those Works to â—â—â—fection which they begin whilst they 〈◊〉 old for most of them are such as reâ—â—â—re a considerable time for the doing them I am sure that is such which we have here mentioned III. That in which the Child must be train'd is his Way so 't is in the Hebrew which we render the Way he should go that is in the course and kind of his Life and Practice in what he should do all the days of his Life let him begin to walk in that way let him be initiated in the Work and Business of his Life let him begin beâ—â—mes what he should always be doing His Way i. e. in that Practice and Life for which he was made in the doing those Works for which his Nature was design'd by his great and wise Creator and for which he is by peculiar Endowments and Abilities Temper and Disposition as well as by his Condition and Circumstances fitted and capacitated This I take to be the true meaning of that Phrase His Way which implies two things 1. The Way that 's common to all Men the Way of Man of every Man every one endow'd with humane Nature and Faculâ—ieâ— 2. That Way which is peculiar to this or that or the other Man that for which by his Genius as we say by his Temper and Inclination or by his external Condition he is most adapted and fit and as it were set apart That is by Divines commonly called our general Calling this our particular That Way which is common to all and is the Way of every Man is the doing those Works which every one that has the Nature of a Man is made and furnished to do I need not mention those of the Body which are common to us with Beasts But the other which are more peculiar to Man and belong as it were to him are Knowledg and Choice and keeping good Order among all our Faculties pursuing the Inclinations we have to our own Perfection and Happiness and to help others to be in as good a condition as our selves are or would be To be devout towards God To be just and honest true and faithful and charitable to Men To do that universally which we think to be fit and right which upon the largest knowledg we can get we judg to be good To do no Evil and to do all the Good we can possibly This is the Way of every Man That which is this or that Man's Way besides is to be employed in this or that Trade according as he is fitted the Husbandry Merchandise Mechanick or Liberal Arts the Study of Physick Law Divinity as his own Inclination and Capacity and the Opportunity he has to attain to any of these shall direct Tho we cannot read it in the Faces of Children yet in their Humour and Carriage we may conjecture what they will be fit for Now whosoever takes a survey of the Nature of Man as he will discover it was the Contrivance and Work of great Wisdom and Goodness so from an Observation of the several Faculties and Capacities Inclinations and Appetites Instinct and Saâ—â—city of Mankind he will conclude which is the Way in which he should go which is the Way of Man the Life that is suitable to such a Nature as ours is For he will be fully resolved in this that it must be the natural Exercise and Perfection of those Powers the filling those Capacities in the Pursuit of those Inclinations the Regulation and Satisfaction of those Appetites the Observance of those Instincts and giving heed to such Presages and Conjectures as the Mind by its Nimbleness and Sagacity makes If these be considered 1. Severally and a part 2. Jointly as they are all united and consisting together they make up the whole human Nature As they consist with and are in subordination to each other they will give us a clear view of the whole Way or Life of Man all that he was made for by his great Creator That which will help us to a more distinct knowledg of this will be to compare our Nature with the Brutish which is below us and the Angelic which is above us We partake of both Natures we have the Faculties and Appetites both of Angels and of Brutes From hence I infer That if we live wholly as either meer Animals or as pure Spirits we live not agreeably to our Nature and State We must on the one hand raise up our selves above the low Life of Sensitives and yet we must not foar so high as the Life of Spirits devested of Flesh and Blood That Way is too low and this too high the Way of Man lies in the middle betwixt these two We must not sink down into and yet we must comply with our earthly fleshly animal State And indeed here is the great Difficulty to see that these two Lifes do not clash and interfere but conspire with and be serviceable and friendly to each other to bring down Heaven to Earth and to advance Earth to Heaven as much as is possible This is the Skill this is Wisdom indeed that the Soul condescend to the Condition and Services of this lower Life of Flesh and Sense and yet not lose not forgo its own spiritual Life To come down from and yet still to be in Heaven whilst we are on Earth To behave our selves like Men in the Flesh and yet at the same time to act as becomes those who are endow'd with spiritual divine Souls this is the way of Man in contradistinction to the way or life of brute Animals Quest But how is this Life to be attained What must we do that we may neither sink below our selves and become Brutes nor yet stretch our selves beyond our Line and live like the Spirits which are not in conjunction with earthly Bodies Answ Let us be in a sincere and constant pursuit of that which is and when we are fittest to judg we think to be best This will be as the Polar Star to direct our Course If we mind this we shall steer safely betwixt the two Rocks we shall neither depress the Soul nor neglect the Body we shall advance Understanding and Liberty and all the rational and higher Faculties And this will be done without prejudice to Sense and the Animal Life and Powers If we constantly aim at doing that which is best which is that to which by our very Natures we are framed we shall then make more account of our Soul than of our Body more account of Understanding and Liberty and Conscience than of Sense and Animality we shall bring the Body into subjection and keep the Animal serviceable to the Mind And when they are once come to this which is the true natural State and tends to the preservation and perfection of them both as well as conduces to that of the World without then the Interests are reconciled they are all one they combine and conspire together the Soul makes much of its good Servant the Body and the
