a divine Art how much more of every Animal whose Parts for infinite Variety delicate Smalness exquisite Shape Position and Temper do as far excell the other as the Offices for which they are designed For tho the plastick Soul that forms the Animal hath not the least Ray of Art or Reason of its own yet in the Formation of it it proceeds with as much curious and incomparable Art as if it were endowed with the most perfect Reason For first it Spins out the thicker Parts of the seminal Matter into little Threds or Fibres part of which it hollows into Pipes and part into Spunges some whereof are more thin and some more solid all which with wondrous Art it cuts and prunes in divers places fitting their Ends to one another and in divers Manners knitting them together into a well-proportioned Structure of Bones and Members then of the thinner Parts of the seminal Matter it forms the Intrails viz. the Liver and Heart and Brains drawing out from each certain Fibres to be framed into Veins and Arteries and Nerves for which End it bores and hollows them through extends and stretches them out at length and divides them into innumerable Branches which it spreads through all the Intrails and thereby maintains a mutual Communication between them and derives the Nourishment and animal and vital Spirits through all the Body and having thus spun the several Parts out of the seminal Matter and curiously woven them together it concocts the remainder of the Matter which is still supplied with new Nourishment into the Substance of those several Parts and this in such precise and regular Proportions as to form every one of them tho infinitely various from one another into its own proper Figure and Measure and Proportion so that within seven days after the Conception the whole Body is entirely framed and distinguished into all its proper Parts and Members which though they are so vastly great in their Number so strangely different in their Size and Figure so infinitely various in their Motions and Tendencies do all contribute one way or other to the Beauty and Benefit of the Whole some to propagate the Kind others to preserve the Individual others to distinguish what is necessary convenient and pleasant from what is dangerous offensive or destructive to its Nature some to pursue what is good others to shun what is evil others to enjoy those goods and others to defend it against those evils that threaten or invade it so that of all these infinitely numerous and diverse Parts not one can be wanting or defective without some considerable Damage to the Whole How then is it conceivable that such an infinite number of different Animals which are all so perfect in their Kind so amazingly curious in their Composition as that we with all our Reason can discern nothing in them that is either superfluous or defective nothing in their Figure that is irregular nothing in their Position that is misplaced nothing in their Motion that is exorbitant should all of them be framed by their several Plastick Souls which are utterly blind and irrational without the Conduct and Direction of an all-wise and all-powerful Providence Should you behold a confused Heap of Earth and Stone and Iron and Timber without any visible Artificer near it fall a pollishing its own Parts fitting them to one another and disposing them into Order according to the Rules of Architecture and at length frame them all together into the Form of a most beautiful Palace would you not conclude that some skilfull Mind were invisibly present there and did work upon this senseless Heap and dispose its Parts into this comely Order And yet in the Composure of any one Animal there is infinitely more Art than in the most beautiful structure in the World How then can we imagine that the blind artless Matter of which it is composed could ever have framed it self into this admirable Form and Contexture had not some great Mind been invisibly present at the Composition of it or at least imprinted on its artless Mattter some powerful Signature of its own wise Art to direct and order and contrive it I might from hence have proceeded to the formation of Man the Masterpiece of all this lower Creation in whose Frame and structure there are such Miracles of Art as do outreach both the Imitation and Wonder of the most raised and comprehensive Minds For who can sufficiently admire the skilful Contexture of his Corporeal Parts which though almost infinite in Number and Variety do not only compose a Body of a most amiable Symmetry and Proportion but are also as exactly framed and tempered and adapted to perform the Offices of Life and Motion and Sense and Reason as Art or Wit can fancy or imagine them But then how much more admirable is the Soul which inhabits and animates this Body for of whatsoever Substance this thing we call our Soul is it is evidently framed for great and noble Operations to disclose the Mysteries of Nature and to dive into its deep Philosophy to penetrate into the Causes of things and with its nimble and sagacious Thoughts to survey this ample Theatre of Beings to recollect things past and to foretel things to come to invent the most useful Arts and comprehensive Sciences to dictate good Laws and project wise Policies for the Government of Humane Societies and in a word to understand the right Reasons of things and to regulate its Will and Affections by them And is it possible we should imagine a Being thus exquisitely framed to be the Product of a blind and artless Matter to be nothing but a lucky Jumble of senseless and irrational Atoms For suppose it were nothing but elaborated Matter yet certainly it requires infinite Art and Skill to contrive and fashion it into all those curious Springs and Wheels and Mechanick Knacks that are necessary to render it not only a living and feeling but also a wise and rational Matter For how is it conceivable that a little Drop of Water without the Assistance of any Mind or Providence should form it self not only into all the Parts and Lineaments of a Humane Body but also into a Humane Mind a Mind of vast Desires and infinite Capacities of Knowledg that can form Ideas within it self of every thing that is round about it and from them can frame innumerable Propositions and deduce them into Arts and Sciences and in a word that can move it self and the Body it lives in by its own internal Springs and form it self into so many various and contrary Affections by the mysterious Force and Energy of its own Reason and Discourse If you beheld a dead Pencil move without any visible Hand and dip it self into various Colours and draw but an exact Picture of a Man you would doubtless conclude either that some invisible Limbner had infused into it the Art of Limbning or did immediately manage and direct it But should you find this
capacity of our Souls to survive our Bodies and enjoy future Rewards and suffer future Punishments it also follows that there is a future state of Reward and Punishment For we find in our Souls a certain innate force and power whereby they determine themselves which way they please in their motions and operations whereby they are exempt from the necessitating influence of any thing that is forein to 'em and this innate liberty or power of self-determination is necessarily supposed in the management of all humane Affairs in Commerce and Treaties in Government and Laws and Administrations of Justice in Councils Admonitions reproofs and persuasions in all which applications are made to our Souls as to free and self-determining Agents that have the absolute disposal of their own motions and can direct 'em which way they please and indeed were not our Souls left to their own free disposal but concluded by the Laws of a fatal necessity as we see all material Agents are such applications to 'em as these would be very absurd and ridiculous and we may as reasonably hope to tame Wolves and Tygers by reading Ethicks to 'em or to still the North-wind by sending Ambassadours to him to propose Articles of Peace as to prevail upon Mens minds by moral addresses and persuasions because if they are not masters of their own choices whatsoever the rigid Laws of necessity determine 'em to they must necessarily choose in despight of all persuasions to the contrary NOW by this self-determining Power our Souls do evidently manifest themselves to be immaterial substances and consequently not liable to Death and Corruption For if they were matter they would be moved like matter i. e. by the pressure or thrusting of other matter upon 'em and it would be no more in their power to move any other way than that which some other matter presses and impels 'em than it is for a stone not to move upwards when 't is impel'd by the force which your Arm impresses on it and not to move down again when that force is spent and 't is prest back by its own weight and gravity Whereas we feel in our Soul an innate power to determine it self which way it pleases and even to move quite contrary to all forein impressions For when 't is prest on by outward Object to such and such thoughts and purposes with all imaginable vigour it often stems the impetuous Tide and thinks and purposes the quite contrary How then can that be