the welfare of his Subjects were there nothing else in the Duty but that consideration is an infinite encouragement He that receiveth you receiveth me is such an obligation that as it is all Goodness in it self so is it all Motive unto us Eternity will scarce be sufficient to fathom its depth Do we feed GOD himself in feeding the Poor and his eternal Son Jesus Christ Are these Needy persons the Representatives of the GODHEAD in whom we are to shew all our affection love and gratitude to the fountain of all Life and Happiness How infinite ought our Liberality to be when we consider the excellency of our Bliss and Benefactour Are they beloved are they all his Sons the very express image of himself all disguised and concealed Kings all Temples of eternal Glory What measure can confine or shut up our bowels Are the Spectators so innumerable so divine so blessed so nearly allyed to our selves so rich and great and beautiful are they so deeply concerned in the welfare of others and does every act of Charity extend to all shall we appear in the very act it self eternally before them What a vast ambition of pleasing all these glorious Persons should be exprest in every operation of the Soul As every Thought is seen throughout all eternity and every Word that is spoken here on Earth heard in the utmost extents of immensity so is there a kind of Omnipresent greatness in the smallest action for it is vertually extended through all the omnipresence of Almighty GOD even as every Centre wherein it can be done is eternally near nay and within him in the remotest part of his omnipresence 'T is dilated in a moment and fills the immensity of GOD with its nature According to its kind it affecteth all his Essence in all spaces whatsoever YET is there a Rule for the bounding of all external acts of Charity and another for improving it Intelligence is the light wherein Alms-deeds ought to shine and attain their glory Love is the soul of Compassion and Zeal the fervour of Perfection without which though a man bestow all his Goods to feed the Poor and give his Body to be burned it profiteth nothing Where this great abyss of goodness is Prudence may dispence it as it seeth occasion All other Vertues attending upon it it is impossible to destroy it self here on earth unless the case be so urgent that it is better die than to live in the World For a good man sheweth favour and lendeth but it is added He will guide his affairs with discretion The first Rule is to secure the life and growth of the tree by causing it so to bear one year that it may bring forth fruit another It is no good husbandry to cut it down nor any charity to make it wither and expire And on this very account a Charitable man must preserve himself that he may do more good by continuing longer able to do it HE that will examine the proportions and measures of his Liberality may take this Rule for the second Let thy Superfluities give place to other mens Conveniencies thy Conveniencies to their Necessities thy Necessities to their Extremities A third Rule is this Our Riches must be expended according to the several Circumstances and occasions of our lives A Liberal man will not pinch and starve his Servants For it is contrary to the nature of Bounty to oppress any to hurt any to trample upon any He will be good to all and to those most that are near unto him GOD hateth robbery for burnt Offering or that Strangers should eat the Childrens meat or that Beggars or Riotous persons should devour the right of a mans Servants He that does brave acts abroad but is a Niggard within doors has a glorious train spread abroad like a Peacock but stands upon black feet and may bear that unlucky bird for his Crest which is the emblem of Pride and Vain-glory. So is it with young Prodigals that oppress poor Tradesmen by defrauding them of their Debts yet are lavish enough to the Poor and Needy This is a defect with which Goodness is inconsistent and it blasteth their Charity It is better take off 100 pound a year from ones benevolence to the poor than wrong a Servant or Creditour of a shilling The Rule therefore is this First secure the works of Necessity have food and rayment for thy self keep out of debt Next render to every man his due in point of Justice and employ no man thou canst not pay rather perish thy self than oppress another If thou art able and hast any thing to spare then let the miseries of the Needy be supplied in the works of Compassion and Charity but let not all be swallowed up here thy Neighbours and Acquaintance and Friends and Kindred claim a share and thou must secure something for the works of Courtesie and Hospitality So order all both in thy Estate and Life that the kindness of GOD may shine in all So doing thy Stewardship shall be acceptable to the whole World and thy Memory blessed among men and Angels Our Saviour when he wrought his Miracles as he opened the eyes of the blind healed the sick cast out Devils raised the dead gave food to the hungry tongues to the dumb ears to the deaf and legs to the lame so did he give advice to the ignorant and interpret all his design by those Parables and Sermons which attended his Cures Good Counsel is oftentimes a greater gift than a Trunk of Mony While the Iron is hot it is time to strike Good Counsel is like a bitter Pill that must be gilded with Liberality If the Word of GOD be like good seed the heart in which it is sown is softened by Sorrow and ploughed up by affliction and prepared to receive it by the husbandry of Providence And the properest Season that can be chosen for Instruction is the time of Obliging He that intendeth the welfare of the Soul by all the good works he doth to the Body is deep and perfect in Charity A wise man will improve his advantages and enrich his Gifts with pious discourses A Benefactour has authority to talk what he listeth and bribes his Auditor to patience by his Bounty Since He that winneth Souls is wise a profound Liberality will not let slip a golden Opportunity nor suffer his Gift to be dark and insignificant He will make mention of the glory of GOD and the Love of Christ the guilt of Sin the danger of Hell and the hope of Heaven and alwaies endeavour to make his Love apparent to that GOD for whose sake he pities the Poor and is kind towards all For as much as man hath two parts and his Body is without the Soul but a putrid Carkass he will put life into his Mony and inspire his Munificence with all his Reasons that his Bounty may consist of two parts in like manner and have a Soul for its Interpreter Liberality to the Soul is
they are freely given are not to be despised THAT which I desire to teach a man is How to make a Good use of all the Advantages of his Birth and Breeding How in the Increase of Riches and Honors to be Happy in their Enjoyment How to secure himself in the temptations of Affluence and to make a man glorious in himself and delightful to others in Abundance Or else if Affliction should arise and the State of Affairs change how to triumph over adverse Fortune and to be Happy notwithstanding his Calamities How to govern himself in all Estates so as to turn them to his own advantage FOR tho felicitie be not absolutely perfect in this World nor so compleat in Poverty as in a great and plentiful Estate you are not to believe that wealth is absolutely necessary because sometimes it is requisite to forfeit all for the sake of Felicity Nothing is absolutely necessary to Bliss but Grace and vertue tho to perfect Bliss Ease and Honour be absolutely necessary THERE are many degrees of Blessedness beneath the most Supream that are transcendently Sweet and delightful And it sometimes happens that what is most bitter to Sence is pleasant to Reason RATHER then make Shipwrack of a good Conscience we must do as Mariners in a storm cast our riches over board for our own Preservation It is better losing them then our selves VERTUE is Desirable and Glorious because it teacheth us through many Difficulties in this Tempestuous World to Sail Smoothly and attain the Haven CHAP. II. Of the Nature of Felicity its Excellence and Perfection THE Peripateticks so far forth as they contemplated the Nature and Estate of man in this World were Wise in defining the Goods of the Body Soul and Fortune to concur to Mans perfect Happiness For Difficulties and Conflicts are not Essential to the Nature of Bliss nor confistent with the fruition of its fulness and Perfection THERE is the Way and the journeyes end IN the Way to Felicity many things are to be endured that are not to be desired And therefore is it necessary to make a Distinction between the way to Felicity and the Rest which we attain in the end of our Journey THE Goods of the Soul are absolutely necessary in the Way to Happiness the Goods of the Body are very convenient and those of Fortune Commodious enough But the latter of these are not with too much eagerness to be pursued THE Goods of the soul are wisdom Knowledg Courage all the Virtues all the Passions Affections Powers and faculties And these you know are absolutely necessary THE Goods of the Body are Health Agility Beauty Vivacity Strength and Libertie and these shall in Heaven it self together with those of the Soul he enjoyed By which you may discern that the Goods of the Body are real Parts and Ingredients of Happiness THE Goods of Fortune are food and Rayment Houses and Lands Riches Honours Relations and Friends with all those convenient Circumstances without the Body that are subject to chance By which vertue is assisted and of which a noble use may be made in Works of Justice Hospitality Courtesie and Charity which may redound to our greater Felicity here and in heaven THE more Honor and pleasure we enjoy the Greater and more Perfect is our present Happiness Tho many times in the Way to Felicity we are forced to quit all these for the Preservation of our Innocence GALLANT Behavior in flighting all Transitory things for the Preservation of our Virtue is more conducive to our future Perfection then the greatest ease imaginable in our present condition IT is incumbent upon us as a special part of our Care to take heed that we be not ensnared by the easiness of Prosperity and that we do not set up our Rest in the Way to Happiness nor deceive our selves in thinking the Goods of Fortune Essential nor discourage our selves by thinking it impossiable to be Happy without them Our Thoughts and Affections must be always disentangled that we may run with Alacritie the Race set before us and close with the Sublimest Perfection of Bliss as our only portion and Desire FELICITY is rightly defined to be the Perfect fruition of a Perfect Soul acting in perfect Life by Perfect Virtue For the Attainment of which Perfection we must in the Way to Felicity endure all Afflictions that can befall us For tho they are not Parts of Felicity themselves yet we may acknowledge them great Advantages for the Exercise of Virtue and reckon our Calamities among our Joys when we bear and overcome them in a virtuous Manner because they add to our Honor and contribute much to our Perfection both here and hereafter FOR this purpose we are to remember that our present Estate is not that of Reward but Labour It is an Estate of Trial not of Fruition A Condition wherein we are to Toyl and Sweat and travail hard for the promised Wages an Appointed Seed Time for a future Harvest a real Warfare in order to a Glorious Victory In which we must expect some Blows and delight in the Hazzards and Encounters we meet with because they will be crowned with a Glorious and joyful Triumph and attended with ornaments and trophies fa r surpassing the bare Tranquillity of idle peace WHEN we can cheerfully look on an Army of Misfortunes without Amazement we may then freely and Delightfully contemplate the Nature of the Highest Felicity ARISTOTLE never heard of our Ascension into Heaven nor of sitting down in the Throne of GOD yet by a lucky Hit if I may so say fell in point blanck upon the Nature of Blessedness For a perfect fruition by perfect virtue is all that can be thought of It implies our Objective and our formal Happiness OBJECTIVE Happiness is all the Goodness that is fit to be enjoyed either in GOD or in his Creatures while Formal Happiness is an active Enjoyment of all Objects by Contemplation and Love attended with full Complacency in all their Perfections PERFECT Fruition implies the Perfection of all its Objects Among which GOD himself is one Angels and Saints are next the World also with all the variety of Creatures in it the Laws of GOD and his wayes in all Ages his Eternal Counsels and Divine Attributes are other Objects of our Content and Pleasure Unless all these be perfect in their Nature Variety Number Extent Relation Use and Value our fruition cannot be simply perfect because a Greater and more perfect fruition might upon the production of better Objects be contrived and no fruition can be truly perfect that is not conversant about the highest things The more Beautiful the Object is the more pleasant is the enjoyment But where Delight may be increased the Fruition is imperfect A Perfect Soul is a Transcendent Mystery As GOD could not be Perfect were it possible there could be any Better Essence then he so neither would the Soul be perfect could any more Perfect Soul be created IT is a Soul
to Love without Obligation or Reward to be the Sole Author of all Felicity and to over-flow with Goodness of himself freely without any Motive to prevent the Beauty and Existence of his Object and to Love from all Eternity in an immutable manner And this is the nature of Divine Love Howbeit even here are infinite Ends and Causes of his Love tho they are all in Himself For he Loves that he may Love and begets that Love which is his Essence His Love is the foundation of all his Treasures the Cause and End of the whole Creation and that alone by which he proceeds from himself to all his Creatures and by those to himself again for ever All his Kingdome and Greatness and Pleasure all his Wisdome and Goodness all his Life and Perfection is seated in Love which is his Beauty and his Holiness his Bounty and his Godhead He Loves therefore that he may be all Beauty and Goodness and Holiness and that he may enjoy himself and the Eternal Pleasure of his Essence in Glory and Blessedness for ever IT is GOD alone that Loves by his Essence Angels and Men may Love by Inclination but their Affection is Accidental to their nature begins in time may alter and cease It is subject to Chance Obligation and Reward and ought to be guided according to the Pleasure of an Higher Agent In this it differs from the Love of God but in many things there is a great Agreement and proportion between them For GOD has made the love of Angels and men so like his own by extending their Knowledge to all objects that infinite Perfections are contained in their love It is as GODLIKE as any Thing created is capable of being for Almighty Power and infinite Wisdome are employed in the production of it FOR the better understanding of this Love we will consider it in the power of Loving in the inclination to Love in its act and Perfection It may seem a surprizing verity but the Power of Loving is as necessary to Blessedness and Glory as life it selfe an inclination to love as necessary as the Power and the act of Love as necessary as the Inclination The world is useless without Life and Life without Love the Body without the Soul the Soul without the Power of Loving the Power of Loving without the Inclination the Inclination without the Act. IN the Power of Loving I shall note nothing at present but its Extent and Capacity In Beasts it is confined but in Men it is Endless As a Beast is unable to examine what spaces are above the Heavens so is it unable to extend its Affections beyond the memory of things perceived for a Beast cannot represent to it self the Idea's of its Progenitors nor see into Ages that are before its birth nor contemplate Objects that will be after it is Dead But man can see and know and love any object in any Age or Kingdom in the World He can look into any Region tho it be never so far removed and be as familiary conversant with any Person or Transaction there when represented once in a clear Light as with any Object in his own country He can look into Eden consider Adams Dust in its first Creation survey the Procedure of God in his Six Dayes Works pass out of Time into Eternity it self run up to the Original and fountain Head of all existence ponder the nature of GOD search in his Bosom for his Eternal Counsels pierce into the Centre of the Earth and survey the Circumference of all Immensity His Love can follow his Knowledg in all its flights while in spirit he can be present with all the Angels He is able to Love not only his Family and Relations but all the City and Country where he liveth all the Kingdom all the Cities and Kingdoms in the world all the Generations in all Kingdoms all the Spirits of Just men made perfect all the Cherubims and Seraphins and GOD blessed for ever This is the extent The capacity of Love is so alsufficient that his Affection is not diminished but the more he loves one the more he is able and the more inclined to love all that are united to him As in ordinary friendship the more we love the Father the more we love his Wife and all his children For the more we love any Person the more we love all that love him or are beloved by him As the reasons of our Love increase so may our Love it selfe the capacity of Love being so indeficient that it never can be exceeded or surmounted by its Object THE Capacity of Love being so exceeding vast multiplies and heightens in the Soul of man that is apt to overflow of its own Accord For nothing is so prone to communicate it self as that Active Principle of Love that Soul which is Generous and Divine being disposed to the exercise of Love because therein it findeth its Proper Element The very Sun is not more inclined to communicate its Beams then the Soul to love For the Soul being made in the Image of GOD who is Love by his Essence must needs be like him in Power and Inclination and is made for nothing else but the Attainment of its perfection so that it can never rest till it actually love after his similitude Some Operation it must of Necessity have For as all Life so all pleasure is founded in Action IF Love in its Perfection be considered all that is lovely is Beloved by the soul all the Capacity of Love is filled with its objects and all the Goodness of the Creator and his Creatures at once enjoyed It is the Life and pleasure and enlargment of the Soul it is the Wisdom and Goodness and Glory of the Soul I confess there be many Errors and Diseases in Love and that Love is alwayes miserable in its Effects that is vicious yet it so bewitches the Sences that the Soul being captivated by the Force of present Delight is violently carried in an irresistible appetite to those Things which Reason condemnes and advises to shun as Evil. Medea's faction most prevails in the World Video meliora proboque Deteriora Sequor LOVE is then a vice when it is irrational and illegal rebellious and Sensual Blind Defective Unjust Absurd When Evil things are beloved when Good things are preferred above the Better and the Best neglected VERTUOUS Love is that which proceedeth from a well governed understanding and is seated in a Will that is guided by Reason It renders to all things their just Due and is the Powerful Parent of all Kind of Vertues This Love may be considered either in its Properties or Effects the last of which relate to the Soul it self to the Conversation of the whole man to all its Objects when it is well understood it will be found the proper and immediate Means by which we attain our Perfection and Felicity CHAP. VII What Benefit GOD himself does receive by his Eternal Love That when our
Despair has comfort and refreshment answerable to it in infinite Hope 'T is the present food and Support of our Lives 't is the Anchor of our Souls in the midst of all the Storms and Tempests in the World 't is the foretaste of Bliss and Coelestial Glory a Glympse and Appearence of the Beatifick Vision without which to Live is to Dye and to Dye is to perish for evermore THE Great Reason for which a right Hope is accounted so Great a Vertue is because its Objects do really surpass all Imagination The fulness of the GODHEAD in the Soul of Man the Perfection of the Divine Image a Transformation for Glory to Glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord Communion with the Father Son and Holy Ghost infinite Love and Bounty the Estate of a Bride in Communion with GOD the Possession of his Throne with another Kind of sweetness then the Bridegroom himself enjoys the Resurrection of the Body and Life Eternal in a Kingdome where all Occasions of Tears and Fears shall ever be removed Where all Regions and Ages and Spaces and Times and Eterternities shall be before our Eys and all Objects in all Worlds at once Visible and infinitely Rich and Beautiful and Ours Our very Appetites also being ravished with Sensible Pleasures in all our Members not inconsistent with but springing from these high and Supeperior Delights not distracting or confounding our Spiritual Joys but purely Superadded and increasing the same while our Bodies are made like to his most Glorious Body by that Almighty Power whereby he is able to subdue All Things to himself all these infuse their Value and the Hope that is exercised about these Things is a Vertue so great that all inferior Hopes which this doth Sanctifie are made Vertues by it but without this all other Hopes are Debasements and Abuses of the Soul meer Distractions and delusions and therefore Vices I Know very well that Presumption and Despair are generally accounted the Extreams of Hope and the only vices that are Opposite thereunto But I Know as well that there may be many Kinds and Degrees of Hope of which so me may be vicious and some Vertuous and that some sorts of Hope themselves are Vices When ever we make an inferior Desire the Sovereign Object of our Hope our Hope is abominable Idolatrous and Atheistical We forget GOD and magnifie an inferior Object above all that is Divine To Sacrifice all our Hopes to Things unworthy of them or to be Remiss and sluggish in Hoping for Things of infinite Importance is apparently Vicious But to be just to all our Encouragements and to lift up our Eys to the Eternal GOD with an humble Expectation to wait upon him and to hope for all that from his Bounty which his Goodness has promised to desire the most high and perfect Proofs of his Love is the Property of a most Great and Noble Soul by which it is carried above all the World and fitted for the Life of the most high and perfect Vertue CHAP. XVII Of Repentance It s Original its Nature it is a Purgative Vertue It s necessity its Excellencies The measure of that sorrow which is due to Sin is intollerable to Sense confessed by Reason and dispensed with by mercy REPENTANCE is a Sowre and austere Kind of Vertue that was not created nor intended by GOD but introduced by Sin made fair by Mercy in remitting the offence and pardoning the Sin It is a Strange Kind of off-spring which flows from Parents so infinitely different and has a mixture in its Nature answerable to either an Evil which it derives from Sin and a Goodness which flows from Mercy It s Evil is that of Sorrow Indignation and Shame Its Goodness is the usefulness and necessity of the thing considering the Condition we are now in It is highly ingrateful to Sence but transcendently convenient and amiable to Reason for it is impossible for him that has once been defiled with sin ever to be cleansed or to live after in a Vertuous manner unless he be so ingenious as to lament his Crime as to loath acknowledge and detest his Error THE Union of the Soul and Body is mysterious but that Sin and Mercy should be united as Causes so infinitely different for the production of a Child so Black and so Beautiful is the Greattest Wonder which the Soul can contemplate on this side Heaven and will continue to be remembred for ever and appear more Wonderful than before when the perfect Disparity and Opposition between them is clearly seen in the Light of Glory THE Efficient Cause of Repentance is either Remote or Immediate It s immediate Efficient Cause is the Gracious Inclination or the Will of the Penitent its remote Efficient is GOD the Father of Lights from which every Good and Perfect Gift descended It s Material Cause is Sorrow It s Formal Cause which makes it a Vertue is the Reason and Manner of that Sorrow the Equity and Piety wherewith it is attended containing many ingredients in its Nature too long a particular to be described here It s Final Cause is either immediate or ultimate the first is Amendment the last Salvation BEING thus bounded by its Causes its Definition is Easie Repentance is a Grace or Christian Vertue wherein a man confesses hates and forsakes his Sin with Grief that he hath been Guilty of it and purposes of Amendment of Life in Order to His Peace and Reconciliation with GOD that he may answer the Obligations that lye upon him discharge his Duty lay hold on the Advantages of GODS Mercy escape everlasting Damnation and be made a Partaker of Eternal Glory AMONG the Vertues some are Purgative and some are Perfective The Purgative Vertues are all Preparatory to Bliss and are occasioned only by the Disorder of the Soul the perfective are Essential to our formal Happiness and Eternally necessary by the Law of Nature Repentance is not in its own Nature If Simply and absolutely considered necessary to Bliss But in Relation to Sinners it is as necessary as Physick to the Recovery of Health or as the Change it self is by which we pass from the Distemper we are Sick of to the right and Sound Estate which we had lost by the Disease As the malady is accidental so is the Cure For the Nature of Man may be well and perfect without either this or the other He that is originally pure has no need of a Purgative Vertue but he that is faln defiled musts needs rise and wash away the filth before he can be clean FOR this Cause even among the Heathens themselves the more Knowing and Learned have a Conscience of Sin their Priests and Philosophers devised several Rites and Manners of Purgation which they taught and imposed on their Disciples with much Circumstance and Ceremony in order to their Reception Nor was there any Temple or Religion in the World that pretended not something to Diviner Mysteries Which were graced beautified
all things mightst see him This is the Good of GOD his Vertue is this to appear and be seen in all Things This is the bottom of all other Greatnesses whatsoever GOD is infinitely communicative infinitely prone to reveal himself infinitely Wise and able to do it He hath made the Soul on purpose that it might see him And if the Eye that was made for the World being so little a ball of Earth and Water can take in all and see all that is visible if the sight of the Eye be present with all it beholdeth much more is the Soul both able to see and to be present with all that is Divine and Eternal I know very well that a Man divided from GOD is a weak inconsiderable Creature as the Eye is if divided from the Body and without the Soul but united to GOD a Man is a transcendent and Celestial thing GOD is his Life his Greatness his Power his Blessedness and Perfection And as the Apostle saith He that is joyned to the Lord is one SPIRIT His Omnipresence and Eternity fill the Soul and make it able to contain all Heights and Depths and Lengths and Breadths whatsoever And it is the desire of the Soul to be filled with all the fulness of GOD. Magnanimous desires are the natural results of a Magnanimous Capacity The desire of being like Gods knowing Good and Evil was the destruction of the World Not as if it were unlawful to desire to be Like GOD but to aspire to the Perfection in a forbidden way was unlawful By Disobedience and by following our own Inventions by seeking to the Creature to the stock of a Tree to make us Like GOD that is erroneous and poor and despicable but to know our selves and in the strait and divine Way to come immediately to GOD to contemplate him in his Eternity and Glory is a right and safe Way for the Soul will by that means be the Sphere of is Omnipresence and the Temple of the God-head It will become ETERNITY as Trismegistus speaketh or ONE SPIRIT with God as the Apostle And then it must needs be present with all things in Heaven and in the Earth and in the Sea as GOD is for all things will be in it as it were by Thoughts and Intellections A Magnanimous Soul then if we respect its Capacity is an immovable sphere of Power and Knowledge far greater than all Worlds by its Vertue and Power passing through all things through the Centre of the Earth and through all Existencies And shall such a Creature as this be contented with Vanities and Trlfles Straws and Feathers painted Butterflies Hobby-horses and Rattles These are the Treasures of little Children but you will say a Man delighteth in Purses of Gold and Cabinets of Jewels in Houses and Palaces in Crowns and Scepters Add Kingly Delights and say he delighteth in Armies and Victories and Triumphs and Coronations These are great in respect of Play-things But all these are feeble and pusillanimous to a great Soul As Scipio was going up to Heaven the Earth it self seemed but a Nutshel and he was ashamed of all his Victories and Triumhs amazed at his madness in Quarrelling and fighting about Territories and Kingdoms contracted to a Star and lost into nothing the whole Earth is but one invisible Point when a man foareth to the height of Immensity and beholdeth and compasseth its everlasting Circumference which is infinite every way beyond the Heavens It is the true and proper Immensity of the Soul Which can no more be contented with the narrow confinement of this World no more rest in the Childishness of all the noise of the Interests of Men be no more satisfied with its Earthly Glories than the SUN can be shut up in a Dark-Lanthorn It is true indeed it would desire to see as the Angels do the least and lowest of all the Creatures full of the Glory and Blessedness of GOD all Wisdom and Goodness in every thing and is apt to complain for want of some eternal and Celestial Light wherein to behold them but if all the expansions of Time and Eternity should be void and all the extents and out-goings of Infinity empty round about them though things upon Earth nay and things in the Heavens should be never so Rich and divine and beautiful yet such is the Magnanimity of a Great Soul that it would hugely be displeased its loss and its distaste would be alike Infinite Infinite Honours infinite Treasures infinite Enjoyments things endless in number value and excellency are the Objects of its Care and Desire the greatness of its Spirit leads it to consider and enquire whether all the spaces above the Heavens and all the parts of GOD's everlasting Kingdom be full of Joyes whether there be any end or bound of his Kingdom whether ther there be any defect or miscarriage any blemish or disorder in it any vile and common thing any remissness or neglect any cause of complaint or deformity As also whether all the Ages of the World are Divine and Sacred whether after they are gone they abide in their places whether there be anything in them to entertain the Powers of the Soul with delight and feed them with satisfaction What end what use what excellency there is in Men Whether all the waies of GOD are full of beauty and perfection all Wisdom Justice Holiness Goodness Love and Power What Regions eternal Blessedness is seated in What Glory what Reason what Agreeableness and Harmony is in all his Counsels Whether those durations of Eternity before the World is made are full or empty full of bright and amiable Objects or dark and obscure Whether the government of the World be perfect whether the Soul be Divine in it self whether it be conducive to its own felicity or to the happiness of all those in whom it is concerned Whether the World shall end If it shall after what manner whether by Design or Accident Whether All Ages and Nations shall rise from the Dead Whether there shall be a general Doom or a day of Judgment Whether I am concerned in all the transactions and passages at that day Whether all Mankind shall be united into one to make up one compleat and perfect Body whereof they all are the fellow-Members What shall be after the End of the VVorld Whether we shall live for ever Whether we shall see GOD and know one another Whether we shall reign in eternal Glory Whether in the Confusions of Hell there be any Beauty and whether in the Torments of the damned we shall find any joy or satisfaction Whether all the Riches Customs and Pleasures of this World shall be seen Whether in the World to come any fruit shall appear and arise from them for which they shall be esteemed to have been not in vain but profitable in relation to all Eternity What kind of Life we shall lead and what kind of Communion and fellowship Angels and Men shall have with each other
which is taken in the communication of our Bounties And in this there is founded a certain sympathy of Delight which carries us to feel and be affected with anothers Joy and makes it an Object and a Caufe of ours nay almost the very Form aud Essence of ours when we are the Authors of it A Grateful Soul holds Intelligence with GOD as it receives his Bounties it delights in his Complacencies THE great effect of Obligation and Gratitude is Amity and Communion A Grateful Soul is deeply concerned in the Honour of his Benefactor in his Benefactors Pleasure Life and Safety in all his Successes Prosperities Advancements in all his Felicity and Glory He is afflicted in all his Afflictions he is delighted in all his Enjoyments he is crowned in all his Promotions he is wronged and injured in all his Affronts he is touched with the least Displeasure that can befal him Nay he is more tender of his Benefactors Repose than his own The apple of his Eye is the tenderest part in himself yet he had rather have it touched than the Person of his Benefactor No wounds can wound him more than those which his Benefactor receiveth and he in him His own wounds may kill his Body but these destroy his Contentment A thousand Injuries and Calumnics against himself he can forgive and is never provoked but when his Friend is offended He slights himself and prefers his Benefactor He would make his Face a Stepping stone to his Benefactors Glory He exposes his body to Swords and Spears and Arrows for his Benefactors safety He would rather be torn to pieces and suffer a thousand Deaths than permit his Benefactor to be slain or dishonoured Now all this in time of Trial and distress would seem disadvantagious But besides the Obligation there is Sence of Honour that compâ—â—â— a man thereunto and a certain beauty in the act of Gratitude distinct from the goodness of the Benefit that is so naturally sweet to the goodness of the Soul that it is better to die than renounce it And a certain Baseness on the other side an odiousoess in Ingratitude in the very act so abominable that it blasts any Safety and Repose that can be gotten by it WHERE the Benefits are small the Vertue of Gratitude is less powerful and perfect for its strength depends upon its food and nourishment A thin and spare diet is not very healthful for it Though all the benefits that are done upon the Earth by Men to Men are infinitely mean if compared to those which the Godhead does to the least of his Creatures yet the World is full of the praise of this Vertue and an Ingrateful man is the most hateful Object living Former Ages afford us many rare and glorious Examples of the power of Gratitude and its sacred Zeal for and tenderness of its Object The union between the Body and the Soul is nothing comparable to the union of Love and its Beloved though the Causes are but slight upon which it is founded The Soul will often forsake its mansion to dwell with its beloved It esteems all its beauties and Members only for its Beloloveds sake Yet Colours and Features a little red and white a sparkling Eye a brisk Conversation and a delectable Humor are all that breed it all that produce this mighty effect this prodigy of Nature There is something more where the Life and Honour of a man has been saved by the kindness of a Benefactor especially if he be rich and amiable that has delivered us If he be great and honourable that was the Author of the benefit the obligation is the greater For the Worth of the Person enters into the nature of the act and enhances its value Yet all this put together is exceeded by the Gratitude of a worthy Soul because his own Worth inclines him to be more Generous than the Cause requires and to magnifie the benefit by the mighty addition of his own goodness It is the natural property of Goodness to communicate it self any occasion of doing it is instead of a Cause But when there is a Cause it is like a spark to Powder it enkindles a flame in his Inclination All acts of Gratitude have a great deal of sweetness in their own nature and for the sake of that beauty which is seated in themselves will not be rigorous and exact in their proportions since it is a beautiful thing to exceed in Goodness It s own disposition prompts it to do more than is deserved by the Kindness it receives and if not to conceive it self more obliged than it is yet to be more honourable in its Returns than the meer goodness of its Benefactor can exact because it conceives it self by its own Vertue obliged to be Noble and Munificent in all its acknowledgments BUT however slow Gratitude may be in the Returns which it maketh for smaller benefits it is infinitely prone to exceed all measure when it is infinitely obliged Praises are not fed by mean Contentments but by sublime ones The acknowledgment is cool where the benefits are small and the Contentments imperfect where they are limited and restrained Full Satisfaction hath another kind of influence on the Soul of Man than single Kindnesses or some few particular Supplies An infinite Bliss produces more vigorous and joyful efforts than bare Acknowledgments Here upon Earth there are disquiets and destres and expectations and Complaints and defects and imperfections fears and interests to be still secured that lame and darken our Contentment and Gratitude But in Heaven all these admixtures of alloy are remov'd The glory of the light in which our Gratitude appeareth adds lustre and beauty to the increase of its Perfection In the utmost height of our Satisfaction there is such an infinite and eternal force that our Gratitude breaks out in exulting and triumphing Effusions all our Capacities Inclinations and Desires being fully satisfied we have nothing else to do but to Love and be Grateful An infinite and eternal Kingdom given to him that was taken out of Nothing by a King that is infinite in greatness and beauty all his Joyes and all his Treasures it makes the Soul a fountain of Delights whole nature is to receive no more but overflow for ever When the Soul cometh once to love GOD so infinitely above it self as the cause requireth its only delight is to magnifie him and to see him blessed The beauty and sweetness of its own Gratitude is as rich and divine as all his Gifts It is tempted here infinitely more to exceed its Causes than ever before Amazements Admirations Affections Praises Hallelujahs Raptures Extasies and Blessings are all its delights The pleasure of Loving is its only business it is turned all into flame and brightness and transportation and excess It infinitely passes Light and Fire in quickness and motion all Impediments are devoured and GOD alone is its Life and Glory The more Great the more high the more excellent he is the more
