it was with this condition that it might seem good to him And as so much is implied in those words If it be possible so is it expressed Luke 22. 42. where it is said Father if thou be willing remove this Cup from me And it immediately followeth Nevertheless not my will but thine be done according as he hath in the absolute form he left us required us to pray And again saith he Iohn 18. 11. The Cup which my Father giveth me shall I not drink it And Iohn 12. 28. After he had put up the forementioned Petition to be delivered from that most dismal hour that was approaching near him he doth as it were recall it presently in these words But for this cause came I unto this hour and then puts up this second Father Glorifie thy name which is plainly as much as if he had said Father as dreadful and terrifying as the thoughts are of my future sufferings seeing Glory will redound to thy self by them I am not only contented but also desirous to undergo them Celsus having mentioned that celebrated Bravado of Anaxarchus to the Tyrant of Cyprus when he Cruelly pounded him in his Mortar and the merry saying of Epictetus to his Master when he brake his Leg and thereupon scoffingly demanded of the Christians what saying like to either of those was uttered by their God in the midst of his sufferings Origen makes this handsome Reply to him viz. That our Saviour's silence in the midst of the Tortures he endured shewed greater Patience and Fortitude of mind than did all the sayings of the Greek Philosophers in the like cases And he adds that those words of Christ Not as I will but as thou wilt were not onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. the voice of one that patiently suffered but also that was well pleased with his sufferings and spake his preference of what was appointed for him by the Divine Providence before his own desires and natural affections In the next place our Saviour gave us the most noble and eminent example of Love to God and the devoutest temper of mind towards him That love of him with all the heart and soul mind and strength which he commended to us as our duty did he himself give the highest demonstrations of His last mentioned Patience and perfect submission to the Divine Pleasure under the most Dreadful sufferings is alone sufficient to Convince us that his Love to his Father was most intense For it was utterly impossible that his will should be so entirely resigned up to the will of God if his love of him had not been as sincere so of the highest degree and absolutely perfect So his heavenly Father might thereby be Glorified he was willing to endure the extremest miseries that ever were inflicted on any Mortal And indeed his meer well interpreting so severe a Providence was a great and very significant expression of no small affection And besides it was as he told his Disciples his very meat to do the will of Him that sent him and to finish his work As he was heartily well pleased to suffer his will so he took infinite Content Satisfaction and Delight in the doing of it It was to him the most pleasant thing in the whole world to be about his Father's Business and therein he abounded and was indefatigable All that he did was referred by him to the honour of God and of each of his Glorious works he gave him the Glory and him onely which thing was no less an argument of the ardency of his Love than as we have said it is of the depth of his Humility In all his ways he acknowledg'd God and took all occasions to make mention of him and to speak of his Excellent Perfections When the Ruler called him but Good Master which was an Epithet had he been but a meer man he was infinitely worthy of as sleight an occasion as this may seem to some it minded him to speak of God's Goodness and he presently replyed Why callest thou me good there is none good that is originally and from himself but God onely He was much in delightful converse with God and in prayer to him and ever and anon retired from all company for that purpose according as he hath enjoyned us to do Mat. 6. 5 6. And we read Luke 6. 12. of his continuing on a Mountain alone a whole night in Prayer A mighty confidence and Trust in God as it could not but be an effect of our Saviour's most Passionate Love to him so did he give of it very strange instances The Storm that put his Disciples into a dreadful consternation could not terrifie nor so much as discompose him No though he was suddenly awaked out of a sound sleep by their dismal cries When he was hoysed up into the Air by his Grand Adversary the Devil and set upon a pinacle of the Temple and then by abusing Scripture solicited to cast himself down as much as he seemed to be abandoned to his power and under as great a disadvantage as he was through extreme fasting his mind was as strong as his body weak his Constancy remained unshaken his thoughts undisordered and with an undaunted courage he readily replyed to him It is written again Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God Matt. 4. 5. Where you have also two other signal instances of the like nature By all which he shewed that his trust in God was so invincibly strong and his adherence to him so inseparably close that the utmost attempts and fiercest assaults of the Devil could have no other effect than to prove them so Our Saviour could never be prevailed upon to go the least Step out of God's way in order to his preservation from the most eminent dangers so firm was his Faith in him And he still doing the things that were pleasing in his sight he was confidently and undoubtedly assured of the Continuance of his presence with him This he hath himself told us Iohn 8. 29. And he that hath sent me is with me the Father hath not left me alone for I do always those things that please him So visible and apparent was his Trust in God that when he was given up to his Adversaries most barbarous rage they themselves could not but take notice of it and scoffingly when he hung on the Cross and therefore seemed to be in a desperate condition did they upbraid him with it He trusted in God said they let him deliver him now if he will have him for he said I am the Son of God Mat. 27. 43. And where as it hath been objected by some of our Saviour's Adversaries that a little before his death he expressed very great distrust if not perfect despair of his Father's love in that Tragical exclamation My God my God Why hast thou forsaken me There are those that conceive that it may be satisfactorily enough answered that it is an unreasonable and most barbarous thing to
not our Relations or our Friends onely but also all Mankind and to do good to all without exception though especially to the Houshold of Faith to good men Nay our Saviour hath laid a strict charge upon us not to exclude our malicious enemies from our love that is of benevolence but to pray for them that despitefully use us and to Bless those that Curse us Which Law as harshly as it sounds to Carnal Persons they themselves cannot but acknowledge that what it enjoyneth is heroically and highly vertuous Secondly The Christian Precepts require the most Intensive Holiness Not onely Negative but Positive as was now intimated that is Not onely the forbearance of what is evil but the performance also of what is good Not onely Holiness of Actions and Words but likewise of Affections and Thoughts The worship of God with the Spirit as well as with the outward man a Holy frame and habit of mind as well as a holy life They forbid cherishing sin in the heart as well as practising it in the Conversation They make Iusting after a Woman Adultery as well as the Gross Act of Uncleanness They make Malice Murther as well as Killing They forbid Coveting no less than defrauding and being in love with this worlds goods as much as getting them by unlawful means And I shall digress so far as to say That there is infinite Reason that Thoughts and the inward workings of mens souls should be restrained by Laws upon these two accounts First Because Irregular Thoughts and Affections are the immediate Depravers of Mens Natures and therefore it is as necessary in order to the design of making men Holy that these should be forbidden as that evil Actions and Words should But suppose this were otherwise Yet Secondly Laws made against evil words and Actions would signifie very little if men were left at liberty as to their Thoughts and Affections It would be to very little purpose to forbid men to do evil if they might think and love it For where the sparks of Sin are kept glowing in the Soul how can they be kept from breaking out into a Flame in the Life From the abundance of the Heart the Mouth will speak and the Hands act But to proceed The Precepts of the Gospel command us not onely to perform good Actions but also to do them after a right manner with right ends c. or in one word from good Principles Whatsoever we do to do it heartily as to the Lord and not as to men To be fervent in Spirit in our service of God To do all to the glory of God To be holy as he that hath called us is Holy in all manner of Conversation To be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect Which