when we see all these Virtues in their several Places and Offices their Objects and their Uses the Ends for which and the occasions on which they were introduced all are Delightful to the Reason of mans Soul and highly Eligible while GOD is adored and admired for the depth of his Wisdom and Goodness and beloved for the Equity and Excellency of his Proceedings For all these Occasional Vertues are but Temporary when our Life and this present World are past and gone as a Dream Love and Joy and Gratitude will be all that will continue for ever in which Estate Wisdom and Knowledge Goodness and Righteousness and True Holiness shall abide as the Life and Glory into which the Souls of all that are Blessed will be transformed Repentance shall be gone and Patience cease Faith and Hope be swallowed up in fruition Right Reason be extended to all Objects in all Worlds and Eternity in all its Beauties and Treasures seen desired esteemed enjoyed Let it be your Care to dive to the Bottom of true Religion and not suffer your Eyes to be Dazled with its Superficial Appearance Rest not in the Helps and Remedies that it bringeth but search for the Hidden Manna the substantial Food underneath the Satisfaction of all Wishes and Desires the true and Coelestial Pleasures the Causes of Love and Praise and Thanksgiving founded in the Manifestations of Gods Eternal favour especially in the Ends for the sake of which all Helps and Remedies are prepared For it is exceeding true that his Laws are Sweeter then the Hony and the Hony Comb and far more precious then thousands of Gold and Silver CHAP. V. Of the Necessity Excellency and Use of Knowledge its Depths and Extents its Objects and its End KNOWLEDGE and Love are so necessary to Felicity that there can be no Enjoyment or Delight without them Heaven and Earth would be Dark and obscure Angels and Men vain and unprofitable all the Creatures base and unserviceable Felicity impossible were there no Knowledge Nay GOD himself without Knowledge and Love could not well exist for his very Essence is seated in infinite Knowledge GOD is Light and in him is no Darkness at all He is Love by nature and there is no hatred in his Essence His very Godhead is all Perfection by the infinite Knowledge and Love in his Nature THE Original of our Knowledge is his Godhead His Essence and his will are the Fountain of it and the stream so excellent that in all Estates it is for ever to be continued as the Light and Glory of the whole Creation THE understanding Power which is seated in Soul is the Matter of that Act wherein the Essence of Knowledge consisteth Its form is the Act it self whereby that Power of knowing apprehendeth its Object IT S nature is invisible like that of all other Spirits so simple and uncompounded that its form and matter are the same For all Powers when transformed into Act are Acts themselves And the faculty of understanding in a Compleat and Perfect Act of Knowledge attains its Perfection and is Power exerted or an Act in its Exercise For every Act is Power exerted THE Power of Knowing is vain if not reduced into Act and the Soul a melancholly and Dreadful Cave or Dungeon of Darkness if void of Knowledge Had GOD himself a Power of Knowing Distinct from its Operation if he never exercised that Power it would be useless to him His Glory and Blessedness are seated in the Light of that Knowledge whichto us upon Earth appeaeth Inaccessible IF we would be perfect as our Father which is in Heaven is perfect our Power of knowing must be transformed into Act and all Objects appear in the interior Light of our own understanding For tho all Eternity were full of Treasures and the Whole World and all the Creatures in it transformed into Joys and our Interest to all never so perfect yet if we are Ignorant of them we shall continue as poor and Empty as if there were nothing but Vacuity and Space For not to be and not to appear are the same thing to the understanding WERE a Man a Seraphim by his Essence or something by nature more Glorious and Divine then the Highest Order of the most Blessed Angels nay the greatest Creature that Almighty power was able to produce his Soul and Body would signifie nothing if he were unknown to himself and were not aware of his Excellence IF you would have a solid Prospect of any Vertue you must understand that Vertues are Powers transformed into right wise and regular Acts avoiding all extremes of remissness on the one hand and excess on the other The Extreams of Knowledge are Ignorance and Error FOR ought you know Heaven and Earth are as full of Treasures as Almighty Power was able to create them and you by Nature the best and highest of all possible Creatures made like GOD for the highest and best of all possible Ends and called to live in Communion with him in all his fruitions but being vilely corruptted you have lost the sence of all these Realities and are ignorant of the Excellences of your own Estate and Nature I am sure that GOD is infinite in Wisedom Goodness and Power and nothing is wanting on his Part to perfect your Desires But yet you may be blind and idle and ignorant and dead in a manner while you are wanting to your self and have need of nothing but clear and perfect apprehensions but because they are Sottish and Erroneous at present they may make you miserable and Poor and Blind and Naked IF Sin had been like Circe's Cup and changed the shape of Mans Body to that of a Swine or Dragon the Depravation of his Nature had been plain and visible yet without knowing what kind of Form he had before it would not appear because we should be unsensible of his first Form and unable to compare the one with the other But Sin is a Moral Obliquity and the change it produceth in the Soul is Spiritual It makes a man to differ far more from himself than any alteration of Body can do but withal so blinds his Understanding that he does not remember what he was in his first Parent Tho the first Man who had experience of both Estates was able to compare them because in his Corruption he might possibly retain a Sence of that Nature and Life which he enjoyed in his integrity Yet all his Posterity that are born Sinners never were sensible of the Light and Glory of an Innocent Estate and for that cause may be wholy ignorant both of GOD and themselves utterly unable to conceive the Glory of the World or of that Relation wherein they should by Nature have stood towards all the Creatures IT is impossible to conceive how great a change a slight Action may produce It is but pressing the Wick a little with ones Finger and a Lamp is extinguished and Darkness immediately made to overspread the Room The Glory and
