Vertue By Vertue the Creation is made useful and the Universe delightful All the Works of GOD are crowned with their End by the Glory of Vertue For whatsoever is good and profitable for Men is made Sacred because it is delightful and well-pleasing to GOD Who being LOVE by Nature delighteth in his Creatures welfare There are two sorts of concurrent Actions necessary to Bliss Actions in GOD and Actions in Men nay and Actions too in all the Creatures The Sun must warm but it must not burn the Earth must bring forth but not swallow up the Air must cool without starving and the Sea moisten without drowning Meats must feed but not poyson Rain must fall but not oppress Thus in the inferiour Creatures you see Actions are of several kinds But these may be reduced to the Actions of GOD from whom they spring for he prepares all these Creatures for us And it is necessary to the felicity of his Sons that he should make all things healing and amiable not odious and destructive that he should Love and not Hate And the Actions of Men must concur aright with these of GOD and his Creatures They must not despise Blessings because they are given but esteem them not trample them under feet because they have the benefit of them but magnifie and extol them They too must Love and not Hate They must not kill and murther but serve and pleasure one another they must not scorn great and inestimable Gifts because they are common for so the Angels would lose all the happiness of Heaven If GOD should do the most great and glorious things that infinite Wisdom could devise if Men will resolve to be blind and perverse and sensless all will be in vain the most High and Sacred things will increase their Misery This may give you some little glimpse of the excellency of Vertue You may easily discern that my Design is to reconcile Men to GOD and make them fit to delight in him and that my last End is to celebrate his Praises in communion with the Angels Wherein I beg the Concurrence of the Reader for we can never praise him enough nor be fit enough to praise him No other man at least can make us so without our own willingness and endeavour to do it Above all pray to be sensible of the Excellency of the Creation for upon the due sense of its Excellency the life of Felicity wholly dependeth Pray to be sensible of the Excellency of Divine Laws and of all the Goodness which your Soul comprehendeth Covet a lively sense of all you know of the Excellency of GOD and of Eternal Love of your own Excellency and of the worth and value of all Objects whatsoever For to feel is as necessary as to see their Glory The Contents CHAP. I. OF the End for the sake of which Vertue is desired Chap. II. Of the Nature of Felicity its excellency and perfection Chap. III. Of Vertue in general The distribution of it into its several kinds It s definition Chap. IV. Of the Powers and Affections of the Soul What Vertues pertain to the estate of Innocency what to the estate of Grace what to the estate of Glory Chap. V. Of the necessity excellency and use of Knowledge Its depths and extents its Objects and its End Chap. VI. Of Love and Hatred The necessity and sweetness of Love It s general use and efficacy The several kinds of Love Of the power inclination and act of Love its extent and capacity Chap. VII What benefit GOD himself does receive by his eternal Love That when our Love is made compleat and perfect it will be like his and the benefit of it will be eternal Chap. VIII Of the excellency of Truth as it is the object and cause of Vertue The matter and form of Vertuous Actions That their form is infinitely more excellent than their matter and the Heathen Morality infinitely defective and short of the Christian. Chap. IX Wisdom is seated in the Will it attaineth best of all possible Ends by the best of all possible Means Chap. X. Of Righteousness how Wisdom Justice and right Reason are shut up in its Nature What God doth and what we acquire by the exercise of this Vertue Chap. XI Of Goodness natural moral and divine its Nature described The benefits and Works of Goodness Chap. XII Of Holiness Its nature violence and pleasure It s beauty consisteth in the infinite love of Righteousness and Perfection Chap. XIII Of Justice in general and particular The great good it doth in Empires and Kingdoms a token of the more retired good it doth in the Soul It s several kinds That Gods punitive Justice springs from his Goodness Chap. XIV Of Mercy The indelible stain and guilt of Sin Of the Kingdom which God recovered by Mercy The transcendent nature of that duty with its effects and benefits Chap. XV. Of Faith The faculty of Believing implanted in the Soul Of Nature its Objects are The necessity of Faith Its end its use and excellency It is the Mother and fountain of all the Vertues Chap. XVI Of Hope It s foundation its distinction from Faith its extents and dimensions its life and vigour its several kinds its sweetness and excellency Chap. XVII Of Repentance It s original its nature it is a purgative Vertue its necessity its excellencies The measure of that sorrow which is due to Sin is intollerable to Sence confessed by Reason and dispensed with by Mercy Chap. XVIII Of Charity towards God It sanctifieth Repentance makes it a Vertue and turns it to a part of our true Felicity Our Love to all other objects is to begin and end in God Our Love of God hath an excellency in it that makes it worthy to be desired by his eternal Majesty He is the only supream and perfect Friend by Loving we enjoy him Chap. XIX Charity to our Neighbour most natural and easie in the estate of Innocency Adams Love to Eve and his Children a great exemplar of our Love to all the World The sweetness of Loving The benefits of being Beloved To love all the World and to be beloved by all the World is perfect security and felicity Were the Law fulfilled all the World would be turned into Heaven Chap. XX. Of Prudence It s foundation is Charity its end tranquility and prosperity on Earth its office to reconcile Duty and Convenience and to make Vertue subservient to Temporal welfare Of Prudence in Religion Friendship and Empire The end of Prudence is perfect Charity Chap. XXI Encouragements to Courage It s Nature cause and end It s greatness and renown Its ornaments and Companions Its objects circumstances effects and disadvantages how Difficulties increase its vertue Its Victories and Triumphs How subservient it is to Blessedness and Glory Chap. XXII Of Temperance in matters of Art as Musick Dancing Painting Cookery Physick c. In the works of Nature Eating drinking sports and recreations In occasions of passion in our lives
it at their Hands The wonderful Love wherewith he loved us is the Root the Soul and Glory of his Passion It is wonderful as it made him willing to become Death and Sin and a Curse for us But the height of our Extasie is in the Reality of his Passion and in the full accomplishment of all its Purposes IT is the Vertue of Love which is infused into Patience and the chief Elixir of its Nature is founded in the Excellency of a Spirit that Suffers for anothers sake This therefore we ought ever to remember That Patience when it is a Vertue springs from Love and that this Love is chiefly towards GOD and next that to our Neighbour When we suffer any thing for GOD's sake or for our Neighbours good we suffer in a Wise and Vertuous manner And the Honour which follows such a Suffering is the Crown of Glory which it shall for eyer wear It is a vain and insipid thing to Suffer without loving GOD or Man Love is a transcendent Excellence in every Duty and must of necessity enter into the Nature of every Grace and Vertue That which maketh the solid Benefit of Patience unknown its Taste so bitter and comfortless to Men is its Death in the separation and absence of its Soul We Suffer but Love not Otherwise Love to the Person for whose sake we Suffer is its own support and comfort It makes the Action to be valuable and insuses a sweetness into all the Affliction it can make us endure A Sweetness answerable to the Welfare and Pleasure which is either caused or secured to our Object thereby Our own growth in the approbation and esteem of the Person we love is the desirable Greatness which we covet to attain which can no way be confirmed and increased so perfectly as by Suffering for him For our Fidelity Sincerity Reality Vigour Life and Industry can never be made so fair and apparent as when we pursue our love and are carried by it to the utmost extremities of Death and Misery and labour through all disasters Persecutions and Calamities to obey and honour and please and glorifie the Object which in times of quiet we pretend to love In an easie and prosperous Estate there is little difference between Friendship and Flattery but he that sticks firm in Calamity is a Friend indeed The Trial of Love consists in the difficulties it endures for its Beloved AND for this Cause it is that GOD will expose us to so severe a Trial himself ordaining some Trials in the beginning but permitting more when we brought them upon our selves Many also he suffereth to come which we daily bring upon our own heads by our own folly Some he inflicteth perhaps himself for the Chastisement of our Sins or the Medicine of our Souls to abate our Confidence and to excite our Care to awaken us out of our Lethargy and to quicken our sence both of our Miserable Condition and our need of his Favour to humble our Rebellion to heal and purge our Corruptions to moderate our Passions to heighten our Penitence to abate our Pride to increase our Ardour in Devotion and Prayer to make our subjection to and dependance on him Clear to stir us up to a more strict Examination of our selves in our Thoughts Words and Deeds least some Jonas or other should lie in the Ship that continues the Tempest upon us to enkindle our Compassion towards our afflicted Brethren and to enflame us with more perfect Zeal and Love towards GOD It is like Wormwood that imbitters the Nipple to wean us from the World and augment our desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ to make us groan after our Eternal Rest and long for the glorious Liberty of the Sons of GOD. Sometimes he suffereth Tribulations and Trials to come upon us by the Perverseness of Men who being left at Liberty in their dominion over the World are the principal Authors of all the Troubles and disorders in it To know the several springs and sources of Affliction is very expedient for our Patience and Contentment much dependeth upon it A confused Apprehension makes us blind but a clear Sight distinguisheth between the Will of GOD and the Corruption of Nature which in our selves and others is the principal Cause of all our disturbances BE it by which of all these Occasions it will or for which of all these Ends it can befal us it is evermore to increase our Conquest and to make us like the King of Sufferings pure and perfect And the Consideration of Gods over-ruling Power and Providence therein which makes all these Things work to together for our good begetteth a grateful Admiration in us as well as a sence of our dependance on his Goodness which increaseth the Fear of GOD in our Souls and animates us with great Wonder that he should put his hand to touch the vile and evil Off-spring of our Sin and turn all into Good and make it to rest in our Exaltation and Glory by his Wisdom and Mercy Concerning GOD's End in bringing and permitting all these Evils the Scripture is very frequent It was one of Job's Contemplations What is Man that thou shouldest magnifie him and that thou shouldst set thine Heart upon him and that thou shouldst visit him every Morning and try him every Moment Man is magnified by his Trials It was David's Observation The LORD is in his holy Temple the Lords Throne is in Heaven his Eyes behold his Eye-lids try the Children of Men. The Lord trieth the Righteous but the Wicked and him that loveth Violence his Soul hateth It was Daniel's Prophesie And some of them of Understanding shall fall to try them and to purge and to make them White even to the time of the End GOD himself expresseth his own Resolution I will bring part of them through the fire and will refine them as Silver is refined and try them as Gold is tried They shall call on my Name and I will hear them I will say It is my People and they shall say The LORD is my GOD. THE meaning of all which places is not as if GOD did stand in need of all these Trials to know what is in us for he knoweth what is in Man from all Eternity before these Trials come he searcheth the Heart and trieth the Reins and discerneth the thoughts and purposes of the Soul He seeth every Inclination in the seed every Grace in the secret habit of the Mind and every Vertue in the Root They lie in the Seed but yet he seeth a mighty difference between quiet Habits and effectual Operations for they differ as much as the Root and the Blossom or the Blossom and the Fruit. For Vertues to lie asleep in the Soul and for Vertues to be actually and fully perfected is as great a difference as for a Vine to be of a generous kind and prone to bear but to remain without Fruit or for a Vine to bring forth
