a gracious Master and thus the Child does with respectful Love meet the tenderness of his Parent and the Wisdom and Vertue which sometimes raises some one happy Mortal above the common size and height of Mankind does not surely diminish but increase the Affection and the Pleasure of his Friends that enjoy him Again the Nature of Enjoyment varies according to the various Faculties of the Soul and the senses of the Body One way we enjoy Truth and another Goodness One way Beauty and another Harmony and so on These things considered I saw there was no necessity in order to make God the Object of our Fruition either to bring Him down to any thing unworthy of his Glory or to exalt our selves to a Height we are utterly uncapable of I easily saw that we who love and adore God here should when we enter into his Presence admire and love him infinitely more For God being infinitely amiable the more we contemplate the more clearly we discern his Divine Perfections and Beauties the more must our Souls be inflamed with a Passion for Him And I have no Reason to doubt but that God will make us the most gracious Returns of our Love and express His Affections for us in such Condescensions in such Communications of Himself as will transport us to the utmost Degree that created Beings are capable of Will not God that sheds abroad his Love in our Hearts by his Spirit here fully satisfie it hereafter will not God who fills us here with the Joy of his Spirit by I know not what inconceivable ways communicate Himself in a more ravishing and Ecstatick manner to us when we shall behold him as he is and live for ever encircled in the Arms of his Love and Glory Upon the whole then I cannot but believe that the Beatifick Vision will be the Supream Pleasure of Heaven yet I do not think that this is to exclude those of an inferiour Nature God will be there not only all but in all We shall see him as he is and we shall see him reflected in Angels and all the Inhabitants of Heaven nay in all the various Treasures of that Happy Place but in far more bright and lovely Charcters than in his Works here below This is a state now that answers all Ends and satisfies all Appetites let 'em be never so various never so boundless Temporal Good nay a state accumulated with all temporal Goods has still something defective something empty in it That which is crooked cannot be made straight and that which is wanting cannot be numbred And therefore the Eye is not satisfied with seeing nor the Ear with hearing but all things are full of Labour Man cannot utter it And if this were not the state of temporal Things yet that one Thought of Solomon that he must leave them makes good the Charge of Vanity and Vexation And the contrary is that which compleats Heaven namely that it is Eternal Were Heaven to have an End that End would make it None That Death would be as much more intolerable than this here as the Joys of Heaven are above those of Earth For the Terrour and the Evil of it would be to be estimated by the Perfection of that Nature and Happiness which it would put an End to To Dye in Paradise amidst a Crowd of Satisfactions how much more intollerable were this than to Dye in those accursed Regions that bred continually Briars and Brambles Cares and Sorrows And now I doubt not but every one will readily acKnowledge that an Heaven were it believed were such a Fruit of Christian Liberty such a Motive to it as none could resist Did I believe this have I heard one say I would quit my Trade and all Cares and Thoughts of this World and wholly apply my self to get that other you talk of There was no need of going thus far But this shews what the natural Influence of this Doctrine of a Life to come is and that it is generally owing to Infidelity where 't is frustrated and defeated What is in this Case to be done what Proof what Evidences are sufficient to beget Faith in him who rejects Christianity and all Divine Revelation He that hears not Moses and the Prophets Christ and his Apostles neither will he believe though one rose from the dead This Doctrine of a Life to come was generally believed by the Gentile World It was indeed very much obscur'd but never extinguished by the Addition of many fabulous and superstitious Fancies so strong was the Tradition or Reason or rather both on which 't was built The Jews universally embraced it The general Promises of God to Abraham and his Seed and the several Shadows and Types of it in the Mosaick Institution did confirm them in the Belief of a Doctrine which I do not doubt had been transmitted to them even from Enoch Noah and all their pious Ancestors Nor must we look upon the Sadduces amongst the Jews or the Epicureans amongst the Gentiles to be any Objection against this Argument of a Life to come founded in Tradition and the universal Sense of Mankind because they were not only inconsiderable compared to the Body of the Jewish or Pagan World but also Desertors and Apostates from the Philosophy and Religion received To what End should I proceed from the Gentile and Jew to the Christian were Christianity entertained as it ought the very supposal of any Doubt concerning a Life to come would be impertinent Here we have numerous Demonstratitions of it Not only the Fortune of Vertue in this Life which is often very calamitous but even the Origine and Nature of it do plainly evince a Life to come For to what End can the Mortification of the Body by Abstractions and Meditations be enjoyned if there be no Life to come What need is there of Renovation or Regeneration by the Word and Spirit of God were there no Life to come One would think ' the common End of this natural Life might be well enough secured upon the common Foundation of Reason and Human Laws What should I here add the Love of God and the Merits of Jesus from both which we may derive many unanswerable Arguments of a Life to come For though when we reflect upon it it appears as much above our Merit as it is above our Comprehension yet when we consider that Eternal Life is the Gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord what less than an Heaven can we expect from an infinite Merit and Almighty Love The Love of God must be Perfect as Himself and the Merits of Jesus must be estimated by the Greatness of his Person and his Sufferings He that cannot be wrought upon by these and the like Gospel-Arguments will be found I doubt impenetrable to all others 'T is in vain to argue with such a one from natural Topicks and therefore I will stop here I should now pass on to the Third Thing the Attainment of Christian Liberty But
the Children of God and if Children then Heirs heirs of God and joynt-heirs with Christ And now 't is no wonder if the Perfect Man long for the Revelation of the Glory of the Sons of God if he cry out in Rapture if God be for me who can be against me who shall lay any thing to the Charge of God's Elect who shall seperate me from the Love of Christ and so on If any one would see the Perfect Man described in Fewer words he needs but cast his Eye on Rom. 6.22 But now being made free from Sin and become Servants to God ye have your Fruit unto Holiness and the end everlasting Life CHAP. II. This Notion of Perfection countenanced by all sides AFter I have shewed that this Notion of Perfection is warranted by Reason and Scripture I see not why I should be very Solicitous whether it do or do not clash with the Opinions of Men. But the Truth is if we examine not so much the Expressions and Words as the Sense and Meaning of all Parties about this Matter we shall find them well enough agreed in it at the bottom And 't is no wonder if notwithstanding several incidental Disputes they should yet agree in the Main Since the Experience of Mankind does easily teach us what sort of Perfection Human Nature is capable of and what can or can not actually be attained by Man The Pelagians did not contend for an Angelical Perfection nor St. Austin deny such a one as was truly suitable to Man the one could not be so far a Stranger to Human Nature as to exempt it in Reality from those Errors and Defects which the best of Men complain of and labour against Nor was St. Austin so little acquainted with the Power of the Gospel and of the Spirit as not to be well enough assured that Man might be Habitually Good and that such were influenced and acted by a firm Faith and a fervent Love and well grounded Hope The Dispute between Them then concerning Perfection did not consist in This whether Men might be Habitually good This was in Reality acknowledg'd on Both sides Nor whether the best Men were subject to Defects for This too Both sides could not but be sensible of but in these two things especially First what was to be attributed to Grace what to Nature And this relates not to the Definition or Essence of Perfection but to the Source and Origine of it Secondly whether those Irregular Motions Defects and Errors to which the best Men were subject were to be accounted Sins or not Neither the one side nor the other then as far as I can discern did in truth mistake the Nature of Human Perfection Each placed it in Habitual Righteousness The one contended for no more nor did the other contend for less in the Perfect Man And when the one asserted him free from Sin he did not assert him free from Defects And while the other would not allow the best Man to be without Sin they did not by Sin understand any thing else but such Disorders Oppositions to or Deviations from the Law of God as the Pelagian himself must needs own to be in the Perfect Man The Dispute then was not what Man might or might not attain to for Both sides agreed him capable of the same Habitual Righteousness Both sides allowed Him subject to the same Frailties But one side would have these Frailties accounted Sins and the other would not Numerous indeed have been the Controversies between the Popish and Reformed Churches about Precept and Counsel Mortal and Venial Sin the Possibility of fulfilling the Law of God the Merit of Good Works and such-like But after all if we enquire what that Height of Virtue is to which the best of Men may arrive what those Frailties and Infirmities are to which they are subject 't were I think easie to shew that the Wise and Good are on all hands agreed about this Nor does it much concern my present purpose in what sense or on what account Papists think some sins Venial and Protestants deny them to be so since neither the one nor the other exempt the Perfect Man from Infirmities nor assert any other Height or Perfection then what consists in a consummate and well establish'd Habit of Virtue Some Men may and do talk very extravagantly But it is very hard to imagine that Sober and Pious Men should run in with them Such when they talk of Fulfilling the Law of God and keeping his Commandments must surely understand this of the Law of God in a Gracious and Equitable sense And this is no more then what the Scripture asserts of every sincere Christian When they talk of I know not what transcendant Perfection in Monkery they must surely mean nothing more then that Poverty Chastity and Obedience are Heroick Instances of Faith and Love of Poverty of Spirit and Purity of Heart and that an Ascetick Discipline is the most compendious and effectual way to a Consummate Habit of Righteousness Finally by the Distinction of Precept and Counsel such can never intend surely more then This that we are obliged to some things under pain of Damnation to others by the Hopes of greater Degrees of Glory For 't is not easie for me to comprehend that any Man whose Judgment is not enslav'd to the Dictates of his Party should deny either of these two Truths 1. That whatever is neither forbidden nor commanded by any Law of God is Indifferent 2. That no Man can do more then love the Lord his God with all his Heart with all his Soul and with all his Might and his Neighbour as himself I say there is no Degree or Instance of Obedience that is not comprised within the Latitude and Perfection of these Words But whatever some of the Church of Rome or it may be the greater part of it may think This 't is plain was the Sense of the Ancients St. Austin (a) Quaecunque non jubentur sed speciali consilio monentur tum recté fiunt cum referuntur ad deligendum Deum proximum propter Deum Aug. Euch. cap. 121. could never understand any Merit or Excellence in those things that were Matter of Counsel not Precept unless they flowed from and had regard to the Love of God and our Neighbour And Cassian's (b) Ac proinde ea quibus qualitates Statutas videmus tempora quae sic observata sanctificant ut omissa non polluant Media esse manifestum est ut puta Naptias agriculturam divitias solitudinis Remotionem c. Cassian Colla. Patr. Talem igitur Definitionem supra Jejunii c. Nec in ipso spei nostrae terminum defigamus sed ut per ipsum ad puritatem Cordis Apostolicam Charitatem pervenire possimus ibid. Excellent Monks resolved all the value of such things to consist in their tendency to promote Apostolical Purity and Charity And Gregory Nazianzen (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greg.