Things which we certainly Know and those which we are perswaded to believe what Authority the Relation is of what is the Design and integrity of the Relators what is the Use and End of the things revealed whether they are important or frivolous absolutely necessary meerly convenient or wholy Superfluous things to be abhorred or things to be desired Absurd or Amiable what Preparations went before what Causes preceded their Existence what Effects followed what Concomitants they had what Monuments of them are now left in the world How the Wise and Learned judge of them what Consent and Unity there is in all the Relations and Histories and Traditions of the Things reported WHERE there is no Repugnance between the Objects offered to our Faith and the Things we already know no Inconsistance in the Things themselvs no difference no Contention between the Relators no fraud in promoting nor folly discernable in the first Embracing of the Things that are published no Want of Care in Sifting and examining their Reality nor any want in the Hearers of Industry Skill and Power to detect the Imposture there is a fair Way laid open to the Credible of such Objects attested and revealed with such Circumstances But if the Things attested were openly transacted in the face of the World and had Millions of Spectators at the first if they were so publick as to be taken notice of in all Kind of Histories of those times and places if they were founded on great and weighty causes if they were pursued by a constant Series and succession of affairs for many Ages if they produced great and publick alterations in the World if they overcame all suspicious oppositions obstacles and impediments if they changed the state of Kingdoms and Empires if old Records and Monuments and Magnificent Buildings are left behind which those Occurrences occasioned our Reason it self assists our Belief and our Faith is founded upon Grounds that cannot be removed Much more if the Things be agreeable to the Nature of GOD and tend to the Perfection of Created Nature if many Prophesies and long Expectations have preceded their Accomplishment if the misteries revealed are attested by Miracles and painted out many Ages before by Types and Ceremonies that can bear no other Explication in Nature nor have any Rational use besides if all the Beauty of former Ages is founded in and compounded by their Harmony if they fitly answer the Exigencies of Humane Nature and unfold the True Originals of all the Disorder and Corruption in the world if the Greatest and Best Part of Learning it self consists in the Knowledge of such affairs if the Doctrines on which they attend be the most pure and Holy and Divine and Heavenly if the most of them are rooted in Nature it self when they are examined and considered but were not discerned nor Known before if they supply the Defects of our Understanding and lead us directly to felicity if they take off our Guilt and are proper Remedies to heal the Distempers and Maladies of our Corruption if they direct and quiet the passions of Men and purifie their Hearts and make men Blessings to one another if they exterminate their vices and Naturally tend to the Perfection of their Manners if they lead them to Communion with GOD and raise up their Souls to the fruition of Eternity enlarge their Minds with a Delightful Contemplation of his Omnipresence enrichâ—â— them with infinite varieties of Glorious Objects fit to be enjoyed if they perfect all the Powers of the Soul and Crown it with the End for which it was was prepared Where all these Things meet together they make a Foundation like that of the Great Mountains which can never be moved But if there be any flaw or Defect in these Things if any of them be wanting our Faith will be so far forth lame and uncertain as our Reason shall discern its Cause to be failing NOW of all the Thingsthat the World doth afford the Christian Religion is that alone wherein all these Causes of Faith perfectly concur Insomuch that no Object of Faith in all the World is for Certainty Comparable to that of Religion Never had any Truth so many Witnesses never any Faith so many Evidences they that first taught and published it despised all the Grandeurs and Pleasures in the World designed nothing but their Eternal Felicity and the Benefit of men trampled all Honours and Riches under feet attested the Truths they taught and revealed by Miracles wrought not in obscure Corners but in the Eye of the Sun many Nations far distant from each other were in a Moment reduced and changed at a time Millions of Martyrs were so certain of the Truth of these Things that they laught at Persecutions and Flames and Torments The Jews that are the great enemies of Christianity confess those Histories and Prophesies and Miracles and Types and Figures upon which it is founded They reverence the Book wherein they are recorded above all the Writings in the World confess that they had it before our Saviour was born and glory that it was