Christian ETHICKS OR Divine MORALITY Opening the WAY to BLESSEDNESS By the RULES of VERTUE AND REASON By THO. TRAHERNE B. D. Author of the Roman Forgeries LONDON Printed for Jonathan Edwin at the Three Roses in Ludgate-street 1675. TO THE READER THE design of this Treatise is not to stroak and tickle the Fancy but to elevate the Soul and refine its Apprehensions to inform the Judgment and polish it for Conversation to purifie and enflame the Heart to enrich the Mind and guide Men that stand in need of help in the way of Vertue to excite their Desire to encourage them to Travel to comfort them in the Journey and so at last to lead them to true Felicity both here and hereafter I need not treat of Vertues in the ordinary way as they are Duties enjoyned by the Law of GOD that the Author of The whole Duty of Man hath excellently done nor as they are Prudential Expedients and Means for a mans Peace and Honour on Earth that is in some measure done by the French Charron of Wisdom My purpose is to satisfie the Curious and Unbelieving Soul concerning the reality force and efficacy of Vertue and having some advantages from the knowledge I gained in the nature of Felicity by many years earnest and diligent study my business is to make as visible as it is possible for me the lustre of its Beauty Dignity and Glory By shewing what a necessary Means Vertue is how sweet how full of Reason how desirable in it self how just and amiable how delightful and how powerfully conducive also to Glory how naturally Vertue carries us to the Temple of Bliss and how immeasurably transcendent it is in all kinds of Excellency And if I may speak freely my Office is to carry and enhance Vertue to its utmost height to open the Beauty of all the Prospect and to make the Glory of GOD appear in the Blessedness of Man by setting forth its infinite Excellency Taking out of the Treasuries of Humanity those Arguments that will discover the great perfection of the End of Man which he may atchieve by the capacity of his Nature As also by opening the Nature of Vertue it self thereby to display the marvellous Beauty of Religion and light the Soul to the sight of its Perfection I do not speak much of Vice which is far the more easie Theme because I am intirely taken up with the abundance of Worth and Beauty in Vertue and have so much to say of the positive and intrinsick Goodness of its Nature But besides since a strait Line is the measure both of it self and of a crooked one I conclude That the very Glory of Vertue well understood will make all Vice appear like dirt before Jewel when they are compared together Nay Vice as soon as it is named in the presence of these Vertues will look like Poyson and a Contagion or if you will as black as Malice and Ingratitude so that there will need no other Exposition of its Nature to dehort Men from the love of it than the Illustration of its Contrary Vertues are listed in the rank of Invisible things of which kind some are so blind as to deny there are any existent in Nature But yet it may and will be made easily apparent that all the Peace and Beauty in the World proceedeth from them all Honour and Security is founded in them all Glory and Esteem is acquired by them For the Prosperity of all Kingdoms is laid in the Goodness of GOD and of Men. Were there nothing in the World but the Works of Amity which proceed from the highest Vertue they alone would testifie of its Excellency For there can be no Safety where there is any Treachery But were all Truth and Courtesie exercis'd with Fidelity and Love there could be no Injustice or Complaint in the World no Strife nor Violence but all Bounty Joy and Complacency Were there no Blindness every Soul would be full of Light and the face of Felicity be seen and the Earth be turned into Heaven The things we treat of are great and mighty they touch the Essence of every Soul and are of infinite Concernment because the Felicity is eternal that is acquired by them I do not mean Immortal only but worthy to be Eternal and it is impossible to be happy without them We treat of Mans great and soveraign End of the Nature of Blessedness of the Means to attain it Of Knowledge and Love of Wisdom and Goodness of Righteousness and Holiness of Justice and Mercy of Prudence and Courage of Temperance and Patience of Meekness and Humility of Contentment of Magnanimity and Modesty of Liberality and Magnificence of the waies by which Love is begotten in the Soul of Gratitude of Faith Hope and Charity of Repentance Devotion Fidelity and Godliness In all which we shew what sublime and mysterious Creatures they are which depend upon the Operations of Mans Soul their great extent their use and value their Original and their End their Objects and their Times What Vertues belong to the Estate of Innocency what to the Estate of Misery and Grace and what to the Estate of Glory Which are the food of the Soul and the works of Nature which were occasioned by Sin as Medicines and Expedients only which are Essential to Felicity and which Accidental which Temporal and which Eternal with the true Reason of their Imposition why they all are commanded and how wise and gracious GOD is in enjoyning them By which means all Atheism is put to flight and all Infidelity The Soul is reconciled to the Lawgiver of the World and taught to delight in his Commandements All Enmity and Discontentment must vanish as Clouds and Darkness before the Sun when the Beauty of Vertue appeareth in its brightness and glory It is impossible that the splendour of its Nature should be seen but all Religion and Felicity will be manifest Perhaps you will meet some New Notions but yet when they are examined he hopes it will appear to the Reader that it was the actual knowledge of true Felicity that taught him to speak of Vertue and moreover that there is not the least tittle pertaining to the Catholick Faith contradicted or altered in his Papers For he firmly retains all that was established in the Ancient Councels nay and sees Cause to do so even in the highest and most transcendent Mysteries only he enriches all by farther opening the grandeur and glory of Religion with the interiour depths and Beauties of Faith Yet indeed it is not he but GOD that hath enriched the Nature of it he only brings the Wealth of Vertue to light which the infinite Wisdom and Goodness and Power of GOD have seated there Which though Learned Men know perhaps far better than he yet he humbly craves pardon for casting in his Mite to the vulgar Exchequer He hath nothing more to say but that the Glory of GOD and the sublime Perfection of Humane Nature are united in
and Displeasure Because he is infinitely Offended and displeased at Evil Deeds he guards and fortifies his Law deterres men from displeasing him by the fear of infinite Punishments Encourages men to please him by proposing infinite Rewards and the Truth is the infinite Approbation and Esteem which he hath for Wise and Holy Deeds produceth a Delight and Complacency in them which is the principal Part of the Reward Nothing is more honourable then to be Praised and honoured by the King of Kings The infinite Hatred of Evil Deeds is the very Torment it self that afflicts the Wicked T is but to see how much we are hated of GOD and how base the Action is no other fire is needful to Hell The Devils chiefest Hell is in the Conscience They are obdurate and feared that cannot discern and feel The Wound which they inflict on themselves who grieve and offend their Creator It is easie to see the Necessity of that Justice which springs from Holiness and that GOD could not be infinitely Holy were he not infinitely Just in like manner THAT his Punitive Justice springs from his Goodness is next to be observed He punishes them that are hurtfull to others He is most severe in pleading the Cause of the Fatherless and the Widow Himself is persecuted when his Saints are molested and he faults for which the untoward servant was punished are particularly those of beating his fellow Seruants A good man by how much the more tender and compassionate he is by so much the more is he provoked at any gross Affront or abuse of the Innocent Every soul is the Bride of GOD and his own infinite Goodness which deserves infinite Love is infinitely Beloved by him He infinitely tenders it and avoids its least Displeasure but its Displeasure is infinite at every Sin and consequently his Anger when such a Sovereign Beauty as his infinite Goodness is offended by it THE foundation of his Righteous Kingdome and of the Room prepared for his Eternal Justice to act in is infinitely deeper and must in other Discourses more full and copious on that Theme be shewn And to those we refer you All we shall observe here is that this Punitive Justice being GODS infinite Zeal whereby he vindicates his abused Goodness His Goodness must of necessity proceed it and be abused before he can be Angry and before his Anger can be accounted Justice His Dominion is infinite but cannot be Arbitrary in a loose Construction because it is infinitely Divine and Glorious CHAP. XIV Of Mercy The indelible Stain and Guilt of Sin Of the Kingdom which GOD recovered by Mercy The transcendent Nature of that Duty with its Effects and Benefits SUCH is the infinite Justice of God and the Severity of his Displeasure at Sin his Holiness so Pure and his Nature so irreconcilable his Hatred so real and infinite against it that when a Sin is committed his Soul is alienated from the Author of the Crime and his infinite Displeasure will ever see the Obliquity and ever loath the Deformity therein THE Person of a man is concerned in and always represented in the Glass of his Action Union between him and his Deeds is Marvellous T is so close that his Soul it self is hated or Beloved in his Actions As long as it appeareth in that deed which is Odious and Deformed he can never be Beloved HOW slight soever our Thoughts of Sin are the least Sin is of infinite Demerit because it breaketh the Union between God and the Soul bereaveth him of his Desire blasteth