Precepts shew that we ought to imitate him not onely in the matter of our actions but likewise in the qualifications of them Among which that which I said is Essential to true Holiness is a principal one namely To do good actions for those Reasons which moved God to enjoyn them and I adde which make it pleasing to him to perform them himself viz. because they are either in themselves and upon their own account excellent worthy and most fit to be done or are made so to be by some Circumstance Our whole Duty to God and our Neighbour as our Saviour hath told us is comprehended in the love of them But the love of God required by him is a most Intense love we are commanded to love him with all the Heart and Soul mind and strength And that of our Neighbour which he hath made our duty is such as for the kind of it is like the love which we bear to our selves such as will not permit us to wrong him in his good name any more than in his estate or person such as will not allow us rashly to speak or so much as think ill of him such as will cause us to put the best constructions on those actions of his that are capable of various interpretations c. And for the degree such as will make us willing to lay down our very lives for him that is for the promoting of his eternal happiness To summe up all together We are commanded to adde to our faith vertue to vertue knowledge to knowledge temperance to temperance patience to patience Godliness to Godliness Brotherly Kindness and to Brotherly kindness Charity To behave our selves in all respects towards our Creatour as becometh his Creatures and those which are under unspeakable obligations to him Towards one another as becometh those that are indued with the same Common nature and according to the diverse relations engagements and other Circumstances we stand in each to other and Towards our selves according as the Dignity of our Natures require we should In short whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest Whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report whatsoever things have vertue and praise in them are the objects of the Christian Precepts and by them recommended to us Let any one read but our Saviours incomparable Sermon upon the Mount the 12 th to the Romans and the third Chapter of the Epistle to the Colossians and well consider them and it will be strange should he find it difficult to assent to the truth of that Proposition Even Trypho himself in the Dialogue betwixt Iustin Martyr and him confessed that the Precepts contained in the Book called the Gospel are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Great and Admirable He saith indeed that they are so admirable as that he suspected them not to be by Humane Nature Observable but in that he spake not unlike to himself that is a prejudiced and Carnal Iew. If it be now objected that notwithstanding what hath been said concerning the Christian Precepts recommending the most elevated Vertue to be practised by us it is acknowledged by all Sober Christians that they are not to be understood in so high a sense as to require of us indefective and unspotted Holiness or at least that our Saviour will accept of and reward that Holiness which is far short of Perfect and therefore he can be no such Great Friend to it as hath been affirmed The answer is very easie and obvious viz. That our Saviour's not rigidly exacting such a degree of Holiness as amounts to Perfection proceeds from hence that the attainment of it is in this state impossible to us and therefore it is not to be attributed to his liking or allowance of the least Sin but to his Special grace and good will to fallen Mankind Nay moreover it proceeds from his passionate desire that we may be as pure and holy as our unhappy Circumstances will admit he well knowing that should he declare that nothing short of Perfection shall be accepted at our hands he would make us desperate and take the most effectual Course to cause us to
breast Do I heartily endeavour to have a right understanding of the holy Scriptures and chiefly of the Gospel and to know what Doctrines are delivered there in order to the bettering of my soul by them and the direction of my life and actions according to them If we can answer these Questions in the affirmative whatsoever mistakes we may labour under they can be none of them such as will undo our souls because we shall have cause to conclude from thence that the Design of Christianity is in some good measure effected in us And whatsoever Tenets may be accompanied and consist with the true Love of God and a solicitous care to keep a conscience void of offence towards him and men we may be certain from the past Discourse of the Design of the Gospel that they belong not to the Catalogue of Fundamental Errours This obedient temper is the most infallible mark of any I know of an Orthodox man He that is indued with it though he may erre cannot be an Heretique But there will be an occasion of speaking more anon to this purpose CHAP. XXII The Sixth Inference That the Design of Christianity teacheth us what Doctrines and Practices we ought as Christians to be most Zealous for or against SIxthly We consequently learn what Doctrines and Practices we ought as Christians to be most zealous for or against Those surely that are most available to the begetting and encrease of true holiness it is our duty to concern our selves most for the defence of And those which have the greatest tendency towards the endangering of it to set our selves with the greatest industry and vigour against The reason is plain because the former do most promote the Design of the Gospel and the latter do it most disservice S. Iude exhorts in the third verse of his Epistle to contend earnestly for the Faith which was once delivered to the Saints that holy Doctrine which was first delivered by our Saviour and unanimously by his Apostles after him which is perfectly contrary to the wicked and abominable Doctrines taught by the profane crew he speaks of in the next verse and were more than probably the Gnosticks which were crept in unawares who were before ordained to this condemnation or whose Impostures first and then the vengeance which should be taken of them were formerly written of or foretold both by Christ and his Apostles ungodly men turning the grace of God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Iesus Christ. And we ought to contend against whatsoever is designed to overthrow and make ineffectual that most blessed Doctrine more or less according as it more or less tends so to do Our zeal should be altogether employed for the promoting of personal and real Holiness and mostly for the Essential parts of it and the Necessary means and helps to it But doubtless it cannot be worth our while to lay out any considerable matter of our heat either for or against Doubtful Opinions Alterable Modes Rites and Circumstances of Religion They are not things on which much weight may be warrantably laid for they are too weak to bear it in regard of their being so little serviceable or disserviceable to the Design of Christianity as 't is plain they are I say eager defending or opposing of such kind of things is to use the similitude of an excellent person like the Apes blowing at a Glow-worm which affords neither light nor warmth Nay it is no less injurious to the Design of Christianity than unserviceable and useless as we have been effectually taught by very woful experience And nothing doth more harden Atheistically-disposed persons than their observing the contention of Christians about matters of that nature for thereby do they take a measure of our whole Religion And besides an eager concernedness about them is too ordinarily accompanied with a lukewarm or rather frozen indifference concerning the most important Points and the Indispensables of Christianity It is too visibly apparent to be denied That those which have such a sealding hot zeal either for or against things of no certainty and no necessity are many of them as their predecessors the Pharisees were in the very other extreme as to not a few of the weightyest matters of Religion CHAP. XXIII The Seventh Inference That the Design of Christianity well considered will give us great light into the just Bounds and Extent of Christian Liberty Of complying with the Customes of our Country and the will of our Governours The Great difference between the Mosaical Law and the Gospel as to its Preceptive part SEventhly we may be greatly satisfied by considering the Design of Christianity concerning the Iust bounds and extent of our Christian Liberty For that being to make men holy it may safely be presumed that such things as have neither directly nor consequentially any tendency to the depraving of our Souls are left free to us by our Saviour either to do them or not to do them as we shall see cause Whatsoever doth neither promote noâ—… hinder this Design we have reason to believe is neither injoyn'd upon us Christians nor forbidden to us Whatever things are any way necessary to the furtherance of it must needs be matter of strict duty and what are so profitable thereunto that