than the open Cruelty of Decius or Dioclesian Hospitals another work of Magnificence Secondly HE will erect Hospitals for the Poor and Maimed Now this sort of Magnificence doth very much serve the Publick Interest for those who do these things for the sake of their own private Fancies and not for the common Good are Magnificent as some of the Church of Rome are Charitable when they erect Sanctuaries for wilful and Capital Malefactors to fly to when they found such Monasteries as are the Nurseries of a blind Devotion But to be vertuously Magnificent is with daily Provisions to feed the Hungry not the superstitious to entertain those that are unfit for Labour not loitering Wanderers or Pilgrims Thirdly THE Man who deserves praise for his Magnificence takes care to provide those Houses in which the most notorious Offenders may either be corrected or secured that those who are not so far gone in Wickedness as to be past Remedy may be called back again and amended by just and necessary Chastisement that those who have broken through all the Fences of Law may be taken out of Human Society which they would otherwise destroy and bring into Confusion HAPPY the miserable The go … of Mankind promoted by this Virtue who partake of these Works of Magnificence more happy they who lay out their Money and Revenues for the publick benefit of Mankind to instruct the ignorant in Schools to heal the diseased in Hospitals to lash the back of the Sinner in Bridewells and to cure the unsound mind in Bethlem's NOW the Works of Magnificence whether they be publick or whether they be private they are to be performed with all Pomp and State They are especially seen in Feasts and Entertainments either of our Friends or of Men of the highest Quality or else in building stately Houses Castles Churches and Theatres That Man who knows how in the most seemly fashion to manage these Undertakings is truly Magnificent The Errours of such as are Magnificent BUT here the Magnificent Person is very prone to run into a very ill Extreme Having great things much in his thoughts his mind is apt to fly too high out of the reach of Prudence then He falls to the building of Oblelikes Colossus's and Pyramids This Distemper swell'd the Heads of many in old time who spent great Sums upon magnificent Piles vast and sumptuous Statues great and mighty Vanities For Solomon the best Judg of these things hath passed this Sentence upon them that they are all so The Judgment of Solomon upon these … ngs For Eccl. 2. After He had made great Works planted Vineyards and had built stately Houses made Pools of Water for the Trees that bring forth Fruit got large and numerous herds of great and small Cattle had gathered mighty heaps of Silver and Gold and filled his Treasury therewith upon a review of all the works his Hands had wrought and upon all the pains He had taken He concludes with the truest judgment that ever was pronounced upon the World that all was Vanity Whereupon it may be supposed my Lord Bacon made this wise Observation that Truth is a a naked and open Day-light which doth not shew the Masks and Triumphs of the World half so stately as Candle-lights do and no man doubts that if there were taken out of men's minds vain Opinions flattering Hopes false valuations of Things and the imaginations of Grandeur but it would leave the minds of many who make a great Figure poor shrivel'd things full of melancholy and indisposition and unpleasing to themselves BUT there is a way to lay up our Treasure in Heaven The deeds of Charity entitle us to Heaven to be magnificent on Earth and great in Heaven then this Blessedness must be gotten by doing such remarkable deeds of Charity as I have mentioned and if we do so our Names shall endure for ever when Mausoleum's are buried and Pyramids are mouldred into dust It is Aristotle's Notion in his Epistle to Philip that the acts of Beneficence have something in them equal to God and the whole life of mankind was comprised in conferring and returning Benefits 'T is true there have been some morose Spirits such as Chrysippus and Seneca who have made plausible Harangues against Glory but in the very doing this they have appeared to aim at it Whereas it is the spur to good Works if it be made use of by one who hath passed through the Temple of Virtue to that of Honour And a man may with as much reason argue against Eating and Drinking as endeavour to banish the love of Glory that arises from the Works of Magnificence unless this did rouze the Souls of men perhaps a barbarous Sloth or a brutish stupidity would soon overspread the World no care would be taken to promote or sustain the Seats of ingenuous Arts or the Tribunals of State This carries Men upon the noblest and most Heroick Attempts and Human Nature without it would be a sluggish and unactive thing IT was the Thirst after Glory together with some private Ambition that incited the Egyptian Kings to be at so vast charge in the building the Pyramids and the Egyptians of lower Quality spared for no cost to cut out Caves or Dormitories in the Lybian Deserts which by the Christians are now adays called the Mummies and all this was undertaken for the sake of an Opinion amongst them that so long as the Body endured so long the Soul continued with it not as animating it but as unwilling to leave her former Habitation Why should not the same Thirst for the Glory of the Christian Religion move us to do such Works as may shine before Men and glorifie our Father which is in Heaven IT is not empty Fame that we must seek for it is not with Wind that we must fill our selves We want a more solid Substance to repair us A man pinched with Hunger would be very unwise to seek rather to provide himself of a gay Dress than a good Meal We are to look after that whereof we have most need and that is Virtue When this is acquired then the outward Ornaments of Magnificence may be made use of Epicurus his opinion of Magnificence Which were so despised by Epicurus that He made this one of the Precepts of his Sect Conceal thy Life He would not have his Disciples in any sort to govern their Actions by the common Reputation or vulgar Applause But Horace was of another Opinion who says Paulùm Sepultae distat inertiae Calata virtus Concealed Virtue differs not much from dead Sloth which if it were absolutely true then a man would be no further concerned to keep his Mind in order which is the true Seat of Virtue than as the actions of it are to be seen by others whereas Glory is but the shadow of true Virtue For Repulsae nescia sordidae Intaminatis fulget honoribus Nec sumit aut ponit secures Arbitrio popularis
