are good the ceremonials of the first Table are positive and therefore good because commanded Now though in Divine Commandements we are not to look at the matter but intuitively the Author yet when he gives us a law to prefer the matter we shall not be obedient to the Author unless we do as he biddeth us And these practical notions God hath so ingraven in our rational natures that they bear as great a relation to our practical understandings as speculative principles to the contemplative And therefore they doe remain in man notwithstanding the fall because the nature of man cannot be conserved without them They are kept in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is that part of Conscience wherein are laid up the rules for action that by the light of them it may direct and if we do otherwise or not so may correct and burn 4. Another cause of Christians defectiveness in the point of morality may in part be from Satan who doth so much vie with God as we may speak for obedience and service And therefore he doth mightily endevour to disgrace and slurre the profession of Religion by the most sordid and base actions of unrighteousness in the Professors thereof so that men may be moved to abhor the practice of piety for the sakes of those who do most abuse it because they do but use it for better expedition of their iniquities To this purpose the Devil who is influxive into the phansie doth raise and stir up the dainty imaginations of felicity in things temporal that the phansie kindled may inflame the affections and the affections inflamed may in an heat and tumult mutiny against the counsel and command of Conscience to have their satisfaction For did not the populacy of these affections interpose against the dictates of reason and conscience in point of action no more then they do against reason in point of assent to principles speculative we could not be so full as we are of evil deeds But as evill words corrupt good manners so evil manners by custom corrupt our principles of action And as no man does forget what naturally hee knows that the whole is greater then the part as Aquinas observeth so neither would we forget our selves in any wickedness to others but that love to our selves which the Devil tickleth our phansie with doth put in against the practice of what is right but not commodious for our interest Such the account why Christians are no better in their morals But indeed the main cause is yet behinde and it is this because they are not right Christians in profession such and that is all They are not real Christians they have nothing of Christ in them For if they had they would not for shame of the Christian world be outgone by Heathens in any actions which are fit for men If Christ dwelled in their hearts he should dwell there by Faith if by faith that worketh by love if by love it would shew it self in keeping Gods commandements and so piety in the root would be righteousness in the fruit Habits which are of a middle nature betwixt acts and powers are by God infusedly given to dispose the faculties to those acts which are regulated by the will of God either towards him or our selves or towards men And of those towards men we know the general rule which is both expressed and impressed that as we would have others do to us so we should do to them not that we should not do acts of righteousness upon higher motives but according to this proportion that general Axiom of practical reason is attendant according to the rule of society not the beight of duty We should do so to others as we would have others do to us but upon higher considerations namely in obedience to Gods command and to his glory for the good and good example of others And those who have grace in their hearts will do thus since the Image of God in their regeneration is renewed in righteousness and true holiness as the Apostle speaks And therefore those who are called Christians and are unrighteous are false Christians true hypocrites Those who are right are so far from taking away that which is anothers that they are ready according to their ability andoccasions to give unto others what is their own Quaintly therefore said the Christian Philosopher Athenagoras No Christian is bad unless he be an hypocrite CHAP. VI. NEed we to say any more of righteousness or for it to Christians A word to the wise is sufficient and are Christians fools Truly some are so far from wisdom that they account them fools who will not however take their opportunities of mending their secular conditions Alas if the wisdom be only this to feather our nests and to thrive in temporals
that was wrapt up into the third Heaven makes this the chief of the three because this will go up thither to be perfected there There is no more substantial virtue here for the very matter of it is substantial beside the morality of the affection and the spirituality of the end the very matter of this object is profitable unto others And so is not the matter of some other virtues 2. Other virtues even those two faith and hope they both draw towards us faith unites to the person and hope expects to the person but this charity as it hath relation to others puts from us and moves upon the inferior sphere of others Faith takes in into the minde hope looks out for the person but charity gives out Faith sees it and believes it as existent hope holds out the head to wait for it as coming but charity deals out that which is present to the use of others Without faith we could have no hope without hope we could not stay for our reward the heart would break but without charity faith were dead and hope too and the poor could not live and we should have no reward In the time of the Law none were to appear before the Lord empty at that great day none must appear before the Lord of glory empty of good works With such sacrifices God is well pleased Heb. 13.16 3. According to the minde of St. Paul Charity is the