theirs before it was ours Their whole Faith and Religion is made up of Such Materials which being granted it is impossible the Christian Religion should be false Turks acknowledge the Historical Part. The Artifices of Corruptors have been all detected and must of necessity so be as long as there are inquisitive Men in the World All Schismaticks and Hereticks have cavilled and disputed about the true Interpretation of certain Texts but never so much as Doubted much less shaken the foundation Nay when you look into Matters well the very Certainty of the one was the occasion of the other The great Moment of what they took for granted made the strife the more Eager THIS Advantage our Faith has above all it is suspected only by Lazy and Profane half witted men that are as Empty as self conceited as rash as Wanton and as much Enemies to Felicity and Vertue as to Truth and Godliness But the more you search into it the more Light and Beauty you shall discern in the Christian Religion the Evidences of it will appear still more deep and abundant as endless in Number force and Value as they are unexpected AMONG other Objects of Felicity to be enjoyed the Ways of GOD in all Ages are not the least considerable and Illustrious Eternity is as much Beautified with them as his Omnipresence is with the Works of the Creation For Time is in Eternity as the World is in Immensity Reason expects that the one should be Beautiful as well as the other For Since all Time may be Objected to the Eye of Knowledge altogether and Faith is prepared in the Soul on purpose that all the Things in Time may be admitted into the Eye of the Soul it is very Displeasing to Humane Reason that Time should be horrid and Dark and empty or that he that has expressed so much Love in the Creation of the World should
Unbelief Enmity against GOD Fear and Cowardice Barrenness in good and praise-worthy Employments Weariness and Complaint hatred of Retirement Spiritual Idleness and Ignorance are its Companions followed by Debaucheries and all the sorts of vile and wicked Diversions For Man is an unwelcome Creature to himself till he can delight in his Condition and while he hates to be alone exposeth himself to all kind of Mischiefs and Temptations because he is an active Creature and must be doing something either Good or Evil TRUE Contentment is the full satisfaction of a Knowing Mind It is not a vain and empty Contentment which is falsely so called springing from some one particular little satisfaction that however Momentany it be does for the present delight our Humour but a long habit of solid Repose after much study and serious Consideration It is not the slavish and forced Contentment which the Philosophers among the Heathen did force upon themselves but a free and easie Mind attended with pleasure and naturally rising from ones present Condition It is not a morose and sullen Contempt of all that is Good That Negative Contentment which past of Old for so great a Vertue is not at all conducive to Felicity but is a real Vice for to be Content without cause is to sit down in our Imperfection and to seek all ones Blis in ones self alone is to scorn all other Objects even GOD himself and all the Creation It is a high piece of Pride and stiffness in a man that renders him good for nothing but makes him Arrogant and Presumptuous in the midst of his blindness his own slave and his own Idol a Tyrant over himself and yet his only Deity It makes a man to live without GOD in the World and cuts him off from the Universe It makes him incapable either of Obligation or Gratitude his own Prison and his own Tormâ—ntour It shuts up the Soul in a Grave and makes it to lead a living Death and robs it of all its Objects It mingles Nature and Vice in a confusion and makes a man fight against Appetite and Reason Certainly that Philosopher has a hard task that must fight against Reason and trample under foot the essence of his Soul to establish his Felicity Contentment is a sleepy thing If it in Death alone must die A quiet Mind is worse than Poverty Unless it from Enjoyment spring That 's Blessedness alone that makes a King Wherein the Joyes and Treasures are so great They all the powers of the Soul employ And fill it with a Work compleat While it doth all enjoy True Joyes alone Contentment do inspire Enrich Content and make our Courage higher Content alone 's a dead and silent Stone The real life of Bliss Is Glory reigning in a Throne Where all Enjoyment is The Soul of Man is so inclin'd to see Without his Treasures no mans Soul can be Nor rest content Uncrown'd Desire and Love Must in the height of all their Rapture move Where there is true Felicity Employment is the very life and ground Of Life it self whose pleasant Motion is The form of Bliss All Blessedness a life with Glory Crown'd Life Life is all in its most full extent Stretcht out to all things and with all Content The only reason why a Wise and Holy man is satisfied with Food and Rayment is because he sees himself made possessour of all Felicity the image of the Deity the great Object of his eternal Love and in another way far more Divine and perfect the Heir of the World and of all Eternity He knows very well that if his honour be so great as to live in Communion with GOD in the fruition of all his Joyes he may very well spare the foul and feeble Delights of men And though the Law be not so severe as to command him to be Content without Food and Rayment yet if for GOD's sake he should by the wickedness of Men be bereaved of both he may well be Patient nay and die with glory And this indeed is that which maketh Contentment so great a Vertue It hath a powerful influence upon us in all Estates to take off our Perplexity Sollicitude and Care and to adorn our lives with Liberty and Chearfulness by which we become acceptable and admirable