the Pleasure that arises from it must needs be very great The best Faculty is now exercised about its proper Object and 't is generally said that all Pleasure consists in the Congruity of the Object and Faculty 2. Distinguish this Pleasure according to the three Differences of Time which its Cause hath and we shall find it in all these to be extraordinary 1. For the past Memory tho it be but a languishing Sense and the Ideas are not near so lively as when they were first imprest yet the Remembrance of having done good Offices gives a very sensible and lively Pleasure and it is a great Content to the Soul when it calls to mind any Acts of Beneficence and that it did such Actions for which others were the better To remember that I have relieved a Man in his Necessities or added to his Conveniencies eas'd his Pain or cured his Disease vindicated his Reputation preserved his Life instructed his Ignorance removed his Mistakes satisfied his Doubts confirmed his Resolutions moderated his Affections the Remembrance of this that I have been instrumental in such good Offices will be very pleasant Indeed a Man is more pleased with a Remembrance of the Good he hath done to others than of that which he hath done himself And I am well assured that when we come to die it will be a very great satisfaction if we can think that none can accuse us for doing them Injury and if others will testify that we have been kind and good to them 2. As to the Present A Man that is in the Exercise of Goodness hath the pleasant Sensation of the Health and good Plight of his Soul He feels himself his Mind as well as Body in an excellent State Some think that Sense of Health is the greatest Pleasure of Man and this is the Pleasure of a double Health 3. Future He that feels he hath attained to so much cannot but hope that what is yet behind shall be added and that he shall continue in those ways to the end which are so infinitely pleasant to him that he shall ascend to that Heaven which is come down to him and is in him that is that he shall continue the Exercise of that Love in Eternity which he hath begun in Time And this he hopes for because it is very natural and because this Sense of the Excellency of his own Goodness and Benignity assures him that God is good and will do good to them that are so 3. When Man complies with the grand Design of Heaven i. e. to promote the Happiness of Mankind and co-operates with natural Causes which have a manifest subserviency to the Good of the Generality he is then doing Acts of Kindness and Benignity and when he doth these he not only refreshes other Men but le ts in Streams of Pleasure to his own Soul And these Pleasures which derive from such a Spring must be 1. Sure for they depend on very certain Causes and such as act naturally and almost necessarily All the Uncertainty arises from his own Mutability and yet he is under an Engagement that is as powerful to determine him as the Nature of Man is capable of that is he perceives a great and sensible Pleasure in the Exercise of Goodness and either this will determine him to such Acts or nothing can Whilst Man perseveres in doing Good his Pleasure must remain and he will persevere whilst he considers God and the World i. e. whilst he uses his Reason 2. Near. They are in and from himself and do not so much depend on Things without us but on the Use of our selves Principally They are always with us if we do but reflect on our own Acts which we cannot chuse but do we shall not fail of Pleasure 4. By reason of its Duration It is 1. Continued 2. Lasting 1. A Pleasure that arises from such certain Causes and that are so near to us must needs be continual and without interruption That which is near and within a Man must certainly be more taken notice of than things at a distance such are his own Actions and the Principles of them he cannot chuse but he must observe them And as often as he is conscious of this beneficent Temper and Acts of Goodness and Kindness he feels an overflowing Joy in his Mind And if that be his Nature to incline him alway to do Good he must alway be sensible of it that is his Pleasure must be as interrupted as any thing can be in the Mind of Man 2. It is also lasting As long as the Sun is the Rays will flow from it and as long as the Soul continues benign and good and acts from this Principle so long will it continue in this pleasant Sense for this is an inseparable Emanation or Property of a benign Soul Other Pleasures that depend on contingent mutable external Things must be transient and fleeting and as full of Vicissitude as the Causes on which they depend but these which flow from that which is incorporeal and incorruptible will themselves last for ever As long as the Fountain springs these Streams will not fail and that will not be dried up for it is fed by the secret Aids sent from the inexhaustible Ocean of Goodness in God And will certainly be one of the great Pleasures of the other State for the Soul must lose it self must cease to be what now it is before this Pleasure can cease It is one of the greatest and fairest of those Rivers of Pleasure which encompass Paradise whose Waters fail not How unconceivable is the Delight of Souls when they are bathing themselves in these Streams when they are carried on with the greatest Gales of Good-will to all their Fellow-Creatures How will they be ravish'd with their own Countenance when they behold in it this excellent Grace with which Love hath beautified it How must they be delighted to feel themselves in so good a State in so healthful a Plight 5. This Pleasure is absolutely good There are some Pleasures that are hurtful The Soul may too much be taken with low and sensual Delights so as to neglect those that are higher and better There are Pleasures of Sin that are Baits to catch unwary Souls and will ensnare them in those Practices which will make them miserable But behold the Pleasures which arise from Beneficence are absolutely good have no mixture of evil are perfectly innocent and greatly useful do no harm and much good for they engage us to repeat those good Works which bring us in so great an Income of Bliss Thus they continue themselves and that is the greatest thing I can say of them for this is that which hath not the Goodness of Means only but of the End also Thus I have shewn how certain a Cause of greatest and most exquisite Pleasure doing Good must needs be so as I might hope to engage the greatest Epicureans to take this Course to be happy And now after all
no good perhaps with an ill Design How idly how unprofitably do they lavish away their time who converse together in this vain trifling false hypocritical manner who as they are conscious that no Credit is to be given to what they say so neither do they believe each other And to how little purpose do I converse with that Man whom I cannot think he means as he speaks 16. Be very watchful of our selves in such Particulars which if they be not regarded do very much endanger the loss of Time As 1. Be careful we be not too prodigal of it in the Gratifications of our Senses and the Services of the Body Whilst thou art eating and drinking take heed of devouring Time also And spend not those hours in Sleep or in dressing thy Body which should have been laid out on thy better Paâ—t I do not by this put eating and drinking sleeping and dressing into the vain Consumptions of Time No they are all very allowable things But this I say that we have need to set a Watch over our selves lest we spend more time in these things than we can account for than is requisite for them so long as they are good and natural Let us be doing other things while we are doing these While we are satisfying our Hunger and Thirst let us discourse While we are dressing our Bodies let us be cloathing and adorning and sprucing up our Souls by wise and good Thoughts and Affections But do not do this profunctorily and by the by for that 's hateful and a perverse piece of Folly to let thy Soul have thy Bodies leavings To do the Work of thy Soul when thou hast nothing else to do to cast off thy refuse Minutes to it and to allow it none other to afford it only the few Minutes which can be spared from the Services of