greater virtue of the three because charity is that virtue which shall remain in heaven because that is the fruitive virtue for by mediation of it we are joyned to God the chief good in glory Love is an affection of union unto the chief good which is the chief object and according to the degrees of the good which are apprehended so is the degree of this love and therefore the infinite good when it is acknowledged must infinitely ravish So the Schoolmen summum bonum the chief good being clearly seen doth ravish the will Therefore when in heaven we shall clearly see God to he the chief good we cannot chuse but infinitely as we are able desire him and delight in him for there we shal have as much as we can desire for it is alwayes present We are as in the Ocean of goodness and we have as much as we can take in Here we see him but confusely as it were to be the chief good and the interposition of other temporal good things doth hinder our clear sight of him yet according as we see him here we love him here but as the light in heaven shall be cleared so the love in heaven shall be perfected Faith which is in the nature of it imperfect though sufficient for its use shall sink into Vision Hope which is also imperfect in the nature though sufficient for its use that shall also sink into fruition those two graces shall not be perfected in heaven though they be imperfect here because their imperfection is in nature not in degree and therefore their imperfections shall not be made up in heaven but they shall cease in their acts which in the kinde of them were imperfect and accommodated only for this state here below but charity which hath alone the capacity of fruition proper to it that shall be perfected in heaven which was imperfect here because the imperfection of it was not in the nature of it but in the degree This virtue Theological in the nature of it is dispositive to go into the happiness of the chief good Here it hath not a full sight of the chief good but shall have in heaven then this virtue shall be always at ful And therefore he that hath not charity here which in the flame of it goeth up to God but with the heat of it warmeth those near it he shall not have glory for he hath not that which goes into glory by the perfection of its degrees He hath not that grace which shall be made glory Wherefore let not those talk of heaven which yet have nothing in them towards it God doth receive into the life of glory immediately upon his love of complacency which respects his children as being like him in goodness He cannot delight in for ever those who have not here some likeness to him and in what but charity For faith and hope belong not to God because they are imperfect in their kinde So then if we will not be charitable we must be miserable CHAP. VIII WE have spoken last of a virtue which makes more nearly a connexion betwixt obedience to the first and second Table and that is charity which hath the well-head plainly in the first Table for it is an internal duty the love of God yet streameth in the second Table to our Neighbour And this then may conveniently lead us to a little consideration of the point of piety wherein is the third part of our obedience to God And here God is the object of the internal and external act of our obedience for the actions of piety do not only regard him in his command and in the end of their performance but also in the object of the matter And therefore here comes in the godliness in a proper sense because here the matter respects God immediately For this shall every one that is godly make his prayer unto thee in a time when thou mayst be found Psal 32.6 This prayer is an act of piety wherein we acknowledge God in his Beeing and in his Attributes Omniscience Omnipresence Wisdome Power Justice Goodness Faithfulness to his promise He hath given us a commandement and a promise together of it Psal 50.15 Call upon me in the time of trouble and I will hear thee and thou shalt praise me This act of religious worship doth properly belong to God so he saith Call upon me in the time of trouble and I will hear thee and thou shalt praise me which personalities seem to be exclusive Call upon me and I will hear thee and thou shalt praise me our commandement is to God our hearing we have from God himself our object of praise is God himself We have no order to pray to Saint or Angel we have no certainty they do hear us we have no leave much less injunction to praise them because they cannot perform our requests Hereupon the Pontifician is put to distinctions two or three First they do not pray to Saints or Angels so as that by them the prayers of those on earth should be made known to God for they deny not that he hears them but so that by their merits and prayers those requests should receive accomplishment as Aquinas distinguisheth in his 2 da. 2 dae 83. q. 4. ar To which is added another distinction that the Saints or Angels are not immediate to God as if they were above Christ for they confess Christ to be the next Mediator to God but they are they say Mediators betwixt us and Christ To which two distinctions one text is sufficient
