living well we do make greater or lesser advances in Vertue And in all our Observations have we met with a Man who has been set upon it to live well that in time has not done so Or have we known one that has made it a by-business that ever attained to any considerable perfection of Goodness For these Reasons we may suppose holy David did so consider his Ways and resolved that he would take 〈◊〉 to them and was so fully set on walking in the perfect way and gives this advice to young Man that would cleanse their way that they should take heed to it according to the Word of God This may suffice concerning the Reasons why Christians should live exactly i. e. why they should aim at the best and most excellent Life and in order to that why they should use care and diligence both which I think are implyed in the word which we render circumspectly It is but agreeable to the Religion we profess to be so circumspect and careful that we may live well And this is necessary and serviceable to our Happiness and attaining the utmost Ends for which we were made which we can never accomplish till we arrive at the greatest perfection of which we are capable and this we can never reach otherwise than by always doing the best we can do Which we shall never do unless we use our utmost care and diligence so to do Likewise if we be careful to live as well as can be we shall be so assisted by the divine Grace that we shall advance to greater Perfection than vve have at present according to that of our Saviour To him that hath shall be given And if vve continue thus doing vve shall go forvvard from doing something vvell to do all so and from lovver degrees of Vertue to higher till vve have attained to an universal goodness in the highest degrees that is to all that Perfection to which our Natures can be raised and consequently to all that Happiness of which we are capable and to the attaining of all the Ends for which our good Creator made us Thus we see how both necessary and available a means living exactly is to all the Ends for which we were made Thirdly Supposing now that we are resolved to live thus for advice what we are to do in order to it I offer these four Particulars to be observed 1. Let it be your serious and constant endeavour to get a true certain clear distinct adequate Idea of the Perfection or exact Goodness 1. Of an Action considered both singly and in it self and also in the Reference it has and the Order in which it stands to others 2. Of a Life or the whole Complex and Series of Actions which can be done by you all the time you live on Earth Understand what is that Good what is the best you can do all the days of your Life In which you have the wise Man going before you Eccles 2. 3. I sought in mine Heart to give my self unto Wine yet acquainting mine Heart with Wisdom and to lay hold on Folly till I might see what was that Good for the Sons of Men which they should do under the Heaven all the days of their life And not only Solomon but as many as have been wife Men as far as they have been so have seriously considered this And indeed this is absolutely necessary to an exact Life that we should have an exact knowledg of what it is and 't is the first thing that is to be done If ye know these things says our Saviour happy are ye if ye do them Men's Practice can rise no higher than their Understandings which are the first Springs the beginnings of all other Motions We must first know before we can will and do And if the Knowledg be imperfect the Action that proceeds from it cannot be perfect We must follow our Guide and the perfection of all our other Actions is limited by our Understanding Therefore the Apostle prayed their Love might abound more and more in Knowledg c. This may serve to shew the Reason of this Direction Let me also add That I suppose every Man has some Notion of Perfection but 't is too often mixed with falshood 't is uncertain obscure confused defective and short My advice is that we be more explicit and rid our Minds from these Defects as much as may be And for our help that we begin with an Action and consider what is the Goodness the Perfection of a single Action absolutely and by it self and then in relation to others which when we have once found then we may proceed to enquire What is the good and exact Life 2. Endeavour that this Knowledg may be ever present with you let the Idea be always before you The Reason of this is that dormant Knowledg such as is not ready for use upon every Occasion will be of little efficacy indeed it can do nothing It is all one as â—o the conduct of our Lives to be wholly ignorant as not to have an actual present Knowledg 't is the same thing to have no Guide as not to have him with us That your Knowledg may be thus ready alway think of it frequently and take every occasion to be in the exercise of it both before you proceed to Action and in the very time thinking what is the best you can do and set before your selves the greatest perfection of such an Action as you are doing or about to do After you have done reflect on it and compare your Action with its Idea 3. Be fully perswaded of the surpassing Excellency the greatest Utility the absolute Necessity of living so Exactly By a full perswasion I do not mean only a conviction in the Understanding so as it cannot with-hold its assent but also a perfect conquest of the Will so as it approves and chuses When a Man's Soul is so fully satisfied that there is no better Life it can live that it can do no