his Image corrupteth the Nature of the Soul is committed against infinite Goodness and Majesty being as the Scripture speaketh Exceeding sinful because it is committed against infinite Obligations and Rewards displeasing to all the Glorious Angels abominable to all the Wise and Holy utterly against all the Rules of Reason and infinitely Opposite to the Holiness God who is of purer Eys then to behold the least Iniquity So that unless there be some way found out to deliver the Soul from the Guilt of Sin to blot out the Act and to purifie it from the Stain there can be no Reconciliation between GOD and a Sinner That an offence so infinite should be Eternally punished is the most reasonable thing in the World NOTHING but infinite power and Wisdome is able to wash away Leprosie of guilt and to restore the Soul to its former Beauty and Perfection Without which all Pardon is vain and the Soul dishonourable and sick unto Death as long as the shame and Confusion of its Guilt does lie upon it Which cannot be removed by feeble Tears nor by Acts of Indignation against our selves nor by any Penitence or Sorrow of ours For if these could prevail the Divels might repent and be cleared of their Trespasses long agoe THAT no Law of Works can justifie Sinners is evident enough from that of the Apostle For if there had been a Law given which could have given Life verily Righteousness should have been by the Law GOD was not so prodigal as without an infinite Cause to expend the Blood of his Son And the principal Cause for which he came was that he might be made a Curse and Sin for us that we might be delivered from the Curse of the Law and be made the Righteousness of GOD in him THE reason why the Devils cannot he saved is because the Son of GOD took not upon him the Nature of Angels but the seed of Abraham And there is no other name given under Heaven among men whereby we may be saved but only the name of Jesus who offered up himself a sacrifice for us that he might purifie to himself a peculiar people Zealous of Good Work He pacified the Wrath of God by his Death and satisfied his Justice in our nature and washed us in his Blood and made us Kings and Priests unto GOD. To him be Glory and Dominion forever Amen IT was the Design of Christ and it became the Mercy of GOD in our redemption to take away all the filth and Deformity of Guilt in which the Perfection of his Love and Power appeareth Even as Christ also Loved his Church and gave himself for it that he might Sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of Water by the Word That he might present it to himself a Glorious Church not having Spot or Wrinkle or any such thing but that it might be holy and without Blemish For the Church of GOD being his Bride and we Members of his Body and of his Flesh and of his Bones it was meet that we should be restored to the Perfection of Beauty and if not recover the same enjoy a Better Righteousness than we had before THE Light of Nature could discover nothing of all this and therefore it was taught by Revelations and Miracles and Oracles from Heaven AS all things before his fall were subservient to mans Glory and blessedness so all things after his fall became opposite to him
all creatures up braided him with his Guilt every thing aggravated his Sin and increased his Damnation The glory and Blessedness which he lost was his Torment the Honour which he had before was turned into shame the Love of GOD which he had offended increased his Guilt Eternity was a Horror to him his Conscience a Tormentor and his Life a Burden Nothing but shame and Despair could follow his Sin the Light of nature it selfe condemned him and all that he could see was that he was deformed and hated of God For that of the Psalmist is an Eternal verity Thou art not a GOD that hath pleasure in Wickedness neither shall Evil dwell with thee The Foolish shall not stand in thy sight thou hatest all Workers of iniquity Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing The Lord will abhor the Bloody and Deceitful man THE Express Declaration of GOD assured Adam that his Recovery was impossible In the Day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the Death For not being able to dive into the Secret Reservation which depended absolutely upon Gods holy Will and pleasure as an Act of Sovereignty above the Tenor of the Law all that he could see was that he must die the Death because the Veracity of GOD as well as his nature obliged him to fulfil the Denunciation of the Sentence at least as Adam conceived IN the midst of this Black and Horrid Condition the Mercy of GOD appeared like a Morning Star and the Redeeming Love of GOD was that alone which was able by its Discovery to dispell the Mystes of Darkness that were round about him AS all things were before turned into Evil by the force of Sin and conspired to sink him lower into the Bottomless Pit so all the Evils of his present condition were by this infinite Mercy turned to his Advantage and his Condition in many Respects far better than before IT is fit to see how Sin enfeebled his Soul and made him unable to serve GOD that we might the better understand the Manner of his Recovery and how his Spiritual Life and Power is restored in the new strength which he received in his Saviour THE Atcount of it is this By his self Love he was prone to desire all that was Profitable and Delightful to him While therefore GOD infinitely Loved him being apparently the fountain of all his Happiness he could not chuse as long as he considered it but Love GOD and Delight in him it was natural and Easie to celebrate his Praises But when he was hated of GOD tho he could not chuse but acknowledge that hatred Just yet his Self Love made him to look upon GOD in a Malevolent manner as his Greatest Enemy and his Eternal Tormentor All that was in GOD was a Terror to him His power his Eternity his Justice his Holiness his Goodness his Wisdome his Unalterable Blessedness all was a grief and Terror to his Soul as long as the Hatred of GOD continued against him it made him desperate to think it would continue forever and reduced him to the miserable slavery of hating GOD even to all Eternity BUT when the Love of GOD towards Man appeared the Joy wherewith he was surprized was in all Likelyhood so far beyond his Expectation and his Redemption so far above the Powers of Nature that his very Guilt and Despair enflamed him with Love GOD appeared now so Welcome to him and so Lovely above all that was before that it was impossible for him to look upon GOD and not to Love him with Greater Emazement and Ardor then ever Self Love that Before compelled him to hate GOD carried him now most violently to the Love of GOD and the Truth is the Love of GOD in the Eye of the Understanding is the influence of the Holy Ghost proceeding from the Father by the Son into the Soul of the Spectator For GOD is Love and we therefore Love him because he first Loved us A faln man is Still a reasonable Creature and having more reason to Love GOD then he had before is by the pure Nature of his Essence infinitely more prone to Love GOD and delight in him and praise him for ever because he is so mercifully and so Strangely restored Thus are we in Christ restored to the Exercise of that Power which we lost by Sin But without him we can do Nothing WHEN all the Kingdom of GOD was at an End by the fall of man and all the Labor of the Creation lost by the Perversness of him for whom the whole World was made GOD by his Mercy recovered it and raised it out of the Rubbish of its Ruines more Glorious than before Which is the chief reason for the sake for which we introduce the Mercy of GOD as our best pattern For when a man has injured us by Nature there is an End of all the Lovely Exercises of Peace and Amity If natural Justice should be strictly observed but then the Season of Grace arrives and the Excellencie of Mercy shews it self in the Lustre of its Wisdome and so our Empire is continued our loss retrived For by shewing Mercy we often recover the Love of an Enemy and restore a Criminal to the Joy of our freindship We lengthenout our Goodness and Heighten its measure we make it victorious and cloath it with a Glory above the course of Nature And all this we are enabled to do by Coming of Jesus Christ who hath restored us to the Hope of Salvation and taught us a Way to increase our own Goodness by other mens Evils to turn the vices of others into our own Vertues and to Live a Miraculous Life of Worth and Excellency in the midst of Enemies Dealing with men better than they deserve adornig our selves with Trophies by the Advantages of their vileness making our selves more Honourable by the Ignominy they cast upon us more Lovely and Desirable by the Hatred which they bear towards us THE foundations upon which we Exercise this Vertue are wholy Supernatural To be kind to the innocent is but Justice and Goodness but to be Kind to the Malevolent is Grace and Mercy And this we must do because our Father which is in Heaven Causeth his Sun to rise on the Just and the unjust and his Rain to descend on the Righteous and the Wicked Because Mercy is the Head Spring of all our Felicities therefore should we shew Mercy as we have obtained Mercy As the Blood was sprinkled upon the Tabernacle and all its Utensils so is the Blood of Christ upon the Heathens and the Earth and all our Enjoyments They are Daily Monitors of Mercy to us because they are purchased by the Blood of Christ. For of him it is that the Heavens declare the Glory of GOD and the firmament sheweth his Handy work to us sinners at this day The Salvation of Sinners being the only End for the sake of which we can be permitted now to enjoy them THE Incarnation of our Lord Jesus
Despair has comfort and refreshment answerable to it in infinite Hope 'T is the present food and Support of our Lives 't is the Anchor of our Souls in the midst of all the Storms and Tempests in the World 't is the foretaste of Bliss and Coelestial Glory a Glympse and Appearence of the Beatifick Vision without which to Live is to Dye and to Dye is to perish for evermore THE Great Reason for which a right Hope is accounted so Great a Vertue is because its Objects do really surpass all Imagination The fulness of the GODHEAD in the Soul of Man the Perfection of the Divine Image a Transformation for Glory to Glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord Communion with the Father Son and Holy Ghost infinite Love and Bounty the Estate of a Bride in Communion with GOD the Possession of his Throne with another Kind of sweetness then the Bridegroom himself enjoys the Resurrection of the Body and Life Eternal in a Kingdome where all Occasions of Tears and Fears shall ever be removed Where all Regions and Ages and Spaces and Times and Eterternities shall be before our Eys and all Objects in all Worlds at once Visible and infinitely Rich and Beautiful and Ours Our very Appetites also being ravished with Sensible Pleasures in all our Members not inconsistent with but springing from these high and Supeperior Delights not distracting or confounding our Spiritual Joys but purely Superadded and increasing the same while our Bodies are made like to his most Glorious Body by that Almighty Power whereby he is able to subdue All Things to himself all these infuse their Value and the Hope that is exercised about these Things is a Vertue so great that all inferior Hopes which this doth Sanctifie are made Vertues by it but without this all other Hopes are Debasements and Abuses of the Soul meer Distractions and delusions and therefore Vices I Know