several Particular deductions to lay every Man's State as plainly open to his View as I can 1st Then from the Notion I have given of Perfection it appears That if a Man's Life be very Vneven Unconstant and Contradictory to it self if he be to day a Saint and to morrow a Sinner if he yield to day to the Motives of the Gospel and Impulses of the Spirit and to morrow to the Sollicitations of the Flesh and Temptations of the World he is far from being Perfect so far that there is not ground enough to conclude Him Sincere or Real though Imperfect Convert The only certain Proof of Regeneration is Victory he that is born of God over-cometh the World 1 Joh. 5.4 Faith though it be True is not presently Saving and Justifying till it have subdued the Will and captivated the Heart i. e. till we begin to Live by Faith which is evident from That Corn in the Parable which though it shot up yet had it not Depth of Earth nor Root enough and therefore was withered up and brought forth no fruit Regret and Sorrow for Sin is an Excellent Passion but till it has subdued our Corruptions chang'd our Affections and purified our Hearts 't is not that Saving Repentance in the Apostle 2 Cor. 7.10 Godly sorrow worketh Repentance not to be repented of We may have some sudden Heats and Passions for Vertue but if they be too short liv'd to implant it in us this is not that Charity or Love which animates and impregnates the New Creature mentioned Gal. 5.6 Faith working by Love Lastly we may have good Purposes Intentions nay Resolutions but if these prove too weak to obtain a Conquest over our Corruptions if they prove too weak to resist the Temptations we were wont to fall by 't is plain that they are not such as can demonstrate us Righteous or entitle us to a Crown which is promised to him that overcometh And here I cannot but remark to how little purpose Controversies have been multiplied about the Justification of Man 'T is one thing for God to justifie us i. e. to Pardon our Sins and account us Righteous and his Children and another for us to know or be assured that he does so If we enquire after the former 't is plain to me that no Man can be accounted Righteous by God till he really is so And when the Man is Sanctified throughout in Spirit Soul and Body then is he certainly Justified and not till then And this I think is confessed by all except Antinomians and whatever Difference there is amongst Christians in this Matter it lies in the Forms and Variety of Expression They that contend earnestly for the Necessity of Good works do not I suppose imagine that the Works are Holy before the Heart is so for as is the Fountain such will be its Streams as is the Tree such will be its Fruits What Absurdity then is there in admitting that Men are justified before they bring forth Good Works if they cannot bring forth Good Works till they be Sanctified and Chang'd On the other hand they who contend so earnestly for Justification by Faith without Works do not only suppose that the Man is throughly changed by the Infusion of Habitual Grace but also that this Grace as soon as it has opportunity will exert and express it self in good Works And they do readily acknowledge that the Faith which does not work by Love is an Historical Unanimated Faith And if so how natural is it to comprise in that Holiness which justifies not only the change of the Heart but of the Actions But here I think it is well worth the considering whether that thorough Change in the nature of a Sinner which is called Holiness be now effected at once and in a moment and not rather gradually and in time For this may give some light to the Doctrine of Justification and draws off from Speculations and Theories to more Useful and Practical Thoughts and Discourses about it 'T is true in the Primitive times when the Conviction of a Sinner was wrought by a dazling light by Surprising Miracles by Exuberant Influxes of the Spirit and the Concurrence of many extraordinary things Sanctification as in the Goaler and his Family Act. 16. might be begun and finished in the same hour But I doubt it is rarely so with us at this day our Vices are not so suddenly subdued nor our Vertues so suddenly implanted Our Convictions in the Beginning of Conversion are seldom so full and clear as Theirs And if we may judge by the Effects 't is but seldom that the Principle of a New Life is infus'd in the same Plenty and Power it appears to have been in Them And if so then these things will follow 1. Though in the first Plantation of the Gospel Men being converted as it were in a Moment ingrafted by Baptism into Christ and receiving the Holy Ghost the Earnest of their Justification or Acceptance with God and their future Glory We may very well say of them that they were not only Justified but also knew themselves to be so before they had brought forth any other Fruit of Righteousness than what was implied in the Dedication of themselves to Christ by that solemn Rite of Baptism but at this day when Conversion is not effected in the same manner when Faith and Good Works do mutually cherish one another when Righteousness is not brought forth into victory but by long labour and travel I see not why Faith and Good Works may not be pronounced jointly and antecedently necessary to our Justification 2. The Doctrine of Infused Habits has been much ridiculed and exposed as absurd by some Men and I must confess if it be Essential to a Habit to be acquired by length of time and repetition of the same Acts then an Infus'd Habit is a very Odd Expression But why God cannot produce in us those strong Dispositions to Vertue in a Moment which are naturally produced by Time or why we may not ascribe as much efficacy to Infus'd Grace as Philosophers are wont to do to repeated Acts I cannot see Nor can I see why such Dispositions when Infus'd may not be called Habits if they have all the Properties and Effects of an Habit. And that such excellent Dispositions were on a sudden wrought in the Minds of Christians in the beginning of Christianity is too plain from the History of those times to need a proof But whether such Changes are ordinarily effected so suddenly at this day we have much reason to doubt nay I think it appears from what I have said there is sufficient reason to deny it And if so the Infusion of Habits cannot be so properly insisted on now as then and we may be more subject to make unwarrantable Inferences from the Doctrine of Infus'd Habits then they were in those bright and Miraculous days 3. As our Progress to Sanctification must be slower then formerly as it must be longer before
with the other One would think now that there should be nothing further needful to establish the Consolation of a Christian and yet God out of regard no doubt to the vast Importance and happy Influence of Assurance has furnished us with another ground of it which is The Third and Last namely the Testimony of the Spirit This Spirit as it assists us in our Examination so it ratifies and confirms our Sentence by its suffrage fortifying our assurance and increasing our Joy All this the Scripture expresly teaches us for the Spirit is called The earnest of our Inheritance the Seal of our Redemption Eph. 1.13 14. Eph. 4.30 31. 2 Cor. 2.10 2 Cor. 5. And though it be not improbable but that these and such like Places may relate more immediately to that Spirit of Promise which was conspicuous in Miracles and seems to have accompanied all that believed in the Infancy of the Church according to those Words of our Saviour And these signs shall follow them that believe in my Name shall they cast out Devils c. Mark 16 17. Yet are there Texts enough which assure us that the Spirit of God should be imparted to believers through all succeeding Ages and that this should be one effect of it to comfort us and be a pledge to us of the Divine Favour thus Rom. 15.13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that ye may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost and Rom. 8.15 16. For ye have not received the Spirit of bondage again to fear but ye have received the Spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba Father the Spirit it self beareth witness with our Spirit that we are the Children of God and if Children then heirs heirs of God and joynt heirs with Christ If it be here demanded what this Testimony of the Spirit is I answer 't is a Powerful Energy of the blessed Spirit shedding abroad and encreasing the Love of God in our Hearts Rom. 5. Tribulation worketh Patience Patience Experience and Experience Hope and Hope makes not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our Hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us This is the Spirit of Adoption the Spirit of Obsignation the Spirit of Glory and the Spirit of Love happy is he who is partaker of it he has attained the Maturity of Perfection and Pleasure I can scarce forbear going in with some of the Fathers who thought that such as these could never finally fall I can scarce forbear applying to such those words Rev. 20.6 Blessed and Holy is he that hath part in the first Resurrection on such the second Death hath no power Thus far have I considered Assurance as it relates to the present time But 2. Assurance may regard the Time to come and it conduces very little less to the Peace and Pleasure of a Christian to be assured that he shall persevere in a good State then that he is now in one Let us therefore in the next place examine what grounds the Perfect Man may have for such a perswasion Now these are likewise three First The Propension and Favour of God for the Perfect Man Secondly The Sufficiency of Divine Assistance And Thirdly The Conscience of his own Integrity 1. The Favour of God I need not go about to prove that God will be ever ready to assist the Perfect Man I need not prove that his Eyes are always upon the Righteous and that his Ears are always open to their Prayers that they are the dear Objects of his Delight and Love Reason and Scripture both do abundantly attest this and the repeated Promises of God to good Men incourage them to hope from God whatever beloved Children may from a tender and kind Father Is not this enough then to inspire the Perfect Man with great and confident Hopes He knows not only that God is an immutable God free from all Levity and Inconstancy and therefore that nothing less then Presumptino and Obstinacy Habitual Neglect or Wickedness can Tempt him to recal his Gifts or repent him of his Favours He knows not only that God is faithful and will not suffer him to be Tempted above what he is able but he knows also that he has a powerful Intercessor at the Right-hand of God an Advocate with the Father who cannot but prevail Nor is this all yet he has a great many things that plead for him with God There are his Tears which are Botled up there are his Prayers and Alms which are gone up for a Memorial before God there is a Book of Remembrance written wherein all his pious Discourses are Registred and God is Faithful and cannot forget his Works and Labour of Love The Spirit of God will not soon quit the Bosom that it so long resided in it will not suffer it self to be divided from that Person with whom it had entered into so close an Vnion that it seemed as it were inanimated or incorporated with him and become essential to his Being Whence it is that the Spirit is said to be grieved when he is forced and compelled to retire 2. The Second Ground of Aslurance for the time to come is the sufficiency of Divine Assistance The good Man is well assured that God will never refuse the Protection of his Providence or the Aid of his Spirit And what can be too difficult for these Providence can prevent a Temptation or remove it the Spirit can support him under it and enable him to vanquish it nay it can enable him to extract new strength and vigour from it my Grace is sufficient for thee 2 Cor. 12.9 the Truth of which Assertion has been Illustriously proved by the victories of Martyrs and Confessors who have triumphed over United Force of Men and Devils Though then the Conscience of Human Frailty may awaken in the best of Men Fear and Caution the Assurance of Divine Assistance cannot but beget in them an Holy Confidence the Snares and Temptations of the World the subtilty and vigilance of the Devil may justly create a Sollicitude in the best of Men but when they consider themselves encompassed with the Divine Favour they can have no reason to despond 3. The Conscience of his own Integrity is a Third Ground of a good Man's Confidence he knows that nothing but crying Provocations can quench the Spirit and oblige God to desert him and he has reason to hope that this is that he cannot be guilty of He is sure that presumptuous Wickedness is not only repugnant to his Principles but to the very bent of his Nature to all the Inclinations and Passions of his Soul I speak here of the Perfect Man can he ever wilfully dishonour and disobey God who loves him above all things and has done so long Can he forsake and betray his Saviour who has long rejoyced and gloried in him who has been long accustomed to look upon all the Glories and Satisfactions of this Life as