the Body This may be an Instance how the same Action may be very good and very bad according to the Mind with and the Principle from which it is done He that lays his Bible before him and fills up those Minutes with reading and imploys those Thoughts about God's Revelation which need not be laid out wholly in dressing And does this out of the great Sense he has of the far greater Excellency and Necessity of one Work than of the other he does well in this But if these little Intervals of Time be all that are given to the Soul and if he only cast off the Shreds of Time for the Soul out of a Preference of the Body this is hateful 2. Beware of all diverting Exercises Those Games which were invented on purpose to take off our Minds a while from more serious Employments on which they could not be continually fixed they after prove an infinite Expence of Time and by a kind of Witchery do so insinuate themselves and excite our Passions and cause a tickling Pleasure that they detain us much longer time than we can spare from important Business It is Wisdom in this case to resolve before we be engaged in it how long we will stay at such a Sport And to be sure not to break our Purpose 3. Compliance with general Customs Some of these are great Devourers of Time We spend many hours and 't is but very little good we do in them I do not bid you be singular and break such Customs no I suppose them innocent in themselves and by my Care they may be so to me All I advise is that since they may not require a great or constant Intention of Mind to use them we let out our Thoughts after other matters and lay hold on such Advantages of doing any kind of good as are offer'd 4. Civil Visits Such as are made by those who are not quite Strangers to each other nor yet so well known as to be Friends and Confidents I do not suppose these to end in meer Tattle much less in a saucy Discourse against their Governours nor in slandering or uncharitable detracting from their Neighbours nor any such ill things as these which is the worst Consumption of Time that can be But if these Visits stay in general and innocent Discourse yet we must be careful that too much of our little Time which more necessary things call for be not laid out on these lesser matters Let us also endeavour to improve these Occasions to the best Uses of which they are capable 5. Curiosities They are things that require much Pains and are of no great use Now if whilst we are in pursuit of these we neglect something that is more necessary if things of far greater moment call for that Time and Pains which we lay out on these Prettinesses they prove the loss of our Time and there is great Danger lest our Curiosity should engage us so far in the quest of these dissiciles Nugae these things that please meerly because they are rare and odd and hard to come at that we should not mind the Seasons of doing far better and greater things Which if we do we lose the Advantage in part for we do not do the best we might 6. Conversation with Friends It is commonly said Amici fures temporis and there is some danger of it as there is of every thing that hugely pleases us lest it should so fix and chain our Souls to it that they be not ready to fly away with the first Opportunity that calls to the doing some other and more necessary Good This that I say is no Disparagement to Friends and which of all the things this World affords that are without us is of greatest value And there is nothing so pleasant so profitable nothing so truly honourable nothing that carries with it a Signification of greater Wisdom and Vertue and good Nature than to live in Friendship And the more there is of this the larger the more universal still it deserves a greater Praise It is that which tho I am occasionally fallen into the mention of yet I can hardly forbear to perswade all Men to enter into and to preserve this most sacred League Notwithstanding this I must intimate that amongst the other Miscarriages you may by occasion of it fall into this is not the least That the most pleasant Conversation of your Friend may so take you up that you may be by this bereft of the Season of doing some more needful Good which it may be whilst you are in those delightful Transports you have in the Enjoyment of him you love and trust as you do your own Soul passes away and will return no more This Caution should be no more prejudice to Friendship or bring us into any ill Thoughts of that than if it were as it might be applied to a greater thing than Friendship that is Devotion or converse with God himself which is the highest Act we can put forth yet we may be too long in the Mount There are other Services to be done besides though none so great as this 17. Do
this I dare encounter the Sensualist who seeks for Delight from brutish Gratifications or the malicious angry Man who expects to have it from Revenge or the selfish and contracted Man who pursues it in ways of Self-love and all the Pleasure he hath is in doing Good to himself To all these I can shew greater and better purer and more lasting Pleasures in the Exercise of an universal Love Here 's Pleasure that will be constantly fresh and new no satiety no clogging The Sensualist hath the pleasure of a Brute in his Enjoyments the malicious Man hath the pleasure of Divels the selfish of the Sons of Earth but the Man of Benignity and unbounded Love hath the delight of those that are Heaven-born the Joys of Angels and partakes of the greatest Pleasure of God himself for that undoubtedly is to do good I have now shewn how much the temper and practice of universal Goodness tends to make us Knowing Religious Vertuous Quiet and Joyful which are the greatest and most desirable Perfections of the Soul of Man But perhaps some may set a greater value on things less excellent and will be more sensible of what concerns their Body than their Mind and of that which is without than that which is within them Now therefore that I may engage such Men also if it be possible to a Life of Beneficence and that I may fully discover the manifold Vertues of a benign Nature and Life I will consider those also that are of less Importance which relate to our Body and Good-name and Estate but yet ought to have some place in our account And lastly how Instrumental this must be to begin and continue and confirm Friendships which in all these and the other respects before-mentioned are hugely serviceable to us 1. Universal Beneficence conduces to long Life Psal 34. 12. David asks this Question What Man is he that desires Life and loves Days that he may see Good Not that he thought there were any that did not but therefore he proposes this in form of Question the better to excite their attention and to make us all regard what he would say which is to direct us what Course to take that we may attain our desire and that is 1. Keep thy Tongue from Evil and thy Lips from speaking Guile 2. Depart from Evil and do Good seek Peace and pursue it This is the Direction the Scripture gives to preserve Life and we find this very passage cited in 1 Pet. 3. 