very well that Presumption and Despair are generally accounted the Extreams of Hope and the only vices that are Opposite thereunto But I Know as well that there may be many Kinds and Degrees of Hope of which so me may be vicious and some Vertuous and that some sorts of Hope themselves are Vices When ever we make an inferior Desire the Sovereign Object of our Hope our Hope is abominable Idolatrous and Atheistical We forget GOD and magnifie an inferior Object above all that is Divine To Sacrifice all our Hopes to Things unworthy of them or to be Remiss and sluggish in Hoping for Things of infinite Importance is apparently Vicious But to be just to all our Encouragements and to lift up our Eys to the Eternal GOD with an humble Expectation to wait upon him and to hope for all that from his Bounty which his Goodness has promised to desire the most high and perfect Proofs of his Love is the Property of a most Great and Noble Soul by which it is carried above all the World and fitted for the Life of the most high and perfect Vertue CHAP. XVII Of Repentance It s Original its Nature it is a Purgative Vertue It s necessity its Excellencies The measure of that sorrow which is due to Sin is intollerable to Sense confessed by Reason and dispensed with by mercy REPENTANCE is a Sowre and austere Kind of Vertue that was not created nor intended by GOD but introduced by Sin made fair by Mercy in remitting the offence and pardoning the Sin It is a Strange Kind of off-spring which flows from Parents so infinitely different and has a mixture in its Nature answerable to either an Evil which it derives from Sin and a Goodness which flows from Mercy It s Evil is that of Sorrow Indignation and Shame Its Goodness is the usefulness and necessity of the thing considering the Condition we are now in It is highly ingrateful to Sence but transcendently convenient and amiable to Reason for it is impossible for him that has once been defiled with sin ever to be cleansed or to live after in a Vertuous manner unless he be so ingenious as to lament his Crime as to loath acknowledge and detest his Error THE Union of the Soul and Body is mysterious but that Sin and Mercy should be united as Causes so infinitely different for the production of a Child so Black and so Beautiful is the Greattest Wonder which the Soul can contemplate on this side Heaven and will continue to be remembred for ever and appear more Wonderful than before when the perfect Disparity and Opposition between them is clearly seen in the Light of Glory THE Efficient Cause of Repentance is either Remote or Immediate It s immediate Efficient Cause is the Gracious Inclination or the Will of the Penitent its remote Efficient is GOD the Father of Lights from which every Good and Perfect Gift descended It s Material Cause is Sorrow It s Formal Cause which makes it a Vertue is the Reason and Manner of that Sorrow the Equity and Piety wherewith it is attended containing many ingredients in its Nature too long a particular to be described here It s Final Cause is either immediate or ultimate the first is Amendment the last Salvation BEING thus bounded by its Causes its Definition is Easie Repentance is a Grace or Christian Vertue wherein a man confesses hates and forsakes his Sin with Grief that he hath been Guilty of it and purposes of Amendment of Life in Order to His Peace and Reconciliation with GOD that he may answer the Obligations that lye upon him discharge his Duty lay hold on the Advantages of GODS Mercy escape everlasting Damnation and be made a Partaker of Eternal Glory AMONG the Vertues some are Purgative and some are Perfective The Purgative Vertues are all Preparatory to Bliss and are occasioned only by the Disorder of the Soul the perfective are Essential to our formal Happiness and Eternally necessary by the Law of Nature Repentance is not in its own Nature If Simply and absolutely considered necessary to Bliss But in Relation to Sinners it is as necessary as Physick to the Recovery of Health or as the Change it self is by which we pass from the Distemper we are Sick of to the right and Sound Estate which we had lost by the Disease As the malady is accidental so is the Cure For the Nature of Man may be well and perfect without either this or the other He that is originally pure has no need of a Purgative Vertue but he that is faln defiled musts needs rise and wash away the filth before he can be clean FOR this Cause even among the Heathens themselves the more Knowing and Learned have a Conscience of Sin their Priests and Philosophers devised several Rites and Manners of Purgation which they taught and imposed on their Disciples with much Circumstance and Ceremony in order to their Reception Nor was there any Temple or Religion in the World that pretended not something to Diviner Mysteries Which were graced beautified
and his infinite Goodness abused and undervalued all Obligations imposed and all Rewards prepared in vain is worse than to see ones Palace on fire as soon as it is builded or ones Wife smitten with Leprosie and ones only beloved Son run mad For a Child to trample on his Fathers Bowels is nothing in Comparison He therefore that feels what he made GOD to endure what Grapes of Sodom and Clusters of Gomorrah he offered to his Teeth how evil a thing and bitter it is to forsake GOD how the Scripture saith He was grieved at the Heart when he saw the Corruption and Impiety of the Earth and how the Sorrow inflicted was so sore as to make him repent that he had made Man in the World he surely will be more concerned at the Evil he hath done than at any Evil he can otherwise suffer and his Godly Sorrow as Moses's Rod did eat up all the Rods of the Egyptians will devour all other Sorrows whatsoever TO consider that GOD was the first Patient Person in the World must needs sweeten the Bitterness of Patience and make it acceptable unto us to consider that we alone brought it upon our selves and may thank our selves for the folly of its Introduction must make us out of very Indignation against our selves contented to suffer and in pure Justice quietly to digest it but to consider yet further that GOD by bearing our Offences with Patience took off the trouble of them from us and by refusing to ease himself of the greatness of his displeasure in pouring it back again on our own heads digested it so as to turn our eternal Torments into transitory Woes nay into his own Agonies and Pains on the Cross this will help our Reason to rejoyce at our light Afflictions which are but for a moment especially since they work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory The first Impression of that abominable Mischief which occasioned Patience in GOD made it a Calamity but not a Vertue Detestation and Grief in themselves are but Sufferings and meer Sufferings have no Vertue nor so much almost as Action in them If his detestation and grief had broken out in Impatience we had all been destroyed Anger and Fury had been poured down upon us That which made it a Vertue was the great and mighty Continence whereby it was kept in and governed for all our Benefit For it was full of Goodness and Compassion and Mercy and Love and that was indeed the vertue of Patience in which so much Magnanimity and Government did appear so much Wisdom and Stedfastness and Immutability and upon this vertue of that Act whereby he retained his displeasure the whole Kingdom of Grace and the glory of his Mercy and Love and the blessedness and exaltation of his Church is founded it depended upon it and from his Patience it proceeded PATIENCE then is that Vertue by which we behave our selves constantly and prudently in the midst of Misfortunes and Troubles That Vertue whereby we do not only forbear to break out in Murmurings and Repinings or support our selves from sinking under Afflictions or suppress our Discontentments and refrain from Anger and Disquiet but whereby we retain our Wisdom and the goodness of our Mind notwithstanding all the Confusions and Disorders that would disturb us and demean our selves in a serene and honourable manner surmounting the Pains and Calamities that trouble us and that would otherwise overwhelm us While we move in a quick and vigorous manner under our Burthen and by a true Courage improve our Afflictions and turn them into the Spoils of Invincible Reason IT is an easie Observation that Troublous Times are the Seasons of Honour and that a Warlike-Field is the Seed-Plot of great and Heroical Actions Men that live in quiet and peaceful Ages pass through the World as insensibly as if they had all their daies been asleep Hazards and Calamities and Battles and Victories fill the Annals with Wonder and raise Great Men to an eminent degree of Fame and Glory It is Saint Chrysostoms opinion That a Man shews far greater Bravery that grapples with a Disease or surmounts his evil Fortune or behaves himself with Courage in distress bears the burning of his House or the loss of his Goods or the death of his Children with an equal Spirit in the midst of all Calamities retains his Integrity with Humility and Patience and Blesses GOD chearfully submitting with Resignation to his Will and shews himself Constant in all Estates then he that in the midst of a prosperous Condition buildeth Hospitals and Temples shineth in the exercise of Bounty and Magnificence and obligeth all the World without any other Expence than that of his Monies A Pelican that feeds her young ones with her Blood is a more Noble Bird than an Eagle that fills her Nest with Ravine though taken from the Altar For though that of a Sacrifice be the more Sacred food that of ones own Blood is more near and costly TIMES of Affliction are Seed-times for a future Harvest We are made perfect through Sufferings though the Way be mysterious and the Manner almost incomprehensible whereby the Sufferings we endure conduce to our Perfection Consider the Patience of Job how great a spectacle his Sufferings made him to GOD Angels and Men and how glorious he became by his Patience to all Generations THIS Vertue has an Appearance by reason of its Objects and Materials so cross to its disposition that if any thing be difficult in all Nature to be understood Patience is one it being a thing of the most deep and obscure value It s Nature and Effect seem contrary to each other It raises a Man by depressing him it elevates by overwhelming it honours by debafing it saves by killing him By making a Man little and nothing it magnifies and exalts him No Act of Love is attended with such bleeding Circumstances as that of Cruel Resolution in exposing our selves to all Calamities that can befal our Souls for our Beloved's sake It is the glory of the good Shepheard that He laies down his life for the Sheep And for this very Cause is our Saviour honoured by GOD and Men because being in the form of GOD he made himself of no Reputation but took on himself the form of a Servant and died the most cursed Death of the Cross for the sake of the World Wherefore saith the Text that is For which very Cause GOD also hath highly exalted him and given him a Name which is above every Name that at the Name of JESUS every Knee should bow of things in the Heaven things in the Earth and things under the Earth Nor is this Gift of GOD so purely Arbitrary but that it has a foundation in Nature Angels and Men do not bow their Knees only because they are commanded but because they see Reason to incline them to bow their Knees There is something in our Saviours Nature Action and Merit that deserves