good Soldier of Christ Jesus who firmly believes that He is now a Spectator and will very suddenly come to be a Judge and Rewarder of his sufferings How natural is it to run with Patience the Race that is set before us to him who has an Eternal Joy an Eternal Crown alway in his Eye And if a Life to come can make a Man rejoyce even in suffering Evil how much more in doing Good If it enable him to Conquer in the day of the Churches Tryal and Affliction how much more will it enable him to abound in all Vertues in the day of its Peace and Prosperity How freely will a Man give to the distressed Members of Christ who believes that he sees Christ himself standing by and receiving it as it were by their Hands and placing it to his own account to be repaid a thousand-fold in the great day of the Lord How easily will a Man allay the storms of Passion and cast away the weapon of Revenge and Anger with Indignation against himself if his Faith do but present him often with a view of that Canaan which the Meek in Heart shall inherit for ever How Importunately will a Man pray for the Pardon of Sin whose Sense whose Soul whose Imagination is struck with a dread of being for ever divided from God and excluded from the Joys and Vertues of the Blessed How fervently will a Man pray for the Spirit of God for the Increase of Grace whose Thoughts are daily swallowed up with the Contemplation of an Eternity and whose Mind is as fully possess'd of the certainty and the Glory of another World as of the emptiness and vanity of this How natural finally will it be to be poor in Spirit and to delight in all the Offices of an unfeigned Humility to that Man who has the Image of Jesus washing the feet of his Disciples and a little after Ascending up into Heaven alway before him But I know it will be here Objected we discern not this Efficacy you attribute to this Motive The Doctrine of another Life is the great Article of the Christian Faith and it is every where Preached throughout Christendom and yet Men generally seem to have as much fondness for this World as they could were there no other They practise no Vertues but such as are Profitable and Fashionable or none any further than they are so To this I answer though most act thus there are many I hope very many who do otherwise and that all in general do not proceeds from want either of due Consideration or firm Belief of this Doctrine of another Life First from not Considerating it as we should 'T is the greatest disadvantage of the Objects of Faith compared with those of Sense that they are distant and invisible He therefore that will be Perfect that will derive any Strength and Vertue from this Motive must supply this distance by devout and daily Contemplation he must fetch the remore objects of Faith home to him he must render them as it were present he must see and feel them by the strength of Faith and the force of Meditation which if he do then will his Faith certainly prove a vital and victorious Principle then will no Pleasure in this World be able to combate the assured Hopes of an Heaven nor any worldly Evil or difficulty sustained for Vertue be able to confront the Terrors of an Hell A Second Reason why this Motive doth not Operate as it should is want of Faith We doubt we waver we stagger or take things upon trust assenting very slightly and superficially to the Doctrine of another Life and looking upon good Works rather as not injurious to this World then serviceable to a better And then 't is no more wonder that the unbelieving Christian does not enter into Perfection and Rest than that the unbelieving Jew did not 'T is no more wonder if the word of Life do not profit the Christian when not believed by him then if it do not profit a Pagan who has never heard of it And what is here said of Infidelity is in its measure and proportion true when applyed to a weak and imperfect Faith He therefore that will be Perfect must daily pray Lord I Believe help thou mine unbelief He must daily Consider the Grounds on which the Faith and Hope of a Christian stand the express declarations of the Divine Will concerning the future Immortality and Glory of the Children of God the demonstrastration of this contained in the Resurrection of Jesus from the Dead and his Ascension and Session at the Right Hand of God And to this he may add the Love of God the Merits of Jesus and the State and Fortune of Vertue in this World From all which one may be able to infer the undoubted certainty of another World The Sum of all amounts to this whoever will be Perfect must daily I should I think have said almost hourly ponder the blessedness that attends Perfection in another Life he must ponder it seriously that he may be throughly perswaded of it he must ponder it often that the Notions of it may be fresh and lively in his Soul SECT II. Of the several Parts of Perfection WHat the several Parts of Religious Perfection are will be easily discerned by a very slight Reflection either on the Nature of Man or the general Notion of Perfection already laid down If we consider Man whose Perfection I am treating of as it is plain that he is made up of Soul and Body so 't is as plain that Moral Perfection relates to the Soul as the chief subject of it and to the Body no otherwise then as the Instrument of that Righteousness which is planted in the Soul Now in the Soul of Man we find these three things Vnderstanding Will and Affections In the Improvement and Accomplishment of which Human Perfection must consequently consist And if we enquire wherein this Improvement or Accomplishment lies 't is a Truth so obvious that it will not need any proof that Illumination is the Perfection of the Vnderstanding Liberty of the Will and Zeal of the Affections If in the next place we reflect upon the Description I have before given of Perfection nothing is more evident than that to constitute a firm Habit of Righteousness three things are necessary 1. The Knowledge of our Duty and our Obligations to it 2. The Subduing our Lusts and Passions that we may be enabled to perform it Lastly not only a free but warm and vigorous Prosecution of it In the first of these consists Illumination in the second Liberty and in the third Zeal Upon the whole then 't is evident both from the Nature of Perfection and of Man that I am now to treat in order of these three things Illumination Liberty and Zeal as so many Essential Parts of Religious Perfection Nor must I stop here but must to those three unavoidably add Humility For whether we consider the Sins of the
had nothing of internal Purity or solid Righteousness in it So that upon the whole the Jew and Gentile were alike wicked Only the Wickedness of the Jews had this Aggravation in it above that of the Gentiles that they enjoy'd the Oracles of God and the Favour of a peculiar Covenant This being the state of Darkness which lay upon the Face of the Jewish and Gentile World our Lord who was to be a Light to lighten the Gentiles and the Glory of his People Israel advanced and established in the World that Doctrine which directly tends to dispel these Errors and rescue Mankind from the Misery that attends them For all that the Gospel contains may be reduced to these three Heads First the Assertion of one only true God with a bright and full Revelation of his Divine Attributes and Perfection Secondly an Account of the Will of God or the Worship he delights in which is a Spiritual one together with suitable Means and Motives in which last is contained a full Declaration of Man's supream Happiness Thirdly the Revelation of one Mediator between God and Man the Man Christ Jesus through whom we have access with boldness to the Throne of Grace through whom we have obtained from the Father Grace and Pardon and Adoption and through whom Lastly all our Oblations and Performances are acceptable to Him The Design of this glorious Manifestation was to open Mens Eyes to turn them from Darkness to Light and from the Power of Satan to the Living God That they might obtain Remission of Sins and an Inheritance of Glory These then are the truths which Illuminated the Gentile and Jewish World And these are the truths which must Illuminate us at this day These dispel all destructive Errors that lead us to Vice or Misery These point out our supream Felicity and the direct way to it These open and enlarge the Eye of the Soul enable it to distinguish and judge with an unerring Exactness between Good and Evil between Substantial and Superficial Temporal and Eternal Good And I wish from my Soul whatever Light we pretend to at this Day we were well grounded and established in these Truths I doubt notwithstanding our Belief of one God and one Mediator and notwithstanding we are well enough assured that God who is a Spirit must be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth and notwithstanding our pretending to believe a Life to come I say I am afraid that notwithstanding these things we do generally err in two main points namely in the Notion we ought to have of Religion and the value we are to set upon the World and the Body For who that reflects upon the Pomp and Pride of Life upon the ease the softness and the luxury of it upon the frothiness and the freedom the vanity and Impertinence to say no worse of Conversation will not conclude that either we have renounced our Religion or form to our selves too complaisant and indulgent a Notion of it For is this the imitation of Jesus Is this to walk as he walked in the World Can this be the Deportment of Men to whom the World and the Body is Crucified Can such a Life as this is flow from those Divine Fountains Faith Love and Hope Who again can reflect upon the Passion we discover for Superiority and Precedence our thirst of Power our ravenous desire of VVealth and not conclude that we have mistaken our main End that we set a wrong value upon things and that whatever we talk of an Eternity we look upon this present World as our portion and most valuable Good For can such a tender concern for such an eager pursuit after temporal things flow from nay consist with purity of Heart and poverty of Spirit the Love of God and a Desire of Heaven Whoever then will be Perfect or Happy must carefully avoid both these Errors He must never think that Religion can subsist without the strength and vigour of our Affections Or that the Bent and Vigour of our Souls can be pointed towards God and yet the Air of our Deportment and Conversation be earthy sensual and vain conformed even to a Pagan Pride and shew of Life Next he must never cherish in himself the love of this World He must never look upon himself other