the Omission of them doth make the effecting of this Design more difficult cannot but be ordinarily so also Whatsoever is in its own nature or by reason of some Circumstance inseparably adhering to it a necessary occasion of gratifying some one or other corrupt affection and that by the doing of w ch we shall certainly desile our own Souls or the Souls of others either by drawing them thereby to or hardening and encourageing them in any wickedness which is that our Saviour means by offending or scandalizing little ones and is so severely forbidden by him and also by the Apostle in the eighth chapter of the first epistle to the Corinthians can be no other than absolutely unlawful And whatsoever is foreseen to be a probable occasion of any one of these mischiefs must also be carefully avoided by us But those things which are none of all these cannot be otherwise than perfectly indifferent under the Gospel And therefore whatsoever of such are commended by the Custome of the places we live in or Commanded by Superiors or made by any Circumstance convenient to be done our Christian liberty consists in this that we have leave to do them And indeed it is so far from being a sin to comply with our Country-men and Neighbours in their plainly innocent usages and harmless Customes or with the will of our Governours when they command us such things that it would be so to refuse so to do For our refusing to comply with either of these can hardly proceed from any thing better than a proud affectation of singularity or at best from superstitious sâ—…rupulosity which in calling it Superstitious I intimate to be very evil as much
and disparaged those vain estimations that are founded upon them in that he chose to be wholly devoid of them and in the very other extreme to those which abounded with them whereby he likewise signified how little evil he apprehended in Disesteem Reproach and Poverty which we vain Creatures have such frightful conceptions of and so greatly dread in that he did not at all matter them nor in the least concern himself at them So Great Generous and Gallant a Soul had he that he was so far from suffering his mind to be at all disquieted with them that He voluntarily and freely chose them For it lay in his power to be the Richest man under Heaven and most to abound with this Worlds Goods if it had so pleased him and he could if he had listed have been also the most popular person upon earth could always have kept the Credit which for a while he had among the Common People and gained the like among all sorts For he had infinitely the Advantage above all that ever appeared upon this Stage of the Word to have raised to himself a most mighty Renown and to be adored by all people So that the truth of that saying of Epictetus They are not the things themselves which so affright and seare men but the false opinions they have conceived of them is greatly confirmed as to the forementioned reputed evils by our Saviour's Practice And this Blessed Person Chusing so mean and contemptibly poor a condition of Life in the World I need not tell you that he was perfectly contented with it nor that he was altogether free though he had many times scarcely from hand to mouth from thoughtfulness anxiety of mind concerning his future maintenance For as he Cautioned his Disciples against taking thought for their Life what they should eat what they should drink and wherewith they should be clothed shewed the folly and sinfulness thereof as proceeding from distrustfulness of the Divine providence Matt. 6. 25 c. So was he so far from being guilty of that fault himself that he was no less liberal than he was poor For when he was provided with a small pittance of victuals instead of hoarding it up or being saving of it he would not think much of spending it upon others whose needs craved it We read twice of his bestowing the little stock that he and his Disciples had gotten between them upon the Hungry Multitude and of his working a Miracle to make it hold out among them And how full he was of Charity and â—…nder Compassion is beyond expression For as he commended to his Disciples and inculcated upon them nothing more nor scarcely so much so in the exercise of no vertue was he more exemplary We read often of the yerning of his Bowels towards miserable mortals and his Pity did always exert it self in acts of Mercy Never did any make application to him for deliverance from the Evils that did afflict them that had not their requests granted them Nor were any more forward to beg relief of any kind of him than he was to bestow it upon them Nay he frequently made poor Creatures the objects of his merey before it was sought for by them It was even his whole business to oblige the world by signal kindnesses and as shall be farther shewn anon he continually went up and down doing good either to the bodies or souls of men Nay his charity was of so large and Universal extent that the Wicked and unthankful and even his bitterest enemies were as well as otherâ—… very ample partakers of it Whereas the duty of blessing those that curse us and praying for those that dispitefully use us is to our corrupt natures one of the harshest and most difficult of any he hath imposed upon us he hath taken a course by the admirable Example he hath herein given us to make it one of the easiest and most pleasant to us For the Devilish Malice that by the vilest of men was exprest towards him could not in the least imbitter his spirit or harden his heart against them Nor could he be disswaded by it from persisting in doing good to them but continued to entreat them to accept of life from him to grieve at their infidelity and with tears to bewail their most obstinate perverseness And lastly when their inveterate and implacable hatred came to vent it self in the cruellest and most barbarous manner imaginable upon him did he pray to his Father for them even whilst they were tormenting him did he beseech him to forgive them Nay and in order thereunto laid down his very life for them even for them I say that took it from him And this gives occasion to discourse something of his most wonderful Patience the stupendious submission of his Soul to God which he gave us in his Extreme sufferings an Example of We are exhorted Heb. 12. 1 2. to run with patience the race that is set before us looking unto Iesus the Author and finisher of our Faith who for the joy that was 〈◊〉 before him endured the Cross despising the shame c. The Ignominy that was cast upon him by ungodly Creatures he despised and as for the excessive tortures felt by him them he endured He did not indeed despise these also but neither did he saint under them according 〈◊〉 we are forbidden to do vers 5. of the â—…ow mentioned Chapter My son despise 〈◊〉 thou the Chastisement of the Lord neither saint when thou art rebuked of him There were on the one hand no Stoical Rants heard from him such as that of Pâ—…donius in the Presence of Pompey when he was afflicted with a fit of the Gout or some such disease viz. Nihil â—…gis color c. O pain thou art an insignificant thing I don't matter thee For we find that our Saviour had as quick a sense of pain as have other men and his Agony in the Garden did so affect his soul as to force 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clodders of blood through the Pores of his Body We read that he was sore amazed and very heavy and he told his Disciples that his soul was exceeding sorrowful even unto death But yet on the other hand notwithstanding the immense weight and most heavy Pressure of Grief his mind suffered under through his Fathers withholding the wonted influences of his love from him and the intolerable torments of body that he underwent though both in regard of the greatness of his sufferings and also his Most perfect innocence and therefore non-desert of them he might have the greatest temptations Imaginable to be impatient he never uttered a murmuring or discontented word nor conceived the least displeasure at the Divine Majesty or doubted either of his Iustice or Goodness but entirely submitted himself to this his severe dispensation of Providence and willingly acquiefced in it He prayed indeed to his Father that this Bitter Cup if it were possible might pass from him but