Love is made compleat and Perfect it will be like his and the Benefit of it will be Eternal BEFORE we can fully discern the Benefit of Love or see the Glory of it in all its high and admirable Effects we must consider what Love is and doth in GOD. For as we have said The Life of GOD is Love nay the Apostle saith GOD is Love By Loving he begot his Love And if his Love be his Godhead his Essence is an infinite and Eternal Act of Love by extending which through all infinity and by Loving Eternally he begot his infinite and Eternal Essence which is the Love that filleth all Worlds with Beauty and Glory When you consider it well An Act of Love is begotten by Loving And if his Wisdome and Goodness and Blessedness and Glory be seated in Love his Love is his Wisdome which is the Son of GOD and his Goodness and his Glory and his Blessedness For all these tho we conceive them diversly are the same Thing and of the Son of GOD it is said that he is the Wisdom of the Father and the Brightness of his Fathers Glory He is the Life of the Father by whom also he made the Worlds and the Love of the Father for whom all Things were created that are in Heaven and that are in Earth visible and invisible whether they be Thrones or Dominions or Principalities or Powers all Things were created by him and for him For GOD enjoyeth all Things by his Love which is his Eternal Son and made them as perfect and delightful as it was possible for things created to be that he might take Pleasure in them As he himself is made Glorious and Delightful in the Eyes of all Angels and Men by Love so doth his whole Kingdom arise and Spring from Love the Beauty and felicity of all his Creatures their Joys and Praises their Uses and Perfections are founded in his Love ' by his Love he begetteth all his pleasures in himself by his Love he made his Treasures infinite and by that alone doth he take infinite Pleasure and Delight in himself and his Kingdome Thus useful is the Love of GOD. Had not GOD from all Eternity Loved had he never desired nor delighted in any thing he had never exerted his Almighty Power never communicated his Goodness or begot his Wisdom never enjoyed Himself never applyed himself to the Production of his Works never appeared in his Glory to any eie whatsoever Removing his Love we remove all the Properties and Effects of his Essence and are utterly unable to conceive any Idea of his Godhead For his Power tho it be Almighty yet if it be Dead and idle is fruitless and Deformed Idle Power is not the Essence of the Deity but a meer Privation and Vacuity or at least a positive Being as ignoble as it is unactive The Reason of his Works is founded in Love so are all the Obligations that are laid upon his Creatures to adore him All their Rewards are founded in Love and by Love prepared All his Laws are the Laws of Love all his Attributes and Counsels are Love in several formes acting upon several occasions When his Love communicates it self in Joys to innocent Creatures it is Goodness when it attains the most perfect End by the most perfect means it is Wisdome when it rescues guilty Creatures from Hell it is Mercy when it punishes the Rebellious it is Justice when it inspires Obedience into any obstinate Person it is Grace when it delights in the Beauty of all its Works it is Blessedness when it appears in the perfection of its works it is glory For Glory is the perfection of Beauty that ariseth from and is seated in the lustre of excellent Actions discovering the internal Properties of an excellent Agent which is by those his Properties and Actions made Delightful to all Judicious Spectators NOR is it onely in GOD but in us also that the fruits and Benefits of Love are ineffable For by loving as it ought to do the Soul acquires its own Perfection and is united to all its Objects By loving as it ought to do it is made Holy and Wise and Good and Amiable Onely by Loving does it embraces the Delights of which it is capable Love is the root and Soul of those Actions for which a Creature is desired and praised by others IT is an infinite Advantage that we are able to live in GODS Image if we please For if GOD alone be infinitely Glorious and Blessed there is no way for us to become Glorious and Blessed but by being made either by our selves or some other like unto him BY nature he hath implanted the Similitude of his power which we are to improve by Grace turning it into Act after his Similitude To be able to Love is neither Grace nor vertue but a meer Gift of GOD a natural Endowment which may be Blasted or compleated Actually to love is the Work of vertue for by that Act we enjoy our Felicity HAD GOD limited and confined our understanding our power of Loving had been shut up in Bounds Had he made it infinite but not prepared objects for the same our Love had been deluded and had lost its force Had he made some Objects but not so many as it was capable of Loving it had been Superfluous and dissatisfied Had he prepared Objects innumerable and Endless but made them evil our Love had been irrational had he commanded us to Love them Had he made more Objects then we were able to love we had been discontented But having made all Objects infinitely Amiable and Glorious and filled his Immensity and Eternity with himselfe and with the Lustre of his Actions Love is an infinite Vertue because nothing is wanting but an Act of Love to enjoy them IF they are all Amiable in all Respects they are all according to our Hearts desire in their Natures Places Durations Ends Occasions Causes Uses Service Relations Properties Operations c. All things as they immediatly proceed from him are in all respects most perfectly pleasing And if we have an Eye to see and discern this and a Soul able to resent the Benefit if our nature be so vast and perfect as to see and take pleasure in all their Circumstances it is the most unreasonable and bruitish thing in the world to withdraw our Affection from them nay it is worse then Diabolical For we Kill our selves we blast our Felicity we offend GOD we slight the Beauty of all his Creatures we break his Laws we act against nature we darken the Light and Splendor of our Souls we deface his Image we grieve his Love we do the most vicious and abominable thing that is imaginable But if we excite and a waken our Power we take in the Glory of all objects we live unto them we are sensible of them we delight in them we transform our souls into Acts of Love and Knowledge we proceed out of our selves into all Immensities
abundantly more clear and apparent herein for in all those Creatures that perfect themselves by the Service which they do the Service it self is a sufficient Recompence while those upon which we feed being more Corruptible are exalted in their Beings by being turned into ours And the Trade of Bees in the Hony they make for us and the Warmth of sheep in the fleeces they bear for us the Comfort of Birds in the feathers they wear and the Nests they build for us and the pleasures of Beasts in the off-spring they beget and bring up for us these things shew that GOD is Good to all and that his mercy is over all his Works And if any perish in our Service the Bloody Characters of his Love and Goodness are the more Stupendious All Nature is sacrificed to our Welfare and all that we have By pure Nature to do till Sin marres all is to admire and enjoy that Goodness to the Delight of which we sacrifice our selves in our own Complacency And in real truth if it be a great Wonder that any Goodness should be thus infinite the Goodness of all other Things without that Goodness is a far Greater If it be Wonderful admire and adore it CHAP. XII Of Holiness Its Nature Violence and Pleasure It s Beauty consisteth in the infinite Love of Righteousness and Perfection THE infinite Love of his own Goodness is the Holiness of GOD. There are infinite Pleasures and perfections in its Nature that Merit an infinite Esteem and Desire His Goodness is all Beauty and his Holiness all Fire and flame in pursuing it His Holiness is all Beauty and his Goodness all Fire and flame to enkindle it The infinite Excess of his Eternal Goodness is its own Holiness and the Beauty of Holiness is Excess of Goodness For if Righteousness and Holiness be well distinguished Righteousness is that Vertue by which GOD doth apprehend affect and Esteem all Excellent Things according to their value and chuse and do always the Best and most Excellent Holiness is the Love which he beareth to his own Righteousness Which being infinite makes him infinitely enflamed with the Love of the most perfect Actions and carries him with an infinite Ardor to the performance of them For tho it be a Righteous Thing to esteem the Righteousness of GOD in an infinite manner yet there is as much difference between Righteousness and the Love of Righteousness as between an Object and the Affection embracing it Tho here also the Affection the Object are the same Thing For this Holy Esteem and Love of Righteousness is Righteousness it self for it does but render Righteousness its due tho the Affection be infinite which it bears unto it HOLINESS if it be strictly defined is that Vertue in GOD by which he Loveth the most Perfect Things and infinitely delighteth in them For by Vertue of this Affection he shunneth and hateth all that is profane pursuing and delighting in all that is Holy For the Object of Holiness may be Holy as well as the Affection Whereupon it followeth that Holiness is of two kinds either the Holiness of the Affection or the Holiness of the Object They bear a Relation to each other yet are absolute Perfections in themselves For the Hatred of all Defects Imperfections Blemishes and Errors is a Glorious thing in itself yet relates to the Perfection of those Objects from which it would remove those odious Imperfections The Perfection of all Objects when they are free from all Blemishes is a Glorious Thing in it self too yet is Acceptable to that Affection that desires to see a Compleatness and Perfection in every Object And all is resolved into the same Goodness of which we have been speaking FOR infinite Goodness must needs desire with an infinite violence that all Goodness should be compleat and Perfect and that Desire which makes to the Perfection of all Goodness must infinitely avoid every slur and Miscarriage as unclean and infinitely aim at every Grace and Beauty that tends to make the Object infinitely perfect which it would enjoy It cannot desire less then infinite Perfection nor less then hate all Imperfection in an infinite Manner All Objects are made and Sanctified by the Holiness of GOD. It is the measure and strength and Perfection of Goodness THE Holiness of GOD is sometimes called in his Oracle The Beauty of Holiness As if all the Beauty of GOD were in this It extends to all Objects in Heaven and Earth from the Highest to the Lowest from the Greatest to the Meanest from the most Pure to the most profane with a Goodness and Wisdome so infinitely perfect disposing all that some way or other every Thing might answer its infinite Affection It infinitely hates all that is Bad and as infinitely desires to Correct the same The Influence of that Affection by which GOD abhorreth the least Spot in his Kingdome reaches to the Perfection of every Object and the is real proper fountain of all the Perfection of Life Glory And for this Cause in all Probability do the Angels so continually cry Holy Holy Holy Lord GOD of Hosts because the Brightness of his Infinite Glory and Perfection appeareth in his Holiness the violence of his Eternal Love and the Excess of Goodness It may be also because all the Heights of Created Perfection owe themselves to this Holiness all the Raptures and Extasies of Heaven depending on the Zeal wherewith GOD is carried to perfect Blessedness All which are occasioned by those pure and Quintessential Joys those most sublime and Perfect Beauties which they see and feel every where effected by the irresistible Strength of that Eternal Ardor SINS of Omission have an unknown Guilt and Demerit in them They unsensibly bereave us of infinite Beauty To let alone that Perfection which might have been infinite to pass by or neglect it to exert Almighty Power in a remiss and lazy manner is infinitely Base and Dishonourable and therefore unclean because so Odious and Distastful Lukewarmness is Profane as well as Malice And it hath pleased GOD to brand it with a worse and more fatal Censure No folly or iniquity can dwell with him Omission is both To be hated is to be rejected but to be beloved Lukewarmly is to be embraced with polluted and filthy Armes And for this Cause the fire of his Jealousie burns most devouringly about the Altar He will be sanctified in all them that draw nigh unto him and but to touch his Ark irregularly is to be consumed Nor is this any other then a concomitant of his Holiness and an evident Testimony of his Love to perfection For it First shews that on his own Part he maketh our Powers Perfect that we may be able to see and adore him worthily and next that he delights in no Adoration but the most Worthy It moreover shews that he infinitely delights in the Perfection of his own Actions for otherwise he would not be so severe against the