Vertue By Vertue the Creation is made useful and the Universe delightful All the Works of GOD are crowned with their End by the Glory of Vertue For whatsoever is good and profitable for Men is made Sacred because it is delightful and well-pleasing to GOD Who being LOVE by Nature delighteth in his Creatures welfare There are two sorts of concurrent Actions necessary to Bliss Actions in GOD and Actions in Men nay and Actions too in all the Creatures The Sun must warm but it must not burn the Earth must bring forth but not swallow up the Air must cool without starving and the Sea moisten without drowning Meats must feed but not poyson Rain must fall but not oppress Thus in the inferiour Creatures you see Actions are of several kinds But these may be reduced to the Actions of GOD from whom they spring for he prepares all these Creatures for us And it is necessary to the felicity of his Sons that he should make all things healing and amiable not odious and destructive that he should Love and not Hate And the Actions of Men must concur aright with these of GOD and his Creatures They must not despise Blessings because they are given but esteem them not trample them under feet because they have the benefit of them but magnifie and extol them They too must Love and not Hate They must not kill and murther but serve and pleasure one another they must not scorn great and inestimable Gifts because they are common for so the Angels would lose all the happiness of Heaven If GOD should do the most great and glorious things that infinite Wisdom could devise if Men will resolve to be blind and perverse and sensless all will be in vain the most High and Sacred things will increase their Misery This may give you some little glimpse of the excellency of Vertue You may easily discern that my Design is to reconcile Men to GOD and make them fit to delight in him and that my last End is to celebrate his Praises in communion with the Angels Wherein I beg the Concurrence of the Reader for we can never praise him enough nor be fit enough to praise him No other man at least can make us so without our own willingness and endeavour to do it Above all pray to be sensible of the Excellency of the Creation for upon the due sense of its Excellency the life of Felicity wholly dependeth Pray to be sensible of the Excellency of Divine Laws and of all the Goodness which your Soul comprehendeth Covet a lively sense of all you know of the Excellency of GOD and of Eternal Love of your own Excellency and of the worth and value of all Objects whatsoever For to feel is as necessary as to see their Glory The Contents CHAP. I. OF the End for the sake of which Vertue is desired Chap. II. Of the Nature of Felicity its excellency and perfection Chap. III. Of Vertue in general The distribution of it into its several kinds It s definition Chap. IV. Of the Powers and Affections of the Soul What Vertues pertain to the estate of Innocency what to the estate of Grace what to the estate of Glory Chap. V. Of the necessity excellency and use of Knowledge Its depths and extents its Objects and its End Chap. VI. Of Love and Hatred The necessity and sweetness of Love It s general use and efficacy The several kinds of Love Of the power inclination and act of Love its extent and capacity Chap. VII What benefit GOD himself does receive by his eternal Love That when our Love is made compleat and perfect it will be like his and the benefit of it will be eternal Chap. VIII Of the excellency of Truth as it is the object and cause of Vertue The matter and form of Vertuous Actions That their form is infinitely more excellent than their matter and the Heathen Morality infinitely defective and short of the Christian. Chap. IX Wisdom is seated in the Will it attaineth best of all possible Ends by the best of all possible Means Chap. X. Of Righteousness how Wisdom Justice and right Reason are shut up in its Nature What God doth and what we acquire by the exercise of this Vertue Chap. XI Of Goodness natural moral and divine its Nature described The benefits and Works of Goodness Chap. XII Of Holiness Its nature violence and pleasure It s beauty consisteth in the infinite love of Righteousness and Perfection Chap. XIII Of Justice in general and particular The great good it doth in Empires and Kingdoms a token of the more retired good it doth in the Soul It s several kinds That Gods punitive Justice springs from his Goodness Chap. XIV Of Mercy The indelible stain and guilt of Sin Of the Kingdom which God recovered by Mercy The transcendent nature of that duty with its effects and benefits Chap. XV. Of Faith The faculty of Believing implanted in the Soul Of Nature its Objects are The necessity of Faith Its end its use and excellency It is the Mother and fountain of all the Vertues Chap. XVI Of Hope It s foundation its distinction from Faith its extents and dimensions its life and vigour its several kinds its sweetness and excellency Chap. XVII Of Repentance It s original its nature it is a purgative Vertue its necessity its excellencies The measure of that sorrow which is due to Sin is intollerable to Sence confessed by Reason and dispensed with by Mercy Chap. XVIII Of Charity towards God It sanctifieth Repentance makes it a Vertue and turns it to a part of our true Felicity Our Love to all other objects is to begin and end in God Our Love of God hath an excellency in it that makes it worthy to be desired by his eternal Majesty He is the only supream and perfect Friend by Loving we enjoy him Chap. XIX Charity to our Neighbour most natural and easie in the estate of Innocency Adams Love to Eve and his Children a great exemplar of our Love to all the World The sweetness of Loving The benefits of being Beloved To love all the World and to be beloved by all the World is perfect security and felicity Were the Law fulfilled all the World would be turned into Heaven Chap. XX. Of Prudence It s foundation is Charity its end tranquility and prosperity on Earth its office to reconcile Duty and Convenience and to make Vertue subservient to Temporal welfare Of Prudence in Religion Friendship and Empire The end of Prudence is perfect Charity Chap. XXI Encouragements to Courage It s Nature cause and end It s greatness and renown Its ornaments and Companions Its objects circumstances effects and disadvantages how Difficulties increase its vertue Its Victories and Triumphs How subservient it is to Blessedness and Glory Chap. XXII Of Temperance in matters of Art as Musick Dancing Painting Cookery Physick c. In the works of Nature Eating drinking sports and recreations In occasions of passion in our lives
and Conversations It s exercise in Self-denial measure mixture and proportion Its effects and atchievments Chap. XXIII Of Temperance in God How the Moderation of Almighty Power guided in his Works by Wisdom perfecteth the Creation How it hath raised its own Glory and our Felicity beyond all that simple Power could effect by its Infiniteness Chap. XXIV Of Patience It s original How God was the first patient Person in the World The nature and the glory and the blessed effects of his eternal Patience The Reason and design of all Calamities Of Patience in Martyrdom The extraordinary reward of ordinary Patience in its meanest obscurity Chap. XXV The cause of Meekness is Love It respects the future beauty and perfection of its object It is the most supernatural of all the Vertues The reasons and grounds of this Vertue in the estate of Grace and Misery It s manifold effects and excellenlencies Of the Meekness of Moses and Joseph Chap. XXVI Humility is the basis of all Vertue and Felicity in all estates and for ever to be exercised As Pride does alienate the Soul from God Humility unites it to him in adoration and amity It maketh infinite Blessedness infinitely greater is agreeable to the truth of our condition and leads us through a dark and mysterious way to Glory Chap. XXVII That Contentment is a Vertue Its causes and its ends Its Impediments Effects and Advantages The way to attain and secure Contentment Chap. XXVIII Of Magnanimity or greatness of Soul Its nature It s foundation in the vast Capacity of the Understanding It s desire Its objects are infinite and eternal Its enquiries are most profound and earnest It disdaineth all feeble Honours Pleasures and Treasures A Magnanimous Man is the only Great and undaunted Creature Chap. XXIX Of Modesty It s nature It s original Its effects and consequences Chap. XXX The excellent nature of Liberality Rules to be observed in the practice of it Regard to our Servants Relations Friends and Neighbours must be had in our Liberality as well as to the Poor and Needy How our external acts of Charity ought to be improved for the benefit of mens Souls Liberality maketh Religion real and substantial Chap. XXXI Of Magnificence in God Its resemblance in Man The chief Magnificence of the Soul is Spiritual It is perfectly expressed in the outward life when the whole is made perfect and presented to God God gives all his Life to us and we should give ours all to him How fair and glorious it may be Chap. XXXII Of Gratitude It feeds upon Benefits and is in height and fervour answerable to their Greatness The Question stated Whether we are able to love GOD more than our selves It is impossible to be grateful to GOD without it A hint of the glorious Consequences of so doing Chap. XXXIII The Beauty of Gratitude It s principal Causes Amity and Communion are the great effect of its Nature The true Character of a grateful Person Gods incommunicable Attributes enjoyed by Gratitude All Angels and Men are a grateful Persons Treasures as they assist him in Praises He sacrifices all Worlds to the Deity and supreamly delighteth to see him sitting in the Throne of Glory An APPENDIX Of Enmity and Triumph Of Schism and Heresie Fidelity Devotion Godliness Wherein is declared how Gratitude and Felicity inspire and perfect all the Vertues To the Reader The Author 's much lamented Death hapning immediately after this Copy came to the Press may reasonably move the Readers charity to pardon those few Errata's which have escaped in the Printing by so sad an occasion CHRISTIAN ETHICKS OR DIVINE MORALITIE Opening The Way to Blessedness By The rules of Virtue and Reason CHAP. I. Of the End for the sake of which Virtue is desired IT is the Prerogative of Humane Nature to understand it self and guide its Operations to a Known End which he doth wholly forfeit that lives at random without considering what is worthy of his Endeavors or fit for his Desires THE End is that which crowns the Work that which inspires the Soul with Desire and Desire with a quick and vigorous Industry It is last attained but first intended in every Operation All Means which can be used in the Acquisiton of it derive their value from its Excellency and we are encouraged to use them only on the Account of that End which is attained by them IT is the Office of Morality to teach Men the Nature of Virtue and to encourage them in the Practice of it by explaining its use and Efficacy THE Excellence of Virtue is the Necessity and Efficacy thereof in the Way to Felicity It consisteth in this Virtue is the only Means by which Happiness can be obtained SINCE the Consideration of the End is that alone which does animate a Man to the use of the Means they that treat of Virtue do worthily propose the End in the beginning and first shew the Excellency of Bliss before they open the Nature of Virtue For it is a vain thing to discover the Means unless the End be desired by those to whom the Nature and use of them in their tendency to that End is taught and commended for if the End be despised all endeavors are but fruitless which instruct us in the Means and the Knowledge of them vain if they never be used or improved THAT Reason whereby Man is able to Contemplate his End is a singular Advantage wherein he is priviledged above a Beast It enables him not only to examine the Nature and perfection of his End but the Equity and fitness of the Means in Order thereunto and the singular Excellency of his first Cause as its Glory and Goodness appeareth in the Design and Contrivance Especially in making mans Happiness so compleat and perfect THE Heathens who invented the name of Ethicks were very short in the Knowledge of Mans End But they are worse then Heathens that never consider it THE more Excellent the End is the more prone by nature we are to pursue it and all the Means conducive thereunto are the more Desirable REASON which is the formal Essence of the Soul of Man guides Him to desire those Things which are absolutely supreme For it is an Eternal Property in Reason to prefer the Better above the Worse He that prefers the worse above â—he Better acts against Nature and â—wervs from the Rule of Right Reason WHATEVER Varieties of Opinion there are concerning Happiness all conclude and agree in this that Mans last End is his perfect Happiness And the more Excellent his Happiness is the more ought his Soul to be enflamed with the Desire of it and inspired with the greater Industry THE more perfect his Bliss is the greater is the Crime of despising it To pursue an infinite and Eternal Happiness is Divine and Angelical to pursue a Terrene and Sensual Felicity is Brutish but to place Felicity in Anger and Envy is Diabolical the pleasures of Malice being Bitter and Destructive TO
in which no Defect or Blemish can be discerned perfect in the variety and Number of its Powers in the fitness and Measure of every power in the use and value of every Endowment A perfect Soul is that whereunto nothing can be added to please our Deâ—â—re As all its Objects are perfect so 〈◊〉 it self It is able to see all that is to be seen to love all that is Lovely to hate all that is Hateful to desire all that is Desirable to honour all that is Honorable to esteem all that can be valued to delight in all that is Delightful and to enjoy all that is Good and fit to be enjoyed If its Power did fall short of any one Object or of any one Perfection in any Object or of any Degree in any Perfection it would be imperfect it would not be the Master piece of Eternal Power PERFECT life is the full exertion of perfect power It implies two things Perfection of Vigour and perfection of intelligence an activity of life reaching through all Immensity to all Objects whatsoever and a freedome from all Dulness in apprehending An exquisite Tenderness of perception in feeling the least Object and a Sphere of activity that runs parallel with the Omnipresence of the Godhead For if any Soul lives so imperfectly as to see and know but some Objects or to love them remisly and less then they deserve its Life is imperfect because either it is remisse or if never so fervent confined PERFECT Fruition as it implieâ— the Perfection of all objects more nearly imports the intrinsick Perfection oâ— it s own Operations For if its Object be never so many and perfect in themselves a Blemish lies upon the Enjoyment if it does not reach unto all their Excellence If the Enjoyment of one Object be lost or one Degree of the enjoyment abated it is imperfect PERFECT Vertue may best be understood by a consideration of its Particulars Perfect Knowledg is a thorow compleat understanding of all that may be Known Perfect Righteousness is a full and adequate Esteem of all the value that is in Things It is a Kind of Spiritual Justice whereby we do Right to our selves and to all other Beings If we render to any Object less than it deserves we are not Just thereunto Perfect Wisdome is that whereby we chuse a most perfect end actualy pursue it by most perfect Means acquire and enjoy it in most perfect manner If we pitch upon an inferiour end our Wisdom is imperfect and so it is if we pursue it by feeble and inferior Means or neglect any one of those Advantages whereby we may attain it And the same may be said of all the Vertues NOW if all Objects be infinitely Glorious and all Worlds fit to be enjoyed if GOD has filled Heaven and earth and all the Spaces above the Heavens with innumerable pleasures if his infinite Wisdome Goodness and Power be fully Glorified in every Being and the Soul be created to enjoy all these in most perfect Manner we may well conclude with the Holy Apostle that we are the children of GOD and if Children then Heirs Heirs of GOD and joynt heirs with Christ if so be that we suffer with him that we may also be glorified together That our light Affliction that is but for a Moment worketh out for us a far more exceeding and eternal Weight of Glory That beholding as in a Glass the Glory of the Lord we shall at last be transformed into the same Image from Glory to Glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. For all his Works of which the Psalmist saith They are worthy to be had in remembrance and are sought out of all them that have pleasure therein are like a Mirror wherein his Glory appeareth as the face of the Sun doth in a clear fountain We may conclude further that Vertue by force of which we attain so great a Kingdome is infinitely better then Rubies all the Things thou canst desire are not to be compared to her So that with unspeakable comfort we may take Courage to go on not only in the study but the Practice of all kind of Vertues concerning which we are to treat in the ensuing Pages For as the Apostle Peter telleth us He hath given to us all things that pertain to Life and Godliness through the Knowledge of him that hath called us to Glory and virtue whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious Promises that by these you might be Partakers of the Divine Nature having escaped the Corruption that is in the World through List. And besides this saith he giving all diligence adde to your Faith vertue and to vertue knowledge and to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness Charity For so an Entrance shall be Ministred to you abundantly into 〈◊〉 everlasting Kingdome of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Which Kingdom being so Divine and Glorious as it is we have need to bow our Knees to the GOD and father of our Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole Family in Heaven and Earth is named that he would grant us according to the Riches of his Glory to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inward Man that Christ may dwell in our Hearts by Faith that we being rooted and grounded in Love may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the Breadth and Length and Depth and Height and to know the love of Christ which passeth Knowledg that we may be filled with all the fulness of GOD. TO be Partaker of the Divine nature to be filled with all the Fulness of GOD to enter into his Kingdom and Glory to be transformed into his Image and made an Heir of GOD and a joynt Heir with Christ to live in Union and Communion with GOD and to be made a Temple of the Holy Ghost these are Divine and transcendent things that accompany our Souls in the Perfection of their Bliss and Happiness the Hope and Belief of all which is justified and made apparent by the explanation of the very nature of the Soul its Inclinations and Capacities the reality and greatness of those Vertues of which we are capable and all those objects which the Univers affordeth to our Contemplation CHAP. III. Of Vertue in General The Distribution of it into its several Kinds its Definition BEfore we come to treat of particular Vertues it is very fit that we speak something of VERTUE in General VERTUE is a comprehensive Word by explaining which we shall make the way more easy to the right Understanding of all those particular Vertues into which it is divided Forasmuch as the Nature of Vertue enters into knowledge Faith Hope Charity Prudence Courage Meekness Humility Temperance Justice Liberality c. Every one of these hath its essence opened in part by the explication of that which entreth its Nature which is VERTUE in General THE Predicament of
naked another when attired and capable of being modified with several Habits so are the Powers and Faculties of the Soul As they are in the Nature of Man without Exercise they are void and Naked But by many acts of Vice or Vertue they put on a Habit which seems chiefly to consist in an Inclination and Tendency to such Actions a Facility of Working an Aquaintance with them a Love to them and a Delight in them For by long Custome it turns to a second Nature and becomes at last as Necessary as Life it self a confirmed Habit being taken in and incorporated with the Powers of the Soul by frequent exercise 2. IN the second Definition we add that Vertue is a right and well ordered Habit. A Habit is something added to that which wears it and every Power of the Soul is naked without the Quality wherewith long Custom cloaths it Much of the Formal Reason of Vertue is shut up in those Words Right and well ordered For confused irregular and careless Habits will be alwayes erroneous and Deformed and must consequently end in Dishonor and Miseries He must aim at the Mark that hits it for only those actions that are well guided produce right and well order'd Habits which right and well orderd Habits alone can carry us to our Sovereign end A Mind in Frame is a Soul clothed with Right Apprehensions Thoughts and affections well ordered Principles and Contrivances well proposed Means and Ends rationaly consulted all considered and the Best chosen Long Custom in uring us to the Benefit and Excellence of these disposes the Soul into a right and well ordered Habit or Frame of spirit which regards that Glorious End for which we were created BY force of which we attain our Happiness Idleness and vertue are as Destructive to each other as fire and water In all vertue there is some force and in all Force much action A vertuous Habit ceaseth to be virtuous unless it actually incline us to virtuous Operations As the Powers of the Soul when they are well exerted turn into Vertues so is it by that Exertion that we attain our Happiness Vertue is that right and well ordered Habit by force of which we attain our Happiness IT S force is never expressed but in exercise and operation Yet even when we are asleep it may tacitely incline us and make us ready when we awake to be Vertuous Perhaps the Habit Sleeps and awakes with the Body But if the Habit and its Energie be the same thing it still sleepeth when its energie ceaseth if they be Divers the Habit may continue for some time without the force of its Operation BUT not to Divert into Blind and Obscure Corners Whether the Soul of a man a sleep may be stiled Vertuous â—r no Whether the Habits continue in him at that time without their Acts is nothing to our purpose It is Sufficient that when he is awake he that hath a Vertuous Habit is in all his Actions inclined and Carried to his own Felicity unless he falls into an oblivion worse than Sleep because without some such Damnable and vicious Lethargy he is always mindful of his Last End and tends towards it in a Direct Line ALL his Actions derive a Tincture from the first Principle that Habit of Soul by which he is carried toward his own Felicity All those Actions that Spring from that Habit tend to Bliss and by force of that Habit are made Vertuous and with facility performed ALL the Difficulty is in the Begnining Vertues in the beginning are like green fruits four and imperfect but their Maturity is accompanied with sweetness and delight It is hard to acquire a vertuous Habit at first but when it is once gotten it makes all Virtue exceeding Easie nor Easie alone but Happy and delightful For a virtuous Habit as certainly acts according to its own nature as the Sun shines which is light by Constitution It acts freely yet when it does Act it must needs act Vertuous and can do nothing else For it is no vertuous Habit but some other Principle that exerteth vicious and bad Operations HAPPINESSE is with so much Necessity the end of Vertue that we cannot take a Due Estimate of the Excellence of Vertue without considering the tendency which it has to Felicity For as the Means are extravagant and indeed no means that have no Relation nor Proportion to their End so would all the Vertues be inept and Worthless no Vertues if they did not in some Sort conduce to our Happiness For Happiness is the adequate End which by nature we seek Wether it be Glory or pleasure or He nor that we design or wealth or Learning all that is Delightful and Grateful to our reason is comprehended in our Happiness If we desire to glorifie GOD or to please the Angels or be grateful to men it is because we love our selves and delight in our own Happiness and conceit all those action whereby we so do either a Means or a part of it So that in the Partition and Distribution of Vertues we must take another Course to display their Glory by exhibiting them in such a prospect as that is wherein their Place and office will appear in their Tendency towards mans last End his Blessedness and Glory CHAP. IV. Of the Powers and Affections of the Soul What virtues pertain to the Estate of Innocency what to the Estate of Grace what to the estate of Glory TWO things in Felicity are apparent to the Eye Glory and Treasure and the Faculties of the soul do in a several manner affect both The Understanding was made to see the value of our Treasure and the freedome of Will to atcheive Glory to our actions Anger to stir us up against all Difficulty and opposition that might stand in our way Appetite to pursue the Pleasure in either Fear to heighten our concernment that we might more dread the danger of losing that Happiness wherein no less then Glory and Treasure are infinitely united Reason it self to compare Felicities and weigh which is the most perfect Desire to covet it Hope to encourage us in the pursuit of it Aversion for the avoiding of all Temptations and Impediments Love to the goodness of it Joy for its fruition Hatred to keep us from the Misery which is contrary thereunto Boldness to attempt it Sorrow and Despair to punish and torment us if we fail to attain it For these two being unpleasant affections serve to engage us in the pursuit of Happiness because we are loath to experience the Sence of such Troublesome passions AMBITION and Covetousness are Inclinations of the Soul by the one of which we are carried to Glory by the other to Treasure And as all the rest so may these be made either Vertues or Vices Vertues when they are Means conducive to the Highest end Vices when they distract and entangle us with inferior Objects THE Inclinations and affections of the Soul may be Defective or excessive in
their exercise towards Objects In relation to the Highest Object there is no danger of excess We can never too violently either love or desire our Supream Happiness our Hope can never exceed its greatness we can never too much rejoyce in the fruition of it Nor can we exceed in Anger or Hatred against those Things that would bereave us of it or too much fear the Misery of that Life which will be ever without it or be affected with too much Sorrow and Despair at the Losse of it But if we look upon inferior Things which are meerly Accidental to the nature of Feâ—icity such as the Favour of men Injuries Crosses Temporal successes the Beauty of the Body the goods of Fortune and such like our affections and passions may be too excessive because â—he good or evil of these is but finite whereas the Good of Sovereign Bliss is altogether infinite and so is the evil of Eternal Misery WHEN our own Actions are Reguâ—ar there is nothing in the World but may be made conducive to our highest Happiness Nor is there any value in any Object or Creature in the World but â—s it is Subservient to our Bliss No member of the Body no sence or endowment of any Member no Inclination or Faculty of the Soul no passion or affection no Vertue no Grace no Spiritual Gift no Assistance no Means of Grace nothing how great or Precious soever can be of any Value but in order to Felicity In real truth nothing without this can be Great or Estimable Every Vertue therefore must have this in common with all the Laws and Ordinances and Works of GOD they must all directly or Obliquely tend to our supreme Happiness upon this dependeth all their Excellency SOME Vertues are necessary in the Estate of Innocency some in the Estate of Grace some in the Estate of Glory WITHOUT seeing it is impossible to enjoy our Happiness or find out the Way unto it therefore is Knowledge necessary in all estates without Loving it is impossible to Delight in its Goodness The Office of Righteousness is to render to every Thing a Due esteem And without this it is apparent that no Treasure can be to us tho in it self never so great of any value Holiness is the conscience that we make of discharging our duty and the Zeal wherewith we avoid the Prophaness of its Contrary Goodness is necessary because we our selves cannot without that be Amiable nor unless we be Delightful to others enjoy our selves or acquire Glory The office of Wisdom is to chuse and pursue the Highest end by the Best of all means that can be chosen THESE are Transcendent Vertues whereby even GOD himself doth enjoy his Felicity They are incumbent on us by the Law of nature and so essentially united to our Formal Happiness that no Blessedness or Glory can be enjoyed without them Therefore are we to look upon them as the Life and Soul of Religion as Eternal Duties in all Estates for ever to be exercised They are all Exercised in the very fruition it selfe as will more apparently be seen when we come to every one of these Vertues in particular They were enjoyned in the Estate of Innocency without any need of a positive Law by the very nature of GOD and the Soul and of things themselves and must be exercised in the state of Grace and will abide for ever in the State of Glory THAT Vertues might be ours in being wrought by our selves and be Vertues indeed in being wrought with Difficulty that we might be so much the more Laudable and Glorious in our eternal Condition GOD gave us Liberty in the beginning that we might chuse what we would and placed us in such an Estate that having in us only the Seeds and Principles of all Vertue we might exercise our natural Powers of our own Accord for the Attainment of that actual Knowledge Wisdom and Righteousness wherein the Perfection of our soul consisteth and by which the Perfection of our Bliss is to be enjoyed That being Naked by Nature tho Pure and clean we might cloath our selves with our own Habits attain the Glory of those Ornaments in our own Acts for which we were created And work our own Righteousness in such a Way as GOD had appointed FOR the Glory which we were to attain is that Goodness which we are to shew in our own voluntary Care and obedience and that Goodness is chiefly expressed in the kind and Genuine Exercise of our own Liberty while we are tender of Displeasing him to whom we are Obliged and so Good as to gratifie his Desires tho we had no restraint upon us TO make our selves amiable and beautiful by the Exercise of our own Power produces another kind of Beauty and Glory than if we were compelled to be good by all his preventing Power All Goodness is spoiled by Compulsion Our own Actions springing from an interiour Fountain deep within the Soul when voluntarily and freely exerted are more acceptable and the Will whence they spring is more excellent and perfect This I would have you to note well for the intrinsick Goodness and Glory of the Soul consists in the Perfection of an excellent Will and without this it might be a piece of Dirt surrounded with Gold but no imputed or annexed value could make it a Jewel THE Actions of GOD or of the Angels or of other men towards it add no value to the Soul if it will do nothing of it self If it be Idle or unactive the more excellent the Actions of GOD and of all other Creatures are towards it so much the more deformed and perverse is the Soul nor will all the Glory of its Powers and Inclinations excuse it but the more Great and Divine they are the more abominable will it make it self by abusing them in frustrating their Inclinations FOR the removing of all Constraint and the infusing of greater Excellency and Beauty into these holy Actions which he required from them it pleased GOD to make Men obnoxious to Temptations that having obstacles to overcome and disadvantages to strugle with Mans Righteousness might be more full of Vertue and himself made capable of Victory and Triumph For this End he seated him in a low Estate even in an Estate of Trial wherein was the Occasion of Exercising Faith and Hope because his Felicity was distant from him Faith in believing the Promises of God and Hope in waiting for the Accomplishment of his Bliss He had Occasions for Fear also in in relation to Gods Power and Justice who was able to remove his Happiness upon the least offence and to bring upon him that Misery that was denounced for his Transgression In this Estate of Trial Prudence which is conversant in nice Affairs was to watch and consider and direct his Behaviour in the midst of those Dangers and Temptations that might possibly be expected His Temperance was to be exercised in the Government of his Appetite so that all inferiour