matter which is not determined in its motions by matter but when it pleases can either move counter to all material impressions or of two material impressions can move counter to the strongest THAT our Souls therefore are immaterial is just as evident as that they have liberty of will and that they have liberty of will needs no other proof than the common sense and feeling of mankind and whatsoever essence feels this freedom within it self whereby it is absolved from the rigid Laws of matter may with all the reason in the World conclude it self immaterial and if our Souls are immaterial substances to be sure they can naturally subsist and live without these Bodies and must necessarily do so unless God destroys 'em as having no contrary qualities or divisible parts no principles of death or corruption in 'em and since God hath made our Soul of an immaterial and immortal nature we have all the reason in the World to conclude that he will not unravel his own workmanship but permit it to survive its Body and enjoy or indure that happy ot miserable Fate which it self hath chosen and made IV. FROM the natural expectance we have of future Rewards and dread of future Punishments it is also evident that there is a state of future Rewards and Punishments Thus after the commission of any flagitious wickedness there naturally arise ill-abodings in Mens minds of a dire after-reckoning and though the Commission be secret and conceal'd from all humane cognizance so that there is no reason to dread the corrections of publique Justice for it yet when ever the Man reflects on it it fills his mind with horrible presages of a woful Futurity as on the contrary when ever a Man doth any great good or conquers any violent temptation to evil it lifts up his Soul into a blessed expectation and swells his hope with the promise of a future Reward and though the good he hath done or the evil he hath avoided gives him no kind of prospect of any present advantage yet his mind is soothed and ravished with the contemplation of it which naturally suggests to him the joyous hopes of a recompence to come For whence should this hope and dread spring up in Mens minds upon the Commission of good and bad actions but from some common impression upon humane nature intimating to us a future state of Reward and Punishment If you say 't is from those religious Principles which we imbibe in our Education I would fain know how came this Principle concerning the future state to be so universally imbibed if there were not something in it that is very agreeable with the reason of all mankind For whatever is the matter wee see 't is very easily embraced but very difficultly parted with Mens Minds do catch at it with a strange kind of greediness but when once they have swallowed it it never comes up again without straining and violence and what should be the reason of this if there were not something in it that is very agreeable with the natural tast and rellish of our understandings We know there have been great Wits and Philosophers that have taken as much pains to rase the belief of a future state out of Mens minds as ever any others did to imprint it there and yet though their Doctrine hath been always highly befriended by Mens wicked lusts and affections to which the belief of a future state is the most terrible and vexatious thing in the World yet with all their Wit and Sophistry they have never been able to root it out of Mens minds If then our hopes and fears of another World be merely owing to our Teaching and Education why should not teaching erase as well as imprint 'em especially when it is so powerfully seconded with all the Bosom Rhetorick of Mens vitious inclinations Whereas on the contrary those who have most industriously attempted to extinguish their sense of another World have generally been very unsuccessful and though in the Riot of their sinful delights they many times charm and stupifie it for the present yet no sooner do they retire into themselves and coolly reflect upon their own minds but it presently awakes again and haunts and pursues 'em and though they use all imaginable ways to divert their minds from the thoughts of another world and to avoid these Bosom Accusers and Tormentors run for Sanctuary to all things without 'em to Sports and Recreations to Wine and Women to Care and Business
inforced And if notwithstanding they would be so regardless of God as to take no notice of his Judgments and Mercies so rude to his Authority as not to mind either his Law within or his Law without them upon what reasonable Pretence can they excuse themselves But then as for us Christians we have not only all those natural Discoveries of our Duty which the Heathen had and all those Supernatural ones which the Jews had but a great deal more For in our Revelation the Laws and Motives of Vertue are set before us in a much clearer Light and are neither wrapt up in Mystical Senses nor overcast with typical Representations but laid before us in the most plain and easie Propositions For that which was the Mystical Sense of the Jewish Law is the literal Sense of the Christian in which all those Precepts and Promises and Threats which were delivered to the Jews in dark Riddles obscure and typical Adumbrations are brought forth to us from behind the Curtain and proposed in plain and popular Articles So that if we still continue in our sinful Courses we are of all men the most inexcusable The Heathen may plead against the Jews that their Law of Nature was not so clear in its Precepts nor yet so cogent in its Motives as the Law of Moses the Jews may plead against us Christians that their Law of Moses was neither so express in its Precepts nor yet so intelligible in its best and most powerful Motives as our Gospel but as for us Christians we have nothing to plead but by our own Obstinacy against the clearest Discoveries of our Duty do stand condemned to everlasting Silence So that when it shall appear at the dread Tribunal of God that we have persisted in our wickedness notwithstanding all these Advantages we must expect to be reproached by all the Reasonable World to be exploded and hiss'd at not only by Saints and Angels but by the Jews and the Gentiles and the Devils themselves who will all conspire with our own Consciences to second our woful Doom with the Loud Acclamation of Just and Righteous art thou O Lord in all thy Ways Wherefore as we would not perish for ever without Pity and Excuse let us make hast to forsake all ungodliness and worldly Lusts and to live soberly and righteously and godly in this present World SECT III. That those Actions which carry with them this perpetual Obligation are the main and principal Parts of Religion THE truth of which is most evident from the abovenamed Text Mic. 6.8 and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God Which Interrogation tho it implies not an absolute Negation viz. that the Lord required nothing else of them for under the Law he required Sacrifices and sundry other positive Duties as under the Gospel he requires Sacraments and Reading and Hearing his holy Word c. which are positive Duties as well as those legal Institutions of Moses yet it plainly implies a comparative Negation viz. that the Lord requires nothing else so principally and affectionately so for the sake of the things themselves and upon the account of their own inherent Beauty and Goodness as he doth these Moral Duties here specified He did indeed require the Jews to offer Sacrifice to him and to perform those other Ceremonial Rites specified in the Law of Moses and for them wilfully to have neglected those Duties would have been such an avowed Defiance to his Authority as would have rendred them justly obnoxious to all the Judgments threatned in their Law but yet he did much more earnestly require them to be just and merciful and humble and manifested himself to be far better pleased with one Act of Moral Goodness than with a thousand Sacrifices And thus he requires of us Christians that we should communicate with him and with one another in our Evangelical Sacraments and dutifully conform to all those sacred Institutions and Solemnities of Religion which are contained in the Gospel and if we wilfully neglect them we justly incur all that everlasting Vengeance which is there denounced but yet our sincere compliance with the immutable Obligations of Piety and Vertue is a thousandfold more acceptable to God than our strictest Observation of these his positive Institutions So that the Question in the Text what doth the Lord require of thee plainly implies this Proposition that tho God doth exact of us certain Duties which are not moral i. e. have no intrinsick necessity in them yet it is the Moral Duties such as Justice and Mercy and Humility which he principally requires at our hand Thus concerning Sacrifice God plainly tells us I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice i. e. I will have Mercy rather than Sacrifice Hos. 6.6 And the Wise man assures us that to do Justice is more acceptable to the Lord than Sacrifice Prov. 21.3 And to the same purpose our Saviour himself pronounceth even before that Ceremonial Worship was Abolished that to love the Lord with all