than a Stranger and Pilgrim in it He must never be fond of the Pleasure of it He must never form vain Designs and Projects about it nor look upon the best things in it as ingredients of our Happiness but only as Instruments of Vertue or short Repasts and Refreshments in our Journey And because all our mistakes about the Nature and Perfection of Religion and the Value of Temporal things do generally arise from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that peculiar Sin to which our Constitution betrays us therefore the Knowledge of our selves an intimate Acquaintance with all our natural Propensions and Infirmities is no inconsiderable Part of Illumination For we shall never address our selves heartily to the Cure of a Disease which we know nothing of or to the rectifying any inclination till we are throughly convinced that 't is irregular and dangerous 2. The Second Character of Illuminating Truths is that they are such as feed and nourish corroborate and improve the Mind of Man Now the Properties of Bodily strength are such as these It enables us to Baffle and repel Injuries to bear Toil and Travel to perform difficult Works with speed and ease and finally it prolongs Life to a much further date than weak and crazy Constitutions can arrive at And of all these we find some Resemblances in Spiritual Strength But as much more Perfect and Excellent as the Spirit is above the Body Those Truths then are indeed Illuminating which enable us to vanquish Temptations to endure with Constancy and Patience the Toils and Hardships of our Christian warfare to discharge the Duties of our Station with Zeal and Vigour and which Lastly render us firm steady and immortal And these are the glorious effects which are attributed to the Truths of God Hence is the Gospel called the Power of God unto Salvation Rom. 1.16 and hence it is that we read of the Armour of God Ephesians 6.11 The Sword of the Spirit the Shield of Faith the Breast-plate of Righteousness c. to intimate to us the Strength and Vertue of the Word of God and that it brings with it safety and success And hence it is that the Word of God is said to quicken and strengthen that Man is said to live not by Bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the Mouth of God that Righteousness is called Everlasting and that he that doth the Will of God is affirmed to abide for ever To teach us plainly that there is nothing steady and unalterable nothing durable nothing eternal but God Divine Truths and those that are formed and modeled by them There are Truths indeed which are meerly Barren and Vnactive which amuse and suspend the
and Revealed Religion and utterly to extinguish all Conscience of Good and Evil. But this is such an Attempt in which I confess I could never have believed that the most daring sinner could have proved succesful had not the Scriptures told me that there are some who are past feeling Eph. 4.19 of a fear'd Conscience 2 Tim. 4.2 who are not ashamed when they have committed Iniquity neither can they blush Jer. 6.15 who call good evil and evil good that put darkness for Light and light for darkness that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter Isa 5.20 Such sinners there are then but what does this amount to What can their Sense or Example weigh I am sure these poor Wretches are as far distant from any true Happiness as from true Sense and deserve our Pity not Imitation As will easily appear from these following Considerations 1. 'T is true Conscience depends upon Opinion but what if this Opinion depend upon Sense and Truth What if it be built upon the Demonstration of the Spirit and of Power In what a deplorable Condition are these Men of Wit The Fear of an angry God a Judgment to come and an Hell is no common or ordinary Fear 'T is not the Fear of a scratch or wound in the Body of a baâ—â—e in the Pursuit of Preferment or a Disappointment in that of Pleasure 't is not the loss or the forfeiture of Estate in part or whole 't is not a Blot upon our Reputation 't is not the Death of a Child a Brother or what is more unless he be such a Friend 't is not any thing of this kind that is the Object of this Fear but Misery pure and unallay'd complicated accumulated Misery Misery unalterable incurable and lasting as long as Eternity Methinks before one should venture on a Sin which is threatned with such a state as this and much more before one should resolve to continue in it were reasonable to be very sure that the Notion of a Hell were false and the Doctrine of Eternal Punishment a meer Bug-bear Nay I protest in a matter of this Importance I think one should scarce trust to a Demonstration unless it had passed the Test of the most solid and Impartial part of Mankind and stood the Shock and Trial of many Ages But alass after the utmost Efforts of Wit and Lust what has ever yet been produced that has been able to undergo the Examination even of an honest Man What Arguments have yet been started against a Judgment to come that have been able to work upon any who were truly serious in the Point And if a Judgment to come why not an Hell Revelation is plain and Reason can find no Inconsistency in the Doctrine Human Laws punish a single Offence sometimes with Death or Banishment with loss of Estate and by this and divers other Ways extend the Punishment of the Criminal to his Posterity that is make it as Eternal as they can And shall it be thought unjust in God to punish the repeated Provocations of an impenitent Life the Neglect of that great Salvation wrought by the Blood and published by the Mouth of his dearly Beloved Son and all this wilfully in Defiance of the Light of the Gospel and Sollicitations of the Spirit in Defiance of Mercies and Chastisements shall it I say be thought unjust in God to punish this by a miserable Eternity when Infinite Goodness has in vain tried all imaginable means to reclaim a Sinner what has he to complain of if God leave him to the Effects of his own Choice Sin as it alienates our Affections from God here so must it certainly exclude us from his Presence and his Favour hereafter And what can be the Case of that wretched Creature who is banished for ever to those black and dismal Regions which no Ray no Influence of Divine Goodness can ever reach Where shall those unhappy Creatures dwell which shall be chased by the Presence and Glory of God out of the new Heavens and the new Earth or which rather can never approach either but in that outward Darkness which is parted from the World of the Blessed by an unpassable Gulph Ah! then if this be so what do wretched Men gain by growing impudent in Wickedness alas the more insensible Men are of the Deformity and Danger of Sin the more desperate their state the more incurable their Disease and the nearer they to Death and Destruction My Spirit shall not always strive with Man This is indeed a blessed Advantage to stand upon the brink of Damnation 'T is a glorious Victory to have defeated all the Means of Grace and Happiness 'T is an Heroick Atchievement to be able to extinguish all true Sense and Reason as well as Religion and become impregnable impenetrable to all Arguments to all Motives which either the tenderest Love or the profoundest Wisdom of God and Man can attack us by 2. I cannot but think that those very Men who for the most part are obdurate and insensible do suffer some though rare returns of Anxiety and Fear Why else are they such avowed Enemies to Solitude and Retirement to all serious and calm Reflections that they are ready to take up with a most trifling and contemptible Business or Diversion nay tired with a dull and tasteless Repetition of a Folly they chuse to repeat it to their Lives End rather than be alone and thoughtful What is this but to confess that there is something within which they are afraid to awaken that there is such a Brightness in Divine Truth that they dare not open their Eyes upon it lest it should fill their Souls with the Terrours of God This Height of Wickedness then at best is a state fit only for Fortunate Sinners who can roul and tumble from Folly to Folly from one Impertinence or Extravagance to another endlesly and yet what becomes of these poor Things when a Disaster when a Disease nay but a wakeful hour by Night forces them to retire into themselves 3. A Sinner does not soon arrive at this state of Insensibility It costs him very dear to grow impudent in his Lust Many a Pang many a Torment has he suffer'd first often has he felt the Wounds of Conscience often has he trembled and shrunk at the Menaces of God The Soul can no more be reconciled to Sin than the Body to Excess but by passing thorough many painful and sickly Fits many uneasie Pangs and Qualms And is it not worth the while to endure so much in order to be damned Is it not an infallible Mark of more than vulgar Wisdom to purchase Misery at so dear a rate To endure hardship as good Soldiers of Christ Jesus for a Crown a never-fading Crown this with them is an undertaking that deserves to be exposed and lashed with the utmost severity of Spight and Confidence but to suffer as it were repeated Martyrdoms to gain an Hell this is what they think becomes Men of their
an Heavenly Influence they naturally shoot up into good works Vertue has a Coelestial Original and a Coelestial Tendency from God it comes and towards God it moves and can it be otherwise than amiable and pleasant Vertue is all Beauty all Harmony and Order and therefore we may view and review consider and reflect upon it with Delight It procures us the Favour of God and Man it makes our Affairs naturally run smoothly and calmly on and fills our Minds with Courage Chearfulness and good Hopes In one word Diversion and Amusements give us a Fanciful Pleasure an Animal sensitive Life a short and mean one Sin a deceitful false and fatal one Only Vertue a pure a rational a glorious and lasting one And this is enough to be said here the Loveliness of Holiness being a subject which ever and anon I have occasion to engage in 2. I am next to shew that Deliverance from Sin removes the Impediments of Vertue This will easily be made out by examining what Influence selfishness sensuality and the Love of this World which are the three great Principles or Sources of Wickedness have upon the several Parts of Evangelical Righteousness 1. The first Part is that which contains those Duties that more immediately relate to our selves These are especially two Sobriety and Temperance By Sobriety I mean a serious and impartial Examination of things or such a state of Mind as qualifies us for it By Temperance I mean the moderation of our Affections and Enjoyments even in lawful and allowed Instances From these proceed Vigilance Industry Prudence Fortitude or Patience and Steadiness of mind in the Prosecution of what is best Without these 't is in vain to expect either Devotion towards God or Justice and Charity towards Man Nay nothing good or great can be accomplished without them since without them we have no ground to hope for either the Assistance of Divine Grace or the Protection and Concurrence of Divine Providence Only the pure and chast Soul is a fit Temple for the Residence of the Spirit and the Providence of God watches over none or at least none have Reason to expect it should but such as are themselves vigilant and industrious But now how repugnant to how inconsistent with those Vertues is that Infatuation of Mind and that Debauchery of Affections wherein Sin consists How incapable either of Sobriety or Temperance do selfishness Sensuality and the Love of this World render us What a false Estimate of things do they cause us to form How insatiable do they render us in our Desire of such things as have but false and empty Appearances of Good and how imperiously do they precipitate us into those Sins which are the Pollution and Dishonour of our Nature On the contrary let man be but once