when we see all these Virtues in their several Places and Offices their Objects and their Uses the Ends for which and the occasions on which they were introduced all are Delightful to the Reason of mans Soul and highly Eligible while GOD is adored and admired for the depth of his Wisdom and Goodness and beloved for the Equity and Excellency of his Proceedings For all these Occasional Vertues are but Temporary when our Life and this present World are past and gone as a Dream Love and Joy and Gratitude will be all that will continue for ever in which Estate Wisdom and Knowledge Goodness and Righteousness and True Holiness shall abide as the Life and Glory into which the Souls of all that are Blessed will be transformed Repentance shall be gone and Patience cease Faith and Hope be swallowed up in fruition Right Reason be extended to all Objects in all Worlds and Eternity in all its Beauties and Treasures seen desired esteemed enjoyed Let it be your Care to dive to the Bottom of true Religion and not suffer your Eyes to be Dazled with its Superficial Appearance Rest not in the Helps and Remedies that it bringeth but search for the Hidden Manna the substantial Food underneath the Satisfaction of all Wishes and Desires the true and Coelestial Pleasures the Causes of Love and Praise and Thanksgiving founded in the Manifestations of Gods Eternal favour especially in the Ends for the sake of which all Helps and Remedies are prepared For it is exceeding true that his Laws are Sweeter then the Hony and the Hony Comb and far more precious then thousands of Gold and Silver CHAP. V. Of the Necessity Excellency and Use of Knowledge its Depths and Extents its Objects and its End KNOWLEDGE and Love are so necessary to Felicity that there can be no Enjoyment or Delight without them Heaven and Earth would be Dark and obscure Angels and Men vain and unprofitable all the Creatures base and unserviceable Felicity impossible were there no Knowledge Nay GOD himself without Knowledge and Love could not well exist for his very Essence is seated in infinite Knowledge GOD is Light and in him is no Darkness at all He is Love by nature and there is no hatred in his Essence His very Godhead is all Perfection by the infinite Knowledge and Love in his Nature THE Original of our Knowledge is his Godhead His Essence and his will are the Fountain of it and the stream so excellent that in all Estates it is for ever to be continued as the Light and Glory of the whole Creation THE understanding Power which is seated in Soul is the Matter of that Act wherein the Essence of Knowledge consisteth Its form is the Act it self whereby that Power of knowing apprehendeth its Object IT S nature is invisible like that of all other Spirits so simple and uncompounded that its form and matter are the same For all Powers when transformed into Act are Acts themselves And the faculty of understanding in a Compleat and Perfect Act of Knowledge attains its Perfection and is Power exerted or an Act in its Exercise For every Act is Power exerted THE Power of Knowing is vain if not reduced into Act and the Soul a melancholly and Dreadful Cave or Dungeon of Darkness if void of Knowledge Had GOD himself a Power of Knowing Distinct from its Operation if he never exercised that Power it would be useless to him His Glory and Blessedness are seated in the Light of that Knowledge whichto us upon Earth appeaeth Inaccessible IF we would be perfect as our Father which is in Heaven is perfect our Power of knowing must be transformed into Act and all Objects appear in the interior Light of our own understanding For tho all Eternity were full of Treasures and the Whole World and all the Creatures in it transformed into Joys and our Interest to all never so perfect yet if we are Ignorant of them we shall continue as poor and Empty as if there were nothing but Vacuity and Space For not to be and not to appear are the same thing to the understanding WERE a Man a Seraphim by his Essence or something by nature more Glorious and Divine then the Highest Order of the most Blessed Angels nay the greatest Creature that Almighty power was able to produce his Soul and Body would signifie nothing if he were unknown to himself and were not aware of his Excellence IF you would have a solid Prospect of any Vertue you must understand that Vertues are Powers transformed into right wise and regular Acts avoiding all extremes of remissness on the one hand and excess on the other The Extreams of Knowledge are Ignorance and Error FOR ought you know Heaven and Earth are as full of Treasures as Almighty Power was able to create them and you by Nature the best and highest of all possible Creatures made like GOD for the highest and best of all possible Ends and called to live in Communion with him in all his fruitions but being vilely corruptted you have lost the sence of all these Realities and are ignorant of the Excellences of your own Estate and Nature I am sure that GOD is infinite in Wisedom Goodness and Power and nothing is wanting on his Part to perfect your Desires But yet you may be blind and idle and ignorant and dead in a manner while you are wanting to your self and have need of nothing but clear and perfect apprehensions but because they are Sottish and Erroneous at present they may make you miserable and Poor and Blind and Naked IF Sin had been like Circe's Cup and changed the shape of Mans Body to that of a Swine or Dragon the Depravation of his Nature had been plain and visible yet without knowing what kind of Form he had before it would not appear because we should be unsensible of his first Form and unable to compare the one with the other But Sin is a Moral Obliquity and the change it produceth in the Soul is Spiritual It makes a man to differ far more from himself than any alteration of Body can do but withal so blinds his Understanding that he does not remember what he was in his first Parent Tho the first Man who had experience of both Estates was able to compare them because in his Corruption he might possibly retain a Sence of that Nature and Life which he enjoyed in his integrity Yet all his Posterity that are born Sinners never were sensible of the Light and Glory of an Innocent Estate and for that cause may be wholy ignorant both of GOD and themselves utterly unable to conceive the Glory of the World or of that Relation wherein they should by Nature have stood towards all the Creatures IT is impossible to conceive how great a change a slight Action may produce It is but pressing the Wick a little with ones Finger and a Lamp is extinguished and Darkness immediately made to overspread the Room The Glory and
Splendor of the whole World would vanish upon the Extinction of the Sun And one Instants Cessation from the Emission of its Beams would be its Extinction A Soul is a more Glorious Thing than the Sun The Sphear of its Activity is far Greater and its Light more Precious All the World may be filled with the splendor of its Beams Eternity it self was prepared for it Were there but one Soul to see and enjoy all the Creatures upon the suspension of its Light all the Creation would be rendred vain Light it self is but Darkness without the Understanding THE Existence of many Souls is so far from abating the value of one that it is by reason of their multitude more useful and Excellent For the value of the Objects imputes a Lustre and Higher value to the Light wherein they are enjoyed And if Souls themselves are more excellent than all other Creatures and arewith and above all other to be enjoyed that Power whereby this Soul is able to enjoy them is more to be esteemed upon the account of those Souls than for all the other Creatures which are made for the same GOD himself and his holy Angels are Objects of the Understanding Those Felicities and Glories which the Sun cannot extend to the Soul can comprehend All which since their Fruition depends upon that Act of the Understanding by which they are considered reflect a Lustre and add a value to that Knowledge by which the Soul does attain them Whereupon it follows that the infinite value of all these is seated in the intellect and as the Power so the Act of Knowledg on which their Fruition dependeth is of infinite use and Excellency As the loss is infinite when the Soul is bereaved of them so is the mage which it suffers by failing of its Light whether that Defect be voluntary or imposed by some outward Impediment AS for the Use of Knowledge it is apparent enough For the Relation between the Use and Excellency of things is so near and intimate that as nothing Useless can be at all excellent so is every Excellence in every Being founded in its usefulness The use of Souls is as great as their Excellency The use of Knowledge as endless in Variety as in Extent and Value KNOWLEDGE is that which does illuminate the Soul enkindle Love excite our Care inspire the mind with Joy inform the Will enlarge the Heart regulate the Passions unite all the Powers of the Soul to their Objects see their Beauty understand their Goodness discern our Interest in them form our Apprehensions of them consider and enjoy their Excellences All Contentments Raptures and Extafies are conceived in the Soul and begotten by Knowledge all Laws Obligations and Rewards are understood by Knowledg All Vertues and Graces of the Mind are framed by Knowledge all Advantages are by it improved all Temptations discerned all Dangers avoided all Affairs ordered all Endowments acquired all the Ornaments of Life all the Beauties of the inward Man all the Works of Piety are affected by Knowledge In the Light of knowledge all Pleasures arise and as Fruits and Flowers are begotten in the Earth by the Beams of the Sun so do all kinds of Joy spring from the Creatures and are made ours by the help of that Knowledge that shineth on them its last Off spring are Eternal Thanksgivings and Praises The Divine Image and the Perfection of Bliss are sounded in Knowledge GOD himself dwelleth in the Soul with all his Attributes and Perfections by Knowledge By it we are made Temples of the Holy Ghost and Partakers of the Divine Nature And for this cause it is that St. Paul prayeth That we might be filled with the Knowledge of his Will in all Wisedome and Spiritual Understanding that we might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing being fruitful in every Good Work and increasing in the Knowledge of GOD strengthened with all Might according to his glorious Power unto all Patience and long-suffering with Joyfulness giving Thanks to the Father who hath made us meet to be Partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light who hath delivered us from the Power of Darkness and translated us into the Kingdom of his Dear Son THE Sun is a glorious Creature and its Beams extend to the utmost Stars by shining on them it cloaths them with light and by its Rayes exciteth all their influences It enlightens the Eyes of all the Creatures It shineth on forty Kingdomes at the same time on Seas and Continents in a general manner yet so particularly regardeth all that every Mote in the Air every Grain of Dust every Sand every Spire of Grass is wholly illuminated thereby as if it did entirely shine upon that alone Nor does it onely illuminate all these Objects in an idle manner its Beams are Operative enter in sill the Pores of Things with Spirits and impregnate them with Powers cause all their Emanations Odors Vertues and Operations Springs Rivers Minerals and Vegetables are all perfected by the Sun all the Motion Life and sense of Birds Beasts and Fishes dependeth on the same Yet the Sun is but a little spark among all the Creatures that are made for the Soul the Soul being the most High and Noble of all is capable of far higher Perfections far more full of Life and Vigour in its uses The Sphere of its Activity is illimited its Energy is endless upon all its Objects It can exceed the Heavens in its Operations and run out into infinite spaces Such is the extent of Knowledge that it seemeth to be the Light of all Eternity All Objects are equally near to the splendor of its Beams As innumerable millions may be conceived in its Light with a ready capacity for millions more so can it penetrate all Abysles reach to the Centre of all Nature converse with all Beings visible and invisible Corporeal and Spiritual Temporal and Eternal Created and Increated Finite and Infinite Substantial and Accidental Actual and Possible Imaginary and Real All the Mysteries of Bliss and Misery all the Secrets of Heaven and Hell are Objects of the Souls Capacity here and shall be actually seen and known hereafter WERE Almighty Power Magnified by filling Eternity with created objects and were all the Omnipresence of God full of Joys it is able when assisted by his Divine Knowledge to look upon all and tho every one of them should have an infinite Depth within an Endless variety of Uses a Relation to all the rest of the World the Soul as if it were able to contract all its strengths from all the expansions of Eternity and space and fix them upon this Moment or on this Centre intirely beholding this alone in all its fulness can see its Original its End its Operations Effects and Properties as if it had nothing to consider but this alone in a most exquisite and perfect manner IT is not to be denied that every Being in all Worlds is an Object of the Understanding
kinds of love Of the Power Inclination and act of Love Its extent and capacity BECAUSE Love is the most Desirable Employment of the Soul the Power of Loving is to be accounted the most High and Noble of the Faculties It is not seated by it self in the mind but attended with a mighty Proneness and Inclination THERE is no Creature so unsociable and furious but it is capable of loving something or other Wolves and Tygres live at peace among themselves Lions have an Inclination to their Grim Mistresses and Deformed Bears a natural Affection to their Whelps expressed in their Rage when they are bereaved of them Things must either be absolutely Dead or live in misery that are void of love Whatsoever is endued with Life and sence delights in easie and grateful Operations Love is a necessary Affection of their Souls because it is impossible to apprehend any thing Delightful but it must be pleasing and what is Pleasing must be Lovely For to be Pleased and to love are the same thing If there be any difference the pleasure we take in any Object is the root of that Desire which we call Love and the affection whereby we pursue the pleasure that is apprehended in it is part of the Love that we bear unto it the end of which is the Completion of that pleasure which it first perceives All is Love variously modified according to the Circumstances wherein the Object is represented AS Love is the only Easie and Delightful Operation so is Hatred of all other the most troublesom and tormenting Displeasure and Enmity are the Ingredients of its nature and the fruits of it allyed to their Root as Bitter as Gall and Wormwood Murder and Vexation and Grief are the off-spring of the one with Separation Contention and Horror Peace and Embraces are the Fruit of the other with Praises and Complacencies Honors Services Benefits and Pleasures These are the little Cupids that flie about this coelestial Venus when it is what it ought to be the Mother of Felicity and the Daughter of GOD. ALL Creatures that are sensible of Pain or pleasure must of necessity be addicted to Love and Hatred to the Love of what is pleasing to the Hatred of what is Painful And if any Question be made which of these Twins is the First born the answer is that they may seem Twins in respect of Time but in nature Love is the first born and the Mother of Hatred For where nothing to be hated does at all appear pleasant Things are Beloved for their own sake whereas if there were no pleasant thing to be beloved nothing could be hated because nothing could be Hurtful which appeareth by this because where there is no Love there is no Interest and where there is no concernment there can be no Affection no Fear or Hope or Joy or sorrow AS Fire begets Water by melting Ice so does Love beget contrary passions in the soul of a living creature Anger Malice Envy Grief and Jealousie not by its own nature but by the accidental Interposure of some Obstacle that hinders or endangers the fruition of its Object Were there no Love of Ease and Pleasure there could be no Anger or Quarrel between Competitors no Emulation or Desire no Aversion or Endeavour All Enmity and Hostility Springs from a Contention who shall enjoy what is Desirable or from some other Principle of Envy or Revenge in relation to what is Good as is Obvious to Daily Experience LIFE and Love are so individualy united that to live without Loving something is impossible Even in Hell where their whole Life seemeth to be spent in Detestation and Hatred and actual Love is like fire under those Embers covered and continued Could they put off self Love all Love of Felicity and Interest their Torments would be gone Punishments and Rewards are things impossible where there is not selfLove For without Love to something Pains and Joys are equally Grateful AS Love is the Root of Endeavor so is it the Spring of all the Passions They all depend upon Love alone We are Angry at that which stands in our Way between our Love and its object We Desire an absent Good because we Love it We Hope for it when we conceive its Attainment feasible We rejoyce in it when we have it We fear to lose it we grieve when it is gone we despair if we cannot get or recover it We hate all that is opposite to it And for this Cause is our Love when well regulated the greatest Vertue because upon the right Choise of its Object and true Goverment of it self all the Powers and Affections of the Soul are well employed and when we Love all that we ought as we ought to do we fulfil all Laws Hope and Fear and Hate and Grieve and Desire and Rejoyce and do every thing in a regular Manner THERE is a Sensual and Brutish Love there is a Humane and Divine Brutish Love is of two sorts the one Springs from a Harmony of Complexions and a Sympathy of Bodies the other from the Consideration of Pleasure abstracted The First of these is occasioned by a secret and unexpressible Agreement of Tempers by which upon the presence of each other the Senses are delighted we know not why it being a mystery in nature and perhaps founded in a grateful Transpiration of Spirits from one to the other THE Consideration of Beauty seemeth peculiar to the Love of Men because no Beast is observed to make any Distinction between Lineaments and Features nor upon any account of shape and Colours to be delighted with each other Wherein Man exceeds the Capacity of Beasts in being able to note and admire the Workmanship of GOD in the decent Order of Symmetry and Proportion HUMANE Affection and Divine Love are near allyed yet of several Kinds If you take the Love of Reason in its utmost Height it is always Divine For it is comformable to the Love of GOD in its measures and Degrees in its Effects and Causes For the Love of GOD is it self the Love of perfect Reason And as the Reason of his Love is Infinite and Eternal so is its Operation But in a lower Acceptation Humane Love differs from Divine it being founded upon Temporal Causes Vivacity Wit Learning Beauty Behaviour Moral Honesty Fidelity Kindness Goodness Power Majesty Wealth Nobility Worth Vertue and the like But all these may be exalted when they are Sanctified and made Divine by the superadded concurrence of Coelestial Causes For when a Man loves another because he is made in the Image of GOD and by the Beauty of his Soul is something more than Humane this Love is made Sacred and receives a Grace from the Influences of Religion DIVINE Love strictly so called is founded on Eternal Causes agreeable to the Life of Heaven Delightful to GOD and Pleasing to the Angels IF Divine Love be taken in the highest Sense there is none but in GOD. For it is his Peculiar Prerogative
other mens Souls shining in the Acts of their Understanding throughout all Eternity and extending themselves in the Beams of Love through all Immensity and thereby transformed every one of them into a Sphear of Light comprehending the Heavens every Angel and every Spirit being a Temple of GODS Omnipresence and Perfection this alone will be a ravishing Spectacle to that Goodness which delights to see innumerable Possessors of the Same Kingdome Much more will the Perfection of the Kingdome it self which by infinite Wisdome is so constituted that every one is the Sovereign Object the First born and Sole heir and End of the Kingdome Every one the Bride of GOD every one there a King yet without Confusion or Diminution every one distinctly enjoying all and adding to each others fruition TO understand all this and not to delight in it is more miserable then not to understand it To see it without being able to enjoy it is to pine away in a prison from whence we see the Glory of a Palace and repine in our misery at the Pleasures of those that are about it To delight in these Things without being affected with them is impossible Nor is there any Affection but that of Love whereby we can enjoy them THE Angels see the Glory of GODS Kingdom and delight in it the Damned see the Joys of the Blessed and are tortured by them the Wicked upon Earth neither see nor are affected with them the Saints on Earth apprehend them in part and believe them desire and endeavour after them they wait with Expectation for the whole and by certain degrees as it were in a Glass enjoy the Image and Reflection of them As many as they comprehend they actually delight in for their love is awakened and extended to the goodness of all they understand which it feeds upon by meditation and turnes into Nourishment for the Beneffit of their Souls which are made more Great and Strong and Vigorous by their Fruitions But without Love it is easie to see that no Goodness can be at all enjoyed GOD does desire Love from us because his Wisdom very well knows that without Love the World would be in vain and the End of the Creation frustrated his Goodness is diffusive and infinitly desires to communicate it self which it cannot do unless it be Beloved To receive it is the highest service we can do unto it nothing being more agreeable to the Nature of his Goodness then that it should be enjoyed His Blessedness consisteth in the pleasure he taketh in the Felicity of others and brancheth it self out into two Parts the Pleasure of Communicating all to others and the pleasure of receiving all from others in the satisfaction which he taketh to see others Blessed in the Returns of those joys and Praises which are offered up to his Goodness and Glory His Glory desires to be seen and delighted in To be esteemed and beloved to be honored and admired is natural to Glory the Brightness of whose splendor is more Sensibly Pleasant in the Reflection of its face and in the Joy that it makes in anothers Soul His Holiness takes Pleasure in pure and upright Actions of all which Love is the fountain There is an Objective fitness and Excellency in Love for which it is infinitely valued by him It is one of the first and immediate Properties of Love to desire to be beloved to make its object most Amiable and Beautiful as well as Blessed to be united to it to have its own Goodness acknowledged its Essence approved its excellency desired admired and delighted in to see all its Actions Appearances Gifts and Tokens esteemed and to feel its own Efficacy in the Grateful Acceptance it finds in the Raptures it occasions in the flames it enkindles in anothers Soul Now Love is the fountain of all Honour Gratitude Praise and Esteem By Love the Soul is transformed into the Similitude of GOD by love made Bright and Beautiful all its Blessedness and Glory are founded in its Love it is by Love it self made Communicative and Diffusive and Great and Rich and as the Scripture speaketh fit for Delights All Obedience and service are founded in Love And if a Creature that is Beloved must freely give up it self to anothers Pleasure before it can shew its Love or intirely be enjoyed Love is of all other things in the World most fit to answer Love because the very heart and Soul is given thereby to the Person that desires it LOVE is the Fountain of all Benefits and Pleasures House Estate and Lands Authority Wealth and Power Life it self is consecrated and Devoted by a Lover to his Object So that on our side all is given to GOD by Love as well as by Love it is received from him The Heavens and the Earth and all the Creatures are Gifts and Tokens of his Love Men and Angels are a Present of his Love which he hath infinitely adorned and made endlessly serviceable to every Soul that is Beloved All these his Love would have us to receive with a due Esteem and therefore is it than of his Love he will have us to exercise our reason aright and Love them as much as their Goodness deserveth When we see and understand their Excellence and Esteem them according to the transcendent value that appeareth in them we adorn our selves with their fair Ideas we enlarge and beautifie our Souls with Bright and clear Apprehensions and which is much more with regular and well ordered Affections we enrich our selves and increase our Greatness in the fruition of his Gifts we are lively and pleasant and vigorous Creatures full of Knowledge and Wisdome and Goodness and fit to offer up all these things unto him again while we empty them as Helps and Advantages in that Service which we pay unto him For our Love to himself is enkindled by these Incentives and while we sacrifice our selves and them unto him we delight in nothing more then to see him that is so Great in Love and Bounty the Author and Possessor of all his Glories CHAP. VIII Of the Excellency of Truth as it is the Object and Cause of Vertue The Matter and form of Vertuous Actions That their form is infinitely more Excellent then their Matter and the Heathen Morality infinitely defective and short of the Christian. I do not see that Aristotle made the End of Vertue any other then a finite and temporal Felicity which is infinitely short of that felicity which is here begun and enjoyed for ever He did not make GOD the Object and End of the Soul and if all Acts are distinguished into their Kinds by their Objects and their Ends those Vertues must be infinitely base that have no other Objects or Ends but Creatures and those only Divine and Noble that flow from an infinite and Eternal Original respect an infinite and Eternal Object rest in an Infinite and Eternal End His Difinition of Felicity importeth all this but his Behavior makes me to
Benefit A mad man or a fool may by accident save a mans Life or preserve an Empire yet be far from that Goodness which is seated in the VVill and Understanding Which plainly shews that the Goodness chiefly regarded is in the Soul of him that does any thing convenient not in the Benefit received but in the Mind of the Benefactor And the Truth is that the External Benefit tho it saves the Lives and Souls and Estates and Liberties and Riches and Pleasures and Honors of all mankind acts but Physically by a Dead or passive Application the root of its influence and value is seated in another place in the Soul of him whose Goodness was so Great as to sacrifice his Honor and Felicity for the Preservation and Welfare of those whom he intended to save It is feated in the Counsel and Design of the Actor It is a hard matter to define it but it is something like a willing Conformity to the Interests and Affections of his fellow Creatures attended with a voluntary Convenience in a person Obliged and subject to Laws to all those Obligations that are laid upon him to all the Rewards that are set before him but especially to the Desires and Commands of his Superior to whom he Naturally owes himself and desires to be pleasing To Act upon Great and Mighty Principles in a vigorous free and Genorous Manner for the sake of those that obliged him and for the sake of those to whom his Kindness is shewn increases the Measure of Moral Goodness but its Perfection is seated in a Loyal Respect and Perfect Gratitude to GOD Almighty Who by being infinitely Good to us has infused and created such a Goodness in the Soul that its principal Joy and Delight is to please him For tho all Creatures consult themselves their own Preservation yet the force of Gratitude upon an Ingenuous Soul is very powerful Moral Goodness is an Alacrity and Readiness of the Will to sacrifice it self upon consideration of the Benefits a Man hath received to anothers Benefit Enjoyment Comfort Satisfaction DIVINE Goodness is an Active and Eternal Principle stirring up it self without Obligation or reward to do the best and most excellent Things in an Eternal manner It is proper only to GOD Its Excellency is Supreme its Beauty infinite its Measure endless its Nature ineffable its Perfection unconceiveable It hath no Cause but it is the Cause of all other Things whatsoever It is a Living and Eternal Act of free and undeserved Love an indeficient Ocean of Bounty which can never be fathomed or by finite Degrees be wholy received It is Invisible in its Essence but Apparent in its effects Incomprehensible but manifest enough to be believed and adored It is an infinite and Eternal Essence which is Good to it self by being Good to all infinitely Good to it self by being without Bound or Measure Good to all its Objects It is an infinite and Eternal Act which continually ponders and intirely intends the Welfare of others and establishes its own in a voluntary manner by that intention An Act whose Essence is seated in the Preparation of all Delights and the Communication of all its Glories It s Felicity is Eternal and Infinite yet seated intirely in the Felicity of others It doth infinite Good to all its Recipients Meerly for the sake of the Excellency of the Act of Doing Good It delighteth in the Excellency of that Act and useth all its power in doing Good that the Act in which it delighteth might be infinitely perfect And the perfect Act in which it finally resteth is the Goodness which all adore and desire It s Sovereign Joy and Pleasure is to be delightful to others All its Creatures are Delightful to it self only as they imitate and receive its Goodness Should we run into its Properties they are innumerable and Endless but as infinite in Beauty as variety and greatness It is the utmost Height of all Goodness as well as the Original and end of all It exceedeth Moral Goodness as much as that exceedeth Natural and infinitely more In Physical Goodness there is a Mechanical fitness and Dead convenience but all it can pretend to is the Benefit and Pleasure of Moral Agents For the Sun and Moon and Stars and Trees and Seas and Minerals are made for Men. Whereas Moral Goodness is made to enjoy all Physical Goodness that in a higher sphere it might be pleasing to GOD and is immediately subservient to his Divine Essential Goodness THIS Divine Goodness is the first Perfection of the efficient Cause of the Worlds Creation which of necessity derives an immediate Excellency into all the Creatures because it is the most Communicative and active Principle that is But the Necessity is attended with a Liberty no less then infinite For it freely pleaseth it self in all its operations and its Pleasure is to delight it self in the Acquisition of Felicity for others It s freedom is a necessary Circumstance of its operation For the Glory of its inclination and Kindness could not be much less be seen did it act by Necessity of Nature Imposition Chance or Accident When the Act is in Being it worketh Physically and it is no Wonder that such an Act should produce such Effects and be so Beneficial For when it is done it cannot be otherwise but that such and such Effects must follow its Existence They are as Natural as if they were Essential to it All the Wonder is what should determine the Liberty of the Agent at first to do such Great and Mighty Things for others sake and all that can be said is his own Goodness and the Excellency of the Action For it is not with GOD as it is with Men few men will be at the expence of Doing what all admire all that receive the Benefit applaud and delight in the Action and so much the more by how much the more Hazzardous and great and Painful it was but scarcely one will endure the Difficulty of an Heroick Deed for the sake of others GOD on the contrary takes infinite Delight in the Action which all admire and because it is infinitly great and Heroick and perfectly Divine finds his Liberty and Ease in that Act and is so taken with the Beauty of the Work that his infinite Pleasure exceeds all the necessity and fate in Nature THAT Pleasure which he taketh in promoting the Happiness of all Existences created and increated is his Goodness It is the infinite use of Perfect Liberty freely Delighted in as Pleasant to himself as to all Intelligent Spectators and all Enjoyers It is easie to discern that this goodness is the Foundation and Essence of his Happiness and glory BY it he becomes Delightful to himself by it he becomes Delightful to others By it he communicates all his Powers and Perfections with pleasure and receives the Services of all the Creatures with high Satisfaction By it he is concerned in the Joy of others and enjoys their
Blessedness By it he is capable of all their Affections and of the Services which his Laws require By it all Angels and Cherubims are moved to admire and adore his Glory By it all Creatures visible and invisible are made his Treasures By it he is multiplied and magnified in every Soul as the same Object is in several Mirrors being intirely represented in every living Temple of his Eternal essence By it he becometh his own end and the Glorious Author and the King of Heaven By it he liveth a Divine and a Blessed Life and by it he is what he is for ever By it all the Graces Exaltations and Vertues of all his Creatures are made his Joys and their Persons and Praisers are Delightful to him Of all his Laws and Decrees and Counsels his Goodness is the fountain It is the Original and final Cause of all our Thanksgivings Our ease and repose and Satisfaction our Bliss and enjoyment are founded in it and caused by it For its own Pleasure all our Delights are made exquisite in their place and the most of them Eternal For its own Glory it maketh all its Creatures Glorious and prizeth its own Glory because it is the Sovereign Delight of all its Creatures It is every way compleat and perfect as infinitely Convenient as it is Great in Bounty as Good to it self as to all others There is no End of all its Perfection and for that Cause it is Incomprehensible TO be made Partaker of the Divine Nature without having the Goodness of Almighty GOD is impossible Nor can we enjoy his Goodness or bear the similitude of his Glory unless we are good in like Manner We enjoy the Goodness of GOD and may be said to have it either when we have its Similitude in our selves or the Pleasure of it in others Since the Goodness of GOD is the great Object of our Joy its Enlargment is our Interest and the more there are to whom he is Good and the more he communicates his Felicity to every one the Greater Pleasures he prepares for us and the more is our goodness therein delighted To see innumerable Millions in Communion with him and all of them made Glorious and Blessed and every one seated in his throne is the greatest Elevation of our Souls and the highest Satisfaction in the World When our Goodness meeteth his in all Places and congratulates the Felicity of every person we may then use the Words of our Saviour because we are endued with the same Mind and Affection And as he accepts all the Good that is done to his Members as done to himself saying Inasmuch as ye have done it to the least of these my Brethren ye have done it to me Our Souls will reply Inasmuch as thou hast done all this to the least of these my Brethren thou hast done it to me for loving our Neighbours as our selves all Angels and Men will be our fellow Members our Brethren our other selves As we delight in all Acts of Goodness for their own sakes that are done to us so shall we delight in all the Bounties of GOD for theirs who are the partakers of them and in GOD for this very reason Because he is good to all We shall be as Happy in others as in our selves and Esteem the Goodness of GOD our Felicity because it hath prevented our Goodness and done all for them which were it undone we should desire to do our selves because our Goodness is a principle that carries us to delight in their perfect Felicity VVhich that we may do the more Sweetly and with more full Satisfaction and perfect Reason his Goodness to all others is but the Perfection of Goodness to us for they are all made Blesed for our fuller and greater Felicity HAD GOD withheld or withdrawn his Goodness from all others it had not been Greater to us but less The Stars are no hindrance to our Enjoyment of the Skie but the Light and Beauty of the place which we contemplate Were they all annihilated the Heavens would be obscure They do us many Services of which we should be bereaved by their Absence and Destruction GOD by giving Beams and influences to them made our Treasures more rich and fair which are increased and multiplied by their Beauty and Number Did the Sun shine upon us and upon Nothing else it would be less beneficial to us than now it is Its Beams that are scattered seem to be lost yet were they contracted upon one his Body would be consumed and all the rest of the World be dark about him those Rays which fly from the Sun to the utmost parts of the World illuminate all Objects and from them more conveniently return to the Eye with their Beauty and Glory which by those Rayes that are dispersed become visible and Profitable They fall not all upon every single man but work for him in other places begetting Herbs and Fruits and Flowers and Minerals and Springs and Trees and Jewels with all that is rich and delectable in the VVorld for his fruition It serves Beasts and Fowles and Fishes for my sake and for my sake does it serve even Men and Angels That they being more Divine and Glorious Creatures might adorn Heaven and Earth with their Persons which without them would be void and Empty For we all desire to be seen and Known and Beloved and for that Cause without Living Agents should be very Desolate and discontented THUS you see if GOD had given all Eternity and Immensity to a man if he had made no other Creatures but him alone his Bounty had been defective Whereas by the Creation of these he hath filled Eternity and Immensity with Treasures All which he hath made ours by commanding them to Love us as themselves fit to be enjoyed and beloved by us by filling them with his Goodness and making them in his Image For every one of them is to Love all his Creatures as he does and to delight in the Beauty and Felicity of all and to be the joy and Delight of all as as he is And the Greater and the Richer and the fairer they are the more Great and Happy are we because they are made our Lovers and Friends our Brides and Brethren our Sons and Daughters our Fathers and our Servants which the more Honourable and Excellent they are the more Delightful the more Glorious and Blessed these are their Love is the more precious and Acceptable True Goodness removes all Envy and Contention out of the VVorld and introduces nothing but Peace and Bounty and Joy unspeakeable and full of Glory WE Love nothing more then to be Delightful to others and to have our Glory seen is a natural Desire which our Saviour has countenanced by his own Petition It is our Interests that the Eys should be innumerable that see and admire the Glory which we had with the Father in some Sense before the VVorld was that they should see I mean how much we are Beloved of GOD