better than that which the Idea it has presents it with so as it has not the least doubt nor any desire or inclination to do to live otherwise then is he fully perswaded Let the Scripture nay let our own Sense and Reason inform us how absolutely necessary it is not only to do some Actions exactly but to live so that we may be perfect and attain to a compleat happiness And that we cannot be safe from Hell and a miserable State if we be not continually aiming at and reaching after the best Life That you may be thus perswaded consider that this was the great Design of the coming of the Son of God among us and of all he did and suffered He gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity and purify c. and he gave himself for his Church that he might sanctify it washing it with the Laver of Regeneration that he might present it c. 4. Let us be very careful to
should decline all the Inconveniences and shun the Dangers of which those Times were so full whereby they should be hindred or taken off from doing the good which they ought And that they should use all honest Care and prudent Circumspection in closing with those fit seasons they might meet with of doing that which by their Religion they were obliged unto The following Reason which the Apostle uses confirms this to be his Sense For the Days are Evil. Evil i. e. in the largest Notion of that Word as it denotes Sin as well as the Misery that is consequent upon it difficult perilous times Therefore be wise and careful to avoid the Danger to decline the Temptations to shun the Disadvantages to lay hold on the few Opportunities which such Evil Days afford To this he subjoins the last Clause which contains the Direction to and implies the necessary Cause of all that he had required before And this is propounded in form of an Exhortation 1. Negatively and Generally Be not unwise or Fools 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. More Particularly and Positively But understanding what the Will of the Lord is Understanding 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word signifies an exact Knowledg such as is got by comparing one thing with another For this Cause that ye may walk circumspectly declining the Disadvantages and escaping the unnecessary dangers of the Evil Times in which we live be not without understanding but endeavour after a very perfect Knowledg of what the Will of the Lord is Having given this account of the Words I shall offer the Sense of them in this short plain Parephrase That ye may behave your selves as becomes Children of Light and not be partakers with Insidels in the unfruitful Works of Darkness c. Be very accurate in your Lives and in all your Actions as becomes those that are endued with that divine Wisdom that certain and excellent Knowledg which with our Saviour came down from Heaven Live not like those who are uninstructed in and uâ—â—cquainted with the excellent Religion of the Blesseâ— Jesus And altho the Times in which you live be full of Evil tho you meet with Temptations to Sin and be environed with danger of Suffering tho you find many hindrances and few helps to do well yet be wise and dexterous in declining all needless fruitless Dangers escaping the Evils and closing with the Opportunities you shall have And that you may be better assisted for and in the doing all this that you may be thus exact in your selves and prudent in your Carriage in reference to the Times inform your selves fully what the Will of God is get as certain knowledg as you can of what ever God has commanded or would have you do The Words contain many Propositions But I shall only insist upon those for the matter of my Discourse which seem to be most express and to take in the main scope of the Text. I shall reduce them to these three I. All Christians ought to live exactly II. They ought to make the best of bad Times when they fall into them III. They ought to use their best endeadeavours to understand what the Will of the Lord is Of the First Proposition 〈◊〉 Christians ought to see to take good heed that they live exactly In discoursing of which I shall First Show what it is to live Exactly And Secondly What Obligations lie on Christians to live so and to take heed to it Thirdly I shall give some Directions And Lastly Make some Inferences First To walk Exactly is to use due Care and Caution Circumspection and Diligence that we live according to the best and most perfect Idea of good Life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seems to signify this It may refer to to the thing done and then it denotes the perfection of that work Or to the Doing or Doer and then it means his Care and Diligence It often bears a respect to both and signifies the care that is taken in order to the doing any thing as well as it can be done So that by this we are at once directed to the End and to the Way or Means by which it is to be attain'd The End is a perfectly good Life The Way to it is by a diligent Care Now as 't is commonly said that to live signifies more than doing some single Actionâ— so I must say that 't is more than all our Actions For as it is requisite to make the whole not only that all the parts be there but they must be united too So 't is in the matter before us To make up a good Life the Actions must not only be good singly and by themselves but in that Relation Proportion and Order which they have unto each other So that in short To walk or live exactly is to take care that the whole course of our Life be such