enlightned by Faith let him but once come to believe that his Soul is himself that he is a Stranger and Pilgrim upon Earth that Heaven is his Country and that to do good Works is to lay up his Treasure in it let him I say but once believe this and then how Sober how Temperate how Wise how Vigilant and Industrious will he grow And this he will soon be induced to believe if he be not actually under the Influence of vicious Principles and vicious Customs When the Mind is undeceived and disabused and the Affections disengaged 't is natural to Man to think calmly and to Desire and Enjoy with a Moderation suited to just and sober Notions of worldly things for this is to think and act as a Man A Second Part of Holiness regards God as its immediate Object and consists in the Fear and Love of Him in Dependance and Self-Resignation in Contemplation and Devotion As to this 't is plain that whoever is under the Dominion of any Sin must be an Enemy or at least a Stranger to it The Infidel knows no God and the Wicked will not or dares not approach one Their Guilt or their Aversion keeps them from it Selfishness Sensuality and the Love of the World are inconsistent with the Love of the Father and all the several Duties we owe him They alienate the Minds of Men from Him and set up other Gods in his room Hence the Covetous are pronounced guilty of Idolatry Col. 3.5 and the Luxurious and Vnclean are said to make their Belly their God and to glory in their shame Phil. 3.19 But as soon as a poor Man discerns that he has set his Heart upon false Goods as soon as he finds himself cheated and deceived in all his Expectations by the World and is convinced that God is his proper and his Sovereign Good how natural is it to turn his Desires and Hopes from the Creature upon the Creator How natural is it to contemplate his Greatness and Goodness to thirst impatiently for his Favour and dread his Displeasure And such a Man will certainly make the Worship of God a great part at least of the Business and Employment of Life With this he will begin and with this he will end the Day nor will he rest here his Soul will be ever and anon mounting towards Heaven in Ejaculations and there will be scarce any Action any Event that will not excite him to praise and adore God or engage him in some wise Reflections on his Attributes But all this will the Loose and Atheistical say may be well spar'd 't is only a vain and idle Amusement War and Peace Business and Trade have no Dependance upon it Kingdoms and Common-wealths may stand and flourish and sensible Men may be rich and happy without it But to this I answer Religion towards God is the Foundation of all true Vertue towards our Neighbour Laws would want the better part of their Authority if they were not enforced by an Awe of God the wisest Counsels would have no Effect did not Vertue and Religion help to execute them Kingdoms and Common-wealths would be dissolved and burst to pieces if they were not united and held in by these bonds and Wickedness would reduce the World to one great Solitude and Ruin were it not tempered and restrained not only by the Vertues and Examples but by the Supplications and Intercessions too of devout Men. Finally this is an Objection fit for none to make but the Sottish and the Ignorant Men of desperate Confidence and little Knowledge For who ever is able to consider by what Motives Mankind has ever been wont to be most strongly affected by what Principles the World has ever been led and governed how great an Interest even Superstition has had either in the Civilizing and Reforming Barbarous Nations or the Martial Successes of the first Founders of Monarchies and the like whoever I say is able to reflect though but slightly on these things can never be so silly as to demand what the use of Religion is or to imagin it possible to root up its Authority in the World The Third Part of Holiness regards our Neighbour and consists
Things appear to us and the more the Mind rejoyces in the Lord the oftner 'tis rapt up into Heaven and as it were transfigured into a more glorious Being by the Joy of the Spirit and the Ardours of Divine Love the more flat and insipid are all earthly and carnal Satisfactions to it Another Effect that attends our shaking off the Dominion of Sin and our devoting our selves to the Service of God is our being purified from Guilt The Stains of the past Life are washed off by Repentance and the Blood of Jesus and the Servant of God contracts no new ones by wilful and presumptuous Sin Now therefore he can enter into himself and commune with his own Heart without any Vneasiness he can reflect upon his Actions and review each day when it is past without inward Regret or Shame To break off a vicious Course to vanquish both Terrours and Allurements when they perswade to that which is mean and base to be Master of ones self and entertain no Affections but what are wise and regular and such as one has Reason to wish should daily increase and grow stronger these are things so far from meriting Reproach and Reproof from ones own Mind that they are sufficient to support it against all Reproaches from without Such is the Beauty such the Pleasure of a well established Habit of Righteousness that it does more than compensate the Difficulties to which either the Attainment or the Practice of it can expose a Man Lastly He that is free from Guilt is free from Fear too And indeed this is the only way to get rid of all our Fears not by denying or renouncing God with Atheists but by doing the things that please Him He that is truly Religious is the only Man who upon rational Ground is raised above Melancholy and Fear For what should he fear God is his Glory his Boast his Joy his Strength and if God be for him who can be against him neither things present nor to come neither Life nor Death can separate him from the Love of God in Christ Jesus There is nothing within the Bounds of Time or Eternity that he needs fear Man cannot hurt him he is incompassed with the favour and loving kindness of God as with a Shield But if God permit him to suffer for Righteousness sake happy is he This does but increase his present Joy and future Glory But what is most considerable Death it self cannot hurt him Devils cannot hurt him the sting of Death is Sin and the strength of Sin is the Law but thanks be to God who giveth us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. For there is no Condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit These Considerations prove the present Condition of a Servant of God happy Happy in Comparison of the Loose and Wicked but in Comparison with what he shall be hereafter he is infinitely short of the Joy and Glory of his End In this respect indeed he is yet in a state of Tryal and Trouble of Discipline and Probation in this respect his Perfection and Happiness do but just peep up above the Ground the Fulness and Maturity of both he cannot enjoy till he come to Heaven And this is § 4. The Last Fruit of Christian Liberty That Heaven will consist of all the Blessings of all the Enjoyments that Human Nature when raised to an Equality with Angels is capable of that Beauties and Glories Joys and Pleasures will as it were like a fruitful and ripe Harvest here grow up there in all the utmost Plenty and Perfection that Omnipotence it self will e're produce is not at all to be controverted Heaven is the Master-piece of God the Accomplishment and Consummation of all his wonderful Designs the last and most endearing Expression of boundless Love And hence it is that the Holy Spirit in Scripture describes it by the most taking and the most admired things upon Earth and yet we cannot but think that this Image though drawn by a Divine Pencil must fall infinitely short of it For what temporal things can yield Colours or Metaphors strong and rich enough to paint Heaven to the Life One thing there is indeed which seems to point us to a just and adequate Notion of an Heaven it seems to excite us to strive and attempt for Conceptions of what we cannot grasp we cannot comprehend and the labouring Mind the more it discovers concludes still the more behind and that is the Beatifick Vision This is that which as Divines generally teach does constitute Heaven and Scripture seems to teach so too I confess I have often doubted whether our seeing God in the Life to come did necessarily imply that God should be the immediate Object of our Fruition or only that we should there as it were drink at the Fountain Head and being near and dear to Him in the highest Degree should ever flourish in his Favour and enjoy all Good heap'd up press'd down and running over I thought the Scriptures might be easily reconciled to this sense and the Incomprehensible Glory of the Divine Majesty inclin'd me to believe it the most reasonable and most easily accountable Injoyment and especially where an Intelligent Being is the Object of it seem'd to imply something of Proportion something of Equality something of Familiarity But ah what Proportion thought I can there ever be between Finite and Infinite what Equality between a poor Creature and his incomprehensible Creatour what Eye shall gave on the splendours of his essential Beauty when the very Light He dwells in is inaccessible and even the Brightness he vailes himself in is too dazling even for Cherub and Seraphs for ought I know to behold Ah! what Familiarity can there be between this Eternal and inconceiveable Majesty and Beings which He has formed out of nothing And when on this occasion I reflected on the Effects which the Presence of Angels had upon the Prophets and saw Human Nature in Man Sinking and dying away because unable to sustain the Glory of one of their Fellow-Creatures I thought my self in a manner obliged to yield and stand out no longer against a Notion which though differing from what was generally received seemed to have more Reason on its side and to be more intelligible But when I called to mind that God does not disdain even while we are in a state of Probation and Humility of Infirmity and Mortality to account us not only his Servants and his People but his Friends and his Children I began to question the former Opinion and when I had survey'd the Nature of Fruition and the various Ways of it a little more attentively I wholly quitted it For I observed that the Enjoyment is most transporting where Admiration mingles with our Passion where the beloved Object stands not upon the same Level with us but condescends to meet a Vertuous and aspiring and ambitious Affection Thus the happy Favourite enjoys