whom Fear Honour to whom Honour One no man any thing but to Love one another for the he that Loveth another hath fulfilled Law Kings and Magistrates and Ministers and Parents and Children must have all their Due and so must GOD Blessed for ever Adoration to whom Adoration is due and Obedience to whom Obedience In strict Justice we must render Hatred to whom Hatred is Due and Love to whom Love Hope is due to certain Grounds of Encouragemeut and Sorrow to certain sorrowful Objects But all our Passions must still be guided by the Rule of the Law and all our Actions as Honour and Equity require PARTICULAR Justice is conversant in the Distribution of Rewards and Punishments or else it observes the Rules of Equity and Reason in Buying and Selling. It is called particular because the Excercise of it is not allotted to all the Power of rendring Rewards and Punishments being committed to a few namely to the Magistrates and among Private persons many not at all accustomed to Buying and Selling. This Vertue being to be exercised by some particular men is particular Justice However it has occasioned a Distinction in the Thing whereby Justice is divided into Distributive and Commutative the one being used in Courts of Judicature the other in the Market IT was a notable Observation of Plato that by reason of our Dim Eyes we are not able to see immediately what Vertue does in Secret in the Soul And therefore he sayes that as an Old man that is blear-ey'd if he hath something given him to read in little Characters finds it necessary first to see the same in Capital Letters so to observe first what Vertue doth in a Commonwealth is expedient to him that would understand what it doth in his own Soul The Throne is upholden by Justice the Majesty of Kings and the Glory of Kingdomes is preserved by Justice When Vertue is rewarded and Vice supprest the City flourisheth as the Laws are the Rampart of Mens Estates Justice is the Rampart of the Law the Guardian Angels of every family State and Kingdome Kings and Counsellors and Priests and Soldiers and Tradesmen have all their several Office and proper Duty in a Kingdome and that Nation is blessed with order and Beauty where every one contains himself in his proper Duty But where Tradesmen invade the Priests office and defile the Altar the Soldiers turn Counsellors and every Consellor deposes the King nothing but Confusion can follow in such a State The Senses and Members of the Body are like Tradesmen they traffick with sensible Objects the Irascible passions of the Soul are Soldiers and very apt to rebel and Mutiny the Conscience is the Priest in the Temple of the Mind Right Reason is the King and the Concupiscible Affections or smoother Passions especially Avarice and Ambition may pass for Counsellors They may do well to put a man in mind of his Interest but when they depose Right Reason and usurp the Throne Ruine must follow in the Soul the Passions will turn Consellors the Trades-men invade the Temple and all Rights Sacred and Profane be blended together To sell offices of Trust and Places of Judicature is for a King to do that himself which Rebels attempt in violence to put unworthy men in places of Trust promiscuously that will sell Justice by Retail as they bought it by Whole Sale Justice is a a Severe Vertue and will keep up all the Faculties of the Soul upon hard Duty For otherwise it would not pay to Felicity its Due But where its Care is remiss in taking an Account and solid Goods are barterd away to counterfeit false Commodities the Soul will grow loose and poor in a moment All its Powers subordinate and Superior will forget their Duty and the Healthy Estate of the Mind fall into Anarchy and Confusion All its Hopes and Felicities will be lost for want of that Justice which Distributes to every Power its proper office THERE are two passages that I mightily desire to be imprinted in the Memory of all the World and they are both of our Saviour The one is He that is faithful in a little shall be Ruler over much The other is this Who then is that faithful and Wise Servant whom his Lord hath made Ruler over his Houshold to give them meat in due season Blessed is that Servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing He that is faithful in a little is faithful also in much To be Just in a little Silver and Gold and accurate in deciding Causes between a Man and his Neighbour are Actions that in their own Nature seem to have little tendency to Bliss and Glory But when we consider that we are Servants for a time entrusted by a Lord that will come and examine what we have done we are not to measure our Hopes by those little Acts as they determine in a Moment but in relation to the Recompences which our Lord will give when he cometh For our Saviour hath added Blessed is that Servant c. Verily I say unto you that he shall make him Ruler over all his Goods But and if that evil Servant shall say in his Heart my Lord delayeth his Coming and shall begin to smite his fellow Servants and to eat and drink with the Drunken the Lord of that Servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him and in an hour that he is not ware of and shall cut him asunder and appoint him his portion with Hypocrites there shall be Weeping and gnashing of Teeth IF GOD should be loose and careless in his Kingdome as it is infinitely Greater then all other Dominions so would it quickly be more full of confusions Especially Since the King would then himself be so loose and Careless For Licence and profaness are of a spreading Nature and such as the King is such is the people The vices of Kings do always punish themselves in the Imitation of their subjects especially where the Distinction between Profane and Holy is lost and there is no Hope and Fear of Punishments or Rewards If GOD should declare it by any Act of his to be a Thing indifferent whether men did well or ill it would mightily abate the Rectitude of his nature and Eclipse his Majesty His Sovereignty would be slighted and his Will despised which ought infinitely to be dreaded While Justice is infinite and there is an infinite difference put between Good and Evil his Creatures we see are apt to abuse their Liberty and Rebel and become Apostates tho they have an infinite pleasure to aspire after and an infinite destruction or Wrath to fear What would they do if the Divine Will were feeble and remiss and exacted no reverence to its Law and Pleasure It is the Height and Glory of GOD that he sets an infinite Rate upon Excellent Deeds and infinitely detests and abhors the Wicked Their last ends are not more distant then their first Beginnings in his Esteem
all creatures up braided him with his Guilt every thing aggravated his Sin and increased his Damnation The glory and Blessedness which he lost was his Torment the Honour which he had before was turned into shame the Love of GOD which he had offended increased his Guilt Eternity was a Horror to him his Conscience a Tormentor and his Life a Burden Nothing but shame and Despair could follow his Sin the Light of nature it selfe condemned him and all that he could see was that he was deformed and hated of God For that of the Psalmist is an Eternal verity Thou art not a GOD that hath pleasure in Wickedness neither shall Evil dwell with thee The Foolish shall not stand in thy sight thou hatest all Workers of iniquity Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing The Lord will abhor the Bloody and Deceitful man THE Express Declaration of GOD assured Adam that his Recovery was impossible In the Day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the Death For not being able to dive into the Secret Reservation which depended absolutely upon Gods holy Will and pleasure as an Act of Sovereignty above the Tenor of the Law all that he could see was that he must die the Death because the Veracity of GOD as well as his nature obliged him to fulfil the Denunciation of the Sentence at least as Adam conceived IN the midst of this Black and Horrid Condition the Mercy of GOD appeared like a Morning Star and the Redeeming Love of GOD was that alone which was able by its Discovery to dispell the Mystes of Darkness that were round about him AS all things were before turned into Evil by the force of Sin and conspired to sink him lower into the Bottomless Pit so all the Evils of his present condition were by this infinite Mercy turned to his Advantage and his Condition in many Respects far better than before IT is fit to see how Sin enfeebled his Soul and made him unable to serve GOD that we might the better understand the Manner of his Recovery and how his Spiritual Life and Power is restored in the new strength which he received in his Saviour THE Atcount of it is this By his self Love he was prone to desire all that was Profitable and Delightful to him While therefore GOD infinitely Loved him being apparently the fountain of all his Happiness he could not chuse as long as he considered it but Love GOD and Delight in him it was natural and Easie to celebrate his Praises But when he was hated of GOD tho he could not chuse but acknowledge that hatred Just yet his Self Love made him to look upon GOD in a Malevolent manner as his Greatest Enemy and his Eternal Tormentor All that was in GOD was a Terror to him His power his Eternity his Justice his Holiness his Goodness his Wisdome his Unalterable Blessedness all was a grief and Terror to his Soul as long as the Hatred of GOD continued against him it made him desperate to think it would continue forever and reduced him to the miserable slavery of hating GOD even to all Eternity BUT when the Love of GOD towards Man appeared the Joy wherewith he was surprized was in all Likelyhood so far beyond his Expectation and his Redemption so far above the Powers of Nature that his very Guilt and Despair enflamed him with Love GOD appeared now so Welcome to him and so Lovely above all that was before that it was impossible for him to look upon GOD and not to Love him with Greater Emazement and Ardor then ever Self Love that Before compelled him to hate GOD carried him now most violently to the Love of GOD and the Truth is the Love of GOD in the Eye of the Understanding is the influence of the Holy Ghost proceeding from the Father by the Son into the Soul of the Spectator For GOD is Love and we therefore Love him because he first Loved us A faln man is Still a reasonable Creature and having more reason to Love GOD then he had before is by the pure Nature of his Essence infinitely more prone to Love GOD and delight in him and praise him for ever because he is so mercifully and so Strangely restored Thus are we in Christ restored to the Exercise of that Power which we lost by Sin But without him we can do Nothing WHEN all the Kingdom of GOD was at an End by the fall of man and all the Labor of the Creation lost by the Perversness of him for whom the whole World was made GOD by his Mercy recovered it and raised it out of the Rubbish of its Ruines more Glorious than before Which is the chief reason for the sake for which we introduce the Mercy of GOD as our best pattern For when a man has injured us by Nature there is an End of all the Lovely Exercises of Peace and Amity If natural Justice should be strictly observed but then the Season of Grace arrives and the Excellencie of Mercy shews it self in the Lustre of its Wisdome and so our Empire is continued our loss retrived For by shewing Mercy we often recover the Love of an Enemy and restore a Criminal to the Joy of our freindship We lengthenout our Goodness and Heighten its measure we make it victorious and cloath it with a Glory above the course of Nature And all this we are enabled to do by Coming of Jesus Christ who hath restored us to the Hope of Salvation and taught us a Way to increase our own Goodness by other mens Evils to turn the vices of others into our own Vertues and to Live a Miraculous Life of Worth and Excellency in the midst of Enemies Dealing with men better than they deserve adornig our selves with Trophies by the Advantages of their vileness making our selves more Honourable by the Ignominy they cast upon us more Lovely and Desirable by the Hatred which they bear towards us THE foundations upon which we Exercise this Vertue are wholy Supernatural To be kind to the innocent is but Justice and Goodness but to be Kind to the Malevolent is Grace and Mercy And this we must do because our Father which is in Heaven Causeth his Sun to rise on the Just and the unjust and his Rain to descend on the Righteous and the Wicked Because Mercy is the Head Spring of all our Felicities therefore should we shew Mercy as we have obtained Mercy As the Blood was sprinkled upon the Tabernacle and all its Utensils so is the Blood of Christ upon the Heathens and the Earth and all our Enjoyments They are Daily Monitors of Mercy to us because they are purchased by the Blood of Christ. For of him it is that the Heavens declare the Glory of GOD and the firmament sheweth his Handy work to us sinners at this day The Salvation of Sinners being the only End for the sake of which we can be permitted now to enjoy them THE Incarnation of our Lord Jesus
Christ is an incredible mystery to them that do not consider the Love of GOD towards Men in the Creation of the World But they that measure it by his Laws and works and see it in the value of their own Souls would think it very Strange if that Love which appeareth so infinite in all other things should be defective only in its Ways of Providence They easily believe it may express it self in the Incarnation Especially Since all Ages are Beautified with the Effects and Demonstrations of this verity that GOD so Loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have Everlasting Life For Love is apt to transform it self into all shapes that the necessity of its Object requires and as prone to suffer as rejoyce with it as apt to suffer for it as with it Many fathers have died for their Children many for their Country but the Love of GOD exceedeth them all To be beloved in our Guilt is exceeding Wonderful but this also is in the Nature of Love it may be provoked with the Guilt or moved with Compassion at the misery of a Sinner WHERE the Love is extreamly violent and the weak Estate of the Object fit for Compassion it is more inclined to Pity than Revenge Tho where the Object is strong and endued with all advantages it is more offended at the Outrage of its Rebellion WHETHER we consider the Nature of Man or his Estate before the Fall we have some reason to believe that he was more Beloved then the Holy Angels for there was more exquisite Care and Art manifested in the Creation of his Person and his Condition was fitted for a more curious Tenderness and Compassion if he offended IF you look into the Nature of Angels and Men you will find this mighty Difference between them Angels are more Simple Spirits Men are Images of GOD carefully put into a Beautiful Case Their Souls would seem equal to the Angels were they not to live in Humane Bodies and those Bodies are Superadded certainly for unspeakable and most Glorious Ends the visible World was made for the sake of these Bodies and without such persons as men are it would be utterly useless The Hypostatical Union of two Natures so unspeakable different as the Soul and Body are is of all things in the World most mysterious and Miraculous Man seems to be the Head of all Things visible and invisible and the Golden clasp whereby Things Material and Spiritual are United He alone is able to beget the Divine Image and to multiply himself into Millions His Body may be the Temple of GOD and when it pleased GOD to become a Creature he assumed the Nature of Man Angels are made Ministring Spirits for the sake of Man and by him alone GOD and his works are United IF you respect his Condition he was made a little lower than the Angels that he might be crowned with Glory and Honour Lower for a Time that he might be Higher for ever The Angels were placed in such an Estate that if they fell it would be with more shame yet if they stood it would be with less Glory For having the Advantages of Greater Light and strength to Sin against them was more Odious and to stand in them less Wonderful While man being more remote from GOD was more Obnoxious to Dangers and more Weak to resist them His Want of Clear Light if he fell would lessen his offence And the Difficulties wherewith he was surrounded if he stood would increase his Vertue which by consequence would make his Obedience more pleasing and much augment his Eternal Glory All which put together when Angels and Men both fell fitted Man rather to be chosen and redeemed he being the Greater Object of Compassion and Mercy THE Degrees and measures of that Mercy which was shewn to Man in his Redemption are very considerable When he was Weak and unable to help himself when he was Guilty when he was an Enemy when he was Leprous and deformed when he was Miserable and Dead before he desired or Thought of such a Thing God freely gave his Son to die for his Salvation and condescended to propose a reconciliation Which should teach us tho higher then the Cherubims and more pure then the Light tho our Enemies are never so base and injurious and ingrateful nay Obstinate and Rebellious to seek a reconciliation by the most Laborious and Expensive Endeavors to manifest all our Care and kindness toward them pursuing their Amendment and Recovery For the same Mind ought to be in us that was in Christ Jesus who being in the form of GOD thought it no Robbery to be Equal with GOD yet took upon him the Form of a Servant and being found in fashion as a man humbled himself to the Death of the Cross Wherefore GOD also hath highly exalted him and given him a Name above every Name that at the Name of Jesus every Knee might bow The very reason why we so infinitely adore him being the incomparable Height and Perfection of his Mercy expressed in his Humiliation and Abasement for us If we would enter into his Glory we must walk in the Way which he hath trod before us for that only will lead us into it THO GOD hath in his infinite Mercy redeemed us from the unavoidable Necessity of being Damned yet hath he with infinite Prudence ordered the Way and Manner of our Redemption in such sort that we are not immediately translated into Heaven but restored to a new Estate of Trial and endued with Power to do new Duties as pleasing to him as those which he required from us in Eden For he Loved a Righteous Kingdome from the Beginning wherein his Laws were to be obeyed Rewards and Punishments expected and administred in a Righteous manner THE Great and necessary Duties in this second Kingdome are Faith and Repentance introduced by his Wisdom and occasioned by Sin necessary for our Justification and Sanctification and Superadded to the former THIS Kingdome of Evangelical Righteousness being founded on the Blood of Christ is by Death and Sin and by the Supernatural Secrets of Love and Mercy made infinitely more Deep and mysterious than the former CHAP. XV. Of Faith The Faculty of Believing implanted in the Soul Of what Nature its Objects are The Necessity of Faith Its End Its Use and Excellency It is the Mother and Fountain of all the Vertues FAITH and Repentance are the Principal Vertues which we ought to exercise in the Kingdome of Evangelical Righteousness because by them alone a Sinner is restored to the Capacity and Power of living in the Similitude of GOD in the Practice of his Divine and Eternal Vertues For without Faith it is impossible to please GOD because we can never believe that he is the Rewarder of all those that diligently seek him without that Credit which is necessary to be given to the Discovery of his Love to them that are
Riddles in the midst of all which to think so well of GOD as he deserveth is the most acceptable thing in the World for it argues a great confidence of his Worth and a Love that is founded on Substantial Causes never to be removed It feedeth the Soul with a lively hope and fair Expectation of great Things from him by which alone we do right to His GODHEAD in acknowledging the Perfection of his Love and Goodness and by which alone we are made able to adore him and to live in Union and Communion with him THERE is great Talk of Friendship it is accounted the only Pleasure in the World Its Offices are highly magnified of all Kindness of Behaviour a through and clear communication of Souls a secure Reliance upon each others Fidelity a perfect Discovery of all our Thoughts Intentions and Resentments an ardent willingness to impart Lives and Estate for the Benefit of our Friend the Reposing of all our Secrets in each others Bosomes to do all services and suffer all afflictions for each others sakes to prefer the Concerns of our Friend upon all Occasions above our own these are the Magnalia Amicitiae Arcana mutuae Benevolentiae the Great and mighty Effects for which Friendship is admired But all these without a good Opinion of our Friend are nothing worth they are but Externals of Friendship the greatest Secret in its Nature is the mutual agreement of Souls and Spirits the Delight which either taketh in the other the honour and esteem they give and receive the Approbation and Love of each others Dispositions the Sence and Admiration of each others Vertues the continual Desire of being alwayes together peculiar Extasie which the Beauty of either occasioneth in the other when of all other Treasures in the World their Persons are the greatest to one another Either is the proper Element and Refrigerium of the others Soul Their Bosomes are the mutual Receptacles and Temples of each others accomplishments whereinto they are received in all their Desert and have Justice done to every degree and Perfection in their Nature their Hearts are the Thrones where they are exalted and magnified and live at Ease are honoured and worshipped extolled and reign as absolute in each others Souls There are some slight aims and Adumbrations of this Friendship on Earth but the best and highest Degree of it here beneath is but a rude and imperfect shadow only GOD is the Sovereign friend all Adoration paid to any one beside is meer Idolatry Our Hearts can be absolutely Sacrificed to none but him because he alone is immutable in Goodness We cannot infinitely honour and delight in any but Him it is he alone that can infinitely honour and delight in us All our Lives Estates and Services are Due to him his Will alone is to be wholly ours because no other Will is infallibly Right Wise Holy but his alone THE Union of our Wills is a Perfection of Love but that at which he aimeth by all his Labours and Gifts and Benefits is our Right and Good Opinion of his Excellencies and Perfections That we should see and discern his interior Properties admire his Graces adore his Perfections adore and magnifie his Beauty and Glory this is the End for which he communicates himself in all his Works and Ways unto us it is the End of the Whole Creation and of all the Excellent Things in the universe for by this he establisheth his Empire in our souls and makes us Pleasing to himself in all our Operations And for this Cause it is that the Apostle plainly tells us that tho we give our Body to be burned and all our Goods to feed the poor without Charity it profiteth nothing To render to GOD the Honour that is due to his Name to receive and admire all his Bounties to rejoyce in all his Operations to adore him in all his Ways to take pleasure in all his Works to fill Heaven and Earth with our Joys and Praises is a Work which cannot but be agreeable by its Nature to his Eternal Essence And if this be the Work of Love it is that which is most Excellent because he is therein both pleased and enjoyed GOD and all his Creatures are united together by Love alone and in the Eternal Exercise of pure and perfect Love all Blessedness and Glory consisteth IF you require what it is to love GOD you will find it worthy of his Highest desire because thereby all our souls nay all his Creatures and his whole Kingdome are perfected for to Love GOD as we ought to do is to Honour him as our Father Benefactor Bridegroom and King to contemplate him as our Cause with Complacency and to rest in him as our End to delight in him as our Creator Preserver Lawgiver and Redeemer to dedicate our selves wholly to that Service whatever it be wherein he is chiefly pleased and delighted It is to love him in himself in all his Works in all his Ways in all his Laws in all his Attributes in all his Thoughts and Counsels in all his Perfections It implies the Knowledge of all Objects the Use of all Means the Attainment of all Ends all Wisdome and Goodness all Obedience and Gratitude all Righteousness and Holiness all Joy and Praise all Honour and Esteem all Blessedness and Glory For it is to Love him with all our Heart and with all our Soul with all our Strength and with all our Might with all our Understanding with all our Will with all our Affection with all the Powers of our soul with all our Inclinations and Faculties in all his Creatures in all his Appearances in Heaven and Earth in Angels and Men in all Kingdoms and Ages It is to see and desire to Esteem and delight in his Omnipresence and Eternity and in every Thing by which he manifesteth himself in either of these so that all Enlargement and Greatness and Light and Perfection and Beauty and Pleasure are founded in it and to Love him to Perfection implies all Learning and Attainment because we must necessarily be acquainted with all Things in all Worlds before we can thorowly and compleatly do it Which here upon Earth to do by Inclination and Endeavour to the utmost of our Power is all that is required of us And if we do it to our utmost it shall be rewarded in the Beatifick Vision with a full and Blessed Pefection with an actual Love exactly resembling his and fully answerable to it in the Highest Heavens THERE are two common Motives of Love among Men the one the Goodness and Excellency of the Person the other his particular Kindness and Love to us And both these are in the Highest Degree in GOD. He is of infinite Goodness and and Excellency in himself for there is nothing Good in the world but what hath received all its Goodness from Him His Goodness is the Ocean and all the Goodnesses of Creatures little Streams flowing from that Ocean Now you would think
him a Madman that should say the Sea were not greater then a trifling Brook and certainly it no less folly to suppose that the Goodness of GOD doth not as much nay infinitely more exceed that of all the Creatures The Sun is a lively Mirror of that Eternal Act of Love which is the Glory of his Essence but it is infinitely less prone to communicate its Beams and doth less Good to it self and infinitely less to all other Creatures It shines for their sakes nevertheless and clothes it self with Glory by the splendor of its Beams and is an Emblem of GOD who exerteth his Power with infinite Pleasure and by communicating his Essence in an infinite Manner propagates his Felicity and Glory to the utmost Height and Perfection By proceeding from himself to all Objects throughout all Worlds he begets and dwelleth in himself he inhabits Eternity in a Blessed and more vigorous Manner by establishing the Felicity of all his Creatures and become theirs infinite and Eternal Glory Wherein his particular Kindness and Love to us appeareth because he hath fitted us with Qualities and Powers adapted for so great an End and as particularly appropriated all to us as the Sun to the Eye of every Spectator For our Bodies and our Souls are made to enjoy the Benefit of all and his Desire is that we should attain the End for which we are created On his side all is prepared on ours nothing is wanting but Love to embrace and take pleasure in his Goodness which shineth in all these Things and created them on purpose that being manifested by them we might delight in it for ever HE that loveth not GOD with all his Heart liveth a Life most contrary to Nature For to Love is as natural for the Soul as to shine for the Sun and the more Lovely any thing is the more prone we are to Delight in it if any thing be infinitly Amiable weare prone to Love it in an infinite measure we prefer the Better above the worse cannot rest but in the best of all Reason is the Essence of the Soul and tends always to the utmost Perfection The more Divine and Glorious any Thing is the more high and Noble is the Love that we bear it No Beauty less then the most Perfect no Pleasure no Wisdome no Empire no Learning no Greatness Wealth or Honour less then the most sublime can be our full Satisfaction no little degree of Love nothing less then the most Supreme and violent can content us So that GOD being most truely perfect in all these is the Adequate Object of all our Desires and the only Person sit to be esteemed in an infinite manner It is as natural for Man to Love him as to desire and delight in any being which supplies the ordinary and daily necessities of his Life TO Love him as we ought implies two things that are agreable to the Nature of Love yet very rarely to be found among the Sons of Men a desire to please him and a Desire to enjoy him The Desire of Pleasing is a constant fruit and effect of Love For he that Loves is very desirous to approve himself and to do whatsoever he thinks will be grateful to his Beloved According to the Decree of Love the desire is more or less Where we Love Earnestly we are extreamly Earnest and Careful to please Where Love is remiss there is little need or Regard of any thing But infinite Love It is impossible to declare what favour and Zeal it will produce If we Love GOD we shall keep his Commandements with a Tenderness and Desire so extreme that no Joy will be so great as the Observation of his Laws It will be with us as it was with our Lord Jesus Christ it will be our Meat and Drink to do the Will of our Father which is in Heaven The measure of our Love will not infuse some slight and faint Endeavours of Pleasing but put us on the most painful and costly Duties make us willing to forsake our own Ease Goods Friends yea Life it self when we cannot keep them without offending our Creator THE desire of Enjoying is constantly seen in our Love to one another If any man hath a friend whom he intirely loveth he desires his Conversation Wishes to be always in his Company and thinketh the Time long till he and his friend be together And thus will it be in our Love to GOD if as great and Hearty as it ought to be In this Life our Enjoyment of GOD is more imperfect more compleat and perfect in the Life to come Here upon Earth we desire to converse with him in his Ordinances in Prayer Meditation hearing his Word in receiving the Sacrament which are intended all for this purpose to bring us into a neerer Intimacy and familiarity with GOD by speaking so to him hearing him speak and shew himself to us If we love him indeed we shall highly Value these Ways of Conversing with him it is all here upon Earth whereby we can enjoy him It will make us with David esteem one Day in his Courts better than a thousand We shall delight in all the Means of approaching to him as often as possible and use them diligently to the End of uniting us more and more unto him who is the Object of our Desire and the Life of our Souls And for as much as there is another Enjoyment of GOD which is more compleat and perfect we shall groan earnestly desired to be dissolved and be with Christ where we may see no more in a Glass but Face to Face and Know as we are Known For Love is strong as Death many Waters cannot quench Love neither can the floods drown it Affliction Persecution Sickness any thing that will bring us to Heaven will be acceptable and Delightful IF you would know more fully why GOD desires to be Beloved you may consider that Love is not onely the Motive and Incentive to Vertue the Cause of Obedience but the form and Essence of every Grace and the fufilling of the Law We shall chuse him for our GOD and have no other GODS but him no Delights no Sovereign Enjoyment but him alone We shall honour him with all our Souls and adore him with every Power of our Will and Understanding We shall not regard Images and shadows but worship him immediately in Spirit and in Truth We shall not take his Name in vain nor contentedly stand by when others abuse it But shall praise his Name and desire to see it glorified throughout the World For Love desires the Honour and delights in the Glory and Advancement of its Beloved We shall reverence his Sanctuary and keep his Sabbaths desiring Rest from other Avocations that we may contemplate his Glory in all his Works For his sake we shall observe the Laws of the second Table and Love our Neighbour as our self For to Love him is no Impediment but a Strong Engagement and incentive to the Love