special Love And that those things which Sensual Persons are most desirous of are eminently to be found in that blessing SEcondly This is the Greatest Blessing because it is accompanied with all other that are most desireable and which do best deserve to be so called Where sin is sincerely forsaken it will certainly be Pardoned The nature of God is such as that he is ready to be reconciled to a true Convert They are our iniquities alone that make or can make a separation betwixt us and our God and our sins onely that hide his face from us But the cause being removed the effect ceaseth When the Divine grace that is offered to sinners becometh effectual to the turning any one from his evil ways God's favour doth naturally return to him even as naturally as doth the Sun's light into those places where that which before intercepted between it and them is taken away He is of so infinitely benign and Gracious a Nature that no man can continue an object of his displeasure one moment longer than while he is uncapable of his favour and nothing I say but sin and wickedness as he hath often enough assured us can make men so Nay a Holy Soul is ever the Object also of his Dearest and most special love He is not onely friends with but also takes pleasure in those that fear him Psalm 147. 11. He is said to make his residence within such persons so great is the delight that he taketh in them Isaiah 66. 1 2. Thus saith the Lord the Heaven is my Throne and the Earth my Footstool where is the house that ye build unto me and where is the place of my Rest For all those things have mine hand made and all those things have been saith the Lord But to this man will I look even to him that is poor and of a contrite Spirit and trembleth at my word John 14. 23. Iesus said unto him If any man love me he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him And it is said particularly of him that dwelleth in love which is the fulfilling of the Law that he dwelleth in God and God in him And I might shew that the Heathens themselves had this very notion It was a saying used by the Pythagoraeans that God hath not in the whole earth a more familiar place of Residence than a pure Soul And Apollo is brought in thus speaking 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To dwell in Heaven doth not more please me then Within the Souls of Pious Mortal men And Hierocles which reciteth that verse doth himself assert that God hateth no man but as for the good man he Embraceth him with an extraordinary and surpassing affection The Righteous Lord loving righteousness his countenance cannot but behold the upright Wheresoever he finds any impressions of True Goodness as he cannot but highly approve of them so is it not possible but that they should attract his singular love to those which are the subjects of them According to that measure and proportion that any one participates of his Goodness he must needs have a share in his Grace and kindness A holy person is a man after God's own heart as his Servant David was said to be He is a man that carrieth his image and bears a Resemblance to him and upon that account he cannot fail to be very dearly beloved by him Now I need not go about to prove that there is no blessing whatsoever but is implyed in an interest in the Divine Love and especially in such a love as that which we have shewed Good men are made the objects of It might be here shewn also that those things which sensual and carnal persons are most desirous of viz. Riches Honours and Pleasures are eminently to be found in the Blessing we are now discoursing of and indeed those which best deserve to be so called and are in the properest sense so no where else Nothing inricheth a Man like the Graces of God's Holy Spirit What S. Peter said of meekness is true of all the vertues they are in the sight of God and he judgeth of things as they are of great price They are called Gold tryed in the fire Rev. 3. 18. The true and our own Riches Luk. 16. 12. Which is as much as to say that these only are ours and all but these are false and Counterfeit These inrich our Souls which alone as was said deserve to be called our-selves and will abide by us when all other have bid adieu to us These do as much excel in true value and worth all those things which the world calls Riches as do our Immortal Spirits transcend our frail and corruptible Carkasses It was one of the Maximes of the Stoicks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the wise whereby they meant the truly virtuous man is the onely Rich man And Tully hath this saying upon it A mans Chest cannot properly be called Rich but his Mind onely And though thy Coffer be full so long as I see thee Empty I shall not think thee a Rich man And saith Hierocles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All things that are without a mans soul are but little and insignificant trifles And the Righteous saith Solomon is more excellent than his Neighbour or he is of greater worth than any other person that is not righteous Prov. 12. 26. Nothing again makes men so honourable as doth Vertue and True Goodness or at all truly so Seeing He and He alone that is indued with it lives up to his highest Principle like a Creature possessed of a Mind and Reason nay this man is moreover as was said like to God himself and imitates his Glorious perfections And therefore well might Wisdom say as she doth Prov. 8. 18. Riches and Honour are with me To overcome our unruly lusts and keep in subjection all impetuous desires and inordinate Appetites makes us more deservedly Glorious than was Alexander or Iulius Caesar For he that thus doth hath subdued those that mastered those mighty Conquerours And such a one hath praise of God of the holy Angels and of all men that are not fools and whose judgments he hath cause to value He that is slow to anger is better than the Mighty and he that ruleth his Spirit than he that taketh a City Proverbs 16. 32. And no Pleasures are comparable to those that immediately result from vertue holiness for that man's Conscience is a very Heaven to him that busieth himself in the exercise thereof While we do thus we act most agreably to the right frame and constitution of our Souls and consequently most naturally and all the actions of Nature are confessedly very sweet and pleasant This also very many of the Heathens had a great sense of even those of them which much doubted of another life wherein Vertue is rewarded commended very highly the Practice of it for this reason that
plot to get himself some External Hallelujahs as if he had so ardently thirsted after the Lauds of Glorified Spirits or desired a Quire of Souls to sing forth his Praises Neither was it to let the world see how magnificent he was No it is his own internal Glory that he most loves and the Communication thereof which he seeks As Plato sometimes speaks of the Divine Love it ariseth not out of Indigency as created love doth but out of Fulness and Redundancy It is an overflowing fountain and that love which descends upon created beings is a free efflux from the Almighty source of love And it is well-pleasing to him that those creatures which he hath made should partake of it Though God cannot seek his own Glory so as if he might acquire any addition to himself yet he may seek it so as to communicate it out of himself It was a good Maxime of Plato 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is no envy in God which is better stated by St. James God giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not And by that Glory of his which he loves to impart to his creatures I understand those stamps and impressions of Wisdome Justice Patience Mercy Love Peace Joy and other Divine Gifts which he bestoweth freely upon the minds of men And thus God triumphs in his own Glory and takes pleasure in the Communiâ—…ion of it I proceed now to consider what Useful inferences may be gathered from our past discourse SECT III. An Improvement of the whole Discourse in diverse Inferences CHAP. XIV The First Inference That it appears from the past Discourse that our Saviour hath taken the most effectual Course for the purpose of subduing Sin in us and making us partakers of his Holiness Where it is particularly shewed that the Gospel gives advantages infinitely above any those the Heathens had who were privileged with extraordinary helps for the Improvement of themselves And 1. That the good Principles that were by natural Light dictated to them and which reason rightly improved perswaded them to entertain as undoubtedly true or might have done are farther confirmed by Divine Revelation in the Gospel 2. That those principles which the Heathens by the highest improvement of their Reason could at best conclude but very probable the Gospel gives us an undoubted assurance of This shewed in four instances 3. Four Doctrines shewed to be delivered in the Gospel which no man without the assistance of Divine Revelation could ever once have thought of that contain wonderful inducements and helps to Holiness The First of which hath Five more implyed in it First it appears from what hath been said to demonstrate That our Saviour's Grand Design upon us in coming into the world was to subdue sin in us and restore the image of God that consisteth in righteousness and true holiness to us That he hath taken the most effectual course imaginable for that purpose and that his Gospel is the most powerful Engine for the battering down of all the strong holds that sin hath raised to it self in the souls of men and the advancement of us to the highest pitch of Sanctity that is to be arrived at by Humane nature This as hath been shewn was the business that the Philosophy of the Heathens designed to effect but alas what a weak and inefficacious thing was it in comparison of Christ's Gospel wherein we have such excellent and soul-enobling Precepts most perspicuously delivered and moreover such mighty helps afforded to enable us and such infinitely pressing motives and arguments to excite