thorow with many Sorrows ver 17 18 19. Charge them that are rich in this World that they be not high minded nor trust in uncertain Riches but in the living God who giveth us all things richly to enjoy That they do good that they be rich in good works ready to distribute willing to communicate Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold on Eternal Life And to multiply no more Instances of Restraints of this or the like nature thus we ought to stand affected towards Praise and Reputation Interest and Power Beauty Strength c. We must neither be too Intent upon them nor enjoy them with too much Gust and Satisfaction for this is that Disposition which appears to me to suit best with the Spirit and Design of the Gospel and with the Nature of such things as being of a middle sort are equally capable of being either Temptations or Blessings Instruments of Good or Evil. 3ly The Scripture regulates and bounds our natural and necessary Appetites not so much by nicely defining the exact Degrees and Measures within which Nature must be strictly contained as by exalted Examples of and Exhortations to a Spiritual pure and heavenly Disposition Thus our Lord and Master seems to me to give some check to the stream of natural Affection and to call off his Disciples from it to the Consideration of a Spiritual Relation Mark 3.34 35. And he looked round about on them which sate about him and said behold my Mother and my Brethren For whosoever shall do the will of God the same is my Brother and my Sister and Mother To which words of our Lord I may joyn those of St. Paul henceforth know we no Man after the flesh yet now henceforth know we him no more 2 Cor. 5.16 The Answer of our Lord to a Disciple who would have deferr'd his following him till he had Buried his Father Matt. 8. â—1 and to him who begged leave to go and bid farewell first to his Relations and Domesticks Luke 9.61 does plainly countenance the Doctrine I here advance and so does St. Paul 1 Cor. 7.29 so often cited by me Not that our Saviour or his Apostles did ever account our natural Affections vicious and impure for 't is a Vice to be without them Rom. 1.31 not that they went about to diminish or abate much less to cancel the Duties flowing from them no They only prune the Luxuriancy of untaught Nature and correct the Fondnesses and Infirmities of Animal Inclinations Our natural Affections may entangle and enslave us as well as unlawful and irregular ones if we lay no Restraint upon them Religion indeed makes them the Seeds of Vertue but without it they easily betray us into Sin and Folly For this Reason I doubt not lest under pretence of satisfying our most natural and importunate Appetites we should be ensnared into the Love of this World and intangled in the Cares of it our Saviour forbids us to take thought for to morrow even for the necessaries of to morrow what we shall eat and what we shall drink and where-withal we shall be clothed Matt. 6. These are the Restraints laid upon the Body in Scripture which if any Man observe he will soon discern himself as far purified and freed from Original Corruption as Human Nature in this Life is capable of And that he may § 2ly He must fortifie and invigorate the Mind And this must be done two ways First by possessing it with the Knowledge of the Gospel and the Grace of the Spirit Secondly by withdrawing it often from the Body As to the former Branch of this Rule the Necessity of it is apparent since the state of Nature is such as has before been described we stand in need not only of Revelation to enlighten us but also of Grace to strengthen us Of the former to excite us to exert all the Force and Power we have of the Latter to enable us to do that which our natural Force never can effect It cannot be here expected that I should treat of the Operation of the Spirit and the Ways of obtaining it grieving and quenching it this would demand a peculiar Treatise I will here only observe That 't is the Work of the Spirit to repair in some Degree at least the Ruins of the Fall to rectifie Nature to improve our Faculties and to imprint in us the Divine Image That Meditation and Prayer and a careful Conformity to the Divine Will obtain and increase the Grace of the Spirit That Negligence and presumptuous Wickedness grieve and extinguish it As to the Knowledge of the Gospel I shall not need to say much here I have considered this matter in the Chapter of Illumination and will only observe that the Doctrines of the Gospel are such as if they be thoroughly imbibed do effectually raise us above a state of Nature and set us free from the Power and Prevalence of our Original Corruption Were we but once perswaded that we are Strangers and Pilgrims upon Earth That all Carnal Gratifications do war against the Soul That our Souls are properly our selves and That our first Cares are to be for them That God is himself our Sovereign Good and the Fountain of all inferiour Good that our Perfection and Happiness consist in the Love and Service of Him That we have a mighty Mediatour who once Died for us and ever Lives to make Intercession for us That a Kingdom incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away is reserved in Heaven for all meek faithful and holy Souls Were we I say but once thoroughly perswaded of these Truths with what Vigour would they impregnate our Minds how clear would be the Convictions of Conscience how uncontroulable the Authority of Reason how strong the Instincts and Propensions of the Mind towards Righteousness and Vertue These would alienate the Mind from the World and the Body and turn the Bent of it another way these would inspire it with other Desires and Hopes and make it form different Projects from what it had before old things are done away and all things are become new The Second Branch of this second particular Rule is that we must accustom our selves to retire frequently from the Commerce and Conversation of the Body Whether the Eating the forbidden Fruit did open to the Mind new Scenes of Sensuality which it thought not of and so called it down from the Serenity and Heights of a more pure and contemplative Life to participate the turbulent Pleasures of Sense immersing it as it were by this means deeper into the Body I pretend not to judge But 't is certain a too too intimate Conjunction of the Mind with the Body and the satisfactions of it does very much debase it 'T is our great Unhappiness that the Soul is always in the Senses and the Senses are always upon the World we converse with the World we talk of the World we think of the
slight and insignificant that they seem to be attended by no mischievous Con̄sequence nor to offer any Dishonour to God nor Injustice to Man But I doubt this Notion of Venial Sin has no Solidity in it For either Men perform such Actions Deliberately or Indeliberately knowing them to be sinful or believing them to be innocent Now if we perform any Action Deliberately and knowing it to be sinful we never ought to look upon this as a little Sin much less a Venial one The Reason of this is plain The First Notion that every Man has of Sin is that it is forbidden by and displeasing to God and then to do that deliberately which we know will provoke God is an Argument of a fearless and irreligious Heart a Heart destitute of the Love of God the Love of Righteousness and Heaven But if a Man transgress in a trifling Instance indeliberately this alters the Case for the Matter not being of Importance enough to excite the Intention and Application of the Mind and there being consequently no Malignity of the Will in an Action where there was no Concurrence of the Judgment I cannot but think this may very well pass for an Human Infirmity for all the fault that can be here laid to the Charge of Man is Incogitancy or Inadvertency and that too as excusable a one as can be Lastly where the Matter of an Action is very trifling and inconsiderable and draws after it no ill Consequence either with respect to God or Man in this Case if a Man judge it no Sin I cannot think it i◠any to him though by a Nice and Scrupulous Construction it may fall within the Compass of some Divine Prohibition The Distinction of the Schoolmen is good enough here it is besides the Law but not against it or it is against the Letter but not the Design and Intention of the Law of God I cannot think that it is consistent with the Infinite Goodness of God to punish such things as these with Eternal Misery or that it can become a Man of sense seriously to afflict his Soul for them I cannot for my Life perswade my self that I should provoke God if passing thorough a Field of my Neighbour's Corn or Pease I should pull off an Ear or Cod or passing through his Orchard should eat an Apple The Notion I have of God and the great End and Design of his Laws will not suffer me to entertain such trifling weak and superstitious Fancies And here I cannot but take notice of two Things which very much perplex the Minds of some good People that is an Idle Word and Jesting concerning both which 't is very plain That such are miserably mistaken and that they are no sins at all unless unreasonable and superstitious scruples make them so This I say on supposition that by Idle word they mean only such talk as does not tend to Edification and by Jesting only that which is Innocent and Divertive By an Idle Word Matt. 12. our Saviour plainly means a blasphemous Word if that saying of our Saviour of every idle Word c. be to be limited and confined by the sense of the Context For the occasion of that Assertion of our Lord was the Blasphemy which the Jews belch'd out against his Miracles Or if our Lord here on this occasion advances a general Doctrine then by an Idle Word we must understand a wicked one proceeding from a corrupt and naughty Heart and tending as directly to promote Impiety as gracious and wholsome Discourse does to promote Edification This is evident from ver 25. a good Man out of the good treasure of the Heart bringeth forth good things and an evil Man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things And ver 37. for by thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned By Jesting Eph. 5.4 The Apostle understands the modish Raillery of the Greeks which was generally made up of Prophaneness and Wantonness or brisk and sharp Ironies This is plain both from the Company we find it in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Filthiness and Foolish Speaking and from the Character given it in common with the other two 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being the very same that is given the most infamous and vilest Lusts and Passions Rom. 1.28 Things not convenient is a diminutive Expression implying such things as contain much Turpitude and Wickedness in them Beza as appears by his Notes read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this place foolish speaking or not and Jesting which as he observes makes Jesting the same thing with foolish Speaking or Buffoonry And justifies that Jesting which consists in a pleasant and divertive Facetiousness from 1 King 18.27 2 King 3.23 Isa 14.11 2. Some think that the meer Reluctancy and Opposition of Conscience against Sin is sufficient to constitute a Sin of Infirmity And this has received no small Countenance from such an Interpretation of Rom. 7. as makes Holiness to be nothing else but a Vicissitude of Desires and Actions repugnant to one another But at this rate no Man's Sins would be Damning but his whose Conscience were sear'd and when ones Heart did condemn one God would be sure to acquit one which agrees very ill with St. John If our heart condemn us God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things 1 Joh. 3.21 No man unless arrived at a Reprobate Sense can do that which is evil without Reluctancy for his Conscience will forbid him as long as it has the least Degree of Tenderness in it and restrain him as far as it has power And as to Rom. 7. it has been abundantly consider'd and I think sufficiently proved to belong to those who are the Servants of Sin as Rom. 8. does to those who are set free St. Austin indeed tells us that he understood that Chapter at first as the Pelageans did for a Person under the Law and under the Power of Sin But that he found himself constrained afterwards to understand it of St. Paul himself I will not examin the Solidity of his Reasons 'T is enough to me that his Change of Opinion does Religion no harm For he is so far from making a state of Holiness to consist with Acts of Deliberate Sin against Conscience that he will not excuse so much as rebellious Motions and Appetites if consented to All that he contends for in a good Man from this Chapter is That Lapsed Nature will sometimes exert it self even in the best Men in disorderly and distemper'd Appetites 3. Others Lastly will have those Sins into which we fall either over-power'd by the strength or wearied out by the Assiduity or Length of a Temptation pass for Infirmities But this Opinion has as little ground as the two former I can find no Scripture that countenances this Notion There are indeed some of great Reputation who have promoted it But I think the words of St. Paul make against it 1 Cor.