of all his Creatures We shall honour our Parents for his sake and preserve the Life of our Neighbour We shall not rob him of his happiness in his Wife nor wrong him in her Chastity and Fidelity towards him We shall not steal from him nor diminish his Possessions We shall not defame him nor hurt him by Lies but vindicate and preserve his Reputation it will be our joy and Satisfaction to see his honour clear and unblemished We shall not injure him so much as in a thought nor covet ought that is his either for necessity or pleasure but study to add to his Contentments WERE all the World as full of this Love as it ought to be Paradice would still continue and all Mankind would be the Joy and Glory of the whole Creation The Love of GOD towards all would dwell and abide in every Soul and the Felicity of all would be the particular Joy of every person All the Earth would be full of Repose and Peace and Prosperity nothing but Honour and Kindness and Contentment would replenish the World Which leads me now to that other Branch of Love which is Charity to our Neighbour CHAP. XIX Charity to our Neighbour most natural an Easie in the Estate of Innocency Adams Love to Eve and his children a great Examplar of our Love to all the World The Sweetness of Loving The Benefits of being Beloved To Love all the World and be beloved by all the World is perfect security and Felicity Were the Law fulfilled all the World would be turned in Heaven CHARITY to our Neighbour is Love expressed towards GOD in the Best of his Creatures We are to Love GOD in all the Works of his Hands but in those especially that are most near unto him chiefly those in which he manifesteth himself most clearly and these are they that are most like him most exalted by him most loved of him and most delightful to him ANGELS and Men are so distinct from the residue of the Creation that all the Works of GOD as if they were Things of another Kind are put in Subjection under their feet They were made in his Image and are often called the Sons of GOD. They are the Sovereign Objects of his Eternal Love every one of them considered a part is so Glorious as if he were the Sole individual friend of GOD and King of the Universe so that they are to be treated in another Manner as High and Sacred Persons elevated a-above the Race of ordinary Creatures as a Progeny of Kings that are all of them friends to the King of Kings Ambassadours representing his Person in whom he is injured or Obliged I confess there are many Disguises that overcast the Face of Nature with a vail and cloud these Sovereign Creatures the Excellency the Absence and Distance and unknown Nature of Angels the Perversness of Nature the Ignorance and Unkindness and Disorders of Men Darken and Eclipse this Glorious Duty and make it uncouth and difficult to us But all these Disorders came in by Sin and it is expedient to remove the Confusions that blind us in our miserable Estate and to look upon this Vertue of Charity in the Naked Beauty which appeareth to us in the Light of Eden IN the Purity of Nature Men are Amiable Creatures and prone to Love To great Advantages of which Sin and misery hath bereaved us and to which we are restored but in Part even then when we are Sanctified Where the Beauty of the Object is intire and perfect and the Goodness of the Spectator clear and undefiled to Love is as Natural and Easie as for fire to enflame when applied to convenient matter For the Beauty of the Object is Oyl and Fuel to the affection of the Spectator It is not more Easie to delight in what is pleasant than it is to desire what is Good and Amiable To be commanded to take pleasure in it is Liberty not Constraint To be forbidden would be hard A Prohibition would be the Severest Law and the most cruel Bondage There was no Possitive Law in Eden that required a Man to Love his Neighbour it was a Law of Nature The Nature of the Object required it and our Nature prompted it self thereunto The Service that Law required was perfect freedome Adam was commanded to Love Eve by a silent Law Surprized by her Beauty and captivated by the Chains of Nature He was amazed at so fair a Creature her Presence was so Delightful that there was no need of a Law an injunction had imported some Sluggishness in the zeal of his Affection His Appetite and Reason were united together and both invited him to lose himself in her Embraces She was as acceptable a Present of the Love of GOD as Wisdome and Goodness could invent for him He was too apt to admire her had not her Soul been as worthy as her Symmetry was transcendent He admired the Bounty of the Donor in so Great a Gift and Great Part of his Life was to be spent in the Contemplation of his Treasure He had a Noble Creature made in the Image of GOD for him alone Her soul was far more excellent in Beauty then her Face a Diviner and more Glorious Object than the whole world Her Intelligence and Vivacity Her Lofty and clear Apprehensions Her Honour and Majesty Her Freedome of Action her Kindness of Behaviour her Angelical Affections Her fitness for Conversation Her sweet and Tender Principles a million of Graces and Endowments conspiring to enrich Her Person and Perfection made all the World to serve Adam with one Degree of Pleasure more in serving and pleasing her The Universe seemed to be Nothing but the Theatre of their mutual Love as if all the World were made for nothing else but to minister to her for his sake and to make him happy in the Enjoyment of Her While the fruition was sanctified by a Just acknowledgement and Thanksgiving to the Author WE produce Eve only for a President this first sweetness is but a Pattern and Copy of what follows fair Prologue to a more magnificent scene and used by us as a meer Introduction Adam was able to Love Millions more and as She was taken out of his side so were they to spring from his Bowels All to be as Great and fair and Glorious as she as full of Soul and as full of Love As the Woman was the Glory of man so were their Off-springs the Glory of both I mean they had been so by the Law of Nature had not the due course of it been disturbed Which Accident is wholy to be fathered on Adams fondness to please his Wife and to be mothered upon her Lightness and Credulity But we being here to disclose the Felicity which is hid in the fulfilling of GODS Laws and to justifie his Love in commancing this Charity to our Neighbors must not regard the Malevolence of Men but look upon the pure Intention of the Law and the success that would have
in force and Extent but the fewer in Number Their perfect sufficiency is to be measured by the ends for which they are prepared and their Beauty Consists like that of an Army with Banners in the Proportion and Symmetry of the entire Body the mutual Supplies and Succors they afford to one another the Unity of such a Great Variety of things in order to the Attainment of the same great and ultimate end the full and compleat Number of Offices and inferior Ends and the Extream Providence wherewith they are reducible to one supream End which is most High and Excellent It is enough for the Ear if it can hear well tho it is no more able to See or Taste than a Stone it is enough for the eye to see well tho it is no more sensible of Noise then a Rock or a Tree The Office of the Tongue is to Tast well of the Nostril to smell well c. and there is no Defect in any of these because they are every one sufficient for its own immediate end and also tempered and united together that the rest are Supplies to make up the Defect of every single Sence and Organ and altogether perfectly subservient to the whole Man for whose sake they were prepared that he might enjoy the benefit of them all The eye sees for the Ear and the Tongue and all the rest of the Members of the Body the foot supports and carries the eye the hand defends and feeds the Eye the Ear instructs and Counsels the Eye the Nostrils smell for the eye and the Tongue tasts and talks for the Eye which the eye cannot do for it self because it was made to need the assistance of the rest the eye directs all these in Liew of their Services and is of far greater Value then if a man had no other Member but an eye alone For the Eye is the Light of all the members and Great in its Relation to the whole man It sees for the Ear and the Hand and for all and is to all these after some manner Beneficial but without these would be to no purpose There is an infinite Excellency in every Vertue but it is to be sought in its Relation to all the Rest. It is Good for nothing in its Place but for that Particular End to which it is assigned in attaining that end it is subservient to all other Vertues and while it serves all is aided by all The other Virtues remedie the inconveniences to which this doth expose us and being all joyned together earry us safely and securely to our Last end Because the Influence of every one passeth thorow all every single Vertue is Pleasing to God and a means in its place of our whole Felicity The Beauty of all the Vertues is to be sought in Prudence for there they meet in an intire Body their Correspondence and convenience their Symmetry and proportion their Unity and Variety their ful and perfect Harmony makes up the features of the Soul and compleats its Graces just as the Diversity of Members perfects the Body Knowledge gives Light to Love but Love gives Warmth and Feeling to Knowledge Love may perhaps like a Separate Soul dwell in Heaven alone and yet even then it must include all Knowledge and Righteousness and Wisdome and Holiness for if Love know not how to guide it self it will never attain its End nor be a perfect Vertue But here upon Earth t is like the Soul in the Body it must Eat and Drink and see and hear as a thousand Works to do and therefore standeth in need of many Vertues Love without Goodness is perhaps a Thing impossible because it always designs well But Love without Wisdome is a Common Thing for such is all that mistakes its End Love without Discretion is a mischievious Thing Love without Prudence an Helpless Thing Love without Courage a feeble and Cowardly Thing Love without Modesty an impudent and Troublesome Thing Love without the Fear of GOD is Lust and Wantonness and if the most Great and Glorious of all the Vertues stands in need of all its Companions The less and inferior must needs be lame and maimed without the residue especially without the Superior UPON this account it is that so much Care and Study goes to the making up of a Vertuous man All kind of Vertues must concur to Compleat his Perfection The Want of any one Denominates a Vice and makes him Vicious Nay the Want of any one destroys the form and Essence of the rest Vertue is not Vertue but in order to felicity If it hath lost its force it hath lost its Nature As a little Poyson turnes the best Meat from Nourishment into Poyson so doth one Vice cherished and allowed corrupt and viciate all the Vertues in the whole World Hence it is that the Phylosophers say all the Vertues are linked together in the golden Chain of Prudence And that a Thing is made Good by all its Causes Evil by the least Defect For as one Tooth wanting in a Clock makes all the other wheels and Materials Useless tho the frame be never so Elaberate and Curious so doth the abscence of the smallest Vertue make void and frustrate all the residue A man of a Kind and Bountiful Disposition that is loose and intemperate may ruine his Estate and dye like a Prodigal and vain-glorions fool A stout Couragious person that is proud and debauched will be little better then a Souldierly Russian and Live if not like a Thief for Want of Honesty yet like a Swaggering Hector for Want of Discreetion A Man endued with all Kind of Learnning may be Morose and Covetous and by one Vice lose all the Benefit of his Education A Religious Votary that is Splenetick and Revengeful brings a Disgrace upon his whole Profession But he that is Wise and Learned and Holy and Just and Temperate and Couragious and Kind and Liberal and Meek and Humble and Affable and Cheerful and Prudent and Industrious shall be serviceable and Honourable and delightful to others profitable to himself and alwayes Triumphant Especially if he be so discreet and Prudent as to make all these Vertues move like the Stars in their Courses and knows how to apply and manage their Excellencies in their due and proper places upon all occasions for they are so many different in nature that some of their Influences will hit every business and all of them together pass a Grace and Lustre upon each other so Divine and Heavenly that they will make their owner Venerable in the Eys of the World and correct the Malignity of the most injurious and Censorious Which moved our Saviour to exhort us to be Wise as Serpents Innocent as Doves to joyn many Vertues together And occasioned that of the Apostle He that will love Life and see good Days let him refrain his Tongue from Evil and his Lips that they speak no Guile let him eschew Evil and do Good let him seek Peace and
Vertue of a man they think seated in this They forget that Policy and Learning and Prudence and Gratitude and Fidelity and Temperance and Industry and compassion and Bounty and Affability and Courtesie and Modesty and Justice and Honesty are Vertues and that in every one of these there is something fitting a Man for the Benefit of the World Nay they have lost the Notion of Vertue and know not what it is Those things by which a man is made serviceable to himself and the World they think not to be Vertues but imagineâ— Chimeraes which they cannot see then deny they have any Existence A Man is capable of far more Glorious Qualities then one of them And his Courage it self may be raised to far higher Ends and purposes then Buffoons and Thrasonical Heroes can dream of IT is to be noted here that any one of those Things that are called Vertue being alone is not a Vertue It is so far from aiding and setting us forward in the Way to Happiness that oftentimes it proveth a Great and intollerable Mischief and is never safe but when it is corrected and guided by the rest of its Companions To stir no further then Courage alone What is Courage in a Thief or a Tyrant or a Traytor but like Zeal and Learning in a pernicious Heretick YOU may note further that Goodness is a principal Ingredient in the excellency of this Vertue tho it be distinct in its Nature from the Being of Courage A brave man will expose his Life in an Honest cause for the Benefit and preservation of others tho not for the Dammage or Destruction of any He will slight his own safety and despise his Repose to make himself a Saviour and a Benefactor A true Courage holdeth Vertuous Actions at such a Price that Death Imprisonment Famine Dishonour Poverty Shame Indignation all Allurements and Temptations are nothing compared to the Performance of Heroick Deeds He exceedeth all constraint and walketh in the Glorious Liberty of the Sons of GOD. THE last note which I shall offer to your Observation on this Occasion is this for the Illustration of the Reason and excellency of GODS Dispensations The Great End for which GOD was pleased not to seat us immediately in the Throne but to place us first in an estate of Trial was the Multiplication of our Vertues For had we been seated in the Glory of Heaven at the first there had no such Vertues as Patience and Courage and Fidelity been seen no Faith or Hope or Meekness no Temparance or Prudence or self Denial in the World Which Vertues are the very clothes and Habits of the Soul in Glory The Graces and Beauties of the Soul are founded in the exercise of them Actions pass not away but are fixed by the permanent Continuance of all Eternity and tho done never so long ago shall appear before the Eye of the Soul for ever in their places be the Glory of their Author the Lineaments and Colours of his Beauty seen by GOD and his holy Angels and Delightful to all that love and delight in worthy things Our Life upon Earth being so diversified like a Sphere of Beauty so variously adorned with all sorts of Excellent Actions shall wholly and at once be seen as an intire Object rarely and curiously wrought a Lively Mirror of the Nature of the Soul and all the Elements of which it is compounded all the Parts that conspire in its Symetry all the Qualities Operations and Perfections that contribute to its Glory shall afford wonder and pleasure to all Spectators While every Soul shall be concerned more in its Actions then in its Essence indeed its Essence how ever considerable is of little or no Value in Comparison of its Operations Every Vertue being the Natural Off-spring and production of the Soul in which its Vigor principally appeareth an effect discovering the Nature of the cause and the sole occasion of its shame or Glory For if the Essence of the Soul be all Power and its power exerted in its operation the Soul must needs enter into its Actions and consequently be affected with all that befalls its Operation All Acts are Immortal in their places being enbalmed as it were by Eternity till the Soul revive and be united to them Then shall it appear in its own Age and in eternity too in its last life enjoying the Benefit of its first And in that sence is that voice from Heaven to be understood which commanded the Divine to write Blessed are they that die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their Labours and their Works do follow them For the Glory of the place is nothing to us if we are not endued with those Glorious Habits which will make our Souls all Glorious within We must be Glorious and Illustrious our selves and appear in Actions that will Beautifie the Throne to which we are exalted THAT these Actions may be Great and Amiable manifold and Excellent is the desire of every soul the natural Wish and Expectation both of Reason it self and of self Love HOW Glorious the Counsel and Design of GOD is for the Archieving of this Great End for the making of all Vertues more compleat and Excellent and for the Heightening of their Beauty and Perfection we will exemplifie here in the Perfection of Courage For the Hieght and depth and Splendor of every Vertue is of great Concernment to the Perfection of the Soul since the Glory of its Life is seated in the Accomplishment of its essence in the Fruit it yeildeth in its Operations Take it in Verse made long ago upon this occasion For Man to Act as if his Soul did see The very Brightness of Eternity For Man to Act as if his Love did burn Above the Spheres even while its in its Urne For Man to Act even in the Wilderness As if he did those Sovereign Joys possess Which do at once confirm stir up enflame And perfect Angels having not the same It doth increase the Value of his Deeds In this a Man a Seraphim exceeds To Act on Obligations yet unknown To Act upon Rewards as yet unshewn To keep Commands whose Beauty 's yet unseen To cherish and retain a Zeal between Sleeping and Waking shews a constant care And that a deeper Love a Love so Rare That no Eye Service may with it compare The Angels who are faithful while they view His Glory know not what themselves would do Were they in our Estate A Dimmer Light Perhaps would make them erre as well as We And in the Coldness of a darker Night Forgetful and Lukewarm Themselves might be Our very Rust shall cover us with Gold Our Dust shall sprinkle while their Eyes behold The Glory Springing from a feeble State Where meer Belief doth if not conquer Fate Surmount and pass what it doth Antedate THE Beatifick Vision is so sweet and Strong a Light that it is impossible for any thing that Loves it self
or too dull or too feeble and impertinent but all its faults are avoided by a fit Temperance of Words and Materials Temperance every where yields the Pleasure And Excess is as destructive as Defect in any Accomplishment whatsoever Vertue being seated in the Golden Mean It is by an Artificial limiting of Power that every Thing is made as it ought to be Compleat and Perfect All kind of Excellence in every sort of Operation springs from Temperance A curious Picture a melodious Song a delicious Harmony by little invisible motions of the Pen or Pencil or by Ductures scarce perceivable in the throat or fingers finisheth the Work where Art is the only power of performing WE know that upon Mens Actions far more does depend than upon Dancing and Painting their Wisdom and Vertue their Honour Life and Happiness And therefore more Care ought to be exhibited in the Actions of which their Conversation is made up and accomplished In their Meats and Drinks and Recreations it is apparent that without Temperance there can be no Success or Order The best Wine in the World makes him that is lavish in the use of it a Sot The most wholsom and delicious Meat upon Earth by excess in eating may turn to a Surfeit If Sports and Recreations take up all a mans Time his Life is unprofitable their End is lost and their Nature changed for instead of recruiting they consume ones Strength and instead of sitting a Man for it devour his Calling AN exact hand over all our Passions and a diligent Eye to extravagant Actions tend much to our Welfare Repose and Honour Loose and impertinent Laughter excessive Cost in Apparel a Lascivious wandering of the Eyes an ungoverned Boldness which turns into Impudence an extremity of Fear which degenerates into Baseness a Morose and sour Disposition Anxiety and needless Care immodest and violent strivings after Things we too eagerly desire inordinate Love too keen and bitter Resentments a fierce and raging Anger a blockish Stupidity a predominant Humour of Melancholy too much Sloth and too much Activity too much Talk and too much Silence all these are diligently to be ordered and avoided for upon the right Temperament of these we are made Acceptable and Amiable and being so are full of Authority and can do within the compass of Vertue and Reason all that we desire among our Friends and Companions for our own good or the benefit of others And by this means also we shall be admitted to the society and friendship of Great men where a Nod or a Word is able to prevail more than the strength of Oxen and Horses among the dregs of the People But for lack of tempering these Ingredients aright and as we ought we become odious and insupportable lose all Esteem and Interest are rejected and trampled under feet as vicious and deformed HERE you may observe that all the qualities and dispositions in Nature are ingredients and materials in our Lives and Conversations and for the most part it is their Excess or Defect that makes the miscarriage when we erre in the Measure There is a certain mixture of Gravity and Chearfulness Remisness and Severity Fear and Boldness Anger and Complacency Kindness and Displeasure Care and Carelesness Activity and Idleness Joy and Sorrow Forwardness and Reservedness nay of Envy Pride and Revenge in every Mans life as well as of Selfishness and flowing Courtesie Plainness and Policy at least the grounds of these things which are neither Vertues nor Vices in themselves yet make Conversation transcendently Vertuous when they are wisely tempered and united together I do not look upon Ambition and Avarice nay nor upon Envy and Revenge as things that are evil in their root and fountain If they be Temperance has a strange vertue in its Nature for as Chymists make Antidotes of Poysons so doth this vertue turn the Matter of all these into a Quintessential perfection Nay Selfishness and Pride it self escape not its influence A little touch of something like Pride is seated in the true sence of a mans own Greatness without which his Humility and Modesty would be contemptible Vertues In all baseness of Mind there is a kind of folly and Cowardice apparent and more veneration follows an humble Man that is sensible of his Excellency An aiery Humor without something of the Melancholy to ballast it a little would be light and trifling And a melancholy Humor without something of Air and Jovialness in it too sour and disobliging Anger without Softness is like untemper'd Steel brittle and destructive and a plyant Humor without some degree of stiffness too near to Flattery and Servility Anger is the matter and fuel of Courage and its appearance afar off puts a Majesty into Meekness that makes it redoubted A sorrowful Humor neatly allayed with a mixture of sweetness begets a tenderness and compassion in the Spectator that turns into a deeper and more serious Love A little Selfishness puts our Companions in mind of our own Interest and makes them perceive that we understand it which adds a lustre to our Self-denial and renders our Liberality more safe and precious Plainness without Policy is downright Simplicity and Policy without Plainness void of Honesty The one makes us Crafty and renders us suspected the other exposes us and makes us Ridiculous but both united are venerable and prudent By the appearance of Revenge in its shady Possibility a man that never does other than Actually forgive does oblige for what is past yet threaten and discourage from the like Offences All these are the Subjects of Temperance A little spice of Jealousie and Emulation are advantagious in the midst of our Security and Resignation They give a relish to our Confidence in and Prelation of others and make our Security and Civility taste of our Love to the Person we prefer and of our Love to Vertue There is not one Humor nor Inclination nor Passion nor Power in the Soul that may not be admitted to act its part when directed by Temperance NOR is it unlawful to alter the Natural Complexion by Care and Study I know very well that the Complexion of the Body can hardly be changed by the strongest Physick and that Choler and Phlegm and abundance of Blood will where they are have their Natural Course without any remedy But the Humors of the Soul are more tractable things they are all subject to the Will in their operations and though they incline yet they cannot act but by consent and permission I know furthermore that Custom and Habit is a Second Nature what was difficult at first becomes at last as easie in its Exercise as if it were innate and that the Soul of a Vertuous man does in process of time act by a new Disposition I know further that all vertuous Operations are free and voluntary and that the office of Vertue is to correct and amend an Evil Nature Let no man therefore be disgusted because a Made-up man is
Space is an infinite Object in his understanding But for the Glory of his Moderation it is evident that he hath attained a far greater and more perfect End HAD he made an Infinite Object of a Spiritual Nature it must be a Spirit endued with illimited Power to see his Omnipresence and Eternity And had he made no more but only this it is to be feared that the Spectator would be displeased for want of Objects in preparing which the Love of GOD should have glorified his Wisdom and Goodness for its fruition IF you say the Omnipresence and Eternity of GOD had been filled with that Creature it is evident that Spirits fill no Room though they see all things and that it had been much better if Objects had been prepared for its Enjoyment HAD he prepared any one Corporeal Object for the fruition of that Creature any Corporeal Object if infinite in Dimensions would be wholly useless nay pernicious and destructive for it would exclude all other Beings to which it might be serviceable out of place and have nothing whereto to be beneficial IF you say it would be Beneficial to GOD or to that Spectator or that Intelligible Power that Spirit for whom it was made It is apparent that no Corporeal Being can be serviceable to a Spirit but only by the Beauty of those Services it performeth to other Corporeals that are capable of receiving them and that therefore all Corporeals must be limited and bounded for each others sake And for this Cause it is that a Philosophical Poet said As in a Clock 't is hinder'd-Force doth bring The Wheels to order'd Motion by a spring Which order'd Motion guides a steddy Hand In useful sort at Figures just to stand Which were it not by Counter-ballance staid The Fabrick quickly would aside be laid As wholly useless So a Might too Great But well proportion'd makes the World compleat Power well-bounded is more Great in Might Than if let loose 't were wholly Infinite He could have made an endless Sea by this But then it had not been a Sea of Bliss A Sea that 's bounded in a finite shore Is better far because it is no more Should Waters endlesly exceed the skies They 'd drown the World and all whate're we prize Had the bright Sun been Infinite its Flame Had burnt the World and quite consum'd the same That Flame would yield no splendor to the Sight 'T would be but Darkness though 't were Infinite One Star made Infinite would all exclude An Farth made Infinite could ne're be view'd But all being bounded for each others sake He bounding all did all most useful make And which is best in Profit and Delight Though not in Bulk he made all Infinite He in his Wisdom did their use extend By all to all the World from End to End In all Things all Things service do to all And thus a Sand is Endless though most small And every Thing is truly Infinite In its Relation deep and exquisite THIS is the best way of accommodating things to the Service of each other for the fruition of all Spectators MODERATION is not so called from Limiting and Restraining but from Moderating and Ruling If Reason require that a Thing should be Great it is the part of Temperance to make it so Where Reason requires it is a point of Moderation to enlarge and extend Power Nay to stretch it out to the utmost of its Capacity if Wisdom order it is but equal To moderate Almighty Power is to limit or extend it as Reason requires Reason requires that it should be so limited and extended as most tends to the perfection of the Universe IF it be more Wise and more tends to the perfection of the Universe that Millions of intelligible Spirits should be Created and every one of them be made in finite in Understanding it shall be done If not Temperance forbears If Sands and Atoms tend more to the perfection of the World than Angels there where they do so Sands and Atoms shall be made and Angels there where they tend more to the perfection of the World So that every thing is best in its proper place Were there no Sands or Atoms there would be no Universe For the Earth the Sea the Skie the Air all Bodies consist of these either united or divided If they had been lest unmade and Angels had been created in their Places there had been no visible World at all TO make Visible Objects useful it was necessary to enshrine some Spirits in Corporeal Bodies and therefore to make such Creatures as Men that might see and feel and smell and taste and hear and eat and drink by their Bodies and enjoy all the Pleasures of the World by their Souls And by their Souls moreover know the Original and End of all understand the design of all and be able to celebrate the Praises of the Creator For by this means pure Essences abstracted from all Corporeity might enjoy the World while they delight in the glory of its Uses and especially in those compleat and amiable Creatures for whom it was prepared IT was expedient also to make their Bodies finite that they might converse together but their inward Intelligences of endless reach that they might see the holy Angels delight in them and by their Love be delightful to them that they might also be able to search into the depth of all Things and enjoy Eternity Nay that they might be fit Recipients for the infinite Bounty and Goodness of GOD which is infinite in its Communications THAT they should be subject to his Laws and depend upon him was necessary in like manner For by that distinction an infinite difference was between him and them that disparity being laid in the foundation though the benefits they receive are altogether infinite the distance is still the more infinite between them for the greater the Bounty is the deeper is the Obligation The Love and Service they owe is infinite and so is the Gratitude TO see all his Glory is to be able to admire it and to adore it with infinite amazement and joy which is to be compleatly just unto it and perfectly blessed There is but one thing more wherein Almighty Power was by Wisdom infinite to restrain it self for the perfection of his Kingdom And that is to create them free that were made to enjoy it Not to determine their Wills by a fatal Necessity but to make their esteem and fruition of GOD and his Works their duty and to leave them to themselves for the more free and voluntary discharge of their duty For by that means it would make them capable of Rewards and Punishments in the Righteous distribution of which the nature and the glory of a Righteous Kingdom consisteth THUS did GOD by infinite Moderation and by a sublime and transcendent Temperance prepare his Kingdom and make every Thing exquisite in his whole Dominion to the praise of his Glory and the satisfaction of his infinite
and his infinite Goodness abused and undervalued all Obligations imposed and all Rewards prepared in vain is worse than to see ones Palace on fire as soon as it is builded or ones Wife smitten with Leprosie and ones only beloved Son run mad For a Child to trample on his Fathers Bowels is nothing in Comparison He therefore that feels what he made GOD to endure what Grapes of Sodom and Clusters of Gomorrah he offered to his Teeth how evil a thing and bitter it is to forsake GOD how the Scripture saith He was grieved at the Heart when he saw the Corruption and Impiety of the Earth and how the Sorrow inflicted was so sore as to make him repent that he had made Man in the World he surely will be more concerned at the Evil he hath done than at any Evil he can otherwise suffer and his Godly Sorrow as Moses's Rod did eat up all the Rods of the Egyptians will devour all other Sorrows whatsoever TO consider that GOD was the first Patient Person in the World must needs sweeten the Bitterness of Patience and make it acceptable unto us to consider that we alone brought it upon our selves and may thank our selves for the folly of its Introduction must make us out of very Indignation against our selves contented to suffer and in pure Justice quietly to digest it but to consider yet further that GOD by bearing our Offences with Patience took off the trouble of them from us and by refusing to ease himself of the greatness of his displeasure in pouring it back again on our own heads digested it so as to turn our eternal Torments into transitory Woes nay into his own Agonies and Pains on the Cross this will help our Reason to rejoyce at our light Afflictions which are but for a moment especially since they work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory The first Impression of that abominable Mischief which occasioned Patience in GOD made it a Calamity but not a Vertue Detestation and Grief in themselves are but Sufferings and meer Sufferings have no Vertue nor so much almost as Action in them If his detestation and grief had broken out in Impatience we had all been destroyed Anger and Fury had been poured down upon us That which made it a Vertue was the great and mighty Continence whereby it was kept in and governed for all our Benefit For it was full of Goodness and Compassion and Mercy and Love and that was indeed the vertue of Patience in which so much Magnanimity and Government did appear so much Wisdom and Stedfastness and Immutability and upon this vertue of that Act whereby he retained his displeasure the whole Kingdom of Grace and the glory of his Mercy and Love and the blessedness and exaltation of his Church is founded it depended upon it and from his Patience it proceeded PATIENCE then is that Vertue by which we behave our selves constantly and prudently in the midst of Misfortunes and Troubles That Vertue whereby we do not only forbear to break out in Murmurings and Repinings or support our selves from sinking under Afflictions or suppress our Discontentments and refrain from Anger and Disquiet but whereby we retain our Wisdom and the goodness of our Mind notwithstanding all the Confusions and Disorders that would disturb us and demean our selves in a serene and honourable manner surmounting the Pains and Calamities that trouble us and that would otherwise overwhelm us While we move in a quick and vigorous manner under our Burthen and by a true Courage improve our Afflictions and turn them into the Spoils of Invincible Reason IT is an easie Observation that Troublous Times are the Seasons of Honour and that a Warlike-Field is the Seed-Plot of great and Heroical Actions Men that live in quiet and peaceful Ages pass through the World as insensibly as if they had all their daies been asleep Hazards and Calamities and Battles and Victories fill the Annals with Wonder and raise Great Men to an eminent degree of Fame and Glory It is Saint Chrysostoms opinion That a Man shews far greater Bravery that grapples with a Disease or surmounts his evil Fortune or behaves himself with Courage in distress bears the burning of his House or the loss of his Goods or the death of his Children with an equal Spirit in the midst of all Calamities retains his Integrity with Humility and Patience and Blesses GOD chearfully submitting with Resignation to his Will and shews himself Constant in all Estates then he that in the midst of a prosperous Condition buildeth Hospitals and Temples shineth in the exercise of Bounty and Magnificence and obligeth all the World without any other Expence than that of his Monies A Pelican that feeds her young ones with her Blood is a more Noble Bird than an Eagle that fills her Nest with Ravine though taken from the Altar For though that of a Sacrifice be the more Sacred food that of ones own Blood is more near and costly TIMES of Affliction are Seed-times for a future Harvest We are made perfect through Sufferings though the Way be mysterious and the Manner almost incomprehensible whereby the Sufferings we endure conduce to our Perfection Consider the Patience of Job how great a spectacle his Sufferings made him to GOD Angels and Men and how glorious he became by his Patience to all Generations THIS Vertue has an Appearance by reason of its Objects and Materials so cross to its disposition that if any thing be difficult in all Nature to be understood Patience is one it being a thing of the most deep and obscure value It s Nature and Effect seem contrary to each other It raises a Man by depressing him it elevates by overwhelming it honours by debafing it saves by killing him By making a Man little and nothing it magnifies and exalts him No Act of Love is attended with such bleeding Circumstances as that of Cruel Resolution in exposing our selves to all Calamities that can befal our Souls for our Beloved's sake It is the glory of the good Shepheard that He laies down his life for the Sheep And for this very Cause is our Saviour honoured by GOD and Men because being in the form of GOD he made himself of no Reputation but took on himself the form of a Servant and died the most cursed Death of the Cross for the sake of the World Wherefore saith the Text that is For which very Cause GOD also hath highly exalted him and given him a Name which is above every Name that at the Name of JESUS every Knee should bow of things in the Heaven things in the Earth and things under the Earth Nor is this Gift of GOD so purely Arbitrary but that it has a foundation in Nature Angels and Men do not bow their Knees only because they are commanded but because they see Reason to incline them to bow their Knees There is something in our Saviours Nature Action and Merit that deserves