our heart with all our understanding with all our Soul and with all our strength and to love our neighbour as our selves is more than all burnt-Offerings and Sacrifices Mark 12.33 But for the clearer Demonstration of this great and necessary Truth I shall endeavour First to prove the Truth of it by some Scripture Arguments Secondly to assign the Reasons of it As for the Proof of it the following Particulars will be abundantly sufficient First THAT the Scripture plainly declares that the great Design of all the Doctrinals of Religion hath always been to move and perswade men to the practice of Moral Goodness Secondly THAT the main Drift and Scope of all the positive Duties of Religion hath been always to improve and perfect men in Moral Goodness Thirdly THAT God expresses in Scripture a great Contempt of all the positive Duties of Religion when ever they are separated from Moral Goodness Fourthly THAT where ever we find the Whole of Religion summ'd up in a few Particulars they are always such as are Instances of Moral Goodness Fifthly THAT wherever such Persons as have been most dear and acceptable to God are described in Scripture their Character always consists of some Instances or other of Moral Goodness Sixthly THAT the Scripture plainly declares that at the great Account between God and our Souls the main Inquisition will be concerning our Moral Good or Evil. I. THE Scripture expresly declares that the great Design of the Doctrins of Religion is to move and perswade men to Moral Goodness For so the Apostle speaking of the Grace of God i. e. the Gospel assures us that its great Design is to teach men to deny all ungodliness and Worldly Lusts and to live soberly righteously and Godly in this present World Tit. 2.12 And if we consider the Doctrines in Particular we shall find that they all conspire in this great Design For so the Doctrine of eternal life is
not to live like Hogs that wallow in the Mire while they are full and whine and clamor when they are empty which forbid them to feed on Eagles and other Birds of Prey to instruct them to live by honest Industry and not by Rapine which prohibits Fish without Scales that generally live in the Mud to teach the evil of Sensuality and earthly-mindedness c. From all which it is evident that Moral Goodness was the constant Mark at which all the positive Precepts of their Law were levelled AND then as for the Christian Religion all the positive Precepts it contains are directed to the same End It requires us to believe in Jesus Christ and in his Mediation to draw near unto God the Design of which Faith it expresly tells us is to Sanctifie our natures Acts 26.18 and to purifie our hearts Acts 15.9 It enjoyns us to be Baptized into the name of Jesus and for what purpose but to oblige us thereby to die to sin and to walk in newness of life Rom. 6.4 It requires us to commemorate our Saviour's Passion in a Sacramental Communion of his Body and Blood and to what End but only to excite us to Love and Thankfulness to God and Charity towards one another 1 Cor. 5.7 8. In a word it requires us to live in Vnity with the Church and not to separate our selves from her sacred Assemblies and for what other reason but that we might become an holy Temple and an habitation of God by being compacted together into an uniform and regular Society Eph. 2.21 22. Since therefore all the Precepts both of the Old and New Testament which are purely positive do bear a Respect to Moral Goodness and were imposed by God in subserviency thereunto it is evident that that is the principal Mark which he designs and aims at III. ANOTHER Evidence from Scripture that Moral Goodness is the principal Matter of our Duty is the great Contempt which God expresses of the positive Duties of Religion when ever they are separated from moral Goodness For thus concerning the Positives of the Jewish Religion we are told that the Sacrifice of the wicked is an Abomination to the Lord. Prov. 15.8 And concerning the Whole of their positive Religion the Prophet thus pronounces in the Name of God to what purpose is the multitude of your Sacrifices to me saith the Lord I am full of the burnt-Offerings of Rams and of the fat of fed Beasts i. e so full as that I loath them and I delight not in the Blood of Bullocks or of Lambs or of He-Goats When ye come to appear before me who hath required these things at your hands to tread my Courts bring no more vain Oblations Incense is Abomination to me the new Moons and Sabbaths the calling of Assâ—emblies I cannot away with it is Iniquity even the Solemn meetings Your new Moons and your appointed Feasts my Soul hateth they are a trouble to me I am weary to bear them And when you spread forth your hands I will hide mine eyes yea when ye make many Prayers I will not hear And what I beseech you is the reason that God should thus dislike his own Institutions why he plainly tells you your hands are full of blood your Cruelty and Oppression doth prophane your Worship and turn it all into Impiety Isai. 1.11 to the 16th For so Isai. 66.3 he plainly tells them he that killeth an Ox is as if he slew a Man he that Sacrificeth a Lamb as if he cut off a Dogs neck he that offereth an Oblation as if he offered Swines blood he that burneth Incense as if he blessed an Idol and why so why they have chosen their own ways i. e. of Impiety and Wickedness and their Soul delighteth in their Abominations Nor doth God express a less Contempt of the Positives of Christianity when separated from Moral Goodness For thus St. James tells us even of our Faith or Belief in Jesus that without Works it is dead that is a sensless squalid thing that hath neither Life nor Beauty in it James 2.17 And S. Peter compares Baptism to the washing of a Swine when it is separated from Purity of Life and Manners 2 Pet. 2.22 And our receiving the Lords Supper without Charity and Devotion is by St. Paul stiled coming together to Condemnation 1 Cor. 11.34 All which is a plain Demonstration that moral Goodness is the principal matter that God insists on since 't was this that sanctified the Sacrifices of the Jews and crowned all their Ceremonial Observances with the divine Acceptation and without this all their other Services were noisom and offensive to him and it is this that perfumes our Faith and our Sacraments our Prayers and Religious Assemblies and renders them a grateful and sweet smelling savor in the Nostrils of God and without this they are all a hateful stench and Annoyance to him Doubtless therefore the principal Matter of Duty which God requires of us is that which he esteems the Grace and Fragrancy of all our other Duties IV. ANOTHER Evidence from Scripture that moral Goodness is the principal matter that God requires of us is that where ever we find the Whole of Religion summed up in a few Particulars they are always such as are Parts and Instances of moral Goodness Thus in the above cited Mic. 6. what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God Thus also the Prophet Isaiah giving an account to his People what they were to do in order to their Reconciliation with God thus directs them wash ye make ye clean put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes cease to do evil learn to do well seek judgment relieve the oppressed judg the Fatherless plead for the Widow come now and let us reason together saith the Lord Isai 1.16.17 18. So also our blessed Saviour sums up the Whole Duty of Man into two Particulars and what are they why thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy soul and with all thy mind this is the first and great Commandment And the second is like unto it thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self on these two Commandments hang the Law and the Prophets Mat. 22.37 38 39 40. Thus St. James True Religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this to visit the Fatherless and Widows in their Affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the Word James 1.27 And elsewhere the Apostle sums up the whole Law into one leading Head of Morality and that is Love for love saith he is the fulfilling of the Law Rom. 13.10 So this Observation generally holds true that in all those Summaries of Duty mentioned in the holy Scripture only such Duties are taken Notice of as are Parts and Instances of Morality Which is a plain Demonstration that 't is this which God principally requires since 't is this which he most takes notice