as it cannot be better omitting nothing that is Good doing nothing that is Evil that we do thus universally at all times in all places whatever we do that respects God or our Selves or our Brethren That our Actions be in nothing deficient neither as to Matter or Manner as to the Principles the Reasons and Eâ—ds of them That in all these respects they be exactly agreeable to human Nature in general to our Condition and Circumstances in particular that is that they be as good as such Men as we are can do If any enquire yet more particularly what a perfectly good Life is I may answer that as the Apostle here supposes it so may I suppose that all Men know it All Men have an Idea of Goodness which upon several Occasions they take notice of and refer to as when they approve and commend or blame and condemn several Practices And whenever they hear such a description of good Life as they understand they give an immediate assent to it But because in too many this Idea is not so actually observed as it would be well if it were that I may raise those Thoughts and help to make them more explicit I will propound this general Dedescription of it viz. When a Man's Will and Affections and all his Actions are so guided by a true and clear and large knowledg of God and himself aâ—d the rest of the World that he loves God with all his Heart and bears good will to other Men as he does to himself that he glorifies God and promotes his own and his Brethrens best state in all he does and the most he can And does all this knowingly and intentionally or with the design of doing it This in general every one will think a good Life I must not go on to Particulars These are some of the most essential parts of that Life which the Apostle requires an exactnâ—ss in i. e. that Men should aim at the perfecâ—ion of it and in order to this that they should take great care and pains that they should mind it and give good heed unto it Secondly I proceed to
to procure or keep their Liberty take care as much as they may to remove from their Governors all hatred and ill will against or but suspition of them behaving themselves so as to deserve the good Opinion and good Will of all Men. In general That they use their utmost care and diligence to conciliate the Times to their Religion that they might both practise that and escape the Evils of them That their being Christians might not exclude them from the good things of this Life and World nor bring them into any Condition whereby they should be hindred from doing good Nay that they should endeavour so to use them as they might be most serviceable to a Christian Life not losing any advantages to Vertue which they offer not needlesly and foolishly casting themselves into any such Condition as would cut them off from or hinder them in their main business but wisely accommodating their Condition to their Vertue so as to make it a Season and serviceable to their purpose That tho the Days were Evil and very contrary to the Christian Dispensation yet they should take care and pains to gain all Advantages which could be had from them to serve and promote it and to make them befriend it that the Profession and Professors of Christianity might suffer as little Prejudice and receive as much Advantage from that as was possible Thus I have given not only a general but particular account of what Season and Opportunity is and of what it is to redeem it The sum of all is That we ought wisely to observe and diligently to improve every Season which the times wherein we are afford us to do good I say to do good for 't is in order to this that we are required to redeem the time 'T is not for the sake of time for Time lying on our Hands is a Burden a Torment 't is not that we may have it to throw away that we may be idle and unactive for as good not be as not act as good have no time as not employ it Nor yet is it to be laid out on Vanity and spent in trifling and foolish Exercises in being busy to no purpose Much less are we to redeem Time for doing Evil for working Mischief and Wickedness this is the worst loss of time that can be And if none of these be admitted then it must be in order to doing good And this which is the end of all that we are and have and indeed of all things may well be supposed to be that which the Apostle intended What I have thus variously expressed may be reduced to these three Particulars which I think contain the full sense of the Apostle's Exhortation Redeem c. 1. That they should not neglect any Opportunity which the Times offered them but strike in with every Advantage every Season and take every occasion of Good that should be ministred to them go with Tide and sail with every Wind that would carry them towards the Port whither every Christian is bound i. e. his own greatest Perfection and thereby his doing greatest Honour to God and promoting the best state of his Brethren and fellow-Creatures 2. Whatever Evils they meet with they should endeavour wisely to turn them into Good and of Disadvantages and Hinderances they should strive to make them Helps and Furtherances to these good Purposes and thus serve themselves and the Interest of their Christian Religion of them 3. Those Evils which were unalterable and indexible and could not by any means be accommodated to comply with these good Purposes they should in all prudent honest harmless ways avoid them This I apprehend to be the meaning of the Apostles Exhortation to the Ephesians This I look upon as the Duty of all Christians