Kindness he is a solid and weighty Friend a rare Treasure and exceeding precious Neither my Errors nor Misfortunes are able to change him that loveth me purely because he will love me When his Excellency be found out he will more highly be esteemed not only by his Friend but by all that see him and note his Fidelity INJURIES well forgiven are the highest Obligations in the World especially if a man has been injured after many Benefits A Friend that will so oblige is more to be preferred than the Gold of Ophir MEEKNESS brings a man into respect with his Servants and into power with his Neighbours Anger resteth in the bosom of Fools but Meekness hath alwaies this advantage it is attended with Wisdom and other Vertues as Goodness and Courage A man that is prudent in Affairs and zealous of Good Works faithful in retaining Secrets and so full of Love that he is prone to do all manner of Good with industry and is couragious to expose himself to any Hazard for the benefit of his Neighbours shall keep his Servants in awe and yet be beloved of them He shall be able to do among his Neighbours what he pleaseth He shall when known well become the Father of all their Families they will entrust their Wives and Children in his hands as I have often experienced their Gold their Bonds their Souls their Affairs their Lives their Secrets Houses Liberties and Lands and be glad of such a Friend in whom to be safe and by whom to be assisted But though you have all the Vertues in the World the way to the use of them is blockt up without Meekness for your Neighbours are few of them Wise or Good and if you will be provoked by Injuries you will upon forty occasions so distaste them that they will never trust you You will look as like a Trifle a Knave or a Fool as one of them and be as very a Mad man He that will not do good but to deserving Persons shall find very few to do good to For he shall not be acquainted with Good men and from doing good to others he excludes himself But if all his other Vertues are beautified by Meekness such a man will be like an Angel and live above all his Neighbours as if he were in Heaven So that Meekness is his real exaltation And this made our Saviour to cull out that Blessing for the Meek The Meek shall inherit the Earth Even here upon Earth the Meek are they that are most blessed TO do good to an innocent Person is Humane but to be kind and bountiful to a man after he has been Injurious is Divine Philanthus gave Laws and Countries to the Parthenians and was disgraced and banished But he did them good after the Injury and was made their God as Justine recordeth THE very nature of the Work encourageth us to its exercise because it is GOD-like and truly Blessed But there are many other Considerations moving us unto it Mankind is sick the World distemper'd lies Opprest with Sins and Miseries Their Sins are Woes a long corrupted Train Of Poyson drawn from Adam's vein Stains all his Seod and all his Kin Are one Disease of Life within They all torment themselves The World's one Bedlam or a greater Cave Of Mad-men that do alwaies rave The Wise and Good like kind Physicians are That strive to heal them by their Care They physick and their Learning calmly use Although the Patient them abuse For since the Sickness is they find A sad Distemper of the Mind All railings they impute All Injuries unto the sore Disease They are expresly come to ease If we would to the Worlds distemper'd Mind Impute the Rage which there we find We might even in the midst of all our Foes Enjoy and feel a sweet Repose Might pity all the Griefs we see Anointing every Malady With precious Oyl and Balm And while our selves are Calm our Art improve To rescue them and shew our Love But let 's not fondly our own selves beguile If we Revile ' cause they Revile Our selves infected with their sore Disease Need others Helps to give us ease For we more Mad then they remain Need to be cut and need a Chain Far more than they Our Brain Is craz'd and if we put our Wit to theirs We may be justly made their Heirs But while with open eyes we clearly see The brightness of his Majesty While all the World by Sin to Satan sold In daily Wickedness grows old Men in Chains of Darkness lye In Bondage and Iniquity And pierce and grieve themselves The dismal Woes wherein they crawl enhance The Peace of our Inheritance We wonder to behold our selves so nigh To so much Sin and Misery And yet to see our selves so safe from harm What Amulet what hidden Charm Could fortifie and raise the Soul So far above them and controul Such fierce Malignity The brightness and the glory which we see Is made a greater Mystery And while we feel how much our GOD doth love The Peace of Sinners how much move And sue and thirst intreat lament and grieve For all the Crimes in which they live And seek and wait and call again And long to save them from the pain Of Sin from all their Woe With greater thirst as well as grief we try How to relieve their Misery The life and splendour of Felicity Whose floods so over flowing be The streams of Joy which round about his Throne Enrich and fill each Holy One Are so abundant that we can Spare all even all to any Man And have it all our selves Nay have the more We long to make them see The sweetness of Felicity While we contemplate their Distresses how Blind Wretches they in bondage bow And tear and wound themselves and vex and groan And chase and fret so near his Throne And know not what they ail but lye Tormented in their Misery Like Mad-men that are blind In works of darkness nigh such full Delight That they might find and see the sight What would we give that they might likewise see The Glory of his Majesty The joy and fulness of that high delight Whole Blessedness is infinite We would even cease to live to gain Them from their misery and pain And make them with us reign For they themselves would be our greatest Treasures When sav'd our own most Heavenly Pleasures O holy JESUS who didst for us die And on the Altar bleeding lie Bearing all Torment pain reproach and shame That we by vertue of the same Though enemies to GOD might be Redeem'd and set at liberty As thou didst us forgive So meekly let us Love to others shew And live in Heaven on Earth below Let 's prize their Souls and let them be our Gems Our Temples and our Diadems Our Brides our Friends our fellow-Members Eyes Hands Hearts and Souls our Victories And Spoils and Trophies our own Joyes Compar'd to Souls all else are Toyes O JESUS let them be Such unto us
as they are unto thee Vessels of Glory and Felicitie How will they love us when they find our Care Brought them all thither where they are When they conceive what terrour 't is to dwell In all the punishments of Hell And in a lively manner see O Christ eternal Joyes in thee How will they all delight In praising thee for us with all their might How sweet a Grace how infinite WHEN we understand the perfection of the Love of GOD the excellency of immortal Souls the price and value of our Saviours Blood the misery of Sin and the malady of distemper'd Nature the danger of Hell and the Joyes of which our sorest Enemies are capable the Obligations that lie on our selves and the peace and blessedness of so sweet a Duty Compassion it self will melt us into Meekness and the wisdom of knowing these great things will make it as natural to us as Enjoyment it self as sweet and easie as it is to live and breath It will seem the harshest and most unnatural thing in the World to sorbear so fair so just so reasonable so divine a Duty NOR is it a small comfort that the more vile our Enemies are the more price and lustre is set upon our Actions Our Goodness is made by their Evil the more eminent and conspicuous we improve their Injuries and turn them into Benefits we make a Vertue of Necessity and turn their Vices into Graces make them appear more abominable and vile if they continue obstinate and the greater their Perversness is the more great and honourable is our Vertue It was the praise of Moses that the Man Moses was the Meekest man upon all the Earth yet one passionate expression lost him so much in the esteem of GOD that it hindered his entrance into the Land of Canaan How great an Instrument he was nevertheless in the Conduct and Felicity of the Jews and how much he profited the whole Nation by his Meekness Sacred story does record How Joseph also dealt with his Brethren how he saved all the Family of Israel in the Root by his Meekness and by Meekness purchased an everlasting Name of Glory and Renown all Christian Ages and Nations understand where his Praises are celebrated to this day And the benefit thereof is spread abroad and propagated throughout all Generations for evermore CHAP. XXVI Humility is the basis of all Vertue and Felicity in all Estates and for ever to be exercised As Pride does alienate the Soul from GOD Humility unites it to him in Adoration and Amity It maketh infinite Blessedness infinitely greater is agreeable to the Truth of our Condition and leads us through a dark and mysterious way to Glory MEEKNESS respecteth others faults Humility and Penitence our own But Humility is more large than Penitence and is a distinct Affection of another nature Penitence is an exercise of the Affection of Sorrow and that only for Sin Humility is an acknowledgment of all our Vileness it respects our Original out of nothing as well as our Guilt our Weakness and Unworthiness our dependance upon anothers Will our Debt and Obligation the duty of Obedience and Allegiance which we owe and all the naked Truth of our Condition It confesseth our homage and is sensible of our Smallness and Subjection All that a man hath received it distinguisheth from what he is of himself And its Fruits or Effects are suitable to its Nature It is the Vertue by which we think basely of our selves and behave our selves in a lowly and submissive manner It makes us soft and pliant as Wax susceptible of any form that shall be imposed on us by our Benefactour and prone to Gratitude It is accompanied with a high and mighty sence of Benefits received and made Noble by the honour which it inclines us to return to GOD and Man for all the goodness which they shew unto us It is of incomparable use in our Felicity because it magnifies our esteem of all our happiness and glory IT is not through Ignorance or want of good Will that we speak nothing of Vices the woful deformity of which being exposed to view near the excellence of Vertue would put a greater lustre on all their brightness but the abundance of matter which Vertue it self doth afford forbids us to waste our Time and Paper in the description of their Contraries The glory of their nature being so full and perfect in it self that it needeth not the aid of those additional Arts which labour to set off the dignity of imperfect things by borrowed Commendations And besides this the mischief and inconveniency of every Vice is so great and manifold that it would require a distinct and intire Volume to unfold the deformity of their destructive nature so fully as their baseness and demerit requires It is sufficient therefore here to observe that Pride is of all other things most odious to GOD because it puffeth up the Soul with Self-conceit is forgetful of its Original void of all Gratitude and prone to Rebellion Is it not an odious and abominable thing for a Creature that is nothing in himself to flie in his Creators face and to usurp a dominion over it self to the apparent wrong of its Soveraign Lord to rob its Benefactor of all the glory of his Bounty to renounce and deny all dependance on him and to forswear its homage and allegiance to ascribe all its Glories to it self and abhor all sence of honour and gratitude to look upon it self as the sole original and author of all its Greatness and to be dazled so with the brightness of its condition as to forget the true fountain of it the goodness and the love of him that first raised him to all that Treasure and Dominion to dote on its own Perfections without any reflexion on the Bounty of him that gave them All this is to act a Lie and to be guilty of apparent Falshood It is as full of Fraud and Injustice as is possible and as full of Folly as it is of Impiety For Pride aimeth at the utmost height of Esteem and Honour and is fed by its own beauty and glory yet foolishly undermineth and blasteth the Person it would advance with the greatest baseness and shame imaginable it devours the Beauty which ought to seed it and destroies the Glory in which it delighteth The higher the greater the more perfectly glorious and blessed the Person is that is exalted his Ingratitude which is the dregs of Baseness is the more black and horrid and provokes the greater detestation It forfeits and renounces all the Delight which the goodness of its Lord and Benefactor affordeth it cuts off the Soul like a branch from the root that gave it life and verdure it tends all to division alienation and enmity it turns that Complacency which is its only bliss into wrath and indignation And whereas it delights in nothing more than appearing highly amiable in the eyes of all Spectators it falleth into contempt and
extream disgrace before all the Creatures in Heaven and Earth that look upon it and behold its Unworthiness No Toad has so much deformity or poyson or malignity as Pride in its nature It is the ruine of all that is great and turns the brightest of the Seraphims into the most abominable of Devils NOW if Pride be so pernicious and be by nature though a meer Phantasie so destructive what shall Humility be which is full of truth and reality How forcible how divine how amiable how full of truth how bright and glorious how solid and real how agreeable to all Objects how void of errour and disparity how just and reasonable how wise and holy how deep how righteous how good and profitable how mightily prone to exalt us in the esteem of GOD and Man How agreeable to all its Causes and Ends how fit and suitable to all the circumstances of Mans Condition I need not say more It bears its own evidence and carries Causes in it that will justifie our Saviours words He that humbleth himself shall be exalted He that is puffed up has but a counterfeit glory but Humility is full of solid glory It s beauty is so amiable that there is no end of counting its proportions and excellencies The Wise man that saw into the nature of all things very clearly said long before our Saviour was born Pride goeth before a fall but before Honour is Humility He that exalteth himself must needs be humbled because the Colours are envenomed wherewith he painteth his face which in a little time is discerned and at the very first instant the Painting begins to turn into a Canker THE Amiableness of Humility appeareth by its Excellency on these two the greatness of its beauty and success is founded It is so agreeable to all the principles of Nature and Grace and Glory to all the desires of Angels and Men to all the designs of GOD himself and to all the interests and concerns of the Soul that it cannot but be the most advantagious Vertue in the vvhole World It is strange that a man should look with the same Eye upon two Objects so infinitely distant and different from each other But at the same time he seeth GOD and Nothing Heaven and Earth eternal Love and Dust to be his Original Self-love and Justice Wisdom and Goodness Joy and Gratitude have the same Objects but look upon them in a several manner and are very differently affected with them Humility regards all Objects high and low Good and Evil but with a peculiar remark and notice of its own It takes them in in another light and discerns them all with another kind of sence It is in some manner the taste of the Soul Their Truth appeareth to the eye of Knowledge their Goodness is apprehended by the â—â—fe of Love the perfection of their serviceableness to the most perfect End is discerned by Wisdom the benefit which all Spectators receive is the delight of Goodness the incomprehensible depth and mysterious intricacy of their frame and nature is the peculiar Object of our Wonder and Curiosity they help our Faith as they shew a Deity and the truth of all Religion and Blessedness As they are the gifts of GOD they are the provocations of Gratitude and as they are aggravations of Sin they are respected by Repentance As they are the means of our Glory and our proper Treasures they are the Objects of Contentment but Humility looks upon them in relation to its Unworthiness compares them with it self and its own deserts and admires the disproportion that is between them It useth them all as grounds of a deeper and profounder Lowness in the esteem which it ought to have of it self and as the incentives to Love and Gratitude which it paies in the depth of a more profound Acknowledgment and Adoration THIS habit or affection of the Soul is not inconsistent with its Joy and Glory as by some foolish people that are by Ignorance and Errors far from GOD is generally supposed but highly conducive and subservient to its perfection It gives us the tenderest and greatest sence it passeth thorow all things embraceth the Poles and toucheth all Extreams together The Centre it self is but the middle of its profundity it hath a Nadir beneath it a lower point in another Heaven on the other side opposite to its Zenith In its own depth it containeth all the height of Felicity and Glory and doubles all by a mystery in Nature It is like a Mirror lying on the ground with its face upwards All the height above increaseth the depth of its Beauty within nay turneth into a new depth an inferiour Heaven is in the glass it self at the bottom of which we see the Skie though it be not transplanted removed thither Humility is the fittest Glass of the Divine Greatness and the fittest Womb for the conception of all Felicity for it hath a double Heaven It is the way to full and perfect Sublimity A man would little think that by sinking into the Earth he should come to Heaven He doth not but is buried that fixeth and abideth there But if he pierceth through all the Rocks and Minerals of the inferiour World and passeth on to the end of his Journey in a strait line downward in the middle of his way he will find the Centre of Nature and by going downward still begin to ascend when he is past the Centre through many Obstacles full of gross and subterraneous Darkness which seem to affright and stifle the Soul he will arrive at last to a new Light and Glory room and liberty breathing-place and fresh-air among the Antipodes and by passing on still through those inferiour Regions that are under his feet but over the head of those that are beneath him finally come to another Skie penetrate that and leaving it behind him sink down into the depth of all Immensity This he cannot do in his Body because it is gross and dull and heavy and confined but by a Thought in his Soul he may because it is subtile quick aiery free and infinite Nothing can stop or exclude it oppress or stifle it This local descent through all the inferiour Space and Immensity though it brings us to GOD and his Throne and another Heaven full of Joyes and Angels on the other side the World yet is it but a real Emblem of the more spiritual and mysterious flight of Humility in the mind We all know that the way to Heaven is through Death and the Grave beyond which we come to another Life in Eternity but how to accommodate this to the business of Humility few understand By this Vertue we are inclined to despise our selves and to leave all the garish Ornaments of Earthly bliss to divest our selves of the splendors of Temporal prosperity and to submit to all Afflictions Contempts and Miseries that a good Cause can bring upon us In the eyes of other men we are beneath their feet and so
we are in our own till we are gone a little further but on the other side of all this Baseness we find a better Life in Communion with the Deity For asmuch then saith St. Peter as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh arm your selves likewise with the same mind for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of Men but to the will of GOD. For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles when we walked in Lasciviousness Lusts Excess of Wine Revellings Banquettings and abominable Idolatries wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of Riot There is a motion from Vice to Vertue and from one degree of Grace to another by which we leave the phantastick World with all its Shews and Gauderies and through many Afflictions and Persecutions come to the real and solid World of Bliss and Glory WHAT hand Humility has in leading us through all Afflictions and in facilitating the way of Pressure and Calamity I need not observe I shall note the Errour which men incur by their Weariness and Haste who because they do not immediately see the Bliss of Humility and Patience if they do not curse yet they boggle at all Calamity These men ought to be informed that the middle of the Way is not the place of Rest and Perfection They must pass thorow all these things to the further Regions of Clarity and Glory Men are not to stick in Calamities themselves but if Humility lead them to suffer all Indignities with Patience it must lead them further to the bottom of their estate and condition to the true light and to the clear and perfect sight of their own Vileness In which they shall see their Original their Misery their Sin their Glory their GOD and themselves their Bliss and their Forfeiture their Recovery and their Saviour their Hope and Despair their Obligations in the height of eternal Love and Bounty and their shame and confusion in the depth of their Apostasie and Ingratitude their infinite demerit and GODS infinite Mercy the riches of free Grace and their own Unworthiness And in all these the length and breadth and depth and height of the Love of GOD which passeth Knowledge that they might be filled with all the Fulness of GOD. HUMILITY makes men capable of all Felicity All deep Apprehensions and great Resentments all extents and distances of things all degrees of Grace and Vertue all Circumstances that increase the guilt of Sin all Adorations Prostrations Admirations Debasements Thanksgivings Praises Exaltations are founded in Humility All the Fulness of all Estates all Honour and Obedience all Devotion and Worship all the beauty of Innocence all the deformity of Sin all the danger of Hell all the cost of our Redemption all the hatred of our Stupidity and Perverseness all the hope of Heaven all our Penitence and Grief all our Fear and Expectation all our Love and all our Joy are contained in Humility there they are expressed there they are exercised There they are enlarged and beautified in like manner There they grow deep and serious and infinite there they become vigorous and strong there they are made substantial and eternal All the Powers of the Soul are employed extended and made perfect in this depth of Abysses It is the basis and foundation of all Vertue and Gratitude whatsoever It is in some sort the very fountain of Life and Felicity it self For as nothing is great but in comparison of somewhat less so nothing is sweet but what is New and Eternal All Life consists in Motion and Change The pleasure of Acquiring is oftentimes as great and perhaps alwaies greater than that of Enjoying The long possession of that which we have alwaies had takes away the sence and maketh us dull Old and Common things are less esteemed unless we rub up our Memories with some helps to renew them and our sences together Gifts are alwaies sweeter in the coming than in the abiding with us And if what I observe in the course of nature be of any force there is no possibility of enjoyment at least no perfection in fruition without some relation to the first Acquisition Old things are apt to grow stale and their value to be neglected by their continuance with us I have noted it often in the joy that young Heirs have when they first come to their Estates and the great felicity which Lovers promise to themselves and taste also when they meet together in the Marriage-bed The pleasures of all which pass off by degrees not solely by reason of our dulness and stupidity but far more from a secret in the nature of things For all Delight springs from the satisfaction of violent Desire when the desire is forgotten the delight is abated All Pleasure consists in Activity and Motion While the Object stands still it seemeth dead and idle The sence of our want must be quick upon us to make the sence of our enjoyment perfect The rapture proceeds from the convenience between us the marvellous fitness that is in such Objects to satisfie our Capacities and Inclinations The misery and vacuity must needs be remembred to make that Convenience live and to inspire a sence of it perpetually into us The coming of a Crown and the joy of a Kingdom is far more quick and powerful in the surprize and novelty of the Glory than in the length of its Continuance We perceive it by the delight which Lovers taste in recounting their Adventures The Nature of the thing makes the memory of their first Amours more pleasant than the possession of the last There is an instinct that carries us to the beginning of our Lives How do Old men even dote into lavish discourses of the beginning of their lives The delight in telling their old Stories is as great to themselves as wearisom to others Even Kings themselves would they give themselves the liberty of looking back might enjoy their Dominions with double lustre and see and feel their former Resentments and enrich their present Security with them All a mans Life put together contributes a perfection to every part of it and the Memory of things past is the most advantagious light of our present Condition Now all these sparkles of Joy these accidental hints of Nature and little raies of Wisdom meet together in Humility For an Humble man condescendeth to look into his Wants to reflect upon all his Vices and all his Beginnings with far deeper designs than is ordinarily done WE recount these ordinary discoveries of the inclination of Nature because Humility is if I may so speak the Rendezvous of their perfection All the stirrings of Grace and Nature all the acts of GOD and the Soul all his Condescensions and beginnings to advance us all his Gifts at their first coming all the
Unbelief Enmity against GOD Fear and Cowardice Barrenness in good and praise-worthy Employments Weariness and Complaint hatred of Retirement Spiritual Idleness and Ignorance are its Companions followed by Debaucheries and all the sorts of vile and wicked Diversions For Man is an unwelcome Creature to himself till he can delight in his Condition and while he hates to be alone exposeth himself to all kind of Mischiefs and Temptations because he is an active Creature and must be doing something either Good or Evil TRUE Contentment is the full satisfaction of a Knowing Mind It is not a vain and empty Contentment which is falsely so called springing from some one particular little satisfaction that however Momentany it be does for the present delight our Humour but a long habit of solid Repose after much study and serious Consideration It is not the slavish and forced Contentment which the Philosophers among the Heathen did force upon themselves but a free and easie Mind attended with pleasure and naturally rising from ones present Condition It is not a morose and sullen Contempt of all that is Good That Negative Contentment which past of Old for so great a Vertue is not at all conducive to Felicity but is a real Vice for to be Content without cause is to sit down in our Imperfection and to seek all ones Blis in ones self alone is to scorn all other Objects even GOD himself and all the Creation It is a high piece of Pride and stiffness in a man that renders him good for nothing but makes him Arrogant and Presumptuous in the midst of his blindness his own slave and his own Idol a Tyrant over himself and yet his only Deity It makes a man to live without GOD in the World and cuts him off from the Universe It makes him incapable either of Obligation or Gratitude his own Prison and his own Tormâ—ntour It shuts up the Soul in a Grave and makes it to lead a living Death and robs it of all its Objects It mingles Nature and Vice in a confusion and makes a man fight against Appetite and Reason Certainly that Philosopher has a hard task that must fight against Reason and trample under foot the essence of his Soul to establish his Felicity Contentment is a sleepy thing If it in Death alone must die A quiet Mind is worse than Poverty Unless it from Enjoyment spring That 's Blessedness alone that makes a King Wherein the Joyes and Treasures are so great They all the powers of the Soul employ And fill it with a Work compleat While it doth all enjoy True Joyes alone Contentment do inspire Enrich Content and make our Courage higher Content alone 's a dead and silent Stone The real life of Bliss Is Glory reigning in a Throne Where all Enjoyment is The Soul of Man is so inclin'd to see Without his Treasures no mans Soul can be Nor rest content Uncrown'd Desire and Love Must in the height of all their Rapture move Where there is true Felicity Employment is the very life and ground Of Life it self whose pleasant Motion is The form of Bliss All Blessedness a life with Glory Crown'd Life Life is all in its most full extent Stretcht out to all things and with all Content The only reason why a Wise and Holy man is satisfied with Food and Rayment is because he sees himself made possessour of all Felicity the image of the Deity the great Object of his eternal Love and in another way far more Divine and perfect the Heir of the World and of all Eternity He knows very well that if his honour be so great as to live in Communion with GOD in the fruition of all his Joyes he may very well spare the foul and feeble Delights of men And though the Law be not so severe as to command him to be Content without Food and Rayment yet if for GOD's sake he should by the wickedness of Men be bereaved of both he may well be Patient nay and die with glory And this indeed is that which maketh Contentment so great a Vertue It hath a powerful influence upon us in all Estates to take off our Perplexity Sollicitude and Care and to adorn our lives with Liberty and Chearfulness by which we become acceptable and admirable to the Sons of Men. It makes us prone to be Kind and Liberal whereby we become Obliging and full of good Works For it delivers us from all servile Fear and gives us Courage and Confidence in GOD. For well may we dare to trust him in such little Matters who has manifested his Friendship and Bounty in such infinite good things and made it impossible for us to be Miserable if we are pleasing to him An intelligent and full Contentment elevates the Soul above all the World and makes it Angelical it instills a Divine and Heavenly Nature enflames the Soul with the love of GOD and moves it to delight in Devotion and Prayer The sweetness of his Thoughts and the beauty of his Object draws a Lover often into Solitudes And a Royal Man in a strange Country especially when he has heard tidings of his Fathers Death and the devolving of his Crown and Throne on himself desires to be alone that he may digest these Affairs in his Thoughts a little He delights in being retired because he can find nothing worthy of himself in Company Magnanimous Souls are above Garlands and Shepherds And there is no greatness of Soul like that which perfect Contentment inspires BUT that which above all other things makes me to note the Vertue of Contentment is its great influence efficacy and power in confirming our Faith For when I see the Beauty of Religion I know it to be true For such is its excellency that if you remove it out of the World all the things in Heaven and Earth will be to no purpose The business of Religion is the Love of GOD the Love of Angels and Men and the due esteem we owe to inferiour Creatures Remove this Love this Charity this Due Esteem this delight that we should take in all amiable Objects Life and Pleasure are extinguished I see Nature it self teaching me Religion And by the admirable Contexture of the Powers of my Soul and their fitness for all Objects and Ends by the incomparable Excellency of the Laws prescribed and the worthiness and Beauty of all the Objects for which my power are prepared see plainly that I am infinitely Beloved and that all the cross and disorderly things that are now upon Earth are meer Corruptions and depravations of Nature which free Agents have let in upon themselves All which since they are reducible to the Government of Reason and may be Wisdom be improved to my higher happiness I am sure I am redeemed and that there is some eternal Power that governs the World with so much Goodness for my felicity since I my self was not able to do it That all Ages are beautified by his Wisdom for my
comparison of which all other Powers are but poor and feeble To speak with the tongue of Men and Angels to move Mountains or turn them into Gold to raise the Dead to command the Sun are common things The power of creating Worlds is but vain without the power of enjoying them All Honour Pleasure and Glory are shut up in Felicity Had we a power of Creating and enjoying all Worlds it were infinitely short of the power of enjoying GOD because he is infinitely greater and higher than all the Creating Power is superfluous to us because all is most exquisite and perfect already The fools Wishing Cap and the Philosophers Stone are but trifles All things that are not gold are better than gold Felicity giveth us the power of enjoying all even GOD himself all Angels and Men and all Worlds nay all their Riches Splendors and Pomps in their places which is the most amiable and desirable the most sweet and profitable Power of all other BUT when we are Contented there is another Power worth the having which Felicity giveth us It enables us to despise the Menaces and Anger 's of Men it setteth us above their reach and inspires us with a comely boldness to dare to do any thing that is good as well as with ability to dare to suffer any thing that is evil He that is secure and he that hath enough is independant and bold as a Lion And besides all this he has a certain lustre in his Actions that gives him authority and power over others to intercede and prevail in his requests to live in honour and good esteem and to make many subservient to his best occasions He is great in Heaven and whatever he asks of his eternal Father in his Sons Name with Wisdom and Piety shall not be denied him He can touch the hearts of millions by his Fathers Mediation For the hearts of Kings are in the hands of the Lord to turn them as the Rivers of water He made his people to be pitied of all them that carried them away Captive and gave them favour in the sight of the Egyptians And this secret alone is of more value then we can well describe To receive power from Heaven to be Vertuous to delight in Vertue to be irresistible and invincible in the practice of it is a very divine and glorious Priviledge Felicity it self is the fountain of this Power and the knowledge of its greatness that which enflames us with the love of it Felicity is excellent not only as it is the end of Vertue but the encouragement of it He that is Content has a great advantage above all other men because he moves with greater ease and passeth through all difficulties with greater pleasure A general of an Army that works with the Common Souldiers in the Trenches does the same work but with more honour and less labour He is not servile in it as the rest are but his pleasure is to do it for all their encouragement He does it in the quality of a Prince and with less molestation he has higher Incentives and more sublime Rewards Yet he does it too with greater merit and acceptance A man that sees and knows the glory of his high and heavenly Estate does all things triumphantly The sweetness of his Bliss alters the very nature of his Fights and Battles He does all things in the light without groaning and reluctancy He marches on with dancing and melody and chearful looks and smiles and thanksgivings whereas they that know not the glory of Felicity groap in the dark they that are discontented move heavily and are in all their proceedings lame and maimed THE way to attain the felicity of Contentment is to attain Felicity that we may be contented True Felicity is the source of Contentment and of all Vertue It is never to be gotten but by digging after Knowledge as for hidden Treasures Praying for it is a good way but Prayers without Industry is a meer mockery Industry on the other side without Prayer is loose Presumption For a man to pray to GOD to make his Field fruitful without ploughing and sowing is madness and to expect all from his own labour without GOD's Blessing impiety But GOD never yet said to any of the seed of Jacob Seek ye my face in vain WHEN Contentment is gotten it must be secured by the same means by which it was obtained Care in fencing is as necessary as Care in ploughing and there is Labour too but sweet and delightful even in reaping in the Harvest But all the work is reduced into narrow room Thou hast no charge over any other than thine own Vineyard When thou hast gotten the knowledge of Felicity and thy self the grand means of Contentment is continually to enjoy it With all thy getting get Wisdom and with all thy keeping keep thy Heart For out of it are the Issues of Life and Death Nothing can waste thy Conscience but Sin and nothing trouble thy Repose but what disturbs thy Conscience Let Vertue and Felicity be thy only good and believe firmly that nothing can hurt thee but SIN alone One evil action done by thy self is more mischievous to thee then all the Calamities and Sufferings in the World CHAP. XXVIII Of Magnanimity or Greatness of Soul Its Nature It s Foundation in the vast Capacity of the Understanding It s Desire Its Objects are infinite and eternal Its Enquiries are most profound and earnest It disdaineth all feeble Honours Pleasures and Treasures A Magnanimous Man is the only Great and undaunted Creature MAGNANIMITY and Contentment are very near allyed like Brothers and Sisters they spring from the same Parents but are of several Features Fortitude and Patience are Kindred too to this incomparable Vertue Moralists distinguish Magnanimity and Modesty by making the one the desire of greater the other of less and inferiour Honours But in my apprehension there is more in Magnanimity It includes all that belongs to a Great Soul A high and mighty Courage an invincible Patience an immoveable Grandeur which is above the reach of Injuries a contempt of all little and feeble Enjoyments and a certain kind of Majesty that is conversant only with Great things a high and lofty frame of Spirit allayed with the sweetness of Courtesie and Respect a deep and stable Resolution founded on Humility without any baseness an infinite Hope and a vast Desire a Divine profound uncontrolable sence of ones own Capacity a generous Confidence and a great inclination to Heroical deeds all these conspire to compleat it with a severe and mighty expectation of Bliss incomprehensible It soars up to Heaven and looks down upon all the dominion of Fortune with pity and disdain Its aims and designs are transcendent to all the Concerns of this little World Its Objects and its Ends are worthy of a Soul that is like GOD in Nature and nothing less than the Kingdom of GOD his Life and Image nothing beneath the Friendship and