10. And that we may be assured that by doing Good is meant Beneficence see how it is brought in there as an Argument against rendring Evil for Evil at the 9th Verse Not rendring Evil for Evil nor Railing for Railing but contrariwise Blessing c. and then follows at the tenth Verse For he that will love Life and see good Days c. Reason and Experience will say the same There are we all know two sorts of Enemies to Mans Life one is within the other without him Those within are the Diseases which as they arise from other causes so very often I know not whether I should say for the most part arise from disorderly Passions I know not any better general Prescription for the preventing or curing those Diseases that arise from ill temper of the Blood and other Humours than to keep the Mind in a benign disposition and willingness to do good Offices For there is a great Sympathy betwixt Soul and Body and experience and observation shews us that when the Soul is thus affected it gives and continues alacrity and briskness to those motions in which both Life and Health consist And for those that arise from Passions which are contrary to this universal good Affection or proceed from want of it such as Anger Malice Envy great Sorrow and excess of Self-love or a too particular and contracted Affection what ill effects these have on our Bodies and what Distempers they cause I leave it to Observation and Sense to testifie But we are sure that those sudden changes of Colour trembling of the Flesh palpitation of the Heart stopping of the Breath Sighing Inflaming our Heaviness distorting of the Face and Eyes which are so often consequent on those are very ill Symptoms And the best way to prevent them and all the dangers they threaten us with is to preserve in our Minds an Inclination to do good universally For this will extirpate Malice and destroy Envy it will moderate Anger and not suffer us to be Peevish it will set us at liberty from a too particular Affection and ease our Griefs and thus prevent very many of those Diseases which we lie under for want of due regulating our Passions Nor will this seem strange if we consider that Physicians when they advise a Method for preserving Health caution us about our Passions that they be kept in order I have before shewn that to be universally Benevolent is the best and perhaps only way to govern them and if so 't is evident that it must have a great Influence on Life and that which is the Life of Life without which Death would be more eligible Health The causes of Man's Death that are without him are Men or other things such as infectious Vapours in the Air Famines the ill Qualities of his Food or other such like As for Men Tully tells us it was the Opinion of one Dicaearchus that many more were slain by Men than died by Diseases or any other way The truth of my Discourse depends not on the certainty of his Conjecture all that I shall infer is that those great numbers that die by the hands of Men and before their time come by this means might have had their Lives lengthened For if the Law of Universal Love were observed by all then Quarrels and Contentions War and Fighting Stabbing and Poyson would have no place But there is no better Preservative against infectious Diseases than the Vertue and good Disposition of the Mind of which the Sum is Benignity Therefore Histories tell us that in that lamentable Plague at Athens which was so contagious and mortal yet Socrates escaped and this was ascribed to his Vertue and excellent Disposition in general particularly to his Temperance which I have shewn how it as well as all other Vertues derives from Universal Love One observation will very much assure us of the Truth of what I have said wherein I will appeal to the experience of every one it is this That an unwillingness to be doing Good is for the most part if not always accompanied with indisposition of Body and that when we enjoy the best Health we commonly feel our selves in the greatest disposition to Beneficence For the Soul and Body as in other matters so here mutually operate on each other Whence I infer That as Benignity and Goodness in the Mind contribute to the Health of the Body so the good plight of the Body inclines the Soul to Good-will And for the other Perfections
be-friend you in doing this or that good in particular If we observe this it will be a great help For when we consider in general what time we have for doing good we shall see the most we can reckon to be so very short and that little so very uncertain that we shall not be able to put it under another account than of possible or not improbable We can be sure of none but what is present This will make us very careful to enquire what is the best and most necessary of all the good Works we can do And when we have found that we shall be as diligent to do it with all our might and without delay Whatsoever our Hand finds to do as Solomon expresses it we shall do with our whole Strength He that is well resolved that he can make no certain account of any Time but of that vvhich is vvill certainly be careful to employ that to the best and most necessary Purposes And he that does this has learnt one most excellent Rule for the redeeming his Time Let him also think before-hand vvhat parts of Time do most befriend one good Action suppose Thinking vvhen it may be the fittest season for Speaking and vvhen for other Actions When you have thus considered your Time think hovv you have spent it And if you be sensible of mispence for the future resolve on retrenching all your unaccountable expences of your Time Such as you cannot justify to God and your ovvn Conscience nor to any one that thinks every thing should be put to a good use Having thus used frequent Consideration both of the good Actions you can do and also of the Time you have to do them and prepared your selves 10. Let your next care be to make and keep a serious resolution of filling up every little space of Time vvith doing some Good or other Let it be your constaint care and study to be alvvay doing Good of some kind that no Minutes be laid out on evil Works no Time leak from you in Idleness no Hours be spent on that vvhich has so very little Goodness that it 's doubtful or undiscernable Many of our Businesses afford us abundance of spare Time vvhich a good Mind knovvs hovv to spend in divine Meditations or the like The Naturalists observe that the same Vessel vvhen 't is fill'd vvith Water vvill yet receive Bodies of another Nature And nothing more common than for one Body to incorporate and unite vvith another I am sure there is no Time but may be more employed than it is And very fevv of our good Actions the Goodness of vvhich may not be condensated and vvill admit of others of other kinds and more of the same 11. Be ever inclin'd and resolv'd to do as much good as you can be not content to do a little but design the most do not satisfy your selves to do good only but still aim at doing the best By this means we shall crowd more of Good into out Time The same Ground well husbanded will yield twice as much Corn as if it were in the Hands of a Sluggard And the same Time may bring forth twice as many good Actions if it be well look'd to as otherwise it would Do as many good Actions together as thou canst put as much Good into as little room as is possible Do every Action as well as thou canst make it as good as 't is capable of being 12. Allot the greatest and best and first Portions the most of your Time to the best and most necessary Works those which most tend to Man's