I proceed now to the Reasons of it and small sum up all in these two 1. We ought to Redeem the Time that we may do most good 2. Because the Days are Evil. These are both the Apostles Reasons only the first is implied the second expressed And indeed unless the first be supposed the latter will be of no force 1. That we may do good we must redeem the Season 1. I suppose none will deny but that doing good is the Work and Business the End and Design the very Life of his Life And that all in Man refers to this one thing He is nothing he is in vain without he attain it Nor 2. Will it be doubted but that we act very dependently on things without us that there are abundance of Actions which are Good or Evil according to varieties of external Accidents as they are seasonable and unseasonable and that we need the assistance of other things without for the doing of those that are unalterably good How can I relieve my poor Brother with an Alms if I my self be poor and have it not Or how can I set apart Time for the Service of my own Soul or of my Friend or for my Devotions as I think best if I be a Slave and not at mine own disposal if I be under Restraint or Confinement The force of this Argument is this If our very Actions many of them be therefore good because they are seasonable if the Season encrease their Goodness and make those that would be good out of season much better in it for whereas in that case there is only an agreeableness betwixt our Actions and our selves in this there is also an harmony betwixt us and the World If this be true And if we also in our Actions depend on favourable Circumstances and must be befriended by things without us then we ought to use all honest Art to gain the Season and to make things on our side that we may still hold on our course of well-doing tho we have but one Point of the Wind to sail by 2. The Days are Evil therefore redeem the Time The former Reason was taken from the End this from the difficulty of obtaining and the danger of missing it unless we observe this Counsel All Times are not alike Evil. But yet as our Saviour said sufficient unto the day i. e. every day is the Evil thereof so there are no Times wherein there is not Evil enough to excite the Cares and to exercise the Patience and Diligence of every good Man There are Temptations to Sin and Dangers of Suffering in all Ages Since Man was first made the old Serpent and all those degenerate Men whom that wicked one has gain'd to his Party have been in all Times opposing and persecuting the Good tho sometimes the Divine Providence has restrain'd their Fury and they have been able to do less harm yet the All-wise God has thought fit thus to exercise and try us And because we are to live under such Trials it behoves us to take care that we do not needlesly run into the Evils with which we are beset that we prudently decline the Traps and Gins that are laid for us that when a
every good Word and Work that none may come amiss to us whether it be to convince exhort rebuke perswade or by innocent humour to divert and gratify those with whom we converse or to hear and receive Instruction from and be pleased by their Discourse When therefore we have a Comprehension of all the good we can do and have a good mind to do it we should likewise endeavour to be duly prepared for the doing of it that when ever our great Lord shall by giving us an Opportunity call us forth to the undertaking we may not by our unfitness disobey his Summons For to keep to our old Metaphor if the Vessel be not rigg'd tho Wind and Tide serve never so much they serve to no purpose And if we be not ready trim'd and our Sails up in vain will Opportunity blow upon us we shall still lie in the Harbour and make no Voyage Besides By being fitted for every good Work if an Occasion favours we may readily strike in with it As if things conspire to make it both fit and easy for me to be alone that I may imploy my self in thinking reading writing performing my Devotions to God examining my self or the like If I must be in Company that I so behave my self so hearken to them so discourse with them that in one kind or other I advantage both my self and them that where I cannot speak to any good purpose in one Argument yet if there be occasion I do in another and where nothing that 's proper and of use can be said by me that I be silent and as ready to receive Instruction from others as I would be to give it to them There is no Condition we can be in but presents us with various Occasions of several good Actions There are some Vertues that are proper for a poor and low others for a rich and exalted State Some for Disgrace and Disrespect others for Honour and being well-spoken of some for Sickness others for Health c. If then we would lose no Season that shall happen we must be furnish'd and disposed for every good Action Our Furniture must be ready we must have it in promptu within call for else time passes so fast that it may be gone from us before we be â—it for it 4. If we would be sure to lose no Season of well-doing we must be sedulous and diligent and in one kind or other be always doing well And that we may be so 1. Let no Time find us idle and doing nothing but ever be at work Let no Day no Hour no Moment pass by thee unimployed If thou shalt at any time observe that thou art doing nothing know thou hast lost an Opportunity for there is no part of time which may not be a Season for some Action 2. Be not ill imployed Let not thy Tongue be in motion to