to the Sons of Men. It makes us prone to be Kind and Liberal whereby we become Obliging and full of good Works For it delivers us from all servile Fear and gives us Courage and Confidence in GOD. For well may we dare to trust him in such little Matters who has manifested his Friendship and Bounty in such infinite good things and made it impossible for us to be Miserable if we are pleasing to him An intelligent and full Contentment elevates the Soul above all the World and makes it Angelical it instills a Divine and Heavenly Nature enflames the Soul with the love of GOD and moves it to delight in Devotion and Prayer The sweetness of his Thoughts and the beauty of his Object draws a Lover often into Solitudes And a Royal Man in a strange Country especially when he has heard tidings of his Fathers Death and the devolving of his Crown and Throne on himself desires to be alone that he may digest these Affairs in his Thoughts a little He delights in being retired because he can find nothing worthy of himself in Company Magnanimous Souls are above Garlands and Shepherds And there is no greatness of Soul like that which perfect Contentment inspires BUT that which above all other things makes me to note the Vertue of Contentment is its great influence efficacy and power in confirming our Faith For when I see the Beauty of Religion I know it to be true For such is its excellency that if you remove it out of the World all the things in Heaven and Earth will be to no purpose The business of Religion is the Love of GOD the Love of Angels and Men and the due esteem we owe to inferiour Creatures Remove this Love this Charity this Due Esteem this delight that we should take in all amiable Objects Life and Pleasure are extinguished I see Nature it self teaching me Religion And by the admirable Contexture of the Powers of my Soul and their fitness for all Objects and Ends by the incomparable Excellency of the Laws prescribed and the worthiness and Beauty of all the Objects for which my power are prepared see plainly that I am infinitely Beloved and that all the cross and disorderly things that are now upon Earth are meer Corruptions and depravations of Nature which free Agents have let in upon themselves All which since they are reducible to the Government of Reason and may be Wisdom be improved to my higher happiness I am sure I am redeemed and that there is some eternal Power that governs the World with so much Goodness for my felicity since I my self was not able to do it That all Ages are beautified by his Wisdom for my
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
Quality contains within it either Natural Dispositions or Habits Habits may be either Vertuous or Vicious Virtuous Habits are either Theological Intellectual Moral or Divine And these are branched into so many Kinds of Vertue as followeth THE Theological Vertues are generally divided into Three Faith Hope and Charity which are called Theological because they have GOD for their Principal Object and are in a peculiar manner taught by his Word among the Mysteries of Religion To which we may add Repentance forasmuch as this Virtue tho it be occasioned by sin is chiefly taught by the Word of GOD and respects GOD as its Principal Object For which reason we shall account the Theological Virtues to be four Faith Hope Charity and Repentance to which if we making them more we may add Obedience Devotion Godliness THE Intellectual Vertues are generally reckoned to be five Intelligence Wisdome Science Prudence Art Which forasmuch as the Distinction between them is over-nice and curious at least too obscure for vulgar Apprehensions we shall reduce them perhaps to a fewer number INTELLIGENCE is the Knowledg of Principles Science the Knowledg of Conclusions Wisdom that knowledg which results from the Union of both Prudence and Art have been more darkly explained The Objects of Wisdom are alwayes Stable Prudence is that knowledge by which we guide our selves in Thorny and uncertain Affairs Art is that Habit by which we are assisted in composing Tracts and Systems rather then in regulating our Lives and more frequently appears in Fiddling and Dancing then in noble Deeds were it not useful in Teachers for the Instruction of others we should scarce reckon it in the number of Vertues ALL these are called Intellectual Vertues because they are Seated in the Understanding and chiefly exercised in Contemplation The Vertues that are brought down into action are called Practical and at other times Moral Because they help us in perfecting our Manners as they relate to our Conversation with Men. THE Moral Vertues are either Principal or less Principal The Principal are four Prudence Justice Temperance and Fortitude Which because they are the Hinges upon which our whole Lives do turn are called * Cardinal and are commonly known by the name of The four Cardinal Vertues They are called Principal not onely because they are the chief of all Moral Virtues but because they enter into every Vertue as the four Elements of which it is compounded THE less Principal Vertues are Magnificence and Liberality Modesty and Magnanimity Gentleness of behaviour Affability Courtesie Truth and Urbanitie all these are called less Principal not because they are indifferent or may be accounted useless for then they would not be Vertues but because tho their Practice be of extraordinary Importance in their places they are more remote and less Avail in the Way to Felicity and are more confined in their Operations DIVINE Vertues which we put instead of the Heathenish Heroical are such as have not only GOD for their Object and End but their Pattern and Example They are Vertues which are seen in his eternal Life by Practicing which we also are changed into the same Image and are made partakers of the Di Knowledge and