void of understanding and lo it was all grown over with Thorns and Nettles had covered the face thereof and the stone wall thereof was broken down this is one plain Cause and commonly the First of our halting between God and Baal namely our Idleness and Sloth in Religion joyned with Pusillanimity and Cowardise which moves us to decline all Difficulties and disables us to make a bold Resistance against Temptations how criminal and guilty this must render us in the sight of God 't is no difficulty to guess Is this the Zeal the Revenge of an humble and active Penitent Is this to redeem the Time and efface the Memory of our past Sins and Provocations Is this the Conversation that becomes the Children of the Light and of the Day Is this our hunger and thirst after Righteousness is this our Ambition our Passion for an Heaven Finally is it thus we requite the Mercies and Obligations of God and the Love of Jesus that passeth Knowledge shall such halting trimming Christians as these think ye ever be judg'd endued with a true and living Faith who express it the whole Tenour of their Lives so much Coldness and Indifference for that Salvation which the Son of God thought worth the purchasing by so much Travel and so much Sorrow so much Shame and so much Blood 3. A Third Cause of our Halting between God and Baal is some Degree of Infidelity This was the Case of Israel too They were ever prone to Idolatry partly train'd up to it in Egypt and elsewhere partly being more capable of forming an Idea of a Finite and Topical God than of an Infinite and Universal one Jer. 23.23 Partly being fond of following the Fashions of other Nations And lastly mov'd partly by that great and long Prosperity which Egypt and other Idolatrous Nations enjoy'd and no doubt comparing it too with the Variety and Uncertainty of their own Fortune and the frequent Disappointment of their Expectations Hose 2. never laying it to Heart all the while that the way to secure their Prosperity was to change not their God but their Manners I would to God this were not too lively a Description of the State of too many Christians and that we could not trace our Lukewarmness and Fickleness in Religion too plainly back to the same Source or Origine namely some Degrees of Infidelity I wish the Prosperity of the wicked do not somewhat undermine the Belief of a Providence I wish whatever we talk of a Treasure in another World we do not now and then think it wisest to have our Portion in this I am afraid that the Decays and Dissolutions of our Nature in Death the Rottenness and Corruption of the Grave and the Variety of Changes and Fortunes our very Dust undergoes may tempt us to some Scruples and Jealousies about a post-humous Life But however it be in these points I am too too well assur'd that we do often doubt whether Vertue be the true Blessedness of Life whether there be that Pleasure in Righteousness the Scripture affirms there is I am confident the Notions of Righteousness and Holiness with which the Scripture furnishes us are often blur'd and blotted by the Maxims and Customs of the World and perswade my self that there is scarcely one of those that are Laodiceans and Trimmers in Religion that do not flatter themselves that God will not be as severe as his Threats and that he will receive them into Heaven upon milder and softer terms than the Gospel proposes Some such kind of Infidelity as this must possess the Heart where-ever the Life is so infinitely below our Profession When the Word preached doth not profit it is because it is not mingled with a due Measure of Faith in those that hear it If we did truly believe the Revelations of God if we did see the Promises of God as evident and present by Faith though distant in themselves 't were impossible but they must move but they must take us 't were impossible but they must enkindle in us another sort of Desire and this Desire would soon produce another sort of Endeavours another sort of Life When Moses beheld Canaan from Pisga how passionately did he desire to enter into that good Land When the Disciples had seen Jesus Ascend up into Heaven how were they transported with a Desire of following him how unspeakable was their Joy how fervent their Prayers how lasting and enlarged their Gratitude they returned to Jerusalem with great Joy and were continually in the Temple praising and blessing God How does a Prospect of Gain captivate the Covetous How does the Fancy or Expectation of Pleasure enflame the Voluptuary how does the Sight of Vanity and Grandure infect the proud and the Hope of Glory fire the Ambitious What hath the Beauty and Pleasures of Holiness no Attraction has Heaven no Charms in it has the Favour and Love of God and of Jesus no Force no Power in them Surely we have not the face to deny but that the Promises of God are great and precious one and if they raise no Passion in us it must not be through want of Excellent and Loveliness in them but want of Faith in us And then judge you how acceptable this kind of Infidelity must render us to God what Value can God have for a People whom no kindness can oblige no Arguments convince with whom no Miracles can gain Belief no Assurances or Promises find Credit Hell is the portion of the fearful and unbeliever Rev. 21.8 And what dreadful Judgments did overwhelm Israel as often as they thus halted between God and Idols It did not excuse them that they had some sort of Veneration for the Memory of Moses and his Miracles since this was not able to over-rule their Prejudice and Superstition that they retain some Honour for Abraham Isaac and Jacob and that God which was the Fear of their Fathers since they had as much or more for the Nations round about them and their Gods too And whatever Power they did acknowledge in the God of Heaven or whatever Benefit they did own themselves to have deriv'd from him as I can hardly think the Memory of either was utterly extinguish'd amongst them all this avail'd them nothing while they made their Court to other Gods too and put their Trust in their Patronage and Protection Though this be sufficient to make us sensible of the Guilt of a Laodicean Vertue and an uncertain halting Faith yet I must advance on and observe unto you a worse Principle if worse can be of this Deportment yet which is 4. The Fourth Fountain of this Unsteadiness and Remisness in Religion is some Remains of Corruption the Prevalency of some vicious Passion or other Mens Actions are the plainest Indications of their Affections If the Life looks two ways we need not doubt but that the Heart does so too This was that made the young Man in the Gospel fluctuate so between Christ and Mammon this was the
they can make God and will God be better pleas'd with these than he was with those of Israel that were deform'd with Maims and Blemishes Mal. 1.8 offer now these to thy Governour will he he pleased with thee or accept of thy Person saith the Lord of Host The Magi indeed left their Country and offer'd Gold Frankincense and Myrrh to our Saviour Mat. 2. David would not Sacrifice to God of that which cost him nothing 2 Sam. 24. 24. The Primitive Christians offered up to God Prayers and Tears Labours and Travels Nay their Honours their Fortunes their Lives their Blood But alas what have these Men to offer they have not Love enough to put them upon any Expence nor Faith enough to put them upon any Hardships for the sake of God and Vertue For though they think themselves rich and incresed in goods and to have need of nothing yet are they poor wretched and miserable and blind and naked Rev. 3.17 And shall these receive a Crown of Righteousness shall these share in the Kingdom of Jesus shall these partake in the Triumph of the Last Day it can never be they do nothing worthy of the Gospel nothing that can entitle them to the Benefit of the Cross of Christ 3. The Life of the Laodicean Christian will never do any do any Credit to Religion or reflect any Honour on the Gospel No Man will be ever able to discern the Beauty of Holiness or the Power and Efficacy of Divine Truths from the Practise and Conversation of such an one Ah! had the Carriage of the Primitive Times been such as his I know not what Miracles might have done I am sure Examples would never have made many Proselites But the Christians then acted those Vertues which the Pagan only pretended to and Faith in Jesus atchiev'd those Victories over the World which the Jews so debauch'd and stupid were they grown did in the Declension of that State neither understand nor pretend to This was that which made the World admire and love Christianity After thus much said of the Effects of this sort of Carriage I need scarcely put any one in Mind what will be the last and saddest Effect of it for if our Christianity be such that it neither truly sets us free from our Bondage to the World and Flesh nor enrich our Soul with true and solid Vertues if it neither promote the Honour of God nor the Good of Man it must unavoidably follow that having no true Title to God's Favour nor any rational Ground on which to build an Assurance of it we can reap no true Comfort or Pleasure from Religion here nor any Reward from it hereafter Alas what talk I of Comfort and Reward Distress and Anguish must take hold of the Sinners in Sion and Fearfulness must suprize the Hypocrite And from the Troubles and Miseries of thu Life they must go down into the Everlasting Torments of another The Scripture is plain God will spue them out of his Mouth as he did the Laodicean He will shut the Gate of Heaven against them as against the foolish Virgins that had no Oyl in their Lamps And their Hell will have one Torment in it which is incident to no others that they had once the Hopes of Heaven and it is no small Aggravation of Misery to fall into it even from the Expectation of Happiness This is not as I observed above to be apply'd to accidental Dulness or Deadness in Duty nor are the Decays or Abatements of Love which good Men somtimes suffer immediately to be pronounced damnable But yet these are to be put in Mind of the Danger they are in and recall'd to their former Zeal in the Words of the Spirit to the Church of Ephesus Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee because thou hast left thy first Love Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen and repent and do the first Works or else I will come unto thee quickly and will remote thy Candlestick out of his place except thou repent Rev. 2.4 5. CHAP. IX Of Zeal Or the First thing to be consider'd in a State of Zeal namely what Holiness or Righteousness he may be supposed to have arrived at I Am arriv'd at the last Stage of Perfection which I chuse to call a State of Zeal not only because the Scripture seems to direct me to this Expression but also because it seems to me more full and proper than others that may be or are made use of for the same End A State of Vnion is an Expression that better suits another Life that this For the Lesson the Perfect Man is ever and anon to revolve in his Mind is That the present Life is a Life of Labour and Travel and Sufferings the future one of Rewards and Crowns and Enjoyments Then as to that other Expression the State of Love it suits my purpose well enough but does not come up so justly and exactly to it as the State of Zeal for I take Zeal to be Love in the utmost Elevation and Vivacity that it is capable of And now what a noble what a fruitful Argument am I entering upon Methinks I feel my Soul grow warm and enkindle upon my approaching it and my first Views or contemplations of it inspire me with Desires of the same Nature with it self I am concern'd to see my self confin'd and limited by the Laws of Method and find my self inclin'd to wish That I were now to write rather a just Volume than a few Pages Here the Heroick Acts or what is more the Heroick Lives of Saints Martyrs and Confessors present themselves to my Thoughts Here Human Nature enriched adorned and elevated to the utmost Degree by a Participation of the Divine one Here the Power of God's Word the Energy of the Holy Ghost the Triumphs of Faith and the Exstasies of Love would be described Here the different Excellencies of different Vertues and the different Value of good Works should be stated and setled and the various Paths in which Men pursue the Heights of Vertue and the noblest Designs be examin'd and solid Piety and true Wisdom be refin'd from the Alloys and Mixtures of Enthusiasm Superstition Fancy or whatever else they are disfigur'd and debas'd by But this cannot now be done and it may be it could not at all be done by me No Measure of the Spirit peradventure below that with which the Apostles were inspir'd is sufficient to treat this Argument as it requires Besides according to my Capacity I have been all along making this point When in the First Section I stated the Notion of Perfection shew'd by what Steps we advanced to it what Means we are to make use of and what would be the Fruit of it I did in Effect describe to my Reader the State of Zeal and mark'd out the Path that leads to it When in the Second I labour to establish the true Liberty of Man upon the Overthrow and Extirpation not only of Mortal Sin and