again divided into two For some of them are Laws that teach us our Duty some of them Propositions only or bare and Simple Affirmations which we call Articles guiding our Apprehensions in the Truth of those Things which are meet to be Known Speculation is intended in the one and Practice in the other NATURAL Doctrines are Objects of Divine Faith only as they are revealed by the Word of GOD. For the Authority of the Witness is that which maketh our Faith Divine They are called Natural because how ever Blind any man is in his present condition upon a diligent Search those Things may be clearly discerned by the Light of Nature Those Doctrines which are Objects of Divine Faith and yet may be found out by the Investigation of Reason are such as these That there is a GOD that the World was made that man was created in GODS Image that he hath Dominion over the works of his Hands that he is or ought to be tenderly Beloved of all mankind that he is to be good and full of Love to others that he is to render all Objects their Due Esteem and to be Grateful for the Benefits he hath received of his great Creator that the first Estate of the Worlds Creation was pure and perfect that Sin came in by the Accidental abuse of the Creatures Liberty that Nature is Corrupted that Death was introduced as the Punishment of Sin that the Soul is Immortal that GOD is infinitely Just and Wise and Holy that he will distribute Rewards and Punishments according to Right that there is such a Thing as Eternity and Immensity that the Body is frail and subject to Diseases that we receive all Things from GOD and depend in the fruition of all upon his Power and Providence that it is Wife to please him and foolish to displease him that Punishment is due to Sin and that GOD hateth it that Reward is due to Vertue and GOD delighteth in it that there is a Conscience in the Soul by which it feels and discovers the Difference between Guilt and Innocence That man is a Sinner that he is prone to Evil and Obnoxious to GODS Wrath that nevertheless he is spared by the Long-suffering of GOD and that GOD Loveth him and desireth his Salvation That there is a felicity and a Supream Felicity appointed for man that he is a free Agent and may lose it if he pleases that misery is the Consequent of the Loss of Felicity that GOD delighteth in all those that Love and practice Vertue that he hateth all those that drown their Excellencies in any Vice that Sorrow and Repentance are necessary for all those that have offended GOD that there is Hope to escape the Punishment of Sin if we endeavour to live as piously as we ought All these things are evident in themselves by the Light of Nature because they may either be clearly deduced from the principles of Reason or certainly discerned by plain Experience And are therefore taught by the Word of GOD either because they had need to be revived and raised up to light from under the Rubbish of our Fall or because GOD would sanctifie Nature by his express Consent or make its Dictates more remarkable and Valid by his Approbation and confirm all by the Seal of his Authority or because a fair Way is laid open by these to more retired and Coelestial Mysteries FOR when we know these Things we are prone to enquire what GOD hath done what Way there is to recover our ancient Happiness what Remedies are prepared for the corruption of Nature how the Guilt of Sin may be removed how we may be aided and assisted in the works of Virtue by what Means our Reconciliation with GOD is wrought and in what manner we ought to demean our selves that we may be accepted of him for the knowledge of our former health is necessary for the clear apprehension of our present Sickness and the sense of our Infirmitie fits us for the Physician When we know all that Nature can teach and see something needful that Nature cannot unfold when we are condemned by our Conscience yet feel our selves beloved find that we have forfeited all yet see the Glory of the creation continued for our use and service stand in need of an Atonement yet Know not where to get it our Exigency meeting with the grace of GOD the sence of our Misery and Hope united our own Guilt and GODS Mercy of both which we have the feeling and experience adopts us for the Reception of the Holy Gospel wherein those thing are revealed that come in most fitly to answer our Expectations Satisfaction for Sin by the Death of Christ and the Incarnation of his GODHEAD above the course of Nature for that End His active and passive Obedience in our Stead our Justification thereby the application of his Merits to our souls by faith the Glory which we owe him for so great an undertaking the coming down of the Holy Ghost to Sanctifie our Nature and the dignity of Both these Persons by reason of their Unity in the eternal Essence for the manifestation of which the Mysterie of the Trinitie is largly revealed these supernatural Points come in so suitably and are so agreeable to Nature so perfectly fit in their places so marvellously conducive to the perfection of the Residue that the very Harmony and sweetneess of altogether is enough to perswade us of their Credibility and then the Matter of fact comes in with the Testimony and Authority of GODS Word assuring us that these Things are so by History and Prophesie The Miracles at our Saviours Birth alone one would think enough to clear the business much more if we take in all the Miracles of his life wherein his Glory appeared as of the only begotten of the Father more fully yet if we take in the Miracles of his Death and abundantly more if the Glory of his Resurrection and Ascension be added But especially the Coming down of the Holy Ghost and the Power the Apostles received from heaven all the Prophesies that went before and all the successes that followed after all the Faith and Learning of the Fathers all the Canons and Decrees of Councils all the Transactions of the World drawn down to our own Age in a continued series illustrate and confirm all that is revealed BUT you will say How shall we know such Histories to be true and that such Prophesies and Prophets were in their several Ages Since we never saw the same with our eyes and there are many sleights and Fables in the World How dost thou know there are any Antipodies Thou didst never see them Or that there is any Sea which thou didst never behold Or that the next River has a Fountain Head Is not the Universal Tradition of all the world wherein the Church of Rome nay the Catholick Church is but a little Part a clear Light for a matter of Antiquitie attended with a Stream of Effects and
the Outward Court they enjoyed the society of the visible Church the sight of the Bloody Altar which answers out Saviors Cross erected in the World and the Benefit of their Outward Profession which consisted in their Admission to the Visible Ordinances and exterior Rites of Religion But that Court was open over head obnoxions to showers in Token that a bare Profession is not Enough to shelter us from the Dangers and Incommodities that may be rained down in Judgments upon us from the wrath of GOD whence the face of Heaven is overcast with Clouds and Covered with black and Heavy Displeasure till we wash and be clean and enter by penitence into the Invisible Church of which the Second Court is a Figure wherein we are illuminated by the Holy Ghost and offer up the sweet Perfumes of our Thanksgivings and Praises being admitted to feed upon the Heavenly Feast represented by the Shew-bread Table we are never received into the Society of the Saints and Angels bainted out in the Cheruhims and Palm Trees round about on the inside of its Walls nor Covered over head with a vail to protect us A vail of Blew to represent the inferior Heaven wherein Cherubims were interwoven to represent the Angels looking down upon us a vail of Goats-hair concealed and unseen above that of Blew to signifie the fruits of our Saviour Life and another of Rams-skins died Red to signifie the Blood of Christ by which we are secured from all the Displeasure which otherwise for Sin was due to us The Goats hair fitly resembles the Active Obedience or the Righteousness of Christ for as much as Hair may be clipped off and a Covering made of it while the Beast is alive For so might Christ have been perfectly Righteous tho his Life had never been Taken away But red is the Color of blood the Skin importeth Death for as much as it cannot be fleyed off without the destruction of the Creature These vails therefore as they were above the other were of higher and more mysterious importance And spread over the inclosed and invisible Court into which none but Priests and Levites entered that washed at the Laver to intimate the security only of those that are washed in the Laver of Regeneration and make Kings and Priests unto God being purged from their old sins and sanctified and illuminated in a secret Spiritual manner For as they only that tarried in their Houses were under the protection of the Paschal Lamb whose Blood was sprinkled on the Lintils of their Gates and Doors when the destroying Angel past through the Land of Egypt to kill the First-born of Man and Beast So onely they that keep within the Pale of the Invisible Church are under the Shaddow of the Almighty because they only dwell in the secret place of the most High and they alone are under the Coverture of that Powerful Blood which speaketh better things than the Blood of Abel but pleads for the preservation of them onely that repent and believe and is therefore effectually spread over the Invisible Church alone Which in another Type is exhibited by the mixture of the Blood and Oyl which was sprinkled upon the Priests and Lepers that were cleansed Sanctification and Justification moving alwayes together hand in hand the Unction of the Holy One or the Oyl of Love and Gladness annointing all those that are washed and only those are washed in clean and pure water they alone being effectually sprinkled with the Blood of Christ who of GOD is made unto us Wisdome and Righteousness