us to the practice of them And it will not be amiss if we particularly shew what exceeding great advantages Christians have for the attaining of true Vertue and the sublimest degrees of it too in this state attainable above any that were ever vouchsafed to the world by the Divine Providence before our Saviour's descent into it And not to make a formal comparison between the Christian and best Pagan-Philosophy this not deserving upon innumerable accounts to be so much as named with that much less to dishonour the Religion of our Saviour so far as at all to compare it with any of those which were professed by Heathenish nations or that of the impostor Mahomet which as well as those in not a few particulars tends greatly even to corrupt and deprave mens natures we will discourse according to our accustomed brevity First what advantages the Gospel gives us above those which such Heathens as were privileged with extraordinary helps for the improvement of their understandings had and Secondly above those which God's most peculiar people the children of Israel were favoured with First as for those the Gospel containeth above such as the best and most refined Heathens enjoyed it will be worth our while to consider First That the good principles that were by natural light dictated to them and which reason rightly improved did perswade them to entertain as undoubtedly true or might have done are farther confirmed by Divine Revelation in the Gospel to us As That there is but one God That he is an absolutely-perfect Being infinitely Powerful Wise Iust Merciful c. That we owe our lives and all the comforts of them to him That he is our Sovereign Lord to whom absolute subjection is indispensably due That he is to be loved above all things and the main and most important particular duties which it becomes us to perform to him our neighbour and selves We Christians have these things as plainly declared from Heaven to us and as often repeated and inculcated as if there were no other way to come to the Knowledge of them but that of Revelation So that as hath been shewn in the Free Discourse pag. 88. what the Heathens took pains for and by the exercise of their Reason learnt we have set before our eyes and need but read it in order to our knowledge of it It is true for our satisfaction whether the Holy Scriptures are Divinely inspired and have God for their Author it is necessary that we employ our Reason except we can be contented to be of so very hasty and easie a belief as to give credit to things and those of greatest concernment too we know not why or to pin our faith on our Fore-fathers sleeves and so to have no better bottome for our belief of the Bible than the Turks have for theirs of the Alcoran But although it is necessary that we should exercise here our Discursive Faculty if we will believe as becomes Creatures indued with Reason yet this is no tedious task nor such as we need much belabour our brains about An unprejudiced person will soon be abundantly satisfied concerning the Scripture's Divine Authority when he doth but consider how it is confirmed and how worthy the Doctrine contained in it is of him whose name it bears Now I say this little pains being taken for the establishment of our Faith in the Holy Scripture we cannot but be at
that all that have the conduct of Souls committed to them should do the like S. Paul exhorted Timothy first to take heed to himself and then to the Doctrine and the former advice was of no whit less necessity and importance than was the latter For as woful experience assureth us a Minister of a careless and loose life let his parts and ability in preaching be never so great nay though he should behave himself never so faithfully in the Pulpit and be zealous against the very vices he himself is guilty of which would be very strange if he should must needs do more hurt incomparably than he can do good And though as some of them will tell them it is the Peoples duty to do as they say and not as they do yet is there nothing more impossible than to teach them effectually that Lesson Mankind as we had before occasion to shew is mightily addicted to imitation and Examples especially those of Governors and Teachers have a greater force upon people ordinarily than have Instructions but chiefly bad Examples in regard of their natural proneness to vice than good Instructions Had not the Apostles expressed as great a care of what they did as of what they said how they lived as how they preached Christianity would without doubt have been so far from prevailing and getting ground as it hath done that it could not have long survived its Blessed Author if it had not bid adiue to the world with him Most men do what we can will judge of our Sermons by our Conversations and if they see these bad they will not think those good nor the Doctrines contained in them practicable seeing they have no better effect upon those that preach them And besides no man will be thought to be serious and in good earnest in pressing those duties upon others which he makes no conscience of performing himself Nay every man's judgement in Divine things may warrantably be suspected that is of a wicked and vicious Life And those that are conscious to themselves that they are not able to pass a judgement upon Doctrines may not be blamed if they question their Minister's Orthodoxy while they observe in him any kind of Immorality and see that he lives to the satisfaction of any one Lust. For the promise of knowing the Truth is made onely to such as continue in Christ's words that is that are obedient to his Precepts And I adde that such a one 's talks of Heaven and Hell are like to prevail very little upon his Auditors or to be at all heeded by the greatest part of them while they consider that the Preacher hath a soul to save as well as they And therefore the love that they bear to their lusts with the Devil's help will easily perswade them that either these things are but mere sictions or else that the one may be obtained and the other escaped upon far easier terms than he talks of But as for those few in whom the sense of true Vertue and Piety have made so deep an impression as that they have never the slighter opinion of the necessity thereof in regard of their Minister's wicked Example the prejudice that they cannot but conceive against him renders his discourses insipid and unaffecting to them and so they ordinarily take all opportunities to turn their backs upon him and at length quite forsake him And then if they are not as understanding as well meaning people are too easily drawn away from all other Churches when they have left their own and become a prey to some demure and fairly pretending Sectary And I am very certain from my own observation that no one thing hath so conduced to the prejudice of our Church of England and done the separating parties so much service as the scandalous lives of some that exercise the Ministerial Function in her The late Excellent Bishop of Down and Connar hath this memorable passage in a Sermon he preached to the University at Dublin If ye become burning shining Lights if ye do not detain the Truth in unrighteousness if ye walk in light and live in the Spirit your Doctrine will be true and that truth will prevail But if you live wickedly scandalously every little Schismalick will put you to shame draw Disciples after him and abuse your flocks and feed them with Coloâ—…ynths and Hemlock and place Heresie in the chair appointed for your Religion But to hasten to the dispatch of this unpleasant Topick wicked ministers are of all other ill-livers the most scandalous for they lay the greatest stumbling block of any whatsoever before mens souls and what our Saviour said of the Scribes and Pharisees may in an especial manner be applyed to them viz. that they will neither enter into heaven themselves nor yet suffer them that are entering to go in so far are they from saving themselves and those that hear them But I would to God such would well lay to heart those sad words of our Saviour Luke 17. 1 2. It is impossible but that offences will come but woe unto him through whom they come it were better for him that a Milstone were hanged about his neck and he cast into the Sea c. And those words are not more effectual to scare them than are these following of a Heathen viz. Tully concerning vicious Philosophers to shame them into a better life saith he in his Tusculan Questions the second book Quotusquisque Philosophorunâ—… invenitur qui sit ita moratus c. What one of many Philosophers is there who so behaves himself and is of such a mind and life as Reason requireth which accounteth his Doctrine not a boast of Science but a law of life which obeyeth himself and is governed by his own precepts We may see some so light and vain that it would have been better for them to be wholly ignorant and never to have learn d any thing others so covetous of money thirsty of praise and honour and many such slaves to their lusts ut cum eorum vitâ mirabiliter pugnet oratio That their lives do marvellously contradict their Doctrine Quod quidem mihi videtur esse turpissimum c. Which to me seems the most filthy and abominable of all things For as he which professing himself a Grammarian speaks barbarously and who being desirous to be accounted a Musician sings scurvily is so much the more shame-worthy for his being defective in that the knowledge and skill of which he arrogates to himself so a Philosopher in ratione vitae peccans miscarrying in his manners is in this respect the baser and more wretched Creature that in the office of which he will needs be a Master he doth amiss artemque vitae professus delinquit in vitâ and prosessing the art of well-living or of teaching others to live well is faulty and miscarrieth in his own life Could this excellent Heathen thus inveigh against wicked Philosophers what Satyre can be tart and