greatest Perfection Such are those that are requisite to the getting and keeping a good Mind and Conscience and such a Plight of Body as renders it most useful to the Soul in all wise and vertuous Actions viz. Consideration being conversant in the Scriptures in Prayer in Christian Conference All Acts of Justice and Mercy c. 13. Where there is an Equality on other accounts that one Action is not apparently better than the other Do that to which Season does most invite Things will most assist in the doing it and give Probability of best Success when 't is done The Reason of this Advice is plain because by doing thus we are likely to do most good and in a shorter time than if we set our selves to do that which Opportunity does not so much favour 14. Take the first Time or Season of doing a good Work do not stay in hopes of a better when it may be you may never have another This is wise Counsel in any good Work not to be dilatory to procrastinate But 't is necessary in those that are inwardly and immutably good and eternally obligatory Let no Conceit of present Difficulty put thee off Do not neglect a good Season in an uncertain Expectation of one more convenient Say not to good Works as Felix said to St. Paul Go away for this time when I have a convenient Season Acts 24. 25. 15. Avoid those things which are certain and some of them double mispence of Time Such are these 1. Intemperance Whosoever exceed the Bounds which Nature and Vertue has set to their Appetites of bodily Pleasures they for a space utterly disable themselves from using their Time to any good purpose And so they continue till by Sleep or Abstinence they are recovered to their natural State During which time how many fair Opportunities of doing brave Actions have they lost 2. Immoderate Passion This does so detain the Soul in the Thoughts of some one Object that it is wholly inobservant of any thing else that comes before it Whilst I am over vehemently angry with one I take no notice of another whose Wants would otherwise move my Compassion They do loudly call for my Charity but I am so deaf with the noise of mine own Passion that I cannot hear 3. Wicked Company Such will be saying or doing ill things There is some Danger that the Infection catch hold on me and by sorting with them I become one of them Or if by God's Grace I be preserved from running into the same Excess with them yet I may through Cowardise or Imprudence not rebuke them By suffering Sin on them I may bring it on my self If I do rebuke them it may be to no purpose it is not likely to have any Effect Thus if I be not Company-proof I shall be snared And if I be kept from falling into their Sins yet I have lost some hours which might have been better spent in good Company or in my Closet 4. Courtship and Complement great portions of Time are spent in these Trifles by which I do not mean those Expresses of Civility which become us to use in many cases but when we employ our Minds in studying to speak Words or use Gestures that are wholly insignificant that do not correspond with the Sense of our Souls that have no Truth on which they are bottom'd that are used with a vain with
more brute Animals nor as unbodied Spirits that we should endeavour the Welfare both of the Mind and of the Animal together of neither abstractedly and singly 3. The Soul or Mind is confessed to be more excellent than the Body And every one who thinks a Man has Pre-eminence over a Beast will not deny but that it is and ought to be superiour For tho the Spirit uses the Ministrations of the Body yet in abundance of Instances it governs and disposes of it as it pleases And it is manifest that the Mind was not made to be subject to the Body but the Body to it the Soul of Man is supream There is none who observes Man's Frame but must conclude that it is the Will of his Creator that his Mind should rule and his Body be in Subjection 4. The Soul has a sense or understanding of Good and Evil and an Inclination or Love to all that appears good and an Aversion from all that to it seems evil And according as any thing is apprehended by the Mind to be good or evil so it determines it self and all within its Power to or from it for or against it This is the Cardo or Hinge on which all our Frame turns the first Spring of all our Motions the Primum Mobile in Man as all Men acknowledg by their Practice For when they would engage themselves or others to any Undertaking they shew its Goodness or when they would take them off from it they make it appear evil Which Practice plainly supposes that we all believe Man determines himself according as he apprehends a thing to be good or bad If this be true then we cannot but conclude that God intended when he made Man after such a manner that his Will should be conformable to and guided by his Understanding and in particular that he should will and do good that all he did should be good for else why should he frame him so as that he can will nothing but what appears to him under that colour and why did he so form the Human Understanding that some Things and Actions are by all thought Good and Evil But we shall be more fully assured of this that God who made us vvills that vve should love and do all Good and hate and shun all Evil if vve make a nearer Inspection into the Souls of Men for vve may observe not only an unalterable Inclination to do that vvhich vve think to be on one account or other Good But 5. Also a very earnest desire and care to knovv more perfectly vvhat is and all that is Good or Evil. No Man is vvilling to be ignorant or mistaken and he is no-vvhere more careful of true Understanding than in the matters of Good and Evil. That natural Desire of Perfection vvhich is common to all things does exert it self in the Mind of Man in this Particular And if this be the condition of Man that he does naturally and necessarily perceive some things that are Good and Evil and by an easy and natural Ratiocination will discover others And if he go on to Perfection which all desire and tend to he will attain to a clear and certain knowledge of all that is Good And if it be unnatural for him to will without or against all understanding Then we must conclude that his Wise Lord wills that he should do all that is Good 6. This will further appear if we consider the Account to which Men call themselves for their Actions wherein they approve and acquit themselves if they have done well but disallow and condemn all evil Actions Nay if they did ill tho they intended well they blame themselves for their Miscarriage which supposes that they think they might and should have prevented this by being better informed in the matter they undertook But if they know or thought it was Evil and yet chose to do it they then rebuke themselves sharply and their Consciences arraign them for a notorious Crime and they are without Excuse to themselves All this shews that he who made Man thus to review his Performances to excuse and approve the Good to censure and condemn the Evil will'd that all he does should be good Love of Good seems to be the supream of all our Passions that to which all the rest of our Affections lead and in which all our Faculties terminate from which all our other Passions issue and by which the Mind governs the Body and is governed it self And the greater