that being far off from him they are out of his reach and beyond the Danger of his Thunderbolts and that he is too far removed from them either to succour them when they want his Aid or to punish them when they deserve his Displeasure which must needs extinguish both their Hope and Fear which are the Master-Springs of their Religion And tho we should believe him to be present with us yet unless we also believe that he hath a full Inspection into all our Actions and Affairs we shall have no Regard to him For if he sees not into our Affairs how can he succour and relieve us And if he cannot relieve us to what end should we hope in him depend upon him or pray to him And unless he hath a perfect Insight into all our Actions how should he reward or punish us and if he cannot reward us what should encourage if he cannot punish us what should terrifie us to our Duty to him But if we look upon him as a Being that is always with us and where ever we are surrounds us wirh his boundless Presence that includes and penetrates every part of our Substance sees into our inmost Thoughts and Purposes and ransacks every Corner of our Souls with his allseeing Eye and hath a through and perfect Prospect of all our Affairs and Concerns we cannot without infinite Force to our Reason forbear fearing and reverencing serving and adoring him IV. To fasten the Obligations of Religion upon us it is also necessary that we believe that God continually orders and disposes of all things that he is the Spring of all the Motions of this great Machine of the World that sets every Wheel and Cause agoing and by his all-commanding Influence maintains directs and over-rules their Motions and that there is nothing happens in the World whether by Nature or Chance or Design but by his Ordination and Disposal that even those natural Causes which are necessarily determined to such particular Courses and Effects are influenced and conducted by him and that whensoever they stray from their Courses suspend or precipitate their Motions or move counter to their natural Tendencies it is by his Order and Direction that 't is he who drives and guides the heavenly Bodies impresses the Degrees and chalks out the Paths of their Motions and by his own Almighty Hand turns round those stupendous Wheels in a perpetual Revolution For so the Scripture tells us that he makes his Sun to shine upon the good and bad Mat. 5.45 that it is at his Beck and Command that those vast Bodies of Light exhale the Vapours of the Earth and Sea and dissolve them down again in Hail and Rain and Snow For so we are told that 't is he who covers the Heavens with Clouds and prepares the Rain for the Earth that sends forth his Commandment unto the Earth and giveth Snow like Wool and scattereth the hoar Frost like Ashes and casteth forth his Ice like Morsels and sendeth forth his Word and melteth them and causes the Wind to blow and the Waters flow Psalm 147.8 15 16 17 18. that the Fire and Hail and Snow and Vapours and stormy Winds do fulfil his Word Psalm 148.8 And in a word that 't is by his Order and Influence that the Earth sends up its Sap into the Seeds and Roots of Herbs and Corn and Plants and causes them to spring and grow and that all Animals do propagate their Kind and still replenish the Store-houses of Nature for so we are told that he cloaths the Grass of the Field and arrays the Lillies in all their glory Mat. 2.28 29 30. and that he causes the Grass to grow for the Cattel and Herb for the use of Man that he may bring forth Food out of the Earth Psal. 104.14 AND then as for fortuitous and casual Events which depend upon Accidental and irregular Causes as a Mans being hit with an Arrow let fly at random or brained with a Stone falling from the Top of an House we must believe that they are all ordered directed and over-ruled by God so as that to him there is nothing casual or contingent and tho there are many things happen of which there was no Necessity in their immediate Causes yet do they as necessarily depend upon the Will and Power of the first Cause of all as the Rising and Setting of the Sun and Ebbing and Flowing of the Sea So that how fortuitous soever these things may be in respect of the Design and natural Tendency of second Causes yet none of them ever happen besides the Purpose and Intention of God who foresees and designs them before they come to pass and directs and levels them to his own most wise and holy Ends and Purposes For so the Arrow which the Soldier let fly at Random was levelled by God at Ahabs Breast so that his Death was Chance in respect of the Soldier who shot the Arrow but Design in God who directed it and accordingly Prov. 16.33 we are told that the Lot is cast into the Lap but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. And so in the Case of Chance-Medley when a Man accidentally kills another without any Design or Intention tho it be mere Accident in him 't is Council and Design in God who as the Scripture expresses it delivers the Man he slays into his Hand Exod. 21.13 And then Lastly As for those Events which happen by the Design of free and rational Agents it is necessary we should believe that they are all over-ruled by God too that whatever befalls us in this World whether it be by the good or ill Design of Men or Angels is for good and just and holy Ends either permitted or determined by the sovereign Disposer of all Events so that without his wise Permission or Determination neither Angels nor Men nor Devils can do us either good or hurt that every good thing we receive from them only passes to us through their Hands from God and that they are only the Channels and Conveyances of the overflowing Streams of his infinite Bounty and that when ever we suffer any ill from them they are but the Rods in Gods Hand wherewith he chastens and corrects us that he hath the over-ruling Disposal of all the Ills which they inflict upon us and can render their Stings a Sovereign Balm and their ranckest Poyson Medicinal to us so that their Malice being in Gods Disposal can effect nothing but what he will have it and if it doth us hurt 't is his Executioner but if he pleases it shall do us good and like Leaches applied by a skilfull Physician shall draw away our Disease while it is sucking our Blood For so God made the Malice of Joseph's Brethren the means of his Advancement in Egypt and by the Covetousness of Judas and Cruelty of the Jews advanced the holy Jesus to his own right Hand and executed his Purpose to redeem Mankind Thus God over-rules the Actions of Men
Difficulty it is because their Powers are weak and not able to conquer without strugling the Resistances of the Objects upon which they operate but against perfect and infinite Powers there are no Objects can make such Resistance as to put them upon strugling and Labour so that to an omniscient and omnipotent Mind there can be nothing difficult to be known or effected and it is altogether as easie to it to know all things that are knowable and do all things that are possible as to know or do any one thing whatsoever because whatsoever it doth it doth perfectly How then can the Government of the World be difficult or uneasie to God whose Knowledg and Power are perfect and infinite and consequently can inspect and govern all the Beings in the World with as much Facility as if they had only one Being to take care of and if one Man can with Ease manage one Business which he perfectly understands why may not God manage all who understands all better than we understand any one and suppose the things of the World were infinite yet since Gods Knowledg and Power are infinite too there is the very same Proportion of Infinite to Infinite as of One to One. FOR it is to be considered that the natural Tendency of infinite Power is to Action of infinite Wisdom to Contrivance of infinite Goodness to Beneficence and how can we imagine that it should be any Disturbance to God to follow the Inclination of his own Perfections And therefore since it is equally easie to his infinite Power and Wisdom and Goodness to exert themselves in a larger Sphere of Action Contrivance and Beneficence as in a narrower why should it more disturb him to govern a whole World than one single Being It would doubtless be rather a disturbance to him to act nothing to contrive nothing and to do no good because this would be to cross the Inclination of his own Perfections but since it is as easie to him to exercise those Perfections about many things as about few to exercise them about a world of things must rather be a Delight than a Disturbance to him because the more he exercises them the more he complies with their natural Tendencies and Inclinations AND what though this World be a great and cumbersome Mass of things it can be no Labour to God to move and actuate it who as an universal soul is diffused through it and vitally present with every part of it for he moves it not as Bodies move Bodies by thrusting and pressure but as Souls move Bodies by Thought and Will and as our Soul doth move its Body and determine the Motion of its Members merely by thinking and willing without any material Pressure without any Machines or Engines even so God who is the great Soul of the World doth actuate every Part and regulate every Motion of it without any laborious heavings or thrustings merely by the all-commanding Influence of his own Almighty Thought and Will And if it be no Labour to our Soul to think and will and therewithal to move our Body why should we think it any Labour to God by the same Operations to move the World For suppose our Soul were clothed with a Body as large as the whole Vniverse and were but vitally present with every Part of it it would doubtless move it all with as much Ease and command it every way with as much Freedom as it doth the Body wherein it now resides how then can it be difficult to a perfect Mind which penetrates all through and coexists with every Part of this material World to move and actuate the Whole and