utter ill to speak wickedly to tell Lies to talk profanely or filthily Let not thy Hands be hasty to work Mischief nor thy Feet swift in the ways of Wickedness Idleness is a loss of the present time but to do ill is not only that but a loss of the future too for some of that must be taken up in undoing that which I have ill done This is implied in this Direction that we should neither be idle nor yet evilly busy at any time but ever be doing and doing good in one kind or other which if we be careful to observe we shall be glad of all the help we can get and so shall strike in with every Opportunity that offers it self And when we have employ'd all such we shall seek for more and endeavour to find out such as are not so open and in some sense to make them where they are not This Influence will Diligence in well-doing have on us to make us redeem the Season 5. On the other hand We must take care that we be not at any time immoderately or confusedly busy especially in the lesser matters 1. By being immoderately busy I mean that we should not so wholly lay our selves out on one thing as to make our selves unfit for any other good Work that we can neither observe nor comply with any Season that would assist us in that other tho it be better For this I take to be the State that is best and most suitable to our Natures that we be ever in a readiness to do good as we have Opportunity And if we so busy our selves in some one particular that either by being too intent on it or continuing too long in it we are disabled from or hindred in doing other good things we are over-busy And of this we are to be careful in reference to Season that we be not so imploy'd as to render our selves either inobservant of or incompliant with it There are varieties of good Works which we have to do and there are Seasons for every of them Now if we be too earnestly or too long taken up with one or with some few of them we must necessarily neglect the Opportunities which we might have for doing the rest 2. As we must not be more busy about any thing than it requires and deserves so we must take heed that we be not disorderly and preposterously busy but do those things first which are in order to and make way for the other Let those Works be first done which are either necessary or at least do very much contribute to the doing of others Were these two things well observed we should save abundance of Time and have many good Opportunities which by our being busy either beyond the proportions which things require or without any order we throw away Labour therefore to bring thine Actions into Method that is give Preference to the greatest and best and do those first which make way for and on which others depend and so do every day begin with those which will make way for the rest 6. Often consider and be fully perswaded of the great Advantage and indeed Necessity there is of our taking Opportunity Whosoever observes how much we depend on it in our Actions will be assured of it and he that is will not only lay hold on it when it waits on him but will with Care and Pains seek it and endeavour by all prudent Management to make an Opportunity for himself Remember therefore that it is Season which makes some Actions good that without it would be evil and those that would be good without it it makes better It helps us to do some Works which without such Assistance would not be done And those that might be done without its Aids are more easily done with them It also is necessary to give Success to some of our Undertakings and it gives surer and greater Success to them all And if we are sensible that it is of this Consequence surely we shall not be careless of it 7. Endeavour to understand clearly and distinctly the good or ill Influences that things
End 't is not Good that he designs 4. Much more does he lose the Season who imploys it in evil Works Nay 5. That Time is in part lost and not husbanded as every one thinks it should be in which less good is done than might have been done in it Tho a Man has been doing well yet if he might have done much better he is commonly thought and said not to have employed and improved his time as he might and is supposed should have done According to this discourse doing well is not only the End and Reason why but also the Way and Means how we should redeem the Time And it is a plain Corollary deducible from hence that the more and greater Good any Man does in Time the more he redeems it And he that does all that Good in it which by Man can be done in such a Time he performs what the Apostle here requires most perfectly He does his Duty fully On the other hand he who does less than the Times will suffer or it may be help him to do either doing some lesser Good where he neglects a greater or doing but a part of a much greater Sum which he might do he does fail in his Obedience to this Exhortation of redeeming the Time in Proportion to his falling short of doing the good he might The Sum of all this is That he who so complies with Things and Times and as far as they are in his Power so accommodates them to himself as to do the most Good which they enable or assist or but suffer him to do He does redeem the Time in the Apostle's Sense And thus far the Explication of it shews the reasons of those Directions for the doing it which I have already given and will make the entertainment of the few I shall add more easy Supposing then that we understand what is good for us to do and that we are alway willing and ready to