and better the Good is the more naturally it is loved Therefore as we have shewed that according to natural Order this Good of the Mind ought to be preferr'd before the Good of the Body so that which is right and fit and becoming before any other Good of the Mind that is the Moral before the Natural for the one is in order to the other This Subordination and Subserviency which is so conspicuous among our several Faculties shews us that it is God's Will that we should thus reduce our selves out of that Ataxy and Conftssion into which Sin has brought us into that excellent Harmony and Serviceableness of one Faculty to another and of all to the supream that we should assert the Minds Superiority over the Body and as to what is principal in the Mind viz. the love of what is fit and becoming that all the rest should be brought under subjection to it I might now proceed to abundance of Particulars but that they would detain me too long on this Argument It may be sufficient to my purpose in general that whosoever considers the various Faculties of Man and the Order and Reference they have to each other the many Inclinations and Appetites and Capacities of our Natures and the Operations which do necessarily flow from them and will allow that the Exercise and Perfection of and keeping due order amongst these natural Faculties the following these Inclinations and the Gratification of these Appetites the filling up these Capacities the doing these Actions which necessarily follow Nature are the Will of our Creator as they must be unless he has made things in vain that is unless he knew not or car'd not what he did From thence he will most certainly collect abundance of the Divine Laws and attain to a most clear Knowledg of what God requires of him If we further consider the Reference Man has 1. To God 2. To other Men. 3. The Order and Rank and Relation he is in to Inferiour Animals and other Beings we should presently discover what kind of Behaviour becomes him on all these accounts i. e. what is best and therefore fittest for such a one in such Circumstances to do and consequently what is the Will of the wise and good Maker and Governour Thus we have discovered God's Will that we should do good not only from a Consideration of the Divine Nature to which Goodness is essential But likewise from a view of the Nature which he has given us which is
natural to Man which is corruptive of Men this is a false Notion We must not look on our selves as meerly passive 2. We must not take up with inadequate Thoughts of our selves so as to take a part for the whole to think that we are nothing but Body leads us into Sensuality and a Study to please and serve the Flesh Or on the other hand to imagine that we are in this State nothing but Soul will dispose us to neglect the Body and so we shall be prone to turn either Brutish or Monkish 3. It is not enough that we know our whole selves but we must rid our Minds of confused Imaginations For whilst these remain we do if not prefer the Body before the Mind yet equal them and either set the lower Faculties above the higher or in the same Rank And this as all Disorders are is very pernicious and therefore not the Will of the Good One. For the making all this clear let us consider a particular Instance Suppose a Man perswaded that it is the Will of his Maker that he should endeavour his own Preservation and Perfection So long as he esteems the Depravation of his Nature as a very vehement Desire of bodily Pleasure to be natural he will then study to procure such Delights he will earnestly intend them tho they be indeed the bane of his Pleasure and of his very Being This Man so long as he has these imperfect Thoughts of himself will not look on himself as obliged to mind that part which he considers not as part of himself He will not intend the preservation and perfection of his Mind whilst he looks only on his Body as himself And if he has confused Thoughts of his Nature not distinguishing betwixt his Machine and his Life nor preferring one before the other as he cannot possibly think himself bound to preserve that Order betwixt these two which he understands not So whenever the Body is in danger to be destroyed he will apprehend that the Soul is in the same Hazard And so can never willingly sacrifice his bodily Life whilst he thinks it the same with the higher Life of the Mind Nay 't is much if the Law of Self-Preservation does not prevail against any other And how 〈◊〉 or necessary soever it be for him to die for his Religion on Countrey c. yet he will not chuse it he will not think himself obliged unto it 4. I have directed you to seek for the Will and Law of God in the sense of the Wise and Good and the Agreement of the Community of Mankind with them for 't is not likely they should all be deceived when they all agree that this or that ought or ought not to be done But here I must caution you 1. Not to divide these but to take their Suffrages where they consent I dare not lay so great stress on either singly as I do on both jointly 2. Be careful not to mistake those for Wise and Good who are neither Do not â—â—unt Men wise because they are fortunate and successful which is a common Cheaâ— Neither call Men Good 1. Who only make a shew but are not what they seem nor 〈◊〉 Those that have something which has the Vogue to be Good but is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pharisees 〈…〉 3. Those who are but partially and very imperfect 〈◊〉 Good not so Good as to bear a Denomination which is always taken à parts 〈◊〉 their Ill still weighs it down 3. As I would not in this case lean on the Understanding of the Wise and Vertnous when they think contrarily to the Community so neither would I be concluded from the Opinions of one or of some few against the generality of the Righteous 4. See that it be the unfeigned Sense of their most impartial uncorrupted Judgments which is best known by proposing a matter generally so as that they be not actually concerned in it when no Appetite nor Passion nor Custom does corrupt and bribe them I mean by this that we should observe Men that are and when they are most free from those things which too often obliterate and extinguish the Sense which their Souls have of what is fit and what is not To this let me add That we should do well to take notice of the first thoughts which Men have of these matters which as they are freest and truest so commonly they are the most inward and the very sense of their Minds The Reasons of these Cautions will appear to any one that considers them I need say no more but this to shew their necessity That Men have often thought that to be the Sense of Mankind which was not and have been frequently imposed on under an appearance of Goodness so as to think that to be their Duty which they judged was and were ready to take up every Burden which they laid on them the they required not only more than but contrary to what God required 5. In reference to that way of God's making known his Mind in an extraordinary manner to some and by them to others If I were to speak to those who are Strangers to our holy Scriptures and might have some Enthusiastic Dream as the Alcoran obtruded on them with all the Vogue and Noise of the credulous Multitude I would advise them to look well that the pretended