moderate all the Motions of it according to its own Will and Pleasure III. IT is farther objected against a Providence that it is not consistent with the manifold Evils both moral and natural which we behold in this World If there were a just and gracious Providence over-ruling the World how can it be imagined that it should ever permit so many Irregularities as we every day behold in Mens Lives and Manners or suffer so many Calamities and Miseries to befall its Subjects Both which as I shall shew you are very fairly consistent with a just and righteous Providence FOR as for the first to wit the moral Evils or Irregularities of Mens Manners the Permission of them in the World is no more inconsistent with the Goodness of Gods Providence than his making of free Agents was with the Goodness of his nature For his Permission of sin is no more than his permitting free Agents to act freely and according to that Liberty to Good and Evil wherewith he framed and created them and why may he not as well permit them to act freely as create them to act freely But to be essentially determined to good so as not to have any natural Liberty to Evil seems inconsistent with the State of a Creature for there is no Will can be naturally and essentially determined to good which is not conducted by an infallible Mind for whilst the Mind which is the Guide may possibly err the Will which is guided by it must be liable to go astray Since therefore no Will can be essentially good but that which is guided by an infallible Mind and since no Mind can be essentially infallible but one that is omniscient it necessarily follows that to be free to Good and Evil is as natural to all reasonable Creatures as to be finite in Knowledge and Vnderstanding and accordingly our Saviour declares that to be naturally and essentially good is the incommunicable Prerogative of the divine Nature Luke 18.19 and if so then either God must have made us free to Good and Evil or not have made us at all and there must have been no such Orders of Being as Men and Angels which are the Crown and Glory of all the Creation and is it not much better that there should be such Beings than that there should be no such thing as Liberty to Good and Evil And if it were not inconsistent with the Divine Goodness to create free Agents why should it be inconsistent with it to permit them to act freely 'T is true indeed we are naturally more free to Evil than the Angels and some Angels perhaps were more free to it than others but what then Was God obliged in Goodness to make all Kinds of Beings equally perfect If so there must have been but one Kind of Beings in the whole Universe and consequently there must have been infinite Kinds of Beings that are capable of Happiness for ever unmade or for ever unprovided for Wherefore since the Goodness of God was so infinitely fruitful as to communicate it self in different Degrees of Perfection to all Possibilities of Being that so there might be no Kind wanting to compleat the Universe it was requisite that there should be a mean Degree of Perfection between Angels and Brutes otherwise there would have been a Gap and Chasme in the World not
So that now to believe and obey the sacred Dictates of Religion is generous and ingenuous and our Faith and Obedience is our virtue and Excellency because we believe and obey without Force and against Temptations and Difficulties AND as this unequal State of things is of absolute Necessity to try and exercise our Virtues so it is also very assistant thereunto For that Providence doth generally and not universally bless and prosper good Men is a great support to a wise and rational Belief For as a late excellent Author hath well observed if things were constantly managed one way without any variation we might be apt to conclude that the World was under the rigid Laws of a fatal Necessity if on the other side there were no Rule observed no Footsteps of Method in the Dispensations of Providence we might be tempted to believe that Chance rules the World but when we observe that in the management of things there is an Intermixture of these two viz. that there is a general Rule and that there are particular Exceptions from it we have just reason to conclude that all is under a free Almighty Agent that rules the World according to the Determinations of his own Will As this way of Providence viz. to interweave into good Mens Fortunes Adversity with Prosperity is in this respect very advantageous to their Faith so is it also to the whole State of their Virtue for as on the one hand a continued train of prosperous Events would be apt to bloat and elevate their Minds so on the other a continued series of Adversity would be apt to sink and depress their Spirits whilst this middle way of Interchange in their Condition balances them on both sides and keeps them in an even steddy and well-poized Temper Since therefore this Life is the state of our Trial it is evident that an exact Equality of things would be a much stronger Objection against the Wisdom of Providence than all these present Inequalities are against the Justice of it For Hardships and Difficulties are necessary to a state of Trial and were good Men always blest and bad Men always punished this Life instead of being a Probation to either would be the Heaven of the one and the Hell of the other and since some Afflictions are necessary to try good Men and some Prosperities to try bad it would be a strange oversight of Providence when it designs the Trial of both to fix them in such a Condition wherein no through Experment can be made of either So that for us to object against Providence for making such unequal Distributions in a state wherein it designs our Trial is in effect to object against Wisdom for acting most sutably to its own Designs IV. THAT all things here do happen alike to all is no Argument against Providence because the Goods and Evils that befal us here are not so truly to be estimated by themselves as by their Effects and Consequents For the divine Providence which runs through all things hath disposed and connected them into such a Series and Order that there is no single Event or Accident but what is purely miraculous but depends upon the whole System and hath innumerable Causes antecedent to it and innumerable Consequents attending it and what these Consequents will be whether good or bad is beyond our Skill to prognosticate so that though the Event be never so good or bad singly and apart by it self yet in Conjunction with all those Consequents that will most certainly attend it the best Event for all we know may prove most mischievous and the worst most beneficial to us So that for us boldly to pronounce concerning the Good or Evil of Events before we see the Train of Consequents that follow them is very rash and inconsiderate As for instance you see a good Man oppressed with Sorrows and Afflictions and a bad Man crowned with Pleasures and Prosperities and considering these things apart by themselves you conclude that the one fares very ill and the other very well but did you at the same time see the Consequents of the ones Adversity and the others Prosperity it is probable you would conclude the quite contrary viz. that the good Mans Adversity was a Blessing and the bad Mans Prosperity a Curse For I dare boldly affirm that good Men generally reap more substantial Benefit from their Afflictions than bad Men do from their Prosperities the one smarts indeed at present but what follows perhaps his Mind is cured by it of some Disease that is ten times worse to him than his outward Affliction of Avarice or Impatience of Envy or Discontent of Pride or vanity of Spirit his Riches are lessened but his Virtues are improved by it his Body is impaired but his Mind is grown sound and haile by it and what he hath lost in Health or Wealth or Pleasure or Honour he hath gained with vast advantage in Wisdom and Goodness in Tranquillity of Mind and Self-enjoyment And methinks no Man who believes he hath a Soul should grudg to suffer any tolerable Affliction for the bettering his Mind his Will and his Conscience On the other hand the bad Man triumphs and rejoyces at present but what follows his Prosperity either shrivles him into Miserableness or melts him into Luxury the former of which impoverishes and the latter diseases him for if the former be the Effect of his Prosperity it increases his Needs because before he needed only what he had not but now he needs both what he hath not and what he hath his covetous Desires treating him as the Faulkner doth his Hawk still luring him off from what he hath seized to fly at new Game and never permitting him to prey upon his own Quarry and if the latter be the Effect of his Prosperity that is if it melts him into Luxury it thereby wasts his Health to be sure and commonly his Estate too and so whereas it found him poor and well it leaves him poor and diseased and only took him up from the Plow and sets him down at the Hospital In general while he is possessed of it it only bloats and swells him makes him proud and insolent griping and oppressive pampers and inrages his Lust stretches out his Desires into an insatiable Bulimy sticks his Mind full of Cares and his Conscience of Guilts and by all these woful Effects it inflames his Reckoning with God and treasures up Wrath for him against the day of Wrath so that comparing the Consequents of the good Mans Adversity with those of the bad Mans Prosperity it is evident that the former fares well even in his worst Condition and the latter ill in his best It 's well for me saith good David that I was afflicted for before I was afflicted I went astray but now I have kept thy Commandments Psalm 119.67 But on the contrary when the Wicked spring as the Grass saith the same Author and when all the workers of Iniquity do