do this Good we know and ever moderately and orderly busy that we are sensible of our dependance on Time and Things without us and that we have got a good knowledg what influences they have on our doing good to oppose and hinder or to farther and promote it which is all that I have directed hitherto I proceed now to another general Advice which is this 8. Take a view of all the Good which Men in General or your self in Particular have a capacity of doing in respect of human Nature and Faculties Set before you all in any kind which one endowed with the Faculties of human Nature can possibly do which is fit and becoming one in such Relations and Conditions as every Man is to do in respect of God of Himself and of all other Men and Things all that is honourable to the great Creator and Lord of all that is perfective of human Nature in a Man's self and in other Men and conduces also to the welfare and best state of all other Beings and Things Take a survey of Man and of all of this sort that he is capable of doing survey your selves also what Good it is in particular that you can do whether it be more or less than others in your Condition Now this is all summ'd up in those general Heads of doing justly loving Mercy and walking humbly with God as the Prophet has exprest them Or as the Apostle more fully living soberly righteously and godly But this is not all I mean that we should know all the Good that can be done by us but that we also set before us all the Actions we can do which are capable of being and doing thus much good And they are our Thoughts and all those which are transacted by and in the Mind it self our Words which convey our Thoughts to others And all our other mechanical Actions vvhich directly or indirectly fall under Liberty and to vvhich vve may be determined by our Wills Consider vvell hovv fit and good all these may be What is the Goodness of each of them singly and of all of them together And that you may know this consider what respects they bear and in what order they are to one another how one does prepare and make Way for another and consequently vvhen they do cross and oppose each other Consider also more distinctly what Actions are the best which are of less Goodness which are of most and which of least Consequence This will very much direct us in what order to do them and in case of Competition which to prefer This will hugely conduce to our gaining and improvement of Time that is to our doing the most Good as I have shewn The Sum of this Direction is that we consider and that not slightly and seldom but often and seriously of all the Good we can do and of all the Actions whereby we may do it Let us hang a kind of Table before us wherein the good Actions of our Lives the Heads of them I mean may be fully enumerated and delineated in an orderly Series And let this be in our Eye very often every day look on it Think of it so long and so often till you be perfect in it and have no need of recourse to it when your Memory shall presently and easily suggest it to you on every occasion And when we consider what we can do we must not only think what we can do by our selves immediately but by other Men and Things For tho we can't by our selves suppose persuade another yet we may by some other that is abler and has greater Authority with him There is none but may see the usefulness of this Advice in order to our doing Good in which Men so frequently and grosly miscarry for no other cause but want of this Consideration Tho they know all the Good they can do and are willing and ready to do it yet they do it not they often do the contray Evil because they consider it not they act preposterously and so hinder themselves They do a less Good when they might do a greater they set upon the End before the Means They do not the Good they might if they would but take a full and distinct view of all they are capable of doing Seneca I remember gives this Reason among others why Men do so grievously miscarry Quamvis sepissimè de partibus vitae consulitur nunguam de toto They seldom or never take all their Actions they can do into Consideration They do not take a full view of their whole Course and Way as they must if they consult about it If this be so necessary in order to our living vertuously 't is on the same account necessary for our redeeming Time which cannot be done but by well-doing This being not only the only End why but the only Means also whereby we can get and keep Time or Season 9. Take also a general view of the whole Time you have for all Good as well as of those parts of Time which will most
others will make us desire their Honour as well as our own And where we love all and have an Affection for the Publick we shall desire no more than we deserve we shall be unwilling that other Men should be so far imposed on as to think us better than indeed we are We cannot be so unjust as to expect Reward without Merit and Praise where it is not due Charity is not puffed up 1 Cor. 13. 