Revelation of the Divine Law be in every respect worthy of that God whose Authority it boastâ—â— 1. That the things therein revealed be such as may beseen the great Author in the Wisdom and Goodness and Holiness of them they bear these Characters of Divinity and every one that sees them may say these are the Laws of the good Creator 2. That the manner of the Publication may not be unbecoming him 3. That they receive some super-human Attestation that something be done which may convince all considering Persons that they have a Divine Author By these things I should detect the Frauds and Forgeries of abundance of Men who have pretended Inspiration and to give us the Laws of Heaven But to us who have examined the Scripture by these Marks and are perswaded of their Divinity I need not insist on these matters My Business is to prevent our mistaking the sence of these Divine Writings That they are abused and miserably wrested by some that receive and rely upon them cannot be doubted by us St. Peter himself one of the inspired Writers complains of some that wrested St. Paul ' s Epistles to their own destruction It concerns us therefore to see that we have the true sence and meaning of these Books As to the understanding the Will of God concerning us let me offer a few Considerations 1. That there is nothing in the Bible to which God obliges us that is repugnant to the Law of Nature and the Reason of our Mind 2. He has enjoin'd us nothing but what is pursuant of the End for which he made us that is our Perfection 3. The Scripture does
nay and loss of others But when I say thus I understand that of our selves which can be hurt and lost in the doing of the greatest good which can never be imagined of the supream Faculties for that 's their Perfection The Perfection of the Soul is to know and where it knows fully and adequately it knows the Perfection of a thing and what 's in order to that and then it wills and is affected it is pleased with that and desires and endeavours it where it is not the larger and greater the Soul is the more it knows and the more it wills and is pleased with the Perfection of more things And if this if Truth and Goodness or Knowledge and Pleasure in the good State of things of all things be the Health the Strength the perfection of the Soul there is no fear that it can be hurt by these It cannot be lessened or impaired much less lost and destroyed by Truth and Goodness But on the contrary it is raised and perfected is secured and advanced by them Our other ministring and inferiour Powers may be lost and destroyed by this but not our Governing and Supream i. e. the Understanding and Will Truth and Goodness are the very Life of the Soul and as soon may Bodily Life kill the Body as those shall hurt the Soul Object But may not this Candle of the Lord waste it self The hotter and brighter the Fire burns is it not the sooner out And may not the Soul neglect and so damage and at last destroy it self whilst it is so much taken up with other Objects and particularly finding something greater and better than it self it may be so very much employed about that other thing as wholly to disregard it self Again Seeing is the Perfection of the Eye but yet by looking on the Sun the Eye is blinded And who knows but there may be Objects so transcendently glorious as to dazle and put out the Eye of our Mind there may be so vast a disproportion betwixt some Objects and these Faculties that they may stretch them beyond their natural Tone and so crack and break them Scrutator Majestatis opprimetur à Gloriae Besides Experience tells us that if the Soul does not reflect and know it self and observe its actions it is Imperfect and in the way to Ruin Answ 1. All these Instances are of Bodies Or 2. of the Soul as it depends on the Body Or 3. if they be of the Soul considered in it self yet they will signify no more than this that the Soul may be hurt and damaged by the knowledge of some Truths or Delight in some Goods but it will have a present sence of it as the Eye is dazled in looking on the Sun and so will turn away it self from that Object If my Observation be true hitherto I never found my Faculties impaired by more clear and perfect knowledge of any thing nor by delight in that which I had a true knowledg of But I have found my self worse for imperfect and obscure Knowledg and for such delight as was founded in a Lie or a Mistake Indeed sometimes the Pursuit of clear Knowledge when it was not at all or difficultly attainable or when it was not of great use and sometimes the clear Knowledg I 〈◊〉 of a thing has been the occasion of detaining me from such an Employment of my Understanding or other Faculties as was more necessary So also Delight in or Endeavour after this or that particular Good may have hindred me from doing more or greater Good But from all this I observe that all the prejudice that is done me comes to this that I am hindred from more Knowledg or from delight in and doing more Good Now I shall escape this danger if I aim at all the Knowledg I am capable of and take delight in the Good of all And if it so happen that by this I sacrifice my self to the Common Good I do but follow my natural Inclination and it is much better to perish in obeying than to continue in opposing my Nature Tully somewhere says Life is not so dear as that Affection of doing Good I add that this is our very Life and being so I do not see how we can lose or hurt our selves in complying with this Inclination But I must not now pursue this matter any further To return to my main Argument From all that I have said in Explication of what is the Way or Life of Man it may appear that that is called his way which leads to that for which he was designed viz. the Perfection or good State of himself and others and the Honour of God which results from this And consequently that Sobriety Righteousness and Godliness are the Life of Man These are the things for which Man was made for these he has Faculties which fit and Appetites which do incline him to them All I add farther to this is That as we have distinguished the way of Man from that of Brutes so we must put a considerable Difference betwixt the Way of a Child and that of a grown Man and take due Care not to make the Child a Man too soon This may serve for Explication I proceed now to some Considerations by way of Argument And 1. Let us consider the absolute necessity that every Man should understand his way of Life and be exercised in it This is necessary to his living well to his present and to his future Happiness Nor to his own only but to other Mens also as many as have relation to him as are near him are the better or worse for his being good or bad It 's absolutely necessary that every Man should know and do all that which his great Creator design'd and made him for else he is in vain he will never attain his End But that 's not all he will be miserable he will not only fall short of God's End but oppose it He will be so far from being perfect and happy in himself and from contributing to the Perfection and good State of others that he will be in a most forlorn Condition himself and will help to undo his Fellow Creatures 2. In an ordinary way no Man comes to the Knowledg and Practice of what he should do unless he be first instructed and exercised in it I confess God has given to Man such a Mind that it can teach it self in some Cases but yet it is so made that it must be excited and some way assisted by either the Inspiration that gives Wisdom or ly the Communication of Knowledg from wise Men or by both which is indeed the usual way the Divine Providence takes with us he instructs us by one another St. Paul was sent to Ananias c. Where ever was the Man that without exercising himself to Godliness started up excellently good all on the sudden Goodness is no Mushroom that grows up in a Night It is not so natural that it will come upon us as our