direct them by which alone they must be tried and stand or fall at the Day of Judgment which as to the main strokes of their Duty is so plain and intelligible that no sincere Inquirer can be ignorant of it and if when they may understand it they will not or if when they do understand it they wilfully transgress and violate it the Divine Providence hath been sufficiently good to them to leave them for ever inexcusable For so far as their Ignorance is invincible it is not their Sin nor shall they ever be accountable for it or for any sinful Omission or Commission thence proceeding and if they only answer for not understanding their Duty when they might or for not performing it so far as they understood it they can have no reason to complain that they are hardly dealt with But then II. As they have not those vast Advantages that we have of becoming good and growing up into the state of Perfection and Happiness so proportionably less Degrees of Good will be accepted of those that do well and less Degrees of Punishment exacted of those that do ill for that Maxim of our Saviour Luke 12.48 To whomsoever much is given of him much shall be required necessarily implies the contrary viz. that to whomsoever less is given of him less shall be required and if so it is certain that so much as their means of being good are less than ours so much the less good God will accept of them than of us and as God will accept less good of the best Infidels so he will exact less Punishment of the worst for so our Saviour himself hath assured us that it will be more tolerable for Tire and Sidon and Sodom and Gomorrah in the last Day than for those who persist in their Vnbelief and Disobedience in despight of the Proposals of the Gospel If then in Proportion to their present Disadvantages less good will be accepted of those who make any Improvement and less Punishment exacted of them who make none neither the one sort nor the other hath any reason to complain and though their Condition were worse than it is yet under these Circumstances it would be fairly consistent with the Goodness of the Divine Providence But then III. And lastly Though their Condition were a great deal worse than it is yet it would be very unreasonable for us to object it against the Goodness of the divine Providence unless we better understood than we do how God will dispose of them in the other World Indeed if Mens Fate consisted in what they suffer and enjoy in this Life we might better judg of Providence by what is before us but since our main state is beyond the Grave whatever befals us here is very inconsiderable compared with what we must suffer or enjoy hereafter and as for the present Disadvantages which the heathen World lies under they are but very short and momentary and if Providence pleases it can abundantly compensate them in the World to come and therefore since yet we know not what it will do as having no Revelation in the Case it becomes us to suspend our Judgment 'till the Event hath determined it THIS we know that Providence hath ways enough and time enough too between this and the Day of Judgment to supply these Destitute Souls with all those spiritual Advantages in the other Life which for Reasons best known to it self it hath hitherto withheld from them it may if it pleases extend their Trial and Probation beyond this Life and discover in the other Life the Light of the Gospel to so many of them at least as have here made any tolerable Improvements under the Light of Nature and if they make good use of it reward them accordingly For though we Christians have no reason to expect any farther Trial after this Life is expired because we have passed the utmost Trial already yet who knows but God may make a farther Trial of those in the other Life upon whom the great Experiment of the Gospel was yet never made and therefore since Providence can yet be infinitely good to them notwithstanding their wretched Condition at present and since for all we know it will be so we ought not to object against it its present Disregard of them till we see the final Issue of things for that their present Condition is so bad is no ground for us to argue against Providence unless we were sure it would never be better because for all we know it may yet be rendered good enough not only to justifie but to glorifie the Goodness of Gods Providence towards them AND now to conclude this great Argument Since we see how necessary the Belief of Providence is to our being truly religious and what unanswerable Evidence there is of the Truth and Reality of it what remains but that we heartily endeavour by a calm fixt and impartial Consideration of these things throughly to instruct our selves in the Nature and firmly to establish our selves in the Belief of it For our Religion must necessarily ebb or flow according as it is influenced more or less by our Vnderstanding and Belief of the divine Providence which are the great Principles that move and govern it For every Branch of the Divine Providence is an inexhaustible Fountain of religious Rhetorick and Persuasion and in this single Proposition that God upholds and governs the World there are a thousand times more Inducements to Piety and Virtue than in all other Topicks in the World But how pregnant soever it is with Arguments and how powerful soever its Arguments are 't is impossible it should prevail upon any reasonable Mind that understands not the Force and believes not the Truth of it for all the possible Access which outward Objects have to our Minds is through our Knowledg and Belief of them without which the most momentous Proposals are no more capable of affecting us than one of Tully's Orations is of calming the North wind but he who firmly believes the Truth and understands the full Emphasis of a Divine Providence must necessarily be affected by it if he be but within the Reach and Power of Persuasion and unless his Will be impregnably fortified against all the Force of Argument and Reason he will find himself so besieged with Motives on every side persuading him to submit to the Obligations of Religion that it will be almost impossible for him to defend himself against their powerful Importunities For what Man in his Wits can sit unconcerned under the lively Belief that he is in the hands of a most just and gracious alwise and Almighty Providence that is conscious to his inmost Thoughts and Purposes and beholds all his Actions with infinite Complacency or Abhorrence that hath the disposal of his Life and his Soul and of all the Goods he can hope for and all the Evils he can fear and will certainly reward him a thousand-fold if he doth well and if he doth
because they must not only out-tempt them but which is the much harder task of the two they must out-tempt the Reluctances of our Degenerate nature and yet for future Goods and Evils to out-tempt present ones is not so easie a matter neither especially if those future ones are invisible and out of the Ken of our sense which is the case here For Futurity lessens all Objects to the Mind even as distance doth to the Eye and makes things appear to us much smaller than they are in their own natures So that the futurity of the Rewards and Punishments of the other life are a mighty disadvantage to 'em when they stand in competition with present Goods and Evils because the later appear to us in their full Proportion and Magnitude with all their tempting circumstances about 'em whereas the former exhibit to us a dim and confused Landskip of things afar off of things which we never saw nor felt and which by reason of their distance imprint very dark Idea's on our minds And as their Futurity lessens their appearance and renders it confused and indistinct so their Invisibility weakens their force and influence on our minds which no Objects can so nearly affect as those that strike upon our Senses So that unless by an immense magnitude they compensate for being future and insensible it is impossible they should prevail with such minds as ours against present and sensible Goods and Evils Wherefore to render our belief of a future State effectual to reduce us to God and our Duty it 's absolutely necessary we should believe the Rewards and Punishments of it to be infinitely greater than all the Goods and Evils that can tempt us to Sin and that not only because our natures are extreamly averse to that which these Rewards and Punishments tempt us to but because the Goods and Evils which tempt us the contrary way have the prevailing Advantages of being present and sensible IV. And lastly IT is necessary we should believe that