4. and therefore frees a Man's Mind from all the Tortures that ambitious Spirits lie under This makes a Man not displeas'd that other Men are prais'd and himself not nay tho they have more and he less than deserved yet he is very well satisfied because his own and the Approbation of a few competent Judges is sufficient to support him whereas Men of less Worth have need of greater Applause to bear up their Minds and to bring them into Request and enable them to do Good And how perfectly doth this Principle subdue and regulate all the Appetites of corporeal Pleasure He that is acted by universal Love cannot go to a forbidden Bed for he will not draw one whom he loves into Sin he will not deprive them of the lasting Pleasures of Innocence and Chastity He will not violate the Orders of all the Civilized World which have been from the beginning of Time which for the sake of the Publick for Posterity as well as the present Generation ought to be inviolably observed He will not eat nor drink more than is good for him as for other Reasons so lest others should want that which is good for them Again This universal Love by engaging us to do all the Good we can takes away all inordinate Love of Money We shall not now desire more than we can and will use for the advantage of others as well as our selves And when it is thus with us we shall not grasp at all we could get and we shall use what we do get And where we are thus minded we have freed our selves from that infinite Carking and Anxiety which an inordinate Desire of Riches causes Lastly This will in many cases prevent the bitterest Remorse for Sins by preventing the Sins themselves as I have shewed For the good Man will not be unjust or unfaithful he cannot oppress or cozen falsly or needlessly accuse will not violate the Chastity prejudice the Health much less take away the Life of any and thus secures himself from those Terrors of Conscience which follow such Wickednesses And where we are surprized and do unwillingly mis-behave our selves towards God if we be indeed charitable and loving towards Men we can then pray that God would and hope that he will forgive us as we do them Thus I have shewn how this universal Beneficence frees us from Trouble and Unquietness And now I will briefly shew how it brings us Pleasure as well as Quiet By Pleasure I here understand that Joy which is caus'd in the Soul by an Apprehension or Sense of Good Now where this Principle is become natural to us and we act from it and according to it it must necessarily be a Spring of Delight to us How pleasant and joyful must the Mind of that Man be which is govern'd by an universal Love As much Good as there is in the World so much cause of Pleasure is there to them For 1. He is set at Liberty from contracted Selfishness every Man is now to him as he is to himself and other Mens Concerns are as his own so that he now rejoyces in their Welfare and is heartily glad at the Good which befals them So much is his Joy greater now than it was when he liv'd to himself for then he was pleas'd with his own private Advantages but perhaps repin'd or at least was unconcern'd at other Mens whereas now he is delighted to see it go well with any Man in the World Thus he honestly and innocently enjoys the Good of others without depriving them of any gathers of the Honey-dew without robbing the Flower of its own Sweetness As much Good then as there is and as he can see in the World and there is very much for the Mercy of God is over all his Works and he that will consider things may discover it so much cause of Gladness hath this good Man And then 2. The infinite Love and Goodness of God is an inexhaustible Fountain of Joy to the good Man For tho he sees many things much amiss and a great deal of Evil in the World tho he sees poor Man at a great distance from his Happiness and the whole World lying in Wickedness yet he also sees infinite Goodness at work and that it has done very much in order to Man's Happiness and doubts not but in some ways which he is ignorant of all the ends of Divine Goodness will be accomplish'd at last I have shewed before that this Goodness of Temper helps us to an assured Knowledg of the Goodness of God We may also refer the two fore-going Particulars to the Object of Benevolence If there be so great Pleasure in loving one or two or a few how great is that which arises from an universal Good-will a Love to all Men Thirdly The good Man hath Pleasure as concerning himself from his Beneficence to others and it is such a Pleasure as hath many Advantages above most others For 1. As to its degree it is both intense and exquisite 2. As to its kinds it is both of Memory Sense and Hope as it refers to Good past present and to come 3. It s Original is from Man himself in concurrence with God and Nature and therefore it is both certain and near 4. As to its Duration it is both continued and lasting 5. As to its Quality and Effects it is absolutely Good 6. In respect of its Objects it is largely extended and manifold 1. The Pleasure that arises from a Sense of our Beneficence is without any allay or mixture of Pain and that which is so is pure and in the highest degree This cannot be said of most other Pleasures the Price of them is much abated by the Pains that accompany them The more corporeal and gross they are the more they have of this Dress This is a Commendation that almost only belongs to the Pleasure that arises from vertuous Practices and yet not any not all of the other Vertues can afford so great a Delight as this which is both a Complex of most of them and the End and Consummation of all The rest are but mediate and subordinate Vertues this is ultimate and final When a Man is in the exercise of universal Love of Charity and Good-will he is as good and as great and happy as he can be then is all finished The greatest Pleasure is in Love Now when Love is universal and in exercise Pleasure keeps proportion with it and is as great as it can be for it is as large as its Object and therefore