and Sanctification and Redemption FOR if God should take Pleasure in us before we were pure his Complacency would be false and his Delight unrighteous Till we are Delightful to him we can never be Honorable nor Glorious before him Nor ever be pleasing to that Goodness which is indelible tho latent in our own Souls till we feel our selves clean and Beautiful IF any thing in the World can commend the value of Repentance or discover the infinite use and necessity of it this will certainly be a consideration Effectual That tho GOD love us with an infinite and eternal Love tho he magnifies his Mercy infinitely over all our Deservings tho Jesus Christ loved us so as to sacrifice himself in our places tho he made infinite satisfaction to the Justice of God for our Sins tho the Holy Ghost came down from Heaven for our sakes may tho we ourselves were taken up into Heaven all this would he of little avail and we should quickly be tumbled down again if only Sin were Delightful to us and our Wills so obstinate that there was no place for Repentance in our Hearts no sorrow nor Contrition for the Offences we had committed It is not the Love of GOD to us so much as our love to him that maketh Heaven It may surprize you perhaps but shall certainly instruct you for the Love of GOD may be infinite yet if it be unseen breed no delight in the Soul if it be sleighted and despised it shall increase our Cuilt Shame and Deformity and make us the more Odious which it must needs do when we are impenitent For so long it is manifest that we are neither Sensible of his Love nor Just unto it The taste of its sweetness and the Pleasure we take in his infinite Love is the Life of Blessedness and the Soul of Heaven It is the Concurrence of our Love and His when they meet together that maketh Heaven HERE upon Earth we ought actually to grieve and repent for our Sins But should GOD require a measure in our Grief answerable to its Causes our Repentance it self would be an Hell unto us For the Grief would be Endless and insupportable Right Reason requires that we should be infinitely afflicted for the infinite folly and madness of Sin But the Mercy of GOD dispenseth with our Grief so far that it takes off the Pain which its infinitâ— Measure would inflict upon our sense and accepts of an Acknowledgement made by our Reason that it ought to be infinite if strict Justice were exacted at our Hands Our intention is in the Course of Reason to be infinitely and Eternally grieved for the Baseness of the Act and the Vileness we have contracted and so we should be dâ—d its Effects continue and abide forever for then we should be hated of GOD and become his Enemies World without End But the Removal of that Hatred and the infinite Mercy whereby we are forgiven hath a kindly Operation on the Soul of every Penitent and the Joy it infuseth restrains and limits the Excess of our Sorrow it leaves the Intension of Grief and its inclination in the Mind yet stops the persecution and relieves our Reason by diverting the stream of its Operations and Exercises it engageth its actual Resentments upon other Objects which turn it all into Love and Adoration Praise and Thanksgiving Joy and Complacency For the Love of God continued after our fall and
the Felicity to which we are called out of the Depth of our misery all the Advantages we receive upon our Redemption the Improvements of our miserable Estate the Degrees and Ornaments that are added to the Beauty and perfection of Gods Kingdome upon so sad an occasion as Sin is all these things take up our Thoughts in such a manner that while we are actually and fully Just to these and Loving GOD for his Eternal Love infinitely more than we Love our selves we live in him and are all in raptures of Blesseduess yet is there a Vertual Sorrow which Reason conceives as most due to Sin which being expressed only in the Humility of our Souls and seen as it were underneath the fruition of our Joys in the lowly Conceit we retain of our selves in the confession of our vileness and the deep Sence of our own unworthiness is far Greater now we are restored to the favour and Love of GOD far sweeter to be seen and deeper to be understood than the Grief for Sin would have been had we been not redeemed but Damned forever CHAP. XVIII Of Charity towards GOD. It Sanctifieth Repentance makes it a Vertue and turns it to a Part of our true Felicity Our Love to all other Objects is to begin and End in GOD. Our Love of GOD hath an Excellency in it that makes it worthy to be desired by his Eternal Majesty He is the only Supreme and Perfect friend By Loving we enjoy him REPENTANCE without Love is so far from seating us in the Felicity of Heaven that it is one of the Ingredients of the Torments in Hell a natural Effect of Sin and a great Part of the Misery of Devils Love is a genuine Affection of the Soul and so powerfully Sweet when it is Satisfied and pleased that it communicates the Relish of its own Delightfulness to every Thing near it and Transformes the most Virulent Affections into Smooth Healing Perfective Pleasures Insomuch that in Heaven our Sorrow for Sin shall perhaps be infinite yet the malignity of it so perfectly correctd that tho we continue Eternally Just in rendring our Sins that grief which is their due it shall not discompose our peace norcorrode our Delighs but increase our Repose in the Beauty of our souls and make our Joys more full of Extasie by those Melting Lively Bleeding Resentments which our Love will occasion in the very Grief where with it perfects our Felicity For as the falling out of Lovers is the Renewing of Love so is the Mercy and Kindness of the one even of him that was injured and the calm and secure Indignation wherewith the other hates himself for being guilty of so vile a miscarriage the very Grace and Beauty of the Reconciliation it is a great means of their mutual Endearment and Tenderness ever after the Compassion of him that is Innocent and the humble grief of the Guilty making the Joy of their future Correspondence more Deep and Serious more Vigorous and Enflaming more lasting LOVE is that which Sanctifies Repentance and makes it pleasant both to him that is Beloved and to him that is adored Acceptable and Delightful to him that repenteth as well as to him that had been injured For the Sinners Restauration makes it as Natural to grieve for his Fault as to rejoyce in his Felicity his fad and humble Resentments are his own Satisfaction because he sees himself Just and Rational in them he delighs in his Sorrow because it is Honourable and finds a new Kind of pleasure in his Abasement because it is relieved by the Wonder of his Happy condition and what he hath lost in himself is regained in the pefection and Goodness of his Object THAT GOD is the sovereign Object of Love I scarcely need to mention all I shall observe upon this occasion is that we are more to Love him for his Mercy and Compassion towards us as Sinners then for his Goodness and Bounty expressed at the first as we were Innocent Creatures The Bleeding Spectacle of his Incarnate Deity and the Perseverance of his Miraculous and Transcendent Love after all our Offences is another Kind of Motive to heighten our Charity of and gives it another form as much more Mysterious so much more perfect and Delightful then ever Our Sorrow for Sin infuses a New Sense into Nature a New Beauty into Love and gives as much unto it as it receiveth from it But this being better known by Experience then by description I shall refer you to the Life of Heaven and Grace for more ample satisfaction LOVE as we have shewed may be extended to all Objects in Heaven and Earth all that is Goodly and Amiable being capable of that Affection Hereupon the Word Love is generally used for that Liking and Esteem we have for any thing whether Dead or alive We can Love Life and desire to see Good Days we can Love the Sun and Wine and Oyl and Gold Love our Dogs and Horses fine Clothes and Jewels Pleasures Honours Recreations Houses Riches and as well as Love Men and Women Souls and Angels And evermore our Love expresseth it self in Tenderness and Care for the Preservation of what we Love in Esteem of its Worth and Delight in its Beauty in endeavours also to promote its Welfare as far as it is capable But there is another sort of Love towards Living Objects Divine and reasonable which we call Charity This is that Vertue of which the Apostle saith after he had spoken of all the Miracles Helps Governments Prophesies Tongues and other Gifts of the Holy Ghost that were then in the Church And Yet shew I unto you a more Excellent Way 1 Cor. 12. ult And in the next Chapter Tho I speak with the Tongues of Men and of Angels and have not Charity I am become as sounding Brass or a tinkling Cymbal And tho I have the Gift of Prophesie and understand all mysteries and all Knowledge and tho I have all Faith so that I could remove Mountains and have no Charity I am nothing and tho I bestow all my Goods to feed the poor and tho I give my Body to be burned and have not Charity it profiteth me nothing It is that concerning which our Saviour Speaketh The first of all the commandements is Hear O Israel the Lord our GOD is one Lord and thou shalt Love the Lord thy GOD with all thy heart and with all thy Soul and with all thy Mind and with all thy Strength This is the first Commandement And the Second is like namely this Thou shalt Love thy Neighbour as thy self There is none other Commandement greater then those Nay perhaps it is that of which he saith to his Apostles when they had admired at his Miracles He that believeth on me the works that I do shall he do also and greater Works then these shall he do because I go to the Father For Faith worketh by Love Love is the Life of Faith and without the Works of the
Artificial and not Natural for when the Conversation is sincerely guided to a good End the more free and voluntary it is it is the more Noble the more Industry and Desire a man expresses in attaining all these measures and perfections they are the more Vertuous and the Probity of his Will is to be the more accepted For Vertues are not effects of Nature but Choice Which how free soever it may appear is as stable as the Sun when founded on Eternal principles it secures any Friend in the good and amiable Qualities he desires in his Beloved as much as Nature it self could do though they depend upon the Will which is capable of changing every moment This of Temperance in the Government of our Humors I shall add but one Note more and that is That a wise man discards the Predominancy of all Humors and will not yield himself up to the Empire of any for he is to live the life of Reason not of Humor Nor will he have any Humor of his own but what he can put off and on as he sees occasion He will cleave eternally to the Rules of Vertue but will comply in his Humor so far as to make his conversation sweet and agreeable to every Temper Religion and Charity as well as Courtesie and Civility prompt to this and where these concur with his Reason and favour his Interest he may well do what S. Paul taught him become all things to all men that he might gain some And this encouragement he hath A man by sacrificing his own may comply with the satisfaction of all the World and find his own far more great and honourable and sweet and amiable in the End far more high and blessed in the Love and Esteem he shall obtain thereby than if he had gratified his first inclination without any respect to the Prelation of others It will bring him to the fruition of Pleasures far greater than those he despised TEMPERANGE