but will only examine what is so that he may not entertain an erroneous perswasion He will bring his mind to the Gospel and not wrest the Gospel to his mind But vice and sin being allowed and predominant in the soul must needs warp the judgement and clap a heavy byass on it that will draw it to favour as much as may be their interest in all matters it is concerned in And therefore a man of wicked and depraved Affections cannot but be exceeding unapt to study a Book whose Design is such as the Gospel's is But the obediently-disposed will bring free ingenuous and candid spirits to this work and therefore are very fitly prepared to do it with good success Secondly This honest and sincere temper of mind will help a man to evidence for his satisfaction concerning the main Doctrines of the Gospel far excelling any that can arise from mere speculation â—… namely that of sense and Experience The man that is indued with it shall know of the Doctrine that it is of God he shall not onely believe it according to the strict notion of that Phrase There is an inward sweetness in Holy Truths that a Good soul will relish and savour but the vitiated palates of those that are in love with any lust cannot taste it How sweet said David are thy words unto my taste yea sweeter than Honey unto my mouth Now naked demonstrations give but very poor and slight satisfaction in comparison of that knowledge that ariseth from sense and Experience and this latter alone will remove from us all doubt and uncertainty Therefore that was so far from being a weak and foolish that it was a most worthy and laudable speech of the honest Martyr Though I cannot dispute I can die for Christ No one that hath tasted honey can at all doubt of its sweetness though he may want cunning enough to answer the Arguments whereby a Sophister may attempt to prove it bitter We say seeing is believing And the great evidence that our Saviour proved himself to be the Messias by was that of sense By this was Thomas his incredulity as very strong as it was immediately overcome And the Bodily senses are not more infallible than is the purified sense of the Soul Thirdly The aforesaid temper of mind will secure those in whom it is from the causes of errour in those Points of the Gospel that are of weightiest importance It is undoubtedly certain that mistakes about these cannot possibly arise from the obscurity of that Book it being as plain as heart can wish in all matters of absolute necessity as hath been shewn in the Free Discourse Therefore errours that are of a damnable nature must necessarily proceed from vicious causes such as 1. Gross Ignorance But 't is not possible to find this in any soul that is sincerely desirous to obey God 2. A too high opinion of our parts and Reason By which is often occasioned a rejection of whatsoever they are not able to comprehend But the honest soul can have no such conceits of his Reason he knows nothing more undoubtedly than that he is a weak and most shallow Creature He knows that the most contemptible Insect and common Weed are able to pose and put him to a non-plus and that it would therefore be the highest of Arrogances in him to believe nothing revealed to him but what is an adequate object of his understanding This man will submit his Reason to Divine Revelation and not Divine Revelation to his Reason 'T is true he cannot though he would never so fain believe that which doth manifestly contradict the Reason of his mind and the Innate sense of his soul but therefore it is certain that no such things are to be found in the Gospel nor can be a matter of Divine Revelation 3. Proud Affectation of being thought wiser than other folk This was a great thing which made the first Heretiques that the Church of Christ ever knew as appeareth by the Arrogant Title they assumed to themselves and distinguished their Sect by viz. Gnostiques But that temper of mind that makes men unfeignedly desirous of Piety and true Vertue is inconsistent with all such ambitious and aspiring thoughts 4. Liquorish curiosity and wantonness of spirit When people are glutted with those wholesome truths which they have for many years been entertained with and will be hunting after Novelties when they grow weary of their honest Teachers and will be following every Upstart that sets himself in opposition to them it can hardly otherwise be but that they must fall into dangerous errors The Apostle saith 2 Tim. 4. 3. that The time will come when they will not endure sound Doctrine but after their own lusts will they heap to themselves Teachers But how comes it to pass that they will do thus it followeth having itching Fars But the obedientlyinclined soul will be careful to keep in that good way which by experience he hath found to be so and to avoid all bye-paths Nor will he be running after Seducers but shun them all he can as being conscious of his own weakness and his aptness without the Grace of God to be misled 5. The love of and being wedded to any one lust whatsoever will certainly endanger mens falling into the worst of Heresies When men have some beloved sins or sin which they are resolved they will not part with and are as a Right Eye or Right Hand to them they are easily perswaded to entertain such Principles as will allow them to live in them and to abandon those that will not and therefore to wrest the Scriptures as those the Apostle speaks of 2 Pet. 3. 16. to their own destruction and put them upon the rack to make them speak such things as may consist with the interest of their corrupt affections Quod volumus facilè credimus that which we would have to be true we easily believe is so and what we desire should be false we are with little difficulty perswaded to disbelieve This therefore hath had such a very fearful influence on not a few as to cause them at length to throw away their BIBLES to deny the Immortality of their Souls and disbelieve as much as they can even the Being of a Deity because they are sensible that while they continue in their sins it is infinitely their Interest that the holy Scriptures should be false that there should be no other life and no God But I need not say that the Honest Obedient Person is one that is not devoted to any Lust. 6. The just judgement of God upon these and the like accounts is the last cause I shall mention of mens disbelieving the Gospel and renouncing any of the Essentials of Christianity Even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge that is to acknowledge him in their practice God gave them up to a Reprobate or an adulterate corrupted mind Rom. 1. 28. Because they received not the love of
both in publique and private are expressions of Natural Justice Quid aliud est 〈◊〉 saith Tully quà m Iustitia adversùs Deos What is Piety or Devotion but Iustice towards God And each of the significations of it whether Natural or Positive they are Payments of a due to him so that men cannot be so much as honest and omit the honouring of the Divine Majesty by them But it is certain that these Performances do him no honour at all any otherwise than as they proceed from a good and sincere Soul And to this purpose our often cited Philosopher hath this other excellent saying viz. The greatest abundance and profusest costliness of Oblations bring no Honour to God except they are offered with a Divine mind For the Gifts and Sacrifices of fools are but food for the fire Sacrifices in Ancient times were called the Food of Almighty God as being provision made for his house but saith this Philosopher when they proceed from fools or wicked men they are at best but the Fire's meat They signifie nothing to God and are merely thrown away And indeed the best intelligible and most significant honour that our devoutest services bring to God is by their being a means of making us more like unto him And as I shewed out of the Learned Master Smith's Treatise how God most glorifieth himself so I think it not amiss to transcribe more lines of that worthy person wherein he excellently sheweth how we most glorifie God and they immediately follow the former Saith he pag. 409. As God's seeking his own glory in respect of us is most properly the flowing forth of his Goodness upon us so our seeking the Glory of God is most properly our endeavouring a participation of his goodness and an earnest uncessant pursuing after Divine perfection When God becomes so Great in our