is the Way walk in it The Sum of these Arguments is That if we will not transgress the express Law of God if we think our selves bound to follow the Examples of good Men if we will obey God in an Instance where Obedience has procured most singular Blessing if either the Sense of what 's just and fit or the Desire of Benefit and Advantage will prevail with us if we either love God or our selves or our Children if we either follow the Inclinations of Nature or the Directions of Reason if we will be concluded either by the common Sense of Mankind or the Divine Oracles if we would secure our Souls from the Guilt of inhuman unnatural Cruelty and our Children from the greatest Misery We must take care to train them up betimes in the Way in which they should go OF HOSPITALITY Preach'd to the Company of Inn-holders ROM 13. 12. latter part Given to Hospitality THE Occasion of our present Assembly as I am informed is to fulfill the Will of Mrs. Anne Astel who having bequeath'd a yearly Revenue toward the Maintenance of a Lecturer in the Parish of St. Lawrence Jury out of good respect she had to the Worshipful Company of Inn. holders obliged that her Lecturer once a Year to preach a Sermon to them In which she shewed her self a prudently pious and charitable Person that when she had taken care for the good Instruction of her own Parish she would improve and extend her Charity to others and make it as diffusive as she could that others and particularly You to whom she seems to have had particular Good-will might partake of her Bounty That we might perform the Will of this religious and good Person we are here assembled and that you may receive that Benefit which she piously design'd I have chosen to discourse of a Text of Scripture the Consideration of which will set before you a great part of the particular Duty of Inn-holders whose Name this Company bears And that I look on as the main Business of Sermons and such Exercises as these to put Men in mind of and persuade them to the faithful discharge of their respective Duties which when in all our several Places Stations and Employments we shall faithfully do then and not till then shall we all be happy and Glory shall dwell in our Land To make way for what I intend The Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Translators here render Hospitality is compounded of two Words which signify Love of Strangers and in its common use it doth not much depart from this Signification that 's imported in the Original The more simple word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath the same Sense only leaves us to guess what Affection or Deportment we should have to Sttangers which is exprest in the Compound The other word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we here translate given to more properly signifies and in other places is rendred following It denotes the study of and earnest pursuit after a thing So that the Sense of the Apostle's Exhortatio◠to the Romans and to us and all Men as well as to them is that they and we should diligently and studiously with Care and Pains Earnestness and Industry set our selves to exercise Hospitality Concerning which I shall endeavour to shew three things in general First What that is which is here signified to us by Hospitality Secondly How good and necessary it is From whence it will appear that there is an Obligation on all Christians nay on all Men to practise it And having done this I shall proceed to shew that you especially of all Men are most peculiarly and most strictly bound to be hospitable And here I shall discourse of the Benefits that will redound to those that carefully and conscionably practise this Duty likewise I will mention some of those Practices which are notorious Violations of the Laws of Hospitality And shall also offer some Directions which may help to the better Performance of it First In general To have such Affections such inward Dispositions toward Strangers as are fit for us to have is to be hospitable and to carry and demean our selves toward them in a becoming manner is to exercise Hospitality This is all that 's imported by the word Hospitality which is originally Latin or by the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which denotes that inward Affection or outward Deportment that should be towards Strangers And if the generality of Mankind were asked what that is they would answer that it is to be just and honest faithful and true in our Dealings with them 'T is to be civil courteous humane loving kind in our Disposition and Carriage 'T is to be inclin'd and ready to do all Good Offices for them that are in our Power which their Condition calls for and which they either do or if they understood would desire That is to inform them when they are ignorant to rectify their Mistake to assist them in the Government of their Passions about those matters with which they are unacquainted To withhold them what in us lies from doing any foolish evil Actions to which their Unexperience might betray them To supply them with those things of which by reason of their Absence from their Acquaintance they are destitute In short It is to bail and screen them from that Evil and those Mischiefs and Dangers to which by being Strangers they are exposed to secure them from all that Harm to which their Condition makes them liable and to do all that Good to and confer those Benefits on them which if they were where they are known they might expect and would have It is to be their Friends to do them any good Office that they want and we can do civilly to converse with them to advise and counsel to relieve with Money or any other way to entertain them at our Tables to lodg them and to do this with a willing Mind and a chearful Countenance which is more than a Circumstance in this matter for this hospitable Look if I may so call it is no small part of the Behavior that 's intended in Hospitality And tho in our modern use of it the Word imports no more than an entertaining a Person with whom I have no great Acquaintance at my Table and lodging him yet anciently it signified all sorts of Civility and Kindness which is shewn to Stangers So that this is the Sum of vvhat I mean by Hospitality to be kind and friendly to Strangers I proceed Secondly To make it appear that this is very good That is 1st It 's fit and becoming 2dly It 's profitable and advantageous 1st It 's a piece of that good Nature which so well becomes Man that it is called Humanity and therefore the Ancients call our Kindness to Strangers by this Name Humanity and the defect of this is ever censured by them with this Expression of Barbarous and Inhumane And we have further Reason to think this good