of all things O my God may I at least be one to fill the Train of this Triumphant Procession in that blessed Day when thou shall Crown the Zeal and Patience of thy Saints Thus have I given a short Account of Zeal I will now endeavour to kindle it in every breast by some few Considerations which will at once evince the Necessity and declare the Fruit of it 1. Our own Security and Happiness demand of us a Zeal fruitful in good Works 2. It is indispensable to the Welfare and Good of our Neighbour 3. It ministers most effectually to the Glory of God 1. Our own Salvation and Happiness depend upon it For without this we reject on at least frustrate the Counsels of God against our own Souls 't was for this Christ Died that he might purifie to himself a peculiar People Zealous of good Works This is the great End of our Election God hath chosen us in Christ before the Foundation of the World that we should be holy and without blame before him in Love Eph. 1.4 which is to be explain'd by Eph. 2.10 where God is said to have before ordain'd that we should walk in good Works And the beginning of the ver minds us that 't is for this End God imparts the Light of his Word and the Vigour of his Spirit that for this End he sanctifies and renews our Nature We are his Workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good Works St. Peter tells us That this is that which all the great and precious Promises of God immediately aim at First Godliness then Life First Vertue then Glory What shall I say more Our Lord in his Narrative of the Last Judgment and elsewhere and his Apostles in almost innumerable Places have with great Power and great Earnestness inculcated this Doctrine that we shall be judged according to our Works that Immortality and Glory is the Portion not of Knowledge but Patience and Charity not of an Orthodox Belief and Specious Pretention but of Righteousness and Zeal for the incorruptible the never-fading Crown is a Crown of Righteousness Or if Men will be judg'd by their Faith which is not the Language of the Gospel this does not alter the Matter at all Since Faith it self will be judg'd by its Works And as a happy Eternity depends upon our Zeal so nothing else can give us any comfortable any rational Assurance of it in this Life The Reason is plain because 't is Zeal that is the only unquestionable Proof of our Integrity and Good Works are the Fruit which alone can evidence the Life and Truth of our Faith and Love hereby we know that we know him if we keep his Commandments 1 Joh. 2.3 Yea a Man may say thou hast Faith and I have Works shew me thy Faith without thy Works and I will shew thee my Faith by my Works Jam. 2.18 Dost thou believe in God why art thou not holy as He is holy Dost thou believe in Jesus why dost thou not deny thy self take up thy cross and follow him why dost thou not walk as he walk'd Dost thou believe a Judgment to come why dost thou not work out thy Salvation with fear and trembling why dost thou not prepare to meet thy God why art thou not rich in good Works that thou mayest lay up a good foundation against the time to come and lay hold on Eternal Life Nor are good Works less necessary to prove our Love than Faith Certainly if we love Holiness if we hunger and thirst after Righteousness we shall never live in a direct Contradiction to the strongest Passions of our Soul we shall never refuse to gratifie an Inclination which is not only fervent in us but its Gratification will procure us Eternal Rewards too Certainly if we love God we cannot but seek his Glory we cannot but be desirous to maintain Communion with him And if so do we know any Sacrifice that is more acceptable to God than good Works do we know any that he delights in more than Zeal Do we Love the B. Jesus are not good Works the very Test of this Love which himself has appointed If a Man love me he will keep my Commandments Joh. 14.15 Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you Joh. 15.14 The Love of Christ saith the Apostle constrains us what to do to live not to our selves but to him that Died for us and rose again 2 Cor. 5.15 What other Returns can we make to Jesus what other way can we express our Gratitude to him He sits on the Right hand of God all Power is given him in Heaven and in Earth he does not himself need our Ministry nor want our Service and Charity But hear what he says in as much as you did it to one of these my little ones you have done it to me Matt. 25.40 2. Our Zeal is indispensably necessary to the Welfare and Happiness of Others Do we regard our Neighbours Eternal Interest 't is Zeal represses Sin and Propagates Righteousness 't is Zeal defends the Faith and suppresses Heresie and Error 't is Zeal converts the Unbeliever and builds up the Believer 't is Zeal that awakens the drousie quickens the lukewarm strengthens the weak and enflames the good with a holy Emulation 't is Zeal that baffles all Objections refutes all Calumnies and vanquishes all Oppositions raised against Religion and oppresses its Enemies with Shame and Confusion 'T is in a word Zeal and Zeal alone that can make Religion appear lovely and delightful and reconcile the World to it for this alone can adorn the Gospel for it renders Vertue more conspicuous more taking in Life and Example than it can be in the Precepts and Descriptions of Words Nor is Zeal less serviceable to the Temporal that Eternal Interest of Mankind When God laid the Foundations of the World he laid the Foundation of Vertue too and when he form'd Man he wove the Necessity of good Works into his very Nature How necessary is Justice to poor Creatures who lie so open to Wrongs and Injuries how indispensable is Charity or Generosity to these who are expos'd to so many Accidents to so many Wants to such a Viscissitude of Fortune and being all subject to so many Follies and Infirmities to so many Mistakes and Fancies how strong must be our Obligation to mutual Forbearance Patience and Gentleness In a word Sin and Misery abounds in the World and if there were not Vertues and good Works to ballance the one and â—o relieve and support us under the other Life would be intollerable So that Reveal'd and Natural Religion do necessarily terminate and center in a Zeal for good Works as their ultimate End and utmost Perfection in this Life and that Rule of our Saviour whatsoever ye would that Men should do to you do ye even so unto them is an Abstract not only of the Law and the Prophets but of the Code of Nature too and this single Principle if sincerely pursued
will ferment and work us up to the noblest Heights of Zeal I might here if it were necessary easily shew that Zeal has as happy an Influence on the publick as the private that this must animate that Justice and Mercy that supports the Throne that it is the Soul of that Honour Integrity Generosity and Religion which support the States and Kingdoms of the World and without which all Politick Systems must needs tend to a Dissolution But I have said enough And from what I have said the Truth of my Third Consideration naturally appears 3. Viz. That Zeal ministers most effectually to the Glory of God For if Zeal be in it self thus lovely thus necessary if the Fruits and Effects of it be thus serviceable to the Temporal and Eternal Interest of Man what a Lovely what an agreeable Notion of God shall we form from this one Consideration of him That he is the great Author of it That he is the Origine and Fountain of that Light and Heat of that Strength and Power of which 't is compounded and constituted He commands and exacts it he excites and encourages to it by the Promise of an Eternal Crown and the ravishing Fruition of himself he has planted the Seeds of it in our Nature and he cherishes them by the blessed and vigorous Influences of his Word and Spirit How gracious is the Divine Nature how gracious is the Divine Government when the Substance of his Laws is that we should love as Brethren that we should cloath the naked feed the hungry deliver the captive instruct the foolish comfort the afflicted forgive one another if need be seven times a day and such like If to do all this be an Argument of being Regenerate and born of God if this be a Proof of his Spirit ruling in us his Nature communicated to us and his Image stampt upon us how amiable must God be when we discern so much Benefit and so much Pleasure and so much Beauty and so much Loveliness in those Qualities which are but faint and imperfect Resemblances of Him In a word the Holiness of his Children and Servants is a Demonstration of the Holiness of God himself and in this consists the very Lustre of Divine Glory Holiness is the Flower of all his Attributes the most Perfect because the most Comprehensive of all his Divine Perfections For Holiness includes Wisdom Power and Goodness As to Goodness the Case is so plain that Holiness and Goodness are commonly used as Terms equivalent As to Wisdom 't is evident That no Action is commendable and lovely whatever the Matter of it be unless the Principle the Motive of it be Wise and rational therefore Wisdom cannot be separated from the Notion of Holiness Lastly as to Power this must needs be comprised in it too for Beneficence which is at least one great branch of Holiness must unavoidably imply Power in the Benefactor and Impotence and Want in the Beneficiary And this is the Notion wherein Holiness when ascribed to God in Scripture is generally taken Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Hosts Heaven and Earth are full of thy Glory does express the Greatness and Majesty as well as the Rectitude and Purity of the Divine Nature and to sanctifie the Lord God in our Hearts is in the Language of the Scripture not only to love him for his Goodness but revere and fear him for his Majesty and Greatness Need I here add that the Excellencies of the Creature their Fitness and Subserviency to the great Ends of their Creation is the Glory of the Creator just as the Beauty Strength and Convenience of the Work is the Honour of the Architect if the Sun Moon and Stars the irrational and inanimate Parts of the Creation shew forth the Glory of God how much more do spiritual and rational Beings and Vertue is the Perfection of Reason and Zeal of Vertue for this is that which does directly and immediately advance those great Ends that are dearest to God as I have I think abundantly made out CHAP. XI Of Humility OUR Saviour has so often pronounced the humblest the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven He has so often promised the first place and the greatest Exaltation to the lowest Condescensions He was Himself so illustrious an Example of Lowliness of Heart of Poverty of Spirit and the Apostle has so expresly asserted his Joy and Crown to be the Reward of his Humility Phil. 2. That I can never think that Man can ever rise to a more eminent Height than that to which the Imitation of this Vertue of Christ will advance him The more Perfect therefore Man is the more humble must he be too The clearer View and the more assured Hope he has of Heaven the more unconcerned must he be for all those things which the World pays a Respect and Honour to the more he must be above them The more fervent his Love of God and his Neighbour grows the more confidently must he place all his Glory in this one thing the Conformity of his Affections and Life to that of the blessed Jesus Then is he Perfect and the same Mind is in him that was in Christ Jesus Finally the more he knows God the nearer he is admitted into Communion with him the more plainly will he discern at how infinite Distance he stands from the Divine Majesty and Purity and will prostrate himself even into Dust and Ashes before him The Perfect Man admires adores obeys loves relies trusts and resigns up himself and all that is dear to him to God He is nothing in his own Eyes he pretends to nothing he lays Claim to nothing on any other Title than that of the Goodness and Bounty of God Whatever Vertues he has he ascribes them to the Grace of God and the Glory and Immortality he expects he expects only as the Gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. And whatever he be in himself he compares no himself with others but he proves his own Work that he may have Rejoycing in himself alone and not in another Nothing but Zeal for God or Charity for Man can put him upon the asserting his own Merit or Service but when glories it is like St. Paul in his Infirmities that the Power of Christ may rest upon him Need I here insist on the Fruit of Humility Surely 't is conspicuous to every one that thinks at all Great is the Peace and Rest of the humble Soul here and great will be his Glory hereafter He who loves not the World nor the things of it the Lust of the Fesh the Lust of the Eyes and the Pride of Life enjoys a perpetual Calm and Serenity of Mind There is no Object that can raise any Storm in him there is nothing that can breed in him uneasie Desires and Fears He that loves the Father is fixt on an immutable and perfect Good and he that now quits all for God shall one day participate of the Fulness of God and that