there is no other way for us to acquire these Rewards or avoid these Punishments but by submitting to the Obligations of Religion For to be throughly convinced and persuaded of the immense Rewards and Punishments of the other life is by no means sufficient to reduce us unto God so long as we do but Dream of any possible way to obtain those Rewards and avoid those Punishments without submitting to Him to which above all imaginable ways our corrupt nature hath the greatest Antipathy So that though we were never so much convinc'd of the absolute necessity of escaping Hell and purchasing Heaven yet if at the same time we have a prospect of any other way or means of effecting it to be sure we shall shun this this most ungrateful one of forsaking our Sins and returning to God And if listing our selves into Godly Parties or putting on a demure and sanctified countenance if being moped dejected or unsociable if whining or fasting or long prayers or an affected Gurb or rigid observance of holy Times if consuming our lives in a barefooted Pilgrimage or wearing a hair Shirt or whipping our Bodies or spending our Estates in Masses and Indulgencies if being made free of a holy Confraternity or visiting Altars and Shrines or numbering Prayers like Faggots by a Tally of Beads if these or any of these will but secure us of Heaven and from going to Hell we shall think 'em a thousand times more tolerable and easie than to submit our wills to God in all the instances of true Piety and Vertue in the doing of which we must strangle the corrupt inclinations of our nature tear our beloved Lusts from our hearts rack off our earthy affections from their Lees and refine and spiritualize 'em into a divine Zeal and Love and Devotion than which there is nothing in the World more irksom to a degenerate nature So that 'till we are reduc'd to an utter despair of reaping the Rewards and escaping the Punishments of the other Life by any other means than this of submitting our selves to the Obligations of Religion our faith will be altogether ineffectual SECT II. What Evidence there is to induce us to believe these future Rewards and Punishments THAT there are future Rewards and Punishments is a Doctrine universally assented to by all Ages and Nations and Religions and there is scarce any first Principle in Phisosophy in which Mankind are more generally agreed Thus among the Heathen Poets Divines and Philosophers there is an unanimous acknowledgment of these future States although their descriptions of 'em are generally nothing but the dreams of an extravagant fancy For so as Josephus observes speaking of the Essenes Doctrine concerning the future State of the blessed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. i. e. they teach as all the Greek Nations also do that for good Souls there are blessed Seats prepared beyond the Ocean in a Region that is always free from Rain and Snow and excessive heats being perpetually fanned with gentle breeses from the Ocean which description he hath translated almost verbatim out of the 4th Book of Homers Vlyssea where he brings in Proteus thus bespeaking Menelaus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. i. e. The Gods shall send thee to the Fields of Elysium which lie on the utmost parts of the Earth where thou shalt live secure and happy there being neither Rain nor Snow nor Winter but the blessed Inhabitants are perpetually refresh'd with the gentle breathing of cool Zephyrs from the Ocean Plato tells us of an antient Law concerning Men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. which was always and is still in force among the Gods that those who lived just and holy lives should after their death go into the Isles of the blessed where they should enjoy all manner of happiness without the least intermixture of misery but that those who lived here unjustly and ungodly should be sent into that Prison of just punishment which is called Hell Plat. Gorg. p. 312. Thus also Tully Tuscul. lib. 1. permanere animos arbitramur consensu nationum omnium i. e. We believe as all Nations do that the Souls of Men do survive their Bodies and to name no more Seneca Epist 117. tells us Cum de animarum aeternitate disserimus non leve momentum apud nos habet consensus omnium aut Timentium Inferos aut Colentium i. e. when we discourse of the Eternity of Souls the general consent of all Men either fearing or worshipping the Hellish powers is of very great moment And indeed this belief of the future states being so generally imprinted on Mens minds is a very probable argument of the reality of them it being hardly conceivable how the Reason of all mankind should have so unanimously consented in it had it not been extreamly agreeable to the make and frame of our minds and we cannot suppose any false proposition to be agreeable to the frame of our mind without reflecting dishonourably upon the truth of him
and the World by a blind and obstinate Will without any regard to the eternal reasons of things we shall worship him as the Indians do their arbitrary Devils i. e. follow him with houlings and lamentations with trembling hearts and frighted looks and dismal tones and by flattering him with praises and fauning upon him with slavish submissions and addresses endeavour to collogue with Heaven and ingratiate our selves with its dreadful Majesty for what can be more agreeable to such a tyrannical Divinity than such a forc'd and slavish Worship In a word if we apprehend him to be a fond and indulgent Being that is governed by a foolish pity and blind commiseration we shall not fail to render him a sutable Worship i. e. to retire and grow melancholly to whine and bemoan our selves to deject our looks and disfigure our countenances and teaze our Souls into fits of fruitless compunction that so by the soft Rhetorick of a well-acted sorrow we may pierce his bowels and melt him into pity and compassion towards us for what can be more prevalent with such a soft and indulgent Deity than such a mournful and passionate Religion Thus whilst we have wrongful apprehensions of God they must necessarily mislead us into false ways of Worship because we can no otherwise worship him than by rendering him such Services as are sutable to the apprehensions we have of his Nature and therefore while we think any otherwise of his Nature than it is we must necessarily think such Services sutable to it as are not BUT if we truly understand what God is we cannot but apprehend what Worship is sutable to him by that Eternal congruity and proportion that there is between things and things which is as obvious to mens minds as sounds and colours to their ears and eyes If God be a Being endowed with such and such Perfections every Mans mind will tell him that between such an Object and such actions and affections there is a natural congruity and therefore so and so he ought to be treated and address'd to with such and such actions and affections to be served and worship'd So that if we apprehend God truly as he is circled with all his natural glories and perfections our apprehensions will produce in us such affections and our affections such deportment and behaviour towards him as are sutable to the perfections of his Nature and we shall worship him with such Services as will both please and become him with admiring thoughts and dutiful wills and God-like affections with an ingenuous fear a humble confidence and an obedient love with chearful Praises and profound Adorations with sober wise and rational Devotions such as will wing and employ our best affections and most noble faculties For 't is such a Worship only that can sute such Perfections and please such a Nature as Gods II. A right apprehension of God is also necessary to inspire us with the best Principle of serving him For it 's certain that there is no Principle in humane Nature that will so effectually engage us to the service of God or render our service so acceptable to him as that of Love which will tune our wills into such an Harmony with Gods that we shall no longer chuse and refuse according to our particular likings and dislikings but what is most pleasing or displeasing to him will be so to us and our wills being thus united and subjected to his our obedience will extend to all his Commands and admit no other bounds but his Will and Pleasure Whereas if we do not obey him out of love we shall indeavour to contract our obedience into as narrow a compass as may be because we shall render it to him with a grudging mind and consequently with a narrow and stingy hand for we shall serve him no farther than we are driven by fear and the restless importunities of a clamorous conscience and so consequently fall infinitely short of our duty and take up in a partial and hypocritical obedience For while we do not love him it is impossible we should obey him with a ready will which is the proper seat of his Empire and while we obey him with a stubborn and rebellious will we are only his slaves but the Devils subjects 'Till therefore we do obey him at least in some measure from a Principle of love it is impossible our obedience should be either universal or sincere But to the inspiring our Souls with this Principle there is