Truth in the Sublimest Height we confess to be Three but we shall Chiefly insist upon Goodness and Righteousness and Holiness All which will appear in Divine Love in more peculiar manner to be handled BESIDES all these there are some Vertues which may more properly be called Christian because they are no where Else taught but in the Christian Religion are founded on the Love of Christ and the only Vertues distinguishing a Christian from the rest of the World of which sort are Love to Enemies Meekness and Humility ALL these Virtues are shut up under one common Head because they meet in one common Nature which bears the name of Vertue The Essence of which being well understood will conduce much to the clear Knowledge of every one in particular VERTUE in General is that habit of Soul by force of which we attain our Happiness Or if you please it is a Right and well order'd Habit of mind which Facilitates the Soul in all its operations in order to its Blessedness These Terms are to be unfolded 1. VERTUE is a Habit All Habits are either Acquired or Infused By calling it a Habit we distinguish it from a Natural Disposition or Power of the Soul For a Natural disposition is an inbred Inclination which attended our Birth and began with our beings not chosen by our Wills nor acquired by Industrie These Dispositions because they do not flow from our Choise and industry cannot be accounted Virtues T is true indeed that vertuous Habits are sometimes infused in a Miraculous Manner but then they are rather called Graces then Vertues and are ours only as they are Consented to by our Wills not ours by choise and acquisition but only by Improvement and exercise Tho they agree with Virtues in their Matter and their end yet they differ in their Original and form For as all Humane Actions flow from the Will and the Understanding so do all Vertues when they are rightly understood whereas we are Passive in the reception of these and they flow immediately from Heaven AND it is far more conducive to our Felicity that we should conquer Difficulties in the attainment of Vertue study chuse desire pursue and labour after it acquire it finally by our own Care and Industry with Gods Blessing upon it then that we should be Dead and Idle while virtue is given us in our Sleep For which cause GOD ordered our state and Condition so that by our own Labour we should seek after it that we might be as well pleasing in his Eys and as Honorable and Admirable in the Acquisition of vertue as in the Exercise and Practice of it And for these reasons GOD does not so often infuse it and is more desirous that we should by many repeated Actions of our own attain it GOD does sometimes upon the General Sloth of mankind inspire it raising up some persons thereby to be like salt among corrupted men least all should putrifie and perish Yet is there little reason why he should delight in that way without some such uncouth and Ungrateful necessity to compell him thereunto FOR any man to expect that GOD should break the General Order and Course of Nature to make him Vertuous without his own Endeavours is to Tempt GOD by a presumptuous Carelesseness and by a Slothful abuse of his Faculties to fulfil the parable of the unprofitable Servant THE Powers of the Soul are not vertues themselves but when they are clothed with vertuous Operations they are transformed into Vertues For Powers are in the Soul just as Limbs and Members in the Body which may indifferently be applied to Vertues and Vices alike be busied and exercised in either AS the Members are capable of Various Motions either comely or Deformed and are one thing when they are
extream disgrace before all the Creatures in Heaven and Earth that look upon it and behold its Unworthiness No Toad has so much deformity or poyson or malignity as Pride in its nature It is the ruine of all that is great and turns the brightest of the Seraphims into the most abominable of Devils NOW if Pride be so pernicious and be by nature though a meer Phantasie so destructive what shall Humility be which is full of truth and reality How forcible how divine how amiable how full of truth how bright and glorious how solid and real how agreeable to all Objects how void of errour and disparity how just and reasonable how wise and holy how deep how righteous how good and profitable how mightily prone to exalt us in the esteem of GOD and Man How agreeable to all its Causes and Ends how fit and suitable to all the circumstances of Mans Condition I need not say more It bears its own evidence and carries Causes in it that will justifie our Saviours words He that humbleth himself shall be exalted He that is puffed up has but a counterfeit glory but Humility is full of solid glory It s beauty is so amiable that there is no end of counting its proportions and excellencies The Wise man that saw into the nature of all things very clearly said long before our Saviour was born Pride goeth before a fall but before Honour is Humility He that exalteth himself must needs be humbled because the Colours are envenomed wherewith he painteth his face which in a little time is discerned and at the very first instant the Painting begins to turn into a Canker THE Amiableness of Humility appeareth by its Excellency on these two the greatness of its beauty and success is founded It is so agreeable to all the principles of Nature and Grace and Glory to all the desires of Angels and Men to all the designs of GOD himself and to all the interests and concerns of the Soul that it cannot but be the most advantagious Vertue in the vvhole World It is strange that a man should look with the same Eye upon two Objects so infinitely distant and different from each other But at the same time he seeth GOD and Nothing Heaven and Earth eternal Love and Dust to be his Original Self-love and Justice