Communion with him can be its satisfaction The Terrours Allurements and Censures of men are the dust of its feet their Avarice and Ambition are but feebleness before it Their Riches and Contentions and Interests and Honours but insignificant and empty trifles All the World is but a little Bubble Infinity and Eternity the only great and soveraign things wherewith it converseth A Magnanimous Soul is alwaies awake The whole globe of the Earth is but a Nutshell in comparison of its enjoyments The Sun is its Lamp the Sea its Fishpond the Stars its Jewels Men Angels its Attendance and GOD alone its soveraign Delight and supream Complacency The Earth is its Garden all Palaces its Summer houses Cities are its Cottages Empires its more spacious Conrts all Ages and Kingdoms its Demeans Monarchs its Ministers and publick Agents the whole Catholick Church its Family the eternal Son of GOD its Pattern and Example Nothing is great if compared to a Magnanimous Soul but the Soveraign Lord of all Worlds Mistake not these things for arbitrary flourishes of Luxuriant fancy I speak as I am inspired by Felicity GOD is the Cause but the knowledge of a Mans self the Foundation of Magnanimity Trismegistus counteth thus First GOD secondly the World thirdly Man the World for Man and Man for GOD. Of the Soul that which is sensible is Mortal but that which is reasonable Immortal The Father of all things being full of Light and Life brought forth Man like unto himself whom he loved as his proper Off-spring for he was all Beauteous having the Image of his Father This in his Poemander Again he saith Man is a divine and living thing not to be compared to any Beast that lives upon the Earth but to them that are above in the highest Heavens that are called Gods Nay rather if we shall be bold to speak the truth he that is a MAN INDEED is above them He is infinitely greater than the gods of the Heathen And a God like unto himself as the Wise Man observes he cannot make At least saith Trismegistus they are equal in Power For none of the things in Heaven will come down upon Earth and leave the limits of Heaven bur a Man ascends up into Heaven and measures it He knoweth what things are on high and what below And that which is the greatest of all he leaveth not the Earth and yet is above so mighty and vast is the greatness of his Nature Wherefore we must be bold to say that an Earthly Man is a Mortal God and the Heavenly GOD is an Immortal MAN THIS is the Philosophy of the ancient Heathen wherein though there be some Errors yet was he guided to it by a mighty sence of the interiour Excellency of the Soul of Man and the boldness he assumes is not so profane but that it is countenanced here and there in the Holy Scripture GOD himself said unto Moses Lo I have made thee a God to Pharoah Again he telleth him concerning Aaron He shall be to thee instead of a Mouth and thou shalt be to him instead of God And again concerning all the Great men of the World in general I have said ye are Gods but ye shall die like Men. But let us see the Reason of the Heathen a little on which he foundeth his great Opinions In one place he maketh his Son Tatius to say I conceive and understand not by the sight of mine Eyes but by the intellectual Operation c. I am in Heaven in the Earth in the Water in the Air I am in the living Creatures in Plants in the Womb every where Whereupon he asketh him Dost thou not know O my Son that thou art born a God and the Son of The One as I am And the ground of this Question he unfoldeth in another place thus Consider him that contains all things and understand that nothing is more Capacious than that which is Incorporeal nothing more swift nothing more powerful but of all other things it is most Capacious most swift and most strong And judge of this by thy self Command thy Soul to go into India and sooner than thou canst bid it it will be there Bid it pass over the Ocean and suddenly it will be there not as passing from place to place but suddenly it will be there Command it to flie into Heaven and it will need no wings neither shall any thing hinder it not the fire of the Sun nor the AEther nor the turning of the Sphears nor the bodies of any of the Stars but cutting through all it will flie up to the last and furthest Body And if thou wilt even break through the Whole and see those things that are without the World if there be any thing without i.e. if the World be confined thou maist Behold how great Power how great swiftness thou hast Canst thou do all these things and cannot GOD After this manner therefore contemplate GOD to have all the whole World in himself as it were all Thoughts or Intellections If therefore thou wilt not equal thy self to GOD thou canst not understand GOD. For the like is intelligible by the like Increase thy self to an immeasurable Greatness leaping beyond every Body and transcending all Time become ETERNITY And thou shalt understand GOD. If thou belive in thy self that nothing is impossible but accountest thy self Immortal and that thou canst understand all things every Art every Science and the manner and custom of every living thing become higher than all Height and lower than all Depth comprehend in thy self the qualities of all the Creatures of the Fire the Water the Dry and the Moist and conceive likewise that thou canst at once be every where in the sea in the Earth at once understand thy self not yet begotten in the Womb Young Old Dead the things after Death and all these together as also all Times Places Deeds Qualities Quantities thou maist or else thou canst not yet understand GOD. But if thou shut up thy Soul in thy Body and abuse it and say I understand nothing I am afraid of the Sea I cannot climb up into Heaven I know not who I am I cannot what I shall be what hast thou to do with GOD For thou canst understand none of those fair and good things but must be a lover of the Body and Evil. For it is the greatest evil not to know GOD. But to be able to Know and to Will and to Hope is the strait Way and the divine Way proper to the Good It will every where meet thee and every where be seen of thee plain and easie when thou dost expect or look for it It will meet thee Waking Sleeping Sailing Travelling by Night by Day when thou speakest and when thou keepest silence For it is nothing which is not the Image of GOD. His Close is most divine And yet thou sayest GOD is Invisible but be advised for who is more manifest than he For therefore he made all things that thou by
that though the disproportion between them and their Assurance or Hope or Desire seem infinite and the end which they aim at by their Magnanimity is judged impossible though their attempt appear a ridiculous madness to them to whom the Verities of Religion appear incredible yet they are no whit discouraged or disheartened at the matter but stoutly march on being animated by the alarum of such a Trumpet such a Drum as Magnanimity is His Faith is more Divine by conquering the discouragements of the World than if he met with no censure or opposition IF you would have the Character of a Magnanimous Soul he is the Son of eternal Power and the Friend of infinite Goodness a Temple of divine and heavenly Wisdom that is not imposed upon by the foul and ragged disguises of Nature but acquainted with her great Capacities and Principles more than commonly sensible of her interests and depths and desires He is one that has gone in unto Felicity and enjoyed her beauties and comes out again her perfect Lover and Champion a Man whose inward stature is miraculous and his Complexion so divine that he is King of as many Kingdoms as he will look on One that scorns the smutty way of enjoying things like a Slave because he delights in the Celestial way and the Image of GOD. He knows that all the World lies in Wickedness and admires not at all that things palpable and near and natural are unseen though most powerful and glorious because men are blind and stupid He pities poor vicious Kings that are oppressed with heavy Crowns of Vanity and Gold and admires how they can content themselves with such narrow Territories yet delights in their Regiment of the World and paies them the Honour that is due unto them The glorious Exaltation of good Kings he more abundantly extols because so many thousand Magnanimous Creatures are committed to their Trust and they that govern them understand their Value But he sees well enough that the Kings glory and true repose consists in the Catholick and eternal Kingdom As for himself he is come unto Mount Sion and to the City of the living GOD the Heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable Company of Angels to the General Assembly and Church of the First-born which are written in Heaven and to GOD the Judge of all and to the Spirits of Just men made perfect and to JESUS the Mediatour of the New Covenant And therefore receiving a Kingdom which cannot be moved he desires to serve GOD acceptably with reverence and godly fear And the truth is he can fear nothing else for GOD alone is a consuming fire He very well understands what the Apostle saith and dares believe him I cease not to give thanks for you making mention of you in my Prayers that the GOD of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Glory may give unto you the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the knowledge of him the eyes of your Understanding being enlightened that ye may know what is the HOPE of his Calling and what the RICHES of the GLORY of his INHERITANCE in the Saints And what is the EXCEEDING GREATNESS of his POWER to us-ward who believe according to the WORKING of his Mighty Power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own RIGHT HAND in the HEAVENLY places far above all Principality and Power and Might and Dominion and every Name that is named not only in this WORLD but in that also which is to come And hath put ALL THINGS under his feet and he gave him to be HEAD over all Things to the CHURCH which is his BODY THE FULNESS OF HIM THAT FILLETH ALL IN ALL. Now to him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the Power that WORKETH in us Unto him be Glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all AGES World without end Amen A great and a clear Soul knoweth that all these intimations must needs be true for it is an amazing Miracle that they should be otherwise Infinite Love and Eternal Blessedness are near allyed and that these should cease is contrary to all Nature in GOD in the Soul of Man in Heaven in Earth in the order of the Universe and contrary to all that VISIBLE GLORY which in the World appeareth CHAP. XXIX Of Modesty It s Nature It s Original Its Effects and Consequences MODESTY is a comely Grace in the Behaviour of a Man by which he piously dissembleth his own Perfections and blusheth at his Praises It springeth from a certain fear and sence of his Imperfection 'T is the shadow of Guilt and a beautiful cover of Original Corruption It is sometimes Natural and which is contrary to all other Vertues more truly vertuous for being so For then it is Simple Genuine and Real but studied Modesty is affected and artificial yet where Nature has not been so obliging as to give the endowment 't is not altogether to be condemned since it is agreeable to the best of our conditions in this World and supplies a defect in his Nature that is born without it IT is akin to Shame yet increases the honour of him that wears it it is the shade of Vertue yet makes it brighter It is a tincture of Humility visible in a vermilion and deeper die and the more natural and easie the more sweet and delightful IT charms the Envy of those that admire us and by seeming to extinguish our worth gives it a double beauty It reconciles a man to the Enemies of his Grace and Vertue and by a softness irresistible wins a Compassion in all Spectators It is a Vertue which by refusing the honour that is due unto it acquireth more a real Counterfeit and the only honest and true dissimulation It is an effeminate yet a laudable quality a spice of Cowardice more prevalent than Courage a Vertue by which we despise all meaner Honours while we are ambitiously carried to the highest Glory It seemeth inconsistent with Magnanimity yet is her youngest Sister IT hath not many Objects nor are its Aims apparent nor its Ends conspicuous It is the Mother of fine and delicate Resentments its strength consisteth in tenderness and fear He that is Magnanimous in one respect may be modest in another Praises and Commendations are the fuel of its Nature it feedeth upon them while it grows by rejecting them It delights in what it feareth and is full of discords but more full of harmonies It is pleased in its displeasure and alwaies fighteth with its own Repugnancies It is a Vertue mixt of Sence and Reason its region is in the Body more than in the Soul and in all its Spiritual motions it is attended with Corporeal impressions The Blood and Spirits dance in the Veins as if Nature were delighted with its own Confusions By captivating the favour of Men upon Earth it affecteth the very Angels in Heaven with much of pleasure It
putteth us in mind of Guilt and Innocency at the same time and by confession of the one adds lustre to the other By making way for the acceptance of a mans Person it giveth more esteem success and efficacy to his other Vertues And by this means it hath much of excellency in a little HE that hath it not must needs acquire something like it and if he be elaborate in expressing it must hide his Art under the vail of Nature Though it be remote from the highest End it may be guided to it and when so directed is alwaies innocent It is very just for while other Vertues make it a Vertue it is a Grace unto them all You may look upon it as a tangible flame and see it in others but must feel it in your self before you can understand it It is old in Children young in middle Aged men at last an Infant It is greatest in the beginning of our life it decayeth in Youth in Old Age it vanisheth at least changeth its dwelling for it ceaseth to be in the Body of an Aged man and turneth into Courtesie or Civility in the Conversation When it dieth it is buried in Humility and liveth in its Tomb being empaled in as it were with Meekness and waiting daily for its Resurrection Much cannot be said of it precisely but it is best commended when left to your Practice It is the only tender Infant of all the Vertues like Cupid among the gods it appeareth frequently and is much exercised in the School of Venus but is capable of more high and more noble uses MODESTY in Apparel is commended in the Scriptures It implies Moderation and Chastity together It is sometimes opposed to Lasciviousness sometimes to Excess sometimes to Impudence And is a great Vertue if for nothing else but the exclusion of these abominable Vices THE other Vertues seem to be the Members and substantial parts of the Body of worth Modesty like the Air and Meen of them all It is the guard of the Soul against Loosness and Pride a Vertue repressing the sumes of self-conceit and a kind of silent restraint of all that Arrogance that delights in pomps and superfluities THOUGH it be a little Vertue its Reality is apparent for unless it be made up with some other supplies the want of Modesty is pernicious and destructive IT is exercised in small things but is of long extent in the vertue of its influence and because of the multiplicity of its uses and occasions amounts to a considerable degree of Goodness It hath something like Love in its nature for it preferreth another above it self and in that its magnetical and obliging quality much consisteth In honour preferring one another It fulfils that Law wherein our most near and tender Interest is concerned In preferring one another there is a lovely 〈◊〉 more sweet and happy than the best Agreement It is of all other the most 〈◊〉 strife and 〈◊〉 Contâ—â—â—â—â—â— CHAP. XXX The excellent Nature of Liberality Rules to be observed in the practice of it Regard to our Servants Relations friends and Neighbours must be had in our Liberality as well as to the Poor and Needy How our external acts of Charity ought to be improved for the benefit of mens Souls Liberality maketh Religion real and substantial LIBERALITY in the common use and acceptation of the Word differs from Magnificence as Modesty from Magnanimity There is much of liberty and freedom in its Nature For Avarice is a strict and sour Vice and they that are guilty of it are called Misers but a Bountiful man hath a good eye and is as free from Anxiety as he is free in disbursing His Communicative humor is much his enlargement he knows little of Confinement Care or Bondage THERE are two Vertues that endanger a Mans welfare in this World and they have all the Temporal Promises Meekness seems to encourage our Enemies to trample us under feet because it promiseth Impunity And it is directly said The Meek shall inherit the Earth may he so far from having Enemies that the Meek shall inherit the abundance of Peace And concerning Liberality which makes a man a Beggar at least threatens to make him so by wasting his Estate the Scripture saith The Liberal Soul shall be made fat The Liberal Heart deviseth liberal things and by liberal things shall be stand MEN are almost in all things contrary in GOD. For since they tumbled out of Eden they have lost their wits and their heads are downwards They think it wisdom to keep their Mony against a rainy day and to lay it up for fear of Poverty But Solomon adviseth them to the direct contrary and maketh it an Argument why they should be Liberal Becaus they know not what evil may come upon the Earth We cannot put our Treasures into safer hands than into GOD Almighty's Nor can we make any use of Gold and Silver comparable to that of Charitable uses By this it is that we lay up a good foundation against the time to come and oblige others to receive us into Mansions here into everlasting habitations hereafter MY Lord Bridgeman late Lord Keeper confessed himself in his Will to be but a Steward of his Estate and prayed GOD to forgive him all his offences in Getting Mispending or not Spending it as he ought to do And that after many Charitable and Pious works perhaps surmounting his Estate though concealed from the notice and knowledge of the World I have heard of a smart obliging Calumny fastned on a Great Man of France by one that had largely tasted of his Bounty for having been in his House honourably entertained for some space of time and observing how much the Palace was frequented by all kind of Learned Men and how Liberal the Master of it was especially to men of Worth and Vertue he charges the Man with the greatest Covetousnes in the World because he turned all his Riches into Obligations As if he had put all his Estate and Monies to Use But to covet affections and be rich in hearts is no deformity THE truth is when the waies whereby Love is begotten in the Soul are well examined and the happiness of being truly beloved and delighted in is known no man is so wise as the Liberal man He is his own end while he thinks not of it For nothing is more conducive to his 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 than the bounty of Munificence which enriches his Soul There are three things which beget Love Beauty Benefits and Praises They are all three shut up in Goodness which is the fountain of Liberality The beauty of the face is a silent Oratory a high stile of Commendation without an Epistle yet by doing Benefits it prevaileth more than by any of its Charms and maketh it self great by enriching others Love inspires it with an amiable Soul and if others are delighted with their own Praises he that is liberal in the acknowledgment of mâ—ns Vertues and giveth Honour to the Worthy
the Soul of Liberality Paradice and Heaven are better to be given than Gold and Silver And every Good man will imitate the Apostle who was ready not to impart the Gospel of GOD only but his own Soul to the benefit of those for whom Christ died THIS one thing further I desire you to note He that soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly but he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully In the Kingdom of Heaven every man receiveth his Penny because all their Joyes are common and equal Their Treasures shall be the same but they will differ in Glory The same GOD the same Angels the same Men all the same Objects shall be round about every man Every man shall see and enjoy all the Glory of his eternal Kingdom because every ones life and felicity shall be perfect But yet their works follow them and every man shall be cloathed in the beauty of his own actions Vertues and Graces There may be twenty Children in the same family yet all of several Features There may be a thousand Trees in the same Orchard yet all of different kinds The same brightness and glory may be round about them the same skie cover them the same Earth support them the same Stars serve them the same Sun shine upon them the same Sea the same Dew the same Air and Nourishment feed them and yet the one be more fair and honourable and excellent than the other All the World does know that a Tree laden with Fruits and Blossoms is far more beautiful than a Tree that is barren and unfruitful And the degrees of Beauty are according as the Fruits are more or less And as the Fruits they bring forth adorn them so do their own works praise them in the Gates Heaven as it is a Kingdom of Light and Knowledge is a Kingdom of Perfection Righteousness and Justice flourish there in their fulness and every several degree of excellence is entertained with an answerable degree of esteem according to the number and greatness of their Vertues every one is honoured by Saints and Angels NOW least these Fruits should receive any impediment by the Vices and Corruptions of men order is taken that we should love our Enemies bless them that curse us do good to them that hate us pray for them that despightfully use and persecute us By which means it is that a Liberal man surmounts all obstacles whatsoever lives among Dragons as if he were surrounded with Doves and though he be environed with Devils is as if he were conversant with Angels Because he takes no notice of any Vice in any man to stop him but is as Liberal as if all were full of worth and vertue Nay he is more good and more miraculous Their Vices their Provocations their Disorders cannot stain or imbitter his Nature but he will be alwaies chearful and bright and fair and free and perfect To love the amiable and be kind to the beautiful is natural and easie It is not given to the Angels but to visit the Faithful and the Penitent But to love the Evil to be kind and good and serviceable to the Deformed and the Odious to the Injurious and Ungrateful is somewhat more than Angelical We learn it not of them but of GOD and of his eternal Son who hath commanded us to be the Children of our Father which is in Heaven for he maketh his Sun to rise on the Evil and on the Good and sendeth rain on the Just and on the Unjust Even Publicans and Sinners do in some manner as much as Angels love them that love them In Heaven they have no malignity or malice or wrong to overcome all that they love is Beauty and Goodness unless they learn of Jesus Christ and imitate him here on Earth towards us Sinners But our duty is far greater and our opposition more Which is intimated also in our Saviours words For if ye love them which love you what reward have you Do not even the Publicans the same And if ye salute your Brethren only what do ye more than others Do not even the Publicans so Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect In the Close of all I beseech you to consider this one most cogent and weighty expostulation It is the beloved Disciples If a man say I love GOD and hateth his Brother he is a Liar for he that loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen Our Neighbours are not only the representatives of GOD but they are here upon Earth are visible are present with us are Corporeal as we are and alwaies near us our actions among them are palpable and our Conversation with them real GOD is invisible and absent from us he is afar off in the highest Heavens Incorporeal and Incomprehensible If we are remiss and careless in our duty towards our Neighbour all our devotion towards GOD will be but imaginary our Religion will degenerate into an idle and vain Chimera become a weak and feeble shadow be seated in the fancy and dwindle away into an aiery Speculation The reality of Religion consists in the solid practice of it among the Sons of men that are daily with us The difficult and serious actions of our Lives abroad feed our Meditation in all our retirements and infuse a reality and strength into our Devotions which make them solid and substantial CHAP. XXXI Of Magnificence in GOD. Its resemblance in Man The chief Magnificence of the Soul is Spiritual It is perfectly expressed in the outward Life when the whole is made perfect and presented to GOD. GOD gives all his Life to us and we should give ours all to him How fair and glorious it may be GOD being proposed as the Pattern of our Liberality and Kindness by our Saviour the nature of his Bounty is sit to be considered for our Information which is great and publick and advantagious to many In some of his private dispensations it walks under the notion and form of Liberality as it giveth food and Rayment Gold and Silver Houses and Lands to particular persons But in other effects of his eternal love which are great and publick its nature is changed into the highest Magnificence MAGNIFICENCE is a Vertue scarcely to be found but in Kings and Emperours It is busied in erecting Temples and Triumphal arches Magnificent Theatres Colledges and Universities Aquaeducts and Palaces Royal Momuments and Pyramids Marts Havens Exchanges and all those other great and mighty things wherein the glory of Imperial Power is made conspicuous and whereby whole Nations are benefited and Kingdoms adorned GREAT Power Riches Wisdom and Goodness must concur in the effect which is truly Magnificent It must be of great lustre and glory as well as of publick use and benefit and as it is wrought with great labour and expence be imparted by a great Soul and freely given to the good of the People For Magnificence
done were he in our places He cannot be the Soul of any of his Creatures but would be the Soul of that Soul the joy and delight of that Soul the life and glory of that Soul and that he cannot be unless that Soul will delight in him and love and honour him It is not he must honour himself but that Soul His desire is that that Soul would freely turn and delight in him freely of its own accord would incline it self to consider his Excellencies and dedicate it self to love and honour him This is one way for the Soul to be Magnificent towards Men too who by Nature delight to see GOD beloved and satisfied in a point of such infinite importance IT is true indeed that GOD can be full of Indignation and punish but for love to turn into anger is no compensation for the pleasure it lost by our miscarriage and to punish is a strange and troublesome work in which Love is extinguished or else afflicted Infinite Love puts an infinite value on the Gift And I think it is Magnificence to give a Gift of infinite value OUR Magnificence towards Men must be laid on a deep and eternal foundation We must be willing to give our selves to their comfort and satisfaction And that we cannot do but by imitating GOD in all his Goodness studying their felicity and desiring their love with the same earnestness to the utmost of our power doing in all places in all things in all Worlds the things they desire supposing them to be what they ought to be like Gods themselves THE best Principle whereby a man can stear his course in this World is that which being well prosecuted will make his Life at once honourable and happy Which is to love every man in the whole World as GOD doth For this will make a man the Image of GOD and fill him with the mind and spirit of Christ it will make every man that is the Representative of GOD and of all the World unto him It will make a man to reverence GOD in all Mankind and lift him up above all Temptations Discouragements and Fears It will make him to meet the love of GOD Angels and Men in every Person It will make a man truly glorious by making him pleasing to GOD and universally good to every one diffusive like the Sun to give himself to all and wise to enjoy their compleat Felicity If there were but one the Case is evident supposing more than one his duty is to love every one the more for all their sakes For since he must love all and they are all to love one and every one he must please them all by gratifying their love to one and by doing so to every one they are all concerned in the welfare of one and pleased in the love that is born to every one This in the state of Glory will be clear where every one like the Sun shall be clearly seen extending his love to all though here upon Earth where our estate is imperfect by reason of the imperfection of our Knowledge it doth not appear Our actions are limited for being finite in our outward demeanour they must needs be regulated by Justice and Wisdom But two things come in here to the assistance of Magnificence whereof the first is the inferiour perfection of our Love to all the second is the universal Satisfaction which the beauty of our outward life will afford at last Concerning the last two things are fit to be considered First that as GOD has communicated the Sun by making it visible to all and there is not a Star but is seen by all Nations and Kingdoms so has he communicated the Soul by making it visible to all and there is not a Thought that shall remain uncovered nor an action but it shall be seen by all for ever Secondly that as GOD himself is admired for his Inward Love so is he for the operations of his Outward Life I mean for his Works and Judgments When they saw his Works finished The Morning Stars sang together and all the Sons of GOD shouted for joy The Elders are represented before his Throne casting down their Crowns and saying Thou art worthy O Lord to receive Glory and Honour and Power for thou hast created all these things and for thy pleasure they are and were created Where the perfection of GODS Pleasure in the GLORY of the Creation is evidently discovered to be one of the Joyes of Heaven a great matter of their Contemplation an eternal cause of their Praises His infinite and eternal Love is that by which he is All Glorious within all the sweetness of his Essence and all the perfection of the Soul is there but yet his Saints in the Church Triumphant sing the Song of Moses and the Song of the Lamb saying Great and Marvellous are thy WORKS Lord GOD Almighty Just and True are thy WAYES thou King of Saints His Works are the substantial Creatures in Heaven and in Earth his Waies are his proceedings and dispensations among them in all ages For all shall appear together for ever the one being Great and Marvellous the other beautified with Truth and Justice So that neither of these doth swallow up the other but both are distinct and perfect Our Love may be infinite on the Inside and yet our Life be diversified with many limited and particular actions Now if our Life be like GODS eternally to be seen and our Actions in passing pass not away but in the sphere of our life abide for ever our Life all at once is a mysterious Object interwoven with many Thoughts Occurrences and Transactions and if it be to be presented to GOD like a Ring or a Garland we had need to be very choice in the mixture of our Flowers and very curious in the Enammel of so rare a Token Perhaps it is his Crown nay our own His and our Royal Diadem It shall shine like a glory about our Souls for ever That there should be any dirt or blemish in it is inconsistent with our Felicity but it is a Magnificent Present if it be enchased with Jewels well chosen and curiously set I mean with the most pure and fit elections the most Wise and Just and excellent Actions the most bright and clear Apprehensions the most divine and ardent Affections The last are like Gold the ground work of the Crown but the work it self is a mixture of elaborate Distinctions that sparkle in their lustre like Gems of several cuts and colours An imperial Crown is a Magnificent Present from a King to a King But a Life like GODS in a sphere for which Time was lent that it might be well wrought and presented before him when made perfect as far surpasseth the most glorious Crown that did ever sit upon Monarchs brows as that can be supposed to excel a dull Clod of Earth or a piece of Rusty Iron There all Obligations and Laws and Duties and Occasions are