transcendent It is not sufficient for thee to have the nature of a singte virtue but thou must have many to thy complexion Thou art not a virtue of one denomination but art truly Catholick If thou shouldst be any one herb thou shouldst be grace or as that Heliotrope amongst flowers which constantly followeth the motion of the Sun of Righteousness but thou art a compound of most wholesome hearbs and a posie of most delicate flowers Thou art not a Star but a Constellation Thou art often private but never alone The Virgins that be her fellows shall bear her company as the Psalmist speaks He that is not good in all virtues is good in none but this is an universality by consequence and holds true even unto singular virtues since there is the same root and reason of all But this goodness is a general virtue in the very nature of it as we commonly understand it as it is said of Justice that it is every virtue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Namely because the legal justice doth order all acts of other virtues unto the publick civil good And as it is said by Divines of holiness that it doth direct and determine all actions unto a divine end the glory of God even so is goodness an universal virtue which doth apply and dispose all the operations to a good end although it hath some more respect to charity as holiness hath unto piety if we consider them more strictly Strictly indeed some of the Jews before our Saviours Incarnation did take the notion of it when they distinguished for morality men into three sorts some wicked some just some good So is interpreted most-what their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And these three kindes of men had their kindes of sayings the first this That which is mine is mine and that which is thine is mine And what then are they amongst us which in effect say as much that all belongs to them and no body hath any right to any thing but they The second sort said thus That which is mine is mine and that which is thine is thine The third sort said thus That which is thine is thine and that which is mine is thine they would not take away from others but would give unto others these were the good men And to this distinction of men as is thought by some St. Paul alledes for the commendation of Gods love to us by Christ Rom. 5 7 8. For scarcely for a just man will one dye yet for a good man one peradventure would even dare to dye but God commendeth his love to us in that when we were sinners wicked Christ dyed for us Yet for a good man which is more then just one it may be would dare to dye This was their notion then of goodness in a supereminence to justice in the restraint of acception We shall speak of it here more largely as it hath it self in every virtue not as exceeding any but as running through all For this is a very busie thing and will have a hand and somewhat to do in every action if it be in men as at home O that it were at home It is too much a stranger with us and will scarce stay so long with us as to have the picture of it taken And we cannot take measure of it to fit it with sutable conceits and terms It will not be familiar to understanding until we have it in fruition of God We cannot here get enough of it for our use It runs away as it were from us because we do not give it good entertainment But let us follow it that we may overtake it And let us so carry our selves as to be accounted at least well wishers to it It will not be marryed in this life yet we may love it It is like Truth which is always a Virgin though some would corrupt her and have her proper to them so is goodness always single not as not having many virtues of the same conjugation but no husband Some like the Donatists would have it go along altogether with them and not so much as look upon any other which is not of their Congregation But goodness never took parts It is for practise not for faction It goes right on it loves no sides and those who would have it belong to their party they are not yet acquainted with its disposition which is to be loved of all It should have all corrivals but in love not only to it but one another He that would not have others to be esteemed virtuous would have such wares in his shop only that so he might have all the custome and more price for them Hypocrisie doth not love to be outblazed Nor doth a Sect endure to be outshined in a shew of sanctity But how little hath he of goodness that hath none of charity and how little hath he of charity that thinks what others have he hath not and what he hath others have not He that shrinketh and pincheth this goodness into a separate confederacy lesseneth the Church of Christ by many and is in danger of not esteeming others better then himself which is the precept of the Apostle and so is in peril of lessening the Invisible Church by himself He that phansieth he cannot be good unless others be naught is certainly naught because others are good As if we were injurious to other mens credits because we endevour to be as good as they not in hatred or envy of them but in love of virtue As if we might not build higher in good works because our superstructure stands in their light Oh! let us take heed of such Impropriations we had better impropriate Tithes then Goodness for every part of goodness is holy to God And this belongs to every one to have Therefore let me not love goodness if I would not have it more common then it is or some would think so But since thou art like glory in heaven communicable to all without detriment to any let me not imagine that I can have the less because others have more but let me have more because I would have others have more And since O blessed Saviour out of thy pierced side did flow both bloud to pardon and water to cleanse let the bloud if thou pleasest be as large as the worth of it and let the water be as common as common water I shall fare the better by the Communion of Saints and am likely to be more good if more be good Oh let me not be near the Devil in envie of good lest I be ever with him and always envy it But let me be like unto thee O Lord who art good to all and wouldst have all good So make me good to all as much as may be and contented to be the worst of all the world not by my badness but by others excellency And because the World is now in its decrepit age and ready to be dissolved make it O blessed God before its end