Wisdom and Goodness Joy and Gratitude have the same Objects but look upon them in a several manner and are very differently affected with them Humility regards all Objects high and low Good and Evil but with a peculiar remark and notice of its own It takes them in in another light and discerns them all with another kind of sence It is in some manner the taste of the Soul Their Truth appeareth to the eye of Knowledge their Goodness is apprehended by the â—â—fe of Love the perfection of their serviceableness to the most perfect End is discerned by Wisdom the benefit which all Spectators receive is the delight of Goodness the incomprehensible depth and mysterious intricacy of their frame and nature is the peculiar Object of our Wonder and Curiosity they help our Faith as they shew a Deity and the truth of all Religion and Blessedness As they are the gifts of GOD they are the provocations of Gratitude and as they are aggravations of Sin they are respected by Repentance As they are the means of our Glory and our proper Treasures they are the Objects of Contentment but Humility looks upon them in relation to its Unworthiness compares them with it self and its own deserts and admires the disproportion that is between them It useth them all as grounds of a deeper and profounder Lowness in the esteem which it ought to have of it self and as the incentives to Love and Gratitude which it paies in the depth of a more profound Acknowledgment and Adoration THIS habit or affection of the Soul is not inconsistent with its Joy and Glory as by some foolish people that are by Ignorance and Errors far from GOD is generally supposed but highly conducive and subservient to its perfection It gives us the tenderest and greatest sence it passeth thorow all things embraceth the Poles and toucheth all Extreams together The Centre it self is but the middle of its profundity it hath a Nadir beneath it a lower point in another Heaven on the other side opposite to its Zenith In its own depth it containeth all the height of Felicity and Glory and doubles all by a mystery in Nature It is like a Mirror lying on the ground with its face upwards All the height above increaseth the depth of its Beauty within nay turneth into a new depth an inferiour Heaven is in the glass it self at the bottom of which we see the Skie though it be not transplanted removed thither Humility is the fittest Glass of the Divine Greatness and the fittest Womb for the conception of all Felicity for it hath a double Heaven It is the way to full and perfect Sublimity A man would little think that by sinking into the Earth he should come to Heaven He doth not but is buried that fixeth and abideth there But if he pierceth through all the Rocks and Minerals of the inferiour World and passeth on to the end of his Journey in a strait line downward in the middle of his way he will find the Centre of Nature and by going downward still begin to ascend when he is past the Centre through many Obstacles full of gross and subterraneous Darkness which seem to affright and stifle the Soul he will arrive at last to a new Light and Glory room and liberty breathing-place and fresh-air among the Antipodes and by passing on still through those inferiour Regions that are under his feet but over the head of those that are beneath him finally come to another Skie penetrate that and leaving it behind him sink down into the depth of all Immensity This he cannot do in his Body because it is gross and dull and heavy and confined but by a Thought in his Soul he may because it is subtile quick aiery free and infinite Nothing can stop or exclude it oppress or stifle it This local descent through all the inferiour Space and Immensity though it brings us to GOD and his Throne and another Heaven full of Joyes and Angels on the other side the World yet is it but a real Emblem of the more spiritual and mysterious flight of Humility in the mind We all know that the way to Heaven is through Death and the Grave beyond which we come to another Life in Eternity but how to accommodate this to the business of Humility few understand By this Vertue we are inclined to despise our selves and to leave all the garish Ornaments of Earthly bliss to divest our selves of the splendors of Temporal prosperity and to submit to all Afflictions Contempts and Miseries that a good Cause can bring upon us In the eyes of other men we are beneath their feet and so
of the Soul and its Honour founded in the freedom of its Desire Whatsoever it does not desire and delight in tho the matter of the performance be never so excellent the Manner is spoiled and totally Blasted Now can we compel another to desire or delight in any Thing The Soul in it self hath an Inclnation to or an a version from every object The Ingennity and Worth of the Soul is expressed in the Kindness of its own Intention in the freedom of its Desire to do what is Excellent in the delight it taketh to love its Goodness is founded Now tho GOD infinitely hated Sin yet he gave us an irrevocable Power to do what we pleased and adventured the Hazzard of that which he infinitely hated that being free to do what we would we might be Honourable and delightful in doing freely and of our own Accord what is Great and Excellent For without this Liberty there can be no Love since Love is an active and free affection that must spring from the Desire and pleasure of the Soul It is the Pleasure of a Lover to promote the Felicity of his object Whatsoever Services he is compelled to do he is either meerly passive in them or Cross unto them they are all void of the Principal Grace and Beauty that should adorn them and make them pleasant and satisfactory men may be Dead and moved like stones but in such causes there is no Love neither do they act of themselves when they are over-ruled and forced