in the full composition and use of Vertues is far more sublime and more immediately approacheth the end of Vertue than any Temperance in Meats and Drinks It is resident nearer the Throne of Felicity and seateth us by her You may see its Task as it is prescribed in Prudence But for Example sake we will instance it in Meekness which of all the Vertues is the most weak and naked A meek Spirit receiveth its Temper its encouragement strength and facility from the union and concurrence of all the Vertues Knowledg is its light and Love the principle of its life and motion Wisdom guideth it to the highest End Righteousness is a great incentive thereunto while it teacheth us to esteem the favour of God and the excellency of those Souls whose value maketh us tender of their Repose and prone to honour them with a due esteem as well as to desire their peace and salvation Holiness maketh us to delight in our Duty Goodness inclines us to sacrifice our own to the welfare of others Mercy leads us to pity their Infirmities and more to compassionate their Misery than to be provoked with their Distemper Justice makes us to pay our Saviours Love and Merits what we owe unto him All these establish the habit of Meekness in our Souls Fortitude does several waies conspire thereunto for it makes us to adventure upon any Trouble that we can fall into thereby and puts a lustre upon us in the act of Meekness Patience habituates the Soul to Afflictions and makes our sence of Injuries easie Repentance minds us of other employments than Anger and Revenge even a contrite Sorrow for our own Offences Humility gives us a sence of our own Unworthiness and a willingness to be yet more low than our Enemies can make us It inclines us also to confess that we have deserved far worse and more bitter Evils and to despise our selves which when we truly do no Injuries or Wrongs can move us Faith carries us up to higher Enjoyments Hope hath respect to the promised Reward Our Love towards GOD enflames us with Desire to please him Charity to our Neighbour is prone to forgive him Prudence teacheth us to expect no Figs from Thorns nor better entertainment from Briars and Brambles but rather to right our selves by improving their Wrongs and to turn their Vices into our Vertues Magnanimity despiseth the Courtship of Worms and scorneth to place its rest and felicity in Trifles Liberality is industrious to find out occasions of Obliging and Conquering Contentment is fed by higher Delights and beautifies our Meekness with a chearful Behaviour Magnificence carries us to the most high and illustrious Deeds and by very great and expensive Methods to multiply favours and benefits on our Beloved for all are our Beloved whether Friends or Enemies Temperance it self takes off the stupidity and sluggishness of our Meekness puts activity and vigour into it that it may not be a Sleepish but Heroick Vertue nay adorns secures and perfects it by the Addition and Exercise of all these and by giving to every other Vertue its Form and Perfection makes them more fit and able to aid and assist us here It moderates our Passions and puts a better dose of Life into our Consideration If there be any other Virtue it is not so remote but that it may lend us its helping hand and be subservient to the perfection of our Love and Meekness Which however simple it may appear in Solitude is very strong and irresistable amazing as far from Contempt as the Sun is from Darkness when it is animated with Courage and made illustrious by Love enriched with Liberality and made bright by Knowledg guided by Wisdom to the highest End and by Prudence to well-known and advantagious tho inferiour Purposes When the Soul appeareth neither foolish nor Cowardly nor base nor soft but High and Magnanimous in its Operation Meekness is redoubted IN the Throne of Glory all the acts of Faith and Hope and Repentance shall be for ever perfected or swallowed up in fruition The fruit of all occasional and transient Vertues shall remain the Divine Vertues shall be so firmly united that in their Act and Exercise they shall be one for ever By Knowledg we shall see all that the light of Heaven and Eternity can reveal By Love we shall embrace all that is amiable before GOD and his holy Angels By Wisdom we shall use the most glorious Means for the attainment and enjoyment of the highest End which is GOD in all his Joys and Treasures in the use of those Means we must actually enjoy all Blessedness and Glory Righteousness and Holiness and Goodness and Charity shall with all the rest be the Lineaments and Colours of the Mind the Graces and Beauties of the blessed Soul They shall shine upon its face and it self shall be glorious in the perfection of their Beauty as GOD is It s Goodness shall make it a fountain of Delights to all the other Creatures It shall be all Humility yet all
depths and changes of our Condition all our Desires all our primitive and virgin Joyes the whole story of our Creation and Life and Fall and Redemption in all the newness of its first appearance all our Wants and Dangers Exigencies and Extremities all our Satisfactions and Delights are present together in our Humility and are so infinitely near and present thereunto so sweet and vigorous in their mixture so strangely powerful in their influence that they inspire our Hearts enter our Thoughts and incorporate with our Souls and are as near and sweet as our present condition be it never so blessed All put together is far more sweet than our present Condition a great part of our felicity and glory is in it while we take it in by our Conceptions here and apply it to our Souls in an humble manner but it will be much more our felicity in Heaven It is of so much concernment that a Great Divine in our English Zion said The greater part of our eternal happiness will consist in a grateful Recognition not of our Joyes to come but of Benefits already received NOW look into the office and work of Humility I will not tell you how here upon Earth it shunneth all strife and contention about Places and all the Mischiefs consequent thereto nor of the Unity and Peace and Honour it produceth These are all but Temporal Benefits It has ten thousand other Walks and Circuits and periods of Revolution I will tell you how it behaves it self in Paradice and in Heaven HUMILITY by leading us to the bottom of our Condition sets our Original before our eyes considers that eternal abyss of Idleness and Vacuity out of which we were taken that miracle by which we were made of Nothing How destitute we should have been in our selves had not GOD created the World had he not been pleased to communicate himself and his Glory to us How weak and unable we were to devise or desire any Felicity yet how infinitely necessary the preparation of it after we were created How great our desires and expectations were how sore and urgent our wants and necessities how much we needed infinite Wisdom and almighty Power to fill Immensity with the omnipresence of their Glory and to fill their omnipresence with Effects and Treasures How gracious and good GOD was to do all this for us without our asking and how justly Davids rapture may be taken up by the Soul The King shall joy in thy strength O Lord and in thy Salvation how greatly shall he rejoyce Thou preventest him with the blessings of Goodness thou settest a Crown of pure Gold on his head His glory is great in thy Salvation Honour and Majesty hast thou laid upon him For thou hast made him most Blessed for ever thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy Countenance We might have been made and put in the condition of Toads who are now created in the Image of GOD have dominion over all his Works and are made capable of all Eternity The infinite condescention of GOD is the amazement of the Soul The depth of its low estate increaseth the height of its exaltation All that it wanted in it self it findeth in the goodness of its Benefactour and the joy of being so Beloved is greater than that of having all these things of our selves for ever For the Love of GOD alone and his goodness in Giving is our last and best and proper Felicity Hereupon follows the extinction of all Envy Regret and Discontentment the sacrificing of our selves the annihilating of our selves the lowliness of our selves And the Exaltation of GOD and the Adoration of GOD and the Joy of adoring the Greatest of all other The Amity and Friendship between GOD and his Creature the Unity of both and their happiness for ever Without this Humility of looking into the bottom of our first Condition all this is impossible And for this cause is Humility an eternal Vertue in all estates for ever to be enjoyed I might have said exercised THUS in the estate of Sin and Misery all the odiousness of our Guilt all our despair and deformity all our shame and misery all the necessity of Hating GOD and being hated of him comes before the eyes of an humble Soul with all the mercies and condescentions of eternal Love in the work of Redemption AND in the state of Glory it self all the particular Sins Neglects Rebellions Apostasies and Villanies we committed against GOD after all his mercy and goodness in the Death of his Son how infinitely base we were in despising all his Bounties and Glories how infinitely those Offences made us unworthy of Heaven and the eternal Glory we now enjoy how marvellous and incomparable his Love was in pursuing us with so much Long-suffering and Patience how amiable he is and how vile and unworthy we are in all this it is the office of Humility to feel and ponder Thus you see its work and you may easily conjecture at its eternal Reward All things are in it in the utmost height and depth of Resignation and Contentment enjoyed I need not observe that sweetness of Conversation that Civility and Courtesie that springs from Humility The Meek and Lowly are the same men the Kind and Charitable and the Affable and the good are all of them Humble and so are all they that prefer others above themselves and render themselves amiable by honouring their Inferiours and giving place to their Equals At least they imitate Humility as Complemental Courtiers do for their advantage And it is no small token of its excellency that the greatest enemies of Humility and Vertue are forced sometimes to flie to it for succour as those that well know they can never thrive nor prosper in the World without Esteem nor gain Esteem without covering their Vices under the mask of Vertue All the advantages and effects of this will be enjoyed eternally CHAP. XXVII That Contentment is a Vertue Its Causes and its Endi Its Impediments Effects and Advantages The way to attain and secure Contentment THOUGH we have not named it in our first distribution of Vertue into its several kinds yet the commendation which Contentment hath in Scripture imports it to be a Vertue so does the difficulty of attaining it and the great and mighty force it is of in our Lives and Conversations Having Food and Rayment saith the Apostle let us therewith be content For Godliness with Contentment is great Gain Where he fitly noteth that Godliness is the original of true Contentment and that the Gain of so great a Vertue is inestimable The truth is it is impossible to be happy or grateful without it A discontented Mind is exceeding prone to be peevish and fretful and throws a man into all the indecencies of Avarice Ambition Envy Treason Murther Contention Turbulency Murmuring Repining Melancholy and Sowrness Anger Baseness and Folly into all the Malevolence and Misery which can disorder the Soul or disturb the World Suspicion