eyes and all created things so lâ—…ttle that we reckon upon nothing as worthy of our aims or ambâ—…tions but a serious participation of the Divine Nature and the exercise of Divine Vertâ—â—s Love Joy Peace Long-suffering Kindness Goodness and the like When the Soul beholding the Infinite Beauty and Loveliness of the Divinity and then looking down and beholding all created perfection mantled over with darkness is ravished into love and admiration of that never-setting Brightness and endeavours after the greatest resâ—â—blance of God in Justice Love and 〈◊〉 when conversing with him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by a secret feeling of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and power of his Goodness we endeavour to assimilate our selves to him Then we may be said to Glorifie him indeed God seeks â—…o glory but his own and we have none of our own to give him God in all things seeks himself and his own Glory as finding nothing Better than himself and when we love him above all things and endeavour to be most like him we declare plainly that we count nothing Better than he is See more to the same purpose Pag. 141 142 143. And this same Excellent Notion the Pythagoraeans however they came by it did also teach It was one of their sayings Thou wilâ—… best glorifie God by assimilating and making thy mind like to God And I will trouble the Reader with one more of our Philosopher's sayings which is no less worthy of his observation than any of the past recited ones viz. Thou canst not honour God in giving ought to him but by becoming a meet and worthy Person to receive from him And the great and Infallible Oracle of Truth our Blessed Saviour hath assured us that Herein is his Father Glorified that we bear much Fruit that we are fruitful in all Holiness And we learn from S. Paul Phil. 1. 11. That they are the Fruits of Righteousness which are by Iesus Christ or the effects of his Grace and Holy Spirit which redound to the praise and glory of God And then do we praise him most significantly and effectually when we are 〈◊〉 as there he prays that the Philippians may be with these Fruits when Righteousness takes possession of our Souls grows and encreases in them and exerts it self in our Lives as it must needs do wheresoever it is and our whole conversations shine with it In short Circumcision is nothing and Uncircumcision is nothing neither any Opinions nor Performances nor Forbearances that have no influence upon the Soul and Spirit are any thing but the keeping the Commandments of God This is all in all In Christ Iesus nothing at all availeth but such a Faith as works by love 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or is perfected by Charity and a New-creature And if any man be in Christ he is a New creature and whosoever is a New creature is in Christ or a true Christian All which S. Paul hath plainly taught us in 1 Cor. 7. 19. Gal. 5. 6. 2 Cor. 5. 17. Those in whom the Design of the Gospel hath taken good effect are indeed Christians and none but such in the success of that must needs lie the power of Christianity and in nothing else And therefore whosoever they are in whom the Genuine effects of Righteousness and true Holiness are conspicuous we ought to look upon them as Living Members of that Body whereof Christ is the Head Whoever are ready to profess their Faith in God and Christ and the Holy Spirit in all Scripture Phrases without perverting their manifest and apparent sense and lead a life answerable for ought that we can discern to the clear intimations of our Saviour's will and all the Rules plainly laid down in his Holy Gospel though it should not be their fortune to concur with us in all our sentiments it is our duty to judge them to be indued with all the Essentials and Integral parts of Christianity and accordingly to carry our selves towards them Or we shall offer them too great a temptation to suspect that we our selves are ignorant wherein they consist and for all our great Profession are void of them There is one thing more which I cannot forbear to add concerning the weighty and most important Point we are now discoursing and which contains the summ of all that need to be said about it viz. That it is impossible we should not have the Design of Christianity accomplished in us and therefore that we should be destitute of the Power of it if we make our Saviour's most Excellent Life a short account of which we have been in this Tractate presented with the Pattern of our â—…ves if we write after that Fair Copy he hath therein set us if we tread in his Blessed Sâ—…eps and be such according to 〈◊〉 Measure and Capacity as we have understood he was in this World Those that sincerely and industriously endeavour to imitate the Holy Jesus in his Spirit and 〈◊〉 can never be ignorant what it is to be truly Christians nor can they fail 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And if the History of his Life were more perused and minded and that he designed to be therein our
do Were it possible that Christ's Righteousness could be imputed to an unrighteous man I dare boldly affirm that it would signifie as little to his happiness while he continueth so as would a gorgeous and splendid garment to one that is almost starved with hunger or that lieth rackt by the torturing diseases of the Stone or Cholick And could we suppose such a man to be never so much an object of the Divine Benevolence nay Complacency too as there is nothing than this latter less supposeable this could not make him he continuing wicked so much as not miserable He being rendered by his wickedness utterly uncapable of such effects of the love of God as could have upon him so good an influence Nay farther were our Phansies so very powerful as that they could place him even in Heaven it self so long as he continueth unturned from his iniquities we could not imagine him happy there nay he would carry a Hell to Heaven with him and keep it there It is not the being in a fine place that can make any one cease to be miserable but the being in a good state and the place Heaven without the Heavenly state will signifie nothing An unhealthful and diseased body will have never the more ease for residing in a Princes Court nor will a sick and unfound soul have an end put to its unhappiness though it should live for ever in the presence of God himself That saying to this purpose doth well deserve our repeating which I find in the excellent book called The Causes of the Decay of Christian Piety Alas what delight would it be to the Swine to be wrapped in fine linnen and laid in odours his senses are not gratisied by any such delicacies nor would he feel any thing besides the torment of being withheld from the mire And as little complacency would a brutish soul find in those purer and refined pleasures which can only upbraid not satisfie him It is not to be doubted that such habits of soul as men carry hence with them they shall keep in the other state and therefore if we leave this earth with any unmortified and reigning lusts they will not only make us uncapable of the happiness of Heaven but also of any happiness For there will be as was but now intimated no satisfaction or so much as gratification of carnal and brutish and much Iess of devilish appetites in the coelestial Mansions and therefore they cannot be otherwise than very grieviously painful to the person that is fraught with them though I say we could suppose him to be safely possessed of those glorious habitations To summ up all I shall say on this argument I fear not to assert that Omnipotency it self cannot make a wicked person happy no not so much as negatively so except he should be annihilated any otherwise than by first giving him his Grace for the subduing and mortification of sin in him And that to deliver one from all misery while sin is vigorous in his soul and bears the sway there is not an object of any power and implieth in it a palpable and apparent contradiction For misery is no less of the essence of sin and wickedness than is light of the Sun so that it is impossible they should ever be separated from one another but that they must like the Twins of Hippocrates live and die together CHAP. XII The Fourth Argument viz. That Holiness being perfected is Blessedness it self and the Glory of Heaven consists chiefly in it This no new notion some observations by the way from it BUt in the last place well may we call Holiness the greatest of Blessings for when it is perfected it is Blessedness it self and the Glory of Heaven is not only entailed upon it but doth chiefly consist in it Beloved saith S. Iohn Now are we the Sons of God but it doth not appear what we shall be but this we know that when he appeareth we shall be like him c. As if he should say I cannot tell you particularly and distinctly what the blâ—…ness of the other life will be but thiâ—…â—… am sure of that likeâ—… to God is the 〈◊〉 notion of it and that it consists for the substance thereof in a perfect resemblance of the Divine Nature The happiness of Heaven doth not lie in a mere fixing of our eyes upon the Divine perfections and in admiring