by another For this cause hath it pleased God in order to our Perfection to make the most Sublime and Sovereign Creatures all Free wherein he hath expressed the greatest Love in the World As we may see by all the Displeasures and Pains it hath cost him through our Abuse of so illimited and great a perfection But where his Love is most Highly and Transcendently expressed there are we most prone to suspect it Nature is so Cross and disorderly There can be no Wisdom without a voluntary Act for in all Wisdome there is Counsel and design Where no consultation nor Election precedes the best operation in all the World is Blind and Casual Fortune and chance must have no hand in that which wisdom Effecteth no more then Force and necessity must have in that Goodness where all the kindness ought to be in the Intention of the Benefactor There is something in it which I cannot explain It is easily conceived but will never I think in Words be expressed The Will has a mighty hand in all the Divinity of perfect Goodness It is the Mind of the Doer that is the principal object of all our Desire and Expectation HAVING for these Causes made his Creatures free he has forfeited their Choise and secured their Determination as far as was possible He hath done all that can be devised to make them Love us and left nothing undone but only that which was absolutely necessary that they might Love They could not Love us if they were not left to themselves to do it freely And their Ability being provided for nay an Inclination given to make them willing he has strictly commanded enjoyned them to Love by Nature allured them ordered us so that we might be fit to be Beloved he hath made it sweet and rational to Love given them his own Example and solemnly protested that he will accept of no Love to himself but what is accompanied with Love to his friends and servants engaged them to Love or be Eternally miserable And if for all this they will not Love the fault is none of his All that he has done to let secure then Love to himself he has done to secure then Love to us and is as much or more concerned in their Love to us then in that which himself requireth and Expecteth Nay he hath made it impossible for them truly to Love themselves without doing of it And if they will neither Love GOD nor themselves we may well be despised for Company He infinitely desires their Love and would take infinite Pleasure in the Operation There is no Way to make themselves Honourable and Delightful to GOD but only by Loving us as his soul requireth And by all these Inducements and Causes are we our selves stirred up to Love freely to exert the Power of Love to others in like manner THAT which yet further commendeth this Vertue of Love unto us is that it is the only Soul of all Pleasure and Felicity in all Estates It is like the Light of the Sun in all the Kingdomes and Houses and Eyes and Ages in Heaven in Earth in the Sea in Shops and Temples in Schooles and Markets in Labours and Recreations in Theatres and Fable It is the Great Daemon of the World and the Sole Cause of all Operations It is evidently impossible for any Fancy or Play or Romance or Fable to be composed well and made Delightful without a Mixture of Love in the Composure In all Theatres and Feasts and Weddings and Triumphs and Coronations Love is the Soul and Perfection of all in all Persons in all Occupations in all Diversions in all Labours in all Vertues in all Vices in all Occasions in all Families in all Cities and Empires in all our Devotions and Religious Actions Love is all in all All the Sweetness of Society is seated in Love the Life of Musick and Dancing is Love the Happiness of Houses the Enjoyment of Friends the Amity of Relations the Providence of Kings the Allegiance of Subjects the Glory of Empires the Security Peace and Welfare of the World is seated in Love Without Love all is Discord and Confusion All Blessings come upon us by Love and by Love alone all Delights and Blessings are enjoyed All happiness is established by Love and by Love alone is all Glory attained GOD Knoweth that Love uniteth Souls maketh men of one Heart in a House filles them with Liberallity and Kindness to each other makes them Delightfull in presence faithful in Absence Tender of the Honour and Welfare of their Beloved Apt to obey ready to please Constant in Trials Patient in sufferings Couragious is Assaults Prudent in Difficulties Victorious and Triumphant All that I shall need to observe further is that it compleated the Joys of Heaven Well therefore may Wisdome desire Love well may the Goodness of GOD delight in Love It is the form and the Glory of his Eternal Kingdome And therefore it is that the Apostle saith Charity never faileth but whether there be Prophesies they shall fail whether there be Tongues They shall cease whether there be Knowledge it shall vanish away For we know in part and we Prophesie in part but when that which is perfect is come then that which is in part shall be done away For now we see through a Glass darkly but then Face to Face now I Know in part but when shall I know as also I am Known And now abideth Faith Hope and Charity these three