in the Communication than we did in the Reception This is the foundation of real Gratitude and the bottom of all that Goodness which is seated in the bent and inclination of Nature It is a Principle so strong that Fire does not burn with more certain violence than Nature study to use all when it hath gotten it and to improve its Treasures to the acquisition of its Glory THE Holiness of all the work consists in the Fervour wherewith it is done and if our Love shall in Heaven answer all its Causes it will be equal to all its Obligations and Rewards and as infinite in a manner as the excellencies of its objects the very love of GOD towards all things will be in it our Love shall be in all his and his in ours And if we love GOD Angels and Men all Vertue Grace and Felicity as they deserve we shall so delight in excellent actions and in appearing amiable and glorious before them that we would not for all Worlds miscarry in a tittle And therefore every defect even after pardon will be an infinite disaster as well as blemish This is one effect of Gratitude in Nature And if it were not for the Satisfaction of Jesus Christ and the efficacy of Faith and Repentance in his Blood the least Sinner in all Nature would be eternally miserable notwithstanding the advantages of Christs blood It is the desire of the Soul to be spotless in it self And if it be so prophane as to build upon these advantages without taking care to be as excellent as it is able it is the most ungrateful Creature in the World and is too base and dirty to appear in Glory TO talk of overflowing in the disbursments and effusions of Love and Goodness till our emptiness and capacity be full within is as impertinent and unseasonable as to advise a Beggar to give away a Kingdom or a dead man to breath or one that is starving to give Wine and Banquets to the Poor and Needy But when a man is full of blessedness and glory nothing is so easie as to overflow unto others to forbid or hinder him is to stifle and destroy him Breath with the same necessity must be let out as it is taken in A man dies as certainly by the confinement as the want of it To shut it up and deny it are in effect the same When a man hath the glory of all Worlds he is willing to impart the delights wherewith he is surrounded to give away himself to some amiable Object to beautifie his Life and dedicate it to the use and enjoyment of Spectators and to put life into all his Treasures by their Communication To love and admire and adore and praise in such a case are not only pleasant but natural and free and inevitable operations It is then his supream and only joy to be amiable and delightful For the actions of Love and Honour belong in a peculiar manner to a plentiful estate Wants and Necessities when they pinch and grind us in a low condition disturb all those easie and delicate Resentments which find their element in the midst of Pleasures and Superfluities Hence it is that high-born Souls in Courts and Palaces are addicted more to sweet and honourable excesses than Clowns and Peasants The one spend their life in Toil and Labour the other in Caresses and soft Embraces Amities and Bounties Obligations and Respects Complements and Visits are the life of Nobles Industry and Care is that of the meaner People Honours and Adorations are fit for the Temple not for the Market Soft and tender Affections are more in the Court than in the Shop or Barn There is some difference in this respect even between the City and Country But Heaven is the Metropolis of all Perfection GOD is a mighty King and all his Subjects are his Peers and Nobles Their life is more sublime and pleasant and free because more blessed and glorious Their very Palaces and Treasures are infinite Incentives to the works of honour and delight and they cannot rest either day or night but continually cry Holy Holy Holy Lord GOD of Hosts Heaven and Earth are full of the Majesty of thy Glory Their Beauties and Perfections enflame one another Their very Joyes inspire them with eternal Love and as all Care and Labour are removed so are all delights and extasies established Ravishments and Caresses Adorations and Complacencies all the force and violence of Love Charms Allurements high Satisfactions all the delicacies and riches of sweet Affection Honours and Beauties are their Conversation Towards GOD towards themselves towards each other they are all Harmony and Joy and Peace and Love they flie upon Angels wings and trample upon Spices Aromatick Odeurs and Flowers are under feet the very ground upon which they stand is beset with Jewels Such you know were the foundations of the Walls of the New Jerusalem and the pavement of the Street was beaten Gold GOD and the Lamb were the Light and the Temple of it THAT we are to Enjoy all Angels and Men by communicating our selves unto them is a little mysterious but may more easily be understood than a thing so obscure as The Enjoyment of GOD by way of Gratitude That we are to love GOD more than our selves is apparently sure at least we ought to do it but whether it be possible is a question of importance That we gain infinitely by his Love is certain but that we gain more by our own is prodigiouslâ— It is our duty to love him more than our selves but whether it be our Nature or no is doubtful It is impossible to ascend at the first step to the top of the Ladder Even Jacobs Ladder will not bring us to Heaven unless we begin at the bottom Self-love is the first round and they that remove it had as good take away all For he that has no love for himself can never be obliged He that cannot be obliged cannot delight in GOD He that cannot delight in him cannot enjoy him He that cannot enjoy him cannot love him He that cannot love him cannot take pleasure in him nor be Grateful to him Self-love is so far from being the impediment that it is the cause of our Gratitude and the only principle that gives us power to do what we ought For the more we love our selves the more we love those that are our Benefactors It is a great mistake in that arrogant Leviathan so far to imprison our love to our selves as to make it inconsistent with Charity towards others It is easie to manifest that it is impossible to love our selves without loving other things Nature is crippled or if it has her feet has her head cut off if Self-preservation be made her only concern We desire to live that we may do something else without doing which life would be a burden There are other principles of Ambition Appetite and Avarice in the Soul And there are Honours and Pleasures and Riches
in the World These are the end of Self-preservation And it is impossible for us to love our selves without loving these Without loving these we cannot desire them without desiring canot enjoy them We are carried to them with greater ardour and desire by the love of our selves Preservation is the first but the weakest and the low'st principle in nature We feel it first and must preserve our selves that we may continue to enjoy other things but at the bottom it is the love of other things that is the ground of this principle of Self-preservation And if you divide the last from the first it is the poorest Principle in the World TO love another more than ones self is absurd and impossible In Nature it is so till we are obliged or perhaps till we see it our interest and find it our pleasure It is a surprize to an Atheistical fool That it should be ones interest to love another better than ones self yet Bears Dogs Hens Bees Lions Ants do it they die for their young-ones Nurses Fathers Mothers do it Brides and Bridegrooms frequently do it and so do Friends All valiant Hero's love their Country better than themselves Moses would have his Name blotted out of the Book of Life rather than the Israelites destroyed St. Paul could wish himself accursed from Christ for his Brethren the Jews and they both learnt it of their Master who made himself a Curse and even Sin for us And it was his interest to do it If we are immortal and cannot but be blessed it must needs be our interest to love him that is more blessed than we better than our selves because by that love we enjoy his blessedness which is more than our own and by that Love it is made ours and more than ours Is not all our Glory and Vertue and Goodness seated in the excess of this perfect love Do not all brave and heroical deeds depend upon it and does not the man deserve to be burnt as an enemy to all the World that would turn all men into Knaves and Cowards and destroy that only principle which delivers them from being Mercenary Slaves and Villains which is the Love of others That alone which renders a man useful to the World is the Love of others He that destroyeth this would pluck up all Gratitude by the roots all Worth Goodness and Honour No wonder therefore he should be an Atheist since Nature is so base and abominable before him But its Principles are oftentimes so generous in Truth that they are too great for themselves Nothing is so ordinary in the false way as that of loving others better than our selves Even Dogs have starved themselves to death upon the absence of their Masters How many Fathers have gone down with sorrow to their Graves and lost all the comfort of their lives in the death of their Sons How many Mothers have broken their hearts for the death of their Children How many Widows have buried themselves alive for the loss of their Husbands I mean by sequestring themselves from all the delights and pleasures of the World How many Lovers dote and wax pale and forget their Meat Sleep and Employment and run mad for their Mistresses Are there no such Examples or is there no strength in such Examples as these But to love GOD better than ones self seemeth more unnatural Ah vile the more base and more wicked we How we should love GOD better than our selves is easie to unfold by the principles of Self love and Self exaltation Take it in the manner following and when you have seen its possibility consider the glory of doing it the benefit and felicity and honour that is in it For it is all worth and pleasure goodness and beauty Gratitude and Vertue wisdom and security perfection and excellency We love our selves more in doing it than it is possible to do without it IT is natural to all them that love themselves to love their Benefactors and all those things that are conducive to their welfare pleasure satisfaction And the more they love themselves the more apprehensive they are of the benefit they receive and the more prone to love that which occasions it The more goodness we find in any thing the more we are prone to love it and the more we love it the more to take pleasure in it And if we find it highly convenient and extreamly delightful we had not seldom rather die than part with it we love our selves only that we might live to enjoy that glory or delight or beauty or convenience that we find so agreeable It often falls out for want of acquaintance with delightful things that we think nothing so powerfully sweet as to engage our Soul beyond the possibility of retrieving it self and that nothing can cleave so strangely to our minds as to be nearer and dearer than Life it self Yet oftentimes we find men of this opinion changing their minds when they have chanced to taste some sweetness in Nature they were not aware of and then to become such miraculous Converts that they love not themselves but for the sake of that delight which they have found in the World I make it a great Question would men sink into the depth of the business Whether all Self-love be not founded on the love of other things And whether it be not utterly impossible without it Only the love of those things is so near and close to the love of our selves that we cannot distinguish them but mistake them for one and the same If the Sun were extinguished and all the World turned into a Chaos I suppose there are few that love themselves so but they would die which plainly shews that the love of the World is inseparably annexed with the love of our selves and if the one were gone the other would be extinguished especially if the sweetness of the Air and its freedom and ease were changed into fire and torment For then we would surely desire to die rather than endure it which shews that the love of ease and repose is greater than the love of our very Beings though not so perceivable till we have examined the business But if there be any pleasure or goodness or beauty truly infinite we are apt to cleave unto it with adhaesion so firm that we forget our selves and are taken up only with the sence and contemplation of it The ravishment is so great that we are turned all into extasie transportation and desire and live intirely to the object of our fruition The power of infinite delight and sweetness is as irresistible as it is ineffable And if GOD be all beauty and delight all amiable and lovely truly infinite in goodness and bounty when we see him and taste the grace of his excellency the blessedness and glory wherewith we are amazed possesseth us intirely and becometh our sole and adaequate concern After that sight it is better perish and be annihilated than live and be bereaved of it
The fall from so great a height would fill the Soul with a cruel remembrance and the want of its former glory and bliss be an infinite torment Now if it loved nothing but it self it could endure all this rather than forsake it self or lose or be bereaved of its essence it would endure any misery whatsoever Or to speak more correct and accurate sence it would be incapable of any Passion Patience or Misery but only that which flow'd from its abolition Nothing could prejudice it but the change of its Being THAT is not likely to love it self after the way which some conceive proper to Self-love which is willing to forsake it self upon any Misery and apt to forget it self upon any great felicity It loves it self that it might enjoy such a pleasure but loves that pleasure so much beyond it self that it is ready to go out of it self and is almost beside it self for the fruition of it Loving it self only for that end and that chiefly and for its own sake it loves that far more than it loves it self And there is no limit nor bound when it once begins to love any thing more than it self it may proceed eternally and provided its Object be infinitely more excellent it will easily and greedily love it infinitely more than it can it self and value the continuance of its own life only for the sake of that which it so infinitely esteems and delights in It is true indeed it presupposes its Capacity but what would that capacity be worth were it not for Objects WERE there no SUN it were impossible for so fair an Idea to be conceived in a Mirror as is sometimes in a Glass when it is exposed to the skie The Mirror is in it self a dark piece of Glass and how so much fire and flame and splendor should come from it while it is a cold Flint or piece of Steel how it should be advanced by any Art whatsoever to so much beauty and glory as to have a Sun within it self and to dart out such bright and celestial beams no man could devise Yet now there is a Sun the Matter is easie 't is but to apply it to the face of the Sun and the Glass is transformed And if GOD dwelleth in the Soul as the Sun in a Mirror while it looketh upon him the love of GOD must needs issue from that Soul for GOD is love and his love is in it The impression of all his Beauty swallows up the Being of the Soul and changes it wholly into another nature The Eye is far more sensible of the Day and of the beauty of the Universe than it is of it self and is more affected with that light it beholds than with its own essence Even so the Soul when it sees GOD is sensible only of the glory of that eternal Object All it sees is GOD it is unmindful of it self It infinitely feels him but forgets it self in the Rapture of its Pleasure BUT we leave Illustrations and come to the reason of the thing in particular The Soul loving it self is naturally concerned in its own happiness and readily confesseth it oweth as much love to any Benefactour as its bounty deserveth And if the value of the Benefit be the true reason of the esteem and Reason it self the ground of the return A little Kindness deserveth a little love and much deserveth more Reason it self is adapted to the measure of the good it receiveth and for a shilling-worth of Service a shilling-worth of Gratitude is naturally paid For a Crown or a Kingdom the Soul is enflamed with a degree of affection that is not usual Now GOD created and gave me my self for my Soul and my Body therefore I owe him as much as my Soul and Body are worth and at the first dash am to love him as much as my self Heaven and Earth being the gifts of his Love superadded to the former I am to Love him upon that account as much more as the World is worth and so much more than I love my self If he hath given all Angels and Men to my fruition every one of these is as great as my self and for every one of those I am to love him as much as that Angel or Man is worth But he has given me his Eternity his Almighty Power his Omnipresence his Wisdom his Goodness his Blessedness his Glory Where am I Am I not lost and swallow'd up as a Centre in all these Abysses While I love him as much as all these are worth to which my Reason which is the essence of my Soul does naturally carry me I love him infinitely more than my self unless perhaps the possibility of enjoying all these things makes me more to esteem my self and increases my Self-love for their sake more than for my own Thus when I see my self infinitely beloved I conceive a Gratitude as infinite in me as all its Causes Self-preservation is made so natural and close a Principle by all the hopes and possibilities to which I am created Those Hopes and Possibilities are my tender concern and I live for the sake of my infinite Blessedness Now that is GOD And for his sake it is that I love my self and for the glory and joy of delighting in him I desire my continuance and the more I delight in him my Continuance is so much the more dear and precious to my self Thus is GOD infinitely preferred by Nature above my self and my Love to my self being thoroughly satisfied turns into the Love of GOD and dies like a grain of Corn in the Earth to spring up in a new and better form more glorious and honourable more great and verdant more fair and delightful more free and generous and noble more grateful and perfect The Love of GOD is the sole and immediate Principle upon which I am to act in all my Operations NOW if you enquire what Advantages accrue by this Love to the Soul of the Lover we are lost again in Oceans of infinite Abundance The strength and brightness and glory of the Soul all its Wisdom Goodness and Pleasure are acquired by it founded in it derived and spring from it as we have before declared upon the Nature of Love The solution of that one Question will open the mystery Whether we gain more by his Love or our own All that we gain by his Love amounts to the Power of Loving the Act of Loving we gain by our own and all that depends upon it BY his Love he existeth eternally for our Enjoyment as the Father of GLORY which is begotten by it self but we do not gain all this by his Love but by our own Some man would say We gain our Souls and Bodies by the Love of GOD all Ages and Kingdoms Heaven and Earth Angels and Men infinite and eternal Joyes because all these were without our care or power prepared by him and his love alone They were prepared indeed by his Love but are not acquired or enjoyed by
him might have bin it must be just such a Power as this is and act just in such a manner as this hath done or it would be displeasing This hath done all that we can desire all that all Powers infinite and eternal can do well and therefore all possible Powers are conceived in him He is the full and adaequate object of all Desire because the Fountain of all the most Glorious things and the sole perfect cause of all Enjoyment whatsoever CHAP. XXXIII The Beauty of Gratitude It s principal Canses Amity and Communion are the great effect of its Nature The true Character of a Grateful Person GOD'S Incommunicable Attributes enjoyed by Gratitude All Angels and Men are a Grateful Person 's Treasures as they assist him in Praises He sacrifices all Worlds to the Deity and supreamly delighteth to see him sitting in the Throne of Glory GOD having prepared the way to Gratitude by infusing generous and noble Principles into the Soul beautified the Exercise of it by divers other provisions that conspire to make it amiable and delightful By the one he made it Possible by the other desirable ONE of the greatest ornaments of this Vertue is the Grateful Sence of Benefits received For in it the Felicity of the Receiver consisteth on it his Grateful behaviour dependeth by it he is made Grateful or Acceptable and it is one of the great Ends intended in the Gift bestowed by the Donor whose Satisfaction ought to be regarded highly by every honest and worthy Receiver That Grateful Sence is the crown of the Gift the Light wherein its Beauty appears the Temple of its Honour as it were the Womb wherein it is conceived and findeth its life and value perfected SHOULD we stand upon the Explication of these we should have little room for the Fruits and Effects of Gratitude which are the principal things intended in this Chapter But in short you may take this account The greatest Benefits we can receive are but Abortive or rather turned into Curses without a Grateful acknowledgment of them All Gifts are but Carkasses devoid of Life unless inspired with that Sence which maketh them Delightful For as Causes without Effects are not Causes of Blessings if they Bless not are falsely reputed Blessings No Benefits can be Blessings unless they are crowned with our Complacency They must be conceived in the Mind before they can be transformed into Joy and be transformed into Joyes before they can produce those Praises which are the musick of the Benefactors Soul as well as of the Receivers They are not conceived unless they are quickened with the Life of the Receiver nor are they reputed Blessings till they are had in Reputation An interior Sence is the Life and Soul of every Blessing without which a whole World of Delights would be but a Chaos the very Kingdom of Heaven but a Confusion to him for whom it is prepared and a Soul among the Angels but a Fool in Paradice An Ungrateful Person bereaves himself of the Pleasure that should spring from his Enjoyment for the stifles the enjoyment of the Gift he receiveth He Eclipses and extinguishes his own blessedness by the dulness of his Soul and the perversness of his Behaviour He may be surrounded with Causes of Delight but is not blessed that is not full of the Joyes wherewith he is surrounded When he is full of Joyes he must needs overflow with Complacencies which are the very element of Thanksgiving the matter and fuel as well as the Soul of Praises Were there nothing in a Grateful Sence but this Gratitude were an incomparable Vertue because all the effects of infinite and eternal Bounty are by vertue of that Grace applyed to the Soul and enjoyed thereby but are lost without it That certainly must be a great Vertue by force of which we inherit all things AS for the Beauty of the Receiver it is evident that a dull and heavy Complexion is the disgrace of his Nature His Stupidity makes him a worthless piece of Clay that cannot be improved to any advantage A carelessness and contempt of Benefits springeth from his Sottishness which maketh him Ingrateful that is Odious because he cannot be won by Kindness nor wrought upon by Gifts But he is more deformed because he acts in a bruitish manner against Reason while he faileth to do what is fit and proper on such occasions It is a base and dirty Temper that cannot be enflamed with the Love of a Benefactor It is incapable of high and generous Sentiments is dull and dry insipid and untractable as dead as a Log of Wood a crabbed and knotty piece of matter that cannot be wrought and only fit for the fire But a quick and lively Perceiver a tender Sence and sprightly Intelligence is all honour and delight upon the Reception all activity life and vigour Angelical in his nature sweet and heavenly apt to come up to the Benefactor and answer his desires He is rich and abundant in amiable Resentments and prone to make Returns suitable to the Kindness wherewith he is affected He has a strange kind of Beauty lodged in his Soul there is a sweet Correspondence and a delicate Convenience between his Nature and his Benefactors All his Inclinations are Purity and Praise he is a great encouragement to the Love of his Benefactor an ornament to his Person an admirer of his Worth an appendix of his Honour and a pleasure to his Disposition all Life and Goodness He is capable of Amity in the heights of its exercise A wise and worthy Benefactor designs the felicity and contentment of the Person to whom he imparteth his Bounties and if he were able would do that for him which above all other things is most to be desired not compel him to be Grateful whether he would or no for that would but spoil the beauty of his Return but make him capable of the best and highest Resentments that he might have the Joy of seeing his Benefits work kindly All which are lost and thrown away upon an ungrateful Person This GOD hath done He has put brave Principles and Inclinations into the Soul of Man and left him freely to exert them with infinite desire to see him act freely but generously and nobly For by this means only is he made capable of Honour and the essence of Gratitude consists in the freedom of its operation Having so made him and desiring nothing more than a lovely Behaviour his Joy is as great as his Goodness can inspire when he sees that sweetness which attends the Operation and the work of Reason in a Grateful Person and the Joy which he occasions is his own Joy in the Soul of his Creature Of which to rob GOD is a kind of Spiritual Sacriledge and a cruel Murther committed on our selves For we have an inclination to delight in the Joyes of which we are the Authors and by a kind of Eccho or reflection find the Pleasure doubled which we take and
blessed is it self the more joyful and the more contented It s Nature is to shine and burn and admire to offer and to sacrifice up it self to its Joyes And GOD is its soveraign Joy its perfect happiness To suspend its beams were to act against Nature All overtures of Pleasure Beauty Glory Power Exaltation and Honour it would have added to its happiness The more Great the more Good the Wiser GOD is the greater is its Happiness The more he is admired and praised the greater is its Happiness The more he is magnified and pleased the greater is its Happiness All the Excellencies and Perfections in its Objective bliss though they are not locally removed are removed into the Soul of him that enjoyes it and there express themselves far more powerfully and effectually than if they were there alone No joy can be like that of seeing its Creatour adored no Service like that of magnifying its Beloved no pleasure like that of delighting its Beloved no melody like that of praising its Benefactor no honour like that of obeying its Preserver All Worlds are its Treasures because they manifest his Power and Glory all Angels and Men its Delights because they see and acknowledge the beauty of its Soveraign and eternal Perfection all Creatures the Instruments of its Joy that celebrate his Praises In him it enjoyes the glory of all Eternity the infinite beauty of all Immensity the innumerable riches of all Worlds the pleasures and adorations of all the Angels the state and magnificence of all Empires the splendour and perfection of all Ages all which it has in it self by his infinite Bounty as its own immediate and proper Possessions but far more divinely and sweetly enjoyes them by vertue of its Gratitude and Love to him whose they originally are and from whom they proceeded For the very true reason why it enjoyes it self and all its own Treasures is because it loves it self And the more it loves him the more it will be delighted with his fruitions It is more concerned it feels more it sees more it tastes more it possesses more it rejoyces more in its Object than it self The imagination and fancy that is in Love frames all the thoughts of its Beloved in it self it has an exquisite and tender sence of every change and motion in the mind of its Beloved Stir not up nor awake my Love till he please is the song of a feeling and affectionate Soul Every prick with a Needles point in its Object is a stab with a Dagger to it self It s heart bleeds in every drop of its Objects finger It loves his Beloved ten thousand times more than it self and is infinitely more pleased with its exaltation than its own The happiness of its Object is most its own True Gratitude is crowned in its Benefactor enthroned in its benefactor admired in its benefactor adored in its benefactor Nothing in all the World is so easily ravished as Love nothing is so lively as Love nothing so lovely Nothing so violent in its grief or joy nothing so capable of pain or pleasure All the Victories and Triumphs of its Saviour are its own My Joy my Life my Crown my Glory my exceeding great Reward my Love my Soul my Idol nay the GOD of my Soul my All in all This is the language of Love in its Rapture Seraphick Love It is Altar Heart and Sacrifice Angelical Love It is Priest and Temple All Service Freedom Duty Reward Desire Enjoyment Honour Praise Adoration Thanksgiving Extasie Pleasure Bliss and Happiness It is all Goodness and Beauty Paradice Heaven the life and Soul of Heaven All that is incommunicable in GOD Eternity almighty Power supream Dominion independent Majesty infinite Immensity with all the adorations and praises of all the Creatures are by such a Love and Gratitude enjoyed Loving GOD more than it self it is more happy in GOD than if it were a GOD. Could Is Deity be taken away and seated in it self the Soul of a Grateful Creature would be grieved at the exchange Even GOD in his place is perfectly enjoyed All Envy is by perfect Gratitude removed All Discontentment at any thing in its Object especially at its Objects Blessedness is abolished It is carried above all Thrones Dominions and Powers and still ascends eternally higher the higher its Object is exalted Could it be miserable in it self it would be happy in its Object but the higher it is exalted the more is its Creatour delighted If the resentment be wholly Spiritual the Soul perhaps may be transformed to Gratitude as Gratitude is to Contentment and Praise and Thanksgiving But it will have no Body no frail and corruptible Flesh no bones or members to look after All its operations are of one kind all its works and concernments are the same It has no Fear or Care to divert it no impediment or danger or distraction Pure Gratitude is so divine a thing that the Soul may safely wish to be turned all into Gratitude It s Employment and Nature are all one acknowledgment and benevolence united together It sacrifices all Worlds to the Deity and with infinite delight desires to offer all Honour and Glory to him It is very sensible that it can never pay so much Honour to GOD as is his due unless it be assisted with all the Tongues of Men and Angels It goes along with their Joyes and consents to their Praises In them it adores and by them it admires with them it conspires and takes in all their powers and divine affections It fees with all their Eyes hears with all their Ears speaks with all their Mouths and useth all their Hearts in loving and adoring All the tendencies and operations of Universal Nature are subservient to its desires It surmounts the Songs of David and yet we know how earnestly he exhorted all Creatures to praise him Praise ye the Lord Praise him in the Sanctuary Praise him in the Firmament of his Power Praise him in his mighty Acts Praise him according to his excellent Greatness Praise him in the Heights Praise him all ye Angels Praise him all his Hosts Praise him Sun and Moon Praise him all ye Stars of light Praise him ye Heaven of Heavens And when all is done it still confesseth that his Name is exalted far above all Blessing and Praise HE that praiseth GOD only for his Health and Food and Rayment and for his blessing on his Calling as too many only do either is very ignorant or upon a strict scrutiny will be detected for upbraiding GOD for the meanest of his bounty For his Love must infinitely be defective that is able to bestow Gifts infinitely more yet giveth us none but these He that sees not more Causes of Joy than these is blind and cannot see afar off The very truth or Religion is obscure to him and the cause of Adoration unknown He wanteth ten thousand demonstrations of the Love of GOD and as many Incentives to coflame his Soul in the Return
depths and changes of our Condition all our Desires all our primitive and virgin Joyes the whole story of our Creation and Life and Fall and Redemption in all the newness of its first appearance all our Wants and Dangers Exigencies and Extremities all our Satisfactions and Delights are present together in our Humility and are so infinitely near and present thereunto so sweet and vigorous in their mixture so strangely powerful in their influence that they inspire our Hearts enter our Thoughts and incorporate with our Souls and are as near and sweet as our present condition be it never so blessed All put together is far more sweet than our present Condition a great part of our felicity and glory is in it while we take it in by our Conceptions here and apply it to our Souls in an humble manner but it will be much more our felicity in Heaven It is of so much concernment that a Great Divine in our English Zion said The greater part of our eternal happiness will consist in a grateful Recognition not of our Joyes to come but of Benefits already received NOW look into the office and work of Humility I will not tell you how here upon Earth it shunneth all strife and contention about Places and all the Mischiefs consequent thereto nor of the Unity and Peace and Honour it produceth These are all but Temporal Benefits It has ten thousand other Walks and Circuits and periods of Revolution I will tell you how it behaves it self in Paradice and in Heaven HUMILITY by leading us to the bottom of our Condition sets our Original before our eyes considers that eternal abyss of Idleness and Vacuity out of which we were taken that miracle by which we were made of Nothing How destitute we should have been in our selves had not GOD created the World had he not been pleased to communicate himself and his Glory to us How weak and unable we were to devise or desire any Felicity yet how infinitely necessary the preparation of it after we were created How great our desires and expectations were how sore and urgent our wants and necessities how much we needed infinite Wisdom and almighty Power to fill Immensity with the omnipresence of their Glory and to fill their omnipresence with Effects and Treasures How gracious and good GOD was to do all this for us without our asking and how justly Davids rapture may be taken up by the Soul The King shall joy in thy strength O Lord and in thy Salvation how greatly shall he rejoyce Thou preventest him with the blessings of Goodness thou settest a Crown of pure Gold on his head His glory is great in thy Salvation Honour and Majesty hast thou laid upon him For thou hast made him most Blessed for ever thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy Countenance We might have been made and put in the condition of Toads who are now created in the Image of GOD have dominion over all his Works and are made capable of all Eternity The infinite condescention of GOD is the amazement of the Soul The depth of its low estate increaseth the height of its exaltation All that it wanted in it self it findeth in the goodness of its Benefactour and the joy of being so Beloved is greater than that of having all these things of our selves for ever For the Love of GOD alone and his goodness in Giving is our last and best and proper Felicity Hereupon follows the extinction of all Envy Regret and Discontentment the sacrificing of our selves the annihilating of our selves the lowliness of our selves And the Exaltation of GOD and the Adoration of GOD and the Joy of adoring the Greatest of all other The Amity and Friendship between GOD and his Creature the Unity of both and their happiness for ever Without this Humility of looking into the bottom of our first Condition all this is impossible And for this cause is Humility an eternal Vertue in all estates for ever to be enjoyed I might have said exercised THUS in the estate of Sin and Misery all the odiousness of our Guilt all our despair and deformity all our shame and misery all the necessity of Hating GOD and being hated of him comes before the eyes of an humble Soul with all the mercies and condescentions of eternal Love in the work of Redemption AND in the state of Glory it self all the particular Sins Neglects Rebellions Apostasies and Villanies we committed against GOD after all his mercy and goodness in the Death of his Son how infinitely base we were in despising all his Bounties and Glories how infinitely those Offences made us unworthy of Heaven and the eternal Glory we now enjoy how marvellous and incomparable his Love was in pursuing us with so much Long-suffering and Patience how amiable he is and how vile and unworthy we are in all this it is the office of Humility to feel and ponder Thus you see its work and you may easily conjecture at its eternal Reward All things are in it in the utmost height and depth of Resignation and Contentment enjoyed I need not observe that sweetness of Conversation that Civility and Courtesie that springs from Humility The Meek and Lowly are the same men the Kind and Charitable and the Affable and the good are all of them Humble and so are all they that prefer others above themselves and render themselves amiable by honouring their Inferiours and giving place to their Equals At least they imitate Humility as Complemental Courtiers do for their advantage And it is no small token of its excellency that the greatest enemies of Humility and Vertue are forced sometimes to flie to it for succour as those that well know they can never thrive nor prosper in the World without Esteem nor gain Esteem without covering their Vices under the mask of Vertue All the advantages and effects of this will be enjoyed eternally CHAP. XXVII That Contentment is a Vertue Its Causes and its Endi Its Impediments Effects and Advantages The way to attain and secure Contentment THOUGH we have not named it in our first distribution of Vertue into its several kinds yet the commendation which Contentment hath in Scripture imports it to be a Vertue so does the difficulty of attaining it and the great and mighty force it is of in our Lives and Conversations Having Food and Rayment saith the Apostle let us therewith be content For Godliness with Contentment is great Gain Where he fitly noteth that Godliness is the original of true Contentment and that the Gain of so great a Vertue is inestimable The truth is it is impossible to be happy or grateful without it A discontented Mind is exceeding prone to be peevish and fretful and throws a man into all the indecencies of Avarice Ambition Envy Treason Murther Contention Turbulency Murmuring Repining Melancholy and Sowrness Anger Baseness and Folly into all the Malevolence and Misery which can disorder the Soul or disturb the World Suspicion