of them but mainly in so beholding and contemplating them as thereby to be changed into the express and lively image of them And in having so affecting a sense of Gods infinite justice and goodness purity and holiness as will make the deepest impressions of those most amiable qualities in our own souls The Glory that Heaven conferreth upon its inhabitants consists nothing so much in an external view of God and Christ as in a real and plentiful participation of their glorious excellencies whereby are chiefly to be understood those that are implyed in that general word Holiness For as for their other attributes such as Knowledge Power c. the devils themselves who are most of all creatures unlike them have a large measure of them This Blessedness principally implyeth a rapturous love of God a feeling as well as understanding the goodness that is in him an inseparable conjunction of all the faculties of our souls with him and a perfect assimilation of our natures to him The felicity of Heaven is an operative thing full of life and energy which advanceth all the power of mens souls into a sympathy with the Divine Nature and an absolute compliance with the will of God and so makes him to become all in all to them So that the happiness of Heaven and perfect holiness are by no means to be accounted things of a different nature but two several conceptions of one and the same thing or rather two expressions of one and the same conception All that happiness as said the Learned and Pious Mr. Iohn Smith which good men shall be made partakers of as it cannot be born up upon any other foundation than true goodness and a God-like nature within us so neither is it distinct from it Neither are we to look upon this as any upstart or late notion for our antient Divines have long since taught it in this saying that was frequently used by them viz. Grace is Glory begun and Glory is Grace perfected And I cannot but by the way observe that those which have considered this will need no other argument to satisfie and convince them That that talk of some That it is mere servile obedience and below the ingenuity and Generosity of a Christian Spirit to serve God for Heaven as well as for the good things of this life only is very grossely ignorant very childish prattle For to serve God in hopes of Heaven according to its true notion is to serve him for himself and to express the sincerest and also the most ardent affection to him as well as concernment for our
own souls And therefore it could do no other than infinitely become the Son of God himself to endure the Cross and despise the shame for the joy that was set before him taking that joy in no other sence than hath been generally understood viz. for the happiness of Heaven consisting in a full enjoyment and undisturbed possession of the Blessed Deity nor is there any reason why we should enquire after any other signification of that word which may exclude this And on the other hand to be diligent in the service of God for fear of hell understanding it as a state perfectly opposite to that which we have been describing is in a like manner from a principle of love to God and true goodness as well as self-love and is no more unworthy of a Son of God than of a mere servant And thus the truth of this proposition That to make men Holy is to confer upon them the greatest of blessings by the little that hath been said is made plainly apparent CHAP. XIII The Second Account of our Saviour's preferring the business of making men holy before any other viz. That this is to do the best service to God An objection answered against the Author's Discourse of the Design of Christianity IT remains secondly to be shewn That to promote the business of Holiness in the world is to do God Almighty the best service And this will be dispatcht in a very few words For is it not without dispute better service to a Prince to reduce Rebels to their Allegiance than to procure a pardon under his Seal for them This is so evidently true that to do this latter except it be in order to the former business is not at all to serve him nay it is to do him the greatest of disservices I need not apply this to our present purpose And therefore to be sure the work of making men holy and bringing over sinners to the obedience of his Father must needs have been much more in the eye of our Blessed Saviour than that of delivering them from their deserved punishments simply and in it self considered For his love to him will be I hope universally acknowledged to be incomparably greater than it is to us as very great as ' t is None can question but that by our Apostacy from God we have most highly dishonoured him we have robbed him of a Right that he can never be willing to let go viz. The obedience that is indispensably due to him as he is our Creator continual Preserver our infinitely bountiful Benefactor and absolute Soveraign And therefore it is as little to be doubted that Christ would in the first place concern himself for the Recovery of that Right And but that both works are carried on together and inseparably involved in each other he must necessarily be very greatly and far more solicitous about the effecting of this Design than of that of delivering wicked Rebels from the mischiefs and miseries they have made themselves lyable to by their disobedience So that laying all these considerations together what in the world can be more indisputable than that our Savious chief and ultimate design in coming from Heaven to us and performing and suffering all he did for us was to turn us from our iniquities to reduce us to intire and universal obedience and to make us partakers of inward real righteousness and true holiness And we cannot from this last discourse but clearly understand that it is most infinitely reasonable and absolutely necessary that it should be so But now if after all this it be objected that I have defended a notion concerning the Design of Christianity different from that which hath hitherto been constantly received by all Christians viz. That it is to display and magnifie the exceeding riches of God's Grace to fallen mankind in his Son Jesus I answer that he will be guilty of very great injustice towards me that shall censure me as labouring in this discourse to propagate any new notion For I have therein endeavoured nothing else but a true explication of the old one it having been grossly misunderstood and is still by very many to their no small prejudice Those therefore that say that the Christian Religion designeth to set forth and glorifie the infinite Grace of God in Jesus Christ to wretched sinners and withall understand what they say as they speak most truly so do they assert the very same thing that I have done For as hath been shewn not only the Grace of God is abundantly displaied and made manifest in the Gospel to sinners for this end that they â—…ay thereby be effectually moved and perswaded to forsake their sins but also the principal Grace that is there exhibited doth consist in delivering us from the power of them Whosoever will acknowledge sin to be as we have proved it is in its own nature the greatest of all evils and holiness the chiefest of all blessings will not find it easie to deny this And besides as we have likewise shewn men are not capable of God's pardoning Grace till they have truly repented them of all their sins that is have in will and affection sincerely left them And also that if they were caPable of it so long as they continue vile slaves to their lusts that Grace by being bestowed upon them cannot make them happy nor yet cause them to cease from being very miserable in regard of their disquieting and tormenting nature in which is laid the foundation of Hell it self The free Grace of God is infinitely more magnified in renewing our Natures than it could be in the bare justification of our persons And to justifie a wicked man while he continueth so if it were possible for God to do it would far more disparage his Iustice and Holiness than advance his Grace and Kindness Especially since his forgiving sin would signifie so little if it be not accompanied with the destruction of it In short then doth God most signally glorifie himself in the world when he most of all communicates himself that is his Glorious perfections to the souls of men And then do they most Glorifie God when they most partake of them and are rendered most like unto him But because nothing is I perceive more generally mistaken than the notion of Gods Glorifying himself I will adde something more for the better understanding of this and I am conscious to my self that I cannot do it so well as in the words of the Excellent man we a while since quoted Mr. Iohn Smith sometimes Fellow of Queens College in Cambridge When God seeks his own Glory he doth not so much endeavour any thing without himself He did not bring this stately Fabrick of the universe into being that he might for such a monument of his mighty Power and Beneficence gain some Panegyricks or Applause from a little of that fading breath which he had made Neither was that Gracious Contrivance of restoring lapsed men to himself a