starve the virtue and the poor together Take it for an honour from God that he hath made thee able to be like him in doing good As he said it is good to be Gods Alms-man but it is better to be his Almoner Because the Papists think to merit by their good works do thou communicate more lest thou dost decline their errour by another Distinguish betwixt their Substantives and their Adjectives in Religion Shall not we pray or fast because they make a sat is faction in them Their actions in Religion are due in their substance their conceit of merit is added When two do the same thing it is not the same thing done as the rule is Because others herein deal with God by way of commutative justice wilt thou shew no mercy to the poor Because others require infinite use for their money given by manner of debt wilt not thou put out thy money to use upon Gods favour such use as will not bite thy neighbor and yet may increase thy own Let us vindicate our Doctrine from their slanders by our works And let us shew it to be as necessary for us to do good works as for them though we do not hold them to be meritorious and more because no man can rightly be said to be bound to merit but when salvation is freely given us we are the more obliged to do good works in duty and thankfulness and ingenuity We are not at liberty herein because we are plenarily redeemed by Christ without any purchase of ours but because we are thus redeemed we are more bound I have heard of one who commended in three sorts of men three several things good works of the Papist sound faith of the Protestant good chear of the Puritane But let the sound faith of the Protestant work by love and chear the poor that the Pontifician may be ashamed to impute the want of our practise to the severity of our tenet Whosoever separated that which is just from that which is profitable is under Socrates's curse as Clem. Alexandrinus hath it and to be sure he that separateth true charity from right faith is not like to have Gods blessing And he is not like neither to have a good word given him from man that will not do a good work to man Do not thou shut up thy bowels Christian but open thy heart and thy hand and do not say the times are hard for if thou pleadest that thou canst hardly live with that thou hast how shall they live who have nothing nor work but good works of others to live upon But charity begins at home Yes therefore communicate lay it out for advantage traffique with it Improve it Pay Tithes that you may be rich as the Jew said and scatter thy seed and give it to the poor that thou mayst have a good harvest Riches are rather in the use then in the possession said he in his Rhetoricks And he is rich not that hath much but that hath given much as St. Chrysostom Dorcas was full of good works which she had done Act. 9.36 She had done them as we may gloss and she was full of them We are full of nothing more then that we have done well Shall I give my bread and my meat But who said it Nabal and folly was with him The fool nabal hath said in his heart there is no God They think there is no God to whom these things in propriety do belong In respect of one another we have a propriety but in respect of God we are but as Stewards and dispensers of these things to all as they have need but specially to the houshold of faith All the world is Gods great house we are to take care of all but specially of his children Yet we cannot be deceived in the object if we finde him to be man God hath given him in his nature a ticket to thee for his entertainment If thou dost shut him out of thy house take heed God doth not shut thee out of heaven If he be bad yet it is good for thee to do him good that he may be better Thou canst not do ill in doing as God doth And he doth good to them who are not good Either thou art not good or thou hast been not good if thou art not good what would become of thee should God deal with thee as thou dealest with him if thou hast been naught remember what mercie God hath shewed to thee and do thou likewise Therefore let thy love be as universal as man There is no man a stranger to thy nature And did not he that made thee make him Have we not al one Father as is said Abraham said of Sarah that she was indeed his sister for she was the daughter of his father though not the daughter of his mother although the tearms be taken largely according to the manner of the language so he whosoever he is is thy brother and he is the child of thy Father God though he be not the childe of thy Mother Ierusalem which is above which is the Mother of us all as the Apostle speaks Were he thine Enemy yet thou must love him otherwise thou art not thy heavenly Fathers own childe A Christian is one that hath no enemy as one of the Fathers said he hath enemies and he hath not enemies he hath enemies to him such as hate him but he hath no enemies from him such as he hates There is not such another creature in the world as a Christian if he be right as there is not a worse creature in the world if he be false For then he is a white Devil and worse as white then as Devil What shall we do with him where shall we have him If he were not a promising Christian we would not trust him If he were not an hypocritical Christian he would not deceive us But a true real Christian is one of the Admirables under heaven Nay indeed there is none but he And declaratively towards men all that he is he is by charity whereby his spirit and affection goeth over all the world in an universal diffusion and would do had it efficacy good to all the Earth at once but would serve those which are good in a special intention First it wraps all men together in one community of notion but in particular consideration would prefer those whom God hath preferred Thou hast not where withal to give thy neighbor grace for it exceeds morality but have the grace to give more to those who are virtuous because it is more of charity As for any exhortations to this virtue there is no need of any to those who know more delight in it then in any thing else We have reason to love it for it is love He that doth not hath a misery in the negative greater then in the contrary St. Paul giveth it the prelacy 1 Cor. 13. ult Those three are the three Worthies amongst the Theological virtues And he