but the Greatest of these is Charity CHAP. XX. Of Prudence It s Foundation is Charity its End Tranquillity 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 CHARITY is that which entereth into every Vertue as a main Ingredient of its Nature and Perfection Love is the fountain and the End of all without which there can be no Beauty nor Goodness in any of the Vertues Love to one self Love to GOD Love to man Love to Felicity a clear and intelligent Love is the Life and Soul of every Vertue without which Humility is but Baseness Fortitude but Feirceness Patience but Stupidity Hope but Presumption Modesty but Simpering Devotion but Hypocrisie Liberality is Profuseness Knowledge vanity Meekness but a sheepish Tameness and Prudence it self but fraud and Cunning. For as all other Vertues so is prudence founded on Charity He that is not Good can never be Prudent for he can never benefit himself or others For the Designes of Prudence are to secure one self in the Exercise of every Vertue and so to order the Discharge of ones Duty as neither to hurt a mans self in his Life Estate Honour Health or Contentment nor yet to fail in the Attainment of that Worth and Beauty which will make our Lives Delightful to others and as Glorious to our selves as Beneficial and Delightful PRUDENCE hath an eye to every Circumstance and Emergence of our Lives It s Designe is to make a mans self as Great and glorious as is possible and in pleasing all the World to order and improve all Advantages without incurring the least inconvenience To reconcile our Devotion Obedience and Religion to our Interest and Prosperity in the World To shun all extreams to surmount all Difficulties to overrule all Disadvantages to discern all Opportunities and lay hold on all Occasions of doing Good to our selves It s Office is to consult and contrive and effect our own Welfare in every Occurrence that can besal us in the World and so to mingle all Vertues in the Execution of our Duties that they may relieve and aid and perfect each other in such a manner as at once to be pleasing to GOD profitable to his Creatures and to our selves To take heed that we do nothing out of Season nor be guilty of any Defect or Excess or Miscarriage All the Vertues are United by Prudence like several Pieces in a Compleat armour and disposed all like Souldiers in an Army that have their several Postes and Charges or like the several Orders and Degrees in a Kingdom where there are Variety of Trusts services to be done and every Man has his Office assigned by the King and knows his own work and is fitted for the same FOR as no one man is sufficient for all the same person cannot be chief Priest in the Temple and General in the Army and Admiral at Sea c. So neither can every Vertue serve for all purposes but there must be several Vertues for several Ends. AS the King ordereth and directeth all his Officers and subjects in their several Places if they do their duty in their own sphere the Great End is attained by all which no one of them alone was able to Effect so here one Vertues supplies the Defects of another and tho every one of them moves in his own Precincts and does not at all intermeddle with anothers charge yet the Work is done as effectually as if any one Vertue did all alone WHILE all the Vertues conspire to supply what is wanting in each other Prudence is the general Overseer and Governour of all which while every single Vertue is ignorant of what the other are doing fits and proportions the subservient Ends to which every one of these Directeth its Care and Labour and Skill to the Great and last End of all the intire Perfection and Glory of the Kingdome So that here upon Earth Prudence seemeth to be the King of Vertues because we have such a Multiplicity of Concernes and Affairs to look after that it is impossible for any one Vertue but Prudence alone to attend them all THIS discovereth the Excellency of Vertue detected a very great Error to which we are liable while we are prone imprudently to expect more from any Vertue than it is able to perform We are apt to believe that in every Vertue there is an infinite Excellency And this great Expectation of ours is a good opinion of Vertue yet turneth not seldome to its Disgrace and Infamy For when we look upon any single Vertue and see it so Defective that it scarce answereth one of many Ends because we find our selves deceived in our expectation of its perfection and the Service of that Vertue so Curt and narrow which we thought to be infinite we are distasted at its Insufficiency and prone to slight it as a poor inconsiderable Business infinitly short of our Hopes and expectations Nay and to be discouraged from the practice of it because we find it attended with many Difficulties and inconveniences which it is not able to remedy or answer Thus are we deterred from Liberality for fear of the Poverty to which it exposeth us from Meekness because it encourageth all People to trample us under feet from Holiness because it is scorned and hated in the World from Fortitude and Courage because of the Perils and Hazzards that attend it from self-Denial because of the Displeasures we do to our selves in crossing our Appetite Nay sometimes men are so wicked as to hate to be obliged for fear of the Inconveniences of Gratitude and are much Prejudiced against Fidelity and Love and Truth and Constancy For all these Vertues can answer but one exigence for which they are prepared especially in our Daily Conversation with men and a mistake in one of them doth expose us to more Inconveniences then its Benefit is worth THIS is the Offence and the Truth is no Vertue is of any Value as cut off from the rest We may as well expect all Beauty in a Nose divided from the Face or an eye pluckt out of the head all Perfection in an Ear or a tongue cut off all serviceableness in a Hand or Foot dismembred from the Body as a full and perfect Security from any one Vertue whatsoever If one were sufficient the rest would be Superfluous Mans Empire and Dominion would be a very narrow Thing at least a very Empty and Shallow thing if any one Vertue were enough for his Felicity As his Exigencies and Concerns are Innumerable so are his Cares and Endowments his Honors and Pleasures his Offices and Employments his Vertues and Graces His Offices and his Vertues must be at least so many as will serve to regulate all his Concerns And if any be so comprehensive as to cure many Exigencies at the same time his Vertues are the Greater