nothing more necessary than right apprehensions of God who in himself is doubtless the most amiable of beings as having all those Perfections in infinite degrees that can beget or deserve a rational affection So that we cannot think him to be any way otherwise than he is without thinking him less lovely and detracting more or less from the infinite beauty of his Nature For since he cannot be more lovely than he is in himself every false apprehension of him must needs represent him less lovely But since of all his Perfections that of his Goodness is the most powerful motive and ingagement of Love there is nothing more necessary to kindle our love to him than right apprehensions thereof For being infinitely good as he is in his own Nature it is impossible we should conceive him to be better than he is and therefore every false notion we entertain of his goodness must necessarily detract from it and so much as we detract from his goodness so much we detract from the principal reason and motive of our loving him And therefore in order to the ingaging of our love to him it concerns us above all things not to entertain any Opinion of him that reflects a disparagement on his goodness For too many such Opinions there are that have been imbibed among Christians as the fundamental Principles of their Orthodoxy namely such as these that Gods Sovereign Will is the sole rule of his actions and that he doth things not because they are just and reasonable but that they are just and reasonable because he doth 'em as if he were merely an Omnipotent blind Will that acts without Reason and did run through the World like an irresistible Whirlwind hurrying all things before him without any consideration of right or wrong That his Decrees of Governing and disposing his creatures are wholly founded in his absolute and irresistible Will that determins of the everlasting fate of Souls without any reason or foresight or condition that by this his unaccountable Will he hath impaled the far greater part of 'em within an absolute Decree of Reprobation for no other end but that Nimrod-like he might have game enough to sport and breath his vengeance for ever and that having nailed 'em to this woful cross by this his dire Decree he bids 'em save themselves and come down as those cruel Mockers did our Saviour and because they do not obey torments and cruciates 'em for ever though he knows they are not able to do
a fierce and cruel nature himself to believe it consistent with the nature of God to snatch poor Infants from their Mothers Womb that never actually offended him and hurl them into the flames of Hell And considering the stern and inflexible temper of the famous Author of the Horrible Decree though otherwise a rare and admirable person there is too much reason to suspect that he transcribed his own nature into his Doctrine and modelled his Divinity by his Temper And so on the contrary who but a man of excessive fondness and partiality that loves beyond all reason and invincibly doats upon the deformities of his own darlings could ever imagine it consistent with the wisdom and holiness of God to chuse his favourites without reason and when he hath chosen them not only to overlook all their faults but to hide them from his own eyes with the Mantle of anothers Righteousness that so how ill soever they behave themselves he may never see cause to be displeased with them From these and other instances it is evident that one great cause of our misapprehensions of God is our measuring his nature by our own For first our partiality to our selves makes us magnifie our own faults into perfections and then whatsoever we reckon a perfection in our selves we naturally attribute to God and so many times it comes to pass that our Notions of God are nothing but the Images of our selves which Narcissus-like we fall in love with for no other reason but because they reflect our own sweet likeness As therefore we would not wrong God in our own thoughts we must take care not to attribute to him any thing of our own but what is a perfection in the judgment of the most impartial reason and because our self-love is apt to bribe our own reason into a favourable opinion of whatever is our own we ought to admit nothing of our own into our Notion of God but what is voted a perfection by the common reason of Mankind III. ANOTHER cause of our misapprehensions of God is our obstinate partiality to our own sinful lusts and affections For while men are vehemently addicted to any sinful courses the true Notion of God must needs sit very uneasily on their minds because it will be always quarrelling with them suggesting arguments against them and alarming them with dreadful thoughts and dire abodeings of a vengeance to come For there is no true conception of Gods nature but what is pregnant with some powerful argument against disobedience to his Will so that while we obstinately persist in disobedience to him our reason cannot truly conceive of him without waging War against our Lusts and while a man is thus at variance with himself and one end of his Soul is at War with the other so that he cannot gratifie his affection without affronting his reason nor comply with his reason without doing violence to his affection he can never be at ease within till either he hath forced his affection to submit to his reason or his reason to submit to his affection but while a mans reason hath the true Notion of God and his perfections before it 't will be impossible for him to reconcile it to his sinful affections against which whenever he coolly reflects it must necessarily dictate bitter Invectives and denounce horrible Sentences So that if he be obstinately resolved to side with his sinful affections he must either be content patiently to endure the clamour and fury of his own reason which is one of the most uneasie Penances in the World or endeavour to corrupt and sophisticate his Notions of God with such opinions as countenance his Lusts. And this considering the mighty influence which mens affections have on their reason is no hard matter to do for the least shew of probability backt with a strong affection for an opinion is of greater force with corrupt minds than the clearest demonstration against it So that if the Opinion be but serviceable to the interest of a mans lust that will engage his affection on its side and then the opinion having once retained those powerful Orators in its cause it is secure of a very favourable trial at the Tribunal of reason where in all probability only one side of the Question will be weighed and Judgment will be given upon hearing the Arguments for it without admitting any evidence against it THUS when men are hunted and pursued through their wicked courses by the true Notions of God it is expedient for them if they resolve to go on to take sanctuary in false ones where their Conscience and Will their reason and affections may dwell quietly together and they may be as wicked as they please without any disturbance And abundance of such false Notions there are prepared to their hands which mens wicked minds have invented in the defence of their lusts For thus some to ease their Consciences have persuaded themselves that God is so wholly taken up with his own happiness as that he is not at leisure to concern himself about humane actions and under this persuasion they sin on with full security that he will never punish them Others on the contrary to reconcile their lusts persuade themselves that God is wonderfully concerned about small things about trifling opinions and indifferent actions and the Rites and Modes and Appendages of his Worship and under this persuasion they hope to attone him for all the immoralities of their lives by the forms and outsides of Religion by uncommanded severities and affected singularities by contending for Opinions and stickling for Parties and being pragmatically zealous about the borders and fringes of Religion Others there are that to quiet their anxious minds persuade themselves that God in Christ at least is all Mercy and Goodness without the least allay of Righteous Severity or vindictive Justice and being thus persuaded they sin on securely and under the Wing of his Mercy affront his Authority without any disturbance Others again that to stifle the sense of their own guilt persuade themselves that God hath irrevocably determined the everlasting Fate of men without any respect to their doings and that those whom he will save he will save irresistibly without any concurrence of theirs whereas those whom he will not save he hath utterly abandoned to a dire necessity of perishing for ever from whence they conclude that if they are of the number of those that shall be saved it is needless for them to endeavour after it and if in the List of those that shall perish it is in vain for them to endeavour to prevent it and that therefore their wisest course is to sin on and expect the Event All which are only the Artifices of wickedness to reconcile mens Consciences to their Lusts and compromise the quarrel between God and their wicked lives that so they may sin on for the future without check or remorse WHEREFORE if we would form a right Notion of God in our minds