superadded to the reason of our Minds is of strength sufficient to subdue all the Temptations to evil if the Creation below us by natural instinct doth those things that are regular shall not these higher Principles do the like always preserve us from known evil and determine us to that which is morally good This is the course of things in Nature every Habit begun is greatly weakened by a forbearance of Acts for every thing must be kept up in the way it was produced a Disposition is first wrought by some Acts and if Act be not continued upon Act the Disposition will fail for things that are not brought to a State of Perfection will go back again if they be not maintained in the same way that they were produced Wherefore it will be worth the while to enquire what our most holy Religion aims at and after what manner it doth affect the Person in whom it is lodged Now Religion makes us live up to our highest Faculties and teaches us to practise such Virtues as become rational Beings who bear the Image of the Immortal God and are exalted above the Inferior Creation prompts us to scorn all Actions that are base unhansom or unworthy our State and Relation in which we stand to our Creator forbids us to do any thing that will make us like Beasts or that would sink us into a lower order by Sensuality and Carnal-mindedness or that would transform us into the likeness of Devils by Pride Presumption and Self conceit makes us God-like in Wisdom Righteousness Goodness Charity Compassion in forgiving Injuries pardoning Enemies and in doing hurt to none but good to all as we have power and opportunity advises us to follow the conduct of true and sincere Reason tames the Extravagancy of our Passions and regulates the Exorbitances of the Will permits us the pleasures of our Bodies so far as they may give no disturbance to the Mind produces a sweet and gracious Temper of Soul calm in it self and loving to Mankind begets in us freedom of Spirit and banishes groundless Fears foolish Imaginations and dastardly Thoughts teaches us to have right Conceptions of God that he doth transact all things with Mankind as a loving Father with his Children creates in us a rational Satisfaction and the joy of a good Conscience advances the Soul to its just Sovereignty over inferior Appetites which would disable it for all good and vertuous Acts and render us weak foolish and unfit for any thing that is generous or noble strengthens our Reason against the Onsets of the World Flesh and Devil which is effected chiefly by stifling all manner of Intemperance for it is this that frustrates the Work of Religion either by stupifying or imaging the Spirits or by putting them into irregular Motions 16. An Exhortation to the Practice of Religion Now therefore let us consider whether or no this Religion doth govern our Lives which we must learn not by our acquaintance with Systems and Models of Divinity but by our keeping its Commandments For unless Christ be inwardly formed in our Hearts the Notions of Religion can save us no more than Arts and Sciences whilst they lye only in Books and Papers without us can make us learned For Christ Jesus did not undergo a reproachful Life and Death merely to bring in a Notion into the World without the changing mending and reforming it so that Men might still be as wicked as they were before and as much under the Power of the Prince of Darkness Indeed Christ came to expiate and attone for our Sins but the end of this was that we might forsake all Ungodliness and worldly Lusts 'T is true there be some that dishearten us in this spiritual Warfare and bring an ill Report upon that Land which we are to conquer telling of nothing but strange Giants the Sons of Anak that we shall never be able to subdue others would suggest that it is enough for us if we be but once in a state of Grace we need not take so great pains to travel any farther or that Christ hath done all for us already without us and nothing need more to be done within us Hearken not to them I beseech you but hear what Caleb and Joshua say Let us go up at once and possess it for we are able to overcome them the hugest Armies of Lusts not by our own Strength but by the Power of the Lord of Hosts hear also the wholsom Words of S. Peter Give all diligence to add to your Faith Virtue and to Virtue Knowledg to Knowledg Temperance and to Temperance Patience to Patience Godliness and to Godliness brotherly Kindness and to brotherly Kindness Charity for if these things be in you and abound they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledg of our Lord Jesus Christ For Holiness hath something of God in it and therefore it must needs be a victorious and triumphant thing And as the Devils are always active to encourage Evil so the heavenly Host of blessed Angels are as busie in promoting that which is good for we cannot imagin but that the Kingdom of Light should be as true to its own Interest and as vigilant for the enlarging it self as the Kingdom of Darkness But then by Holiness is not meant a mere Performance of the outward Duties of Religion but an inward Soul and Principle of divine Life that enliveneth the dead Carcast of all our outward Devotions For this is the vulgar Error of Mankind they have dreadful Apprehensions of Fire and Brimstone whilst they feed in their Hearts a true and living Fire that is the Hell of Lusts which miserably scorches their Souls and they are not concerned at it they do not perceive how Hell steals upon them whilst they live here And as for Heaven they gaze abroad for it as for some great and high Preferment that must come from without and never look for the beginnings of it to arise within in their own Minds Whereas nothing without us can make us either happy or miserable nothing can either defile or hurt us but what goeth out from us I shall now shut up all with these two Considerations to persuade you farther to the Love of Virtue From the desire we all have after Truth which is not held up by wrangling Disputes and syllogistical Reasonings but by the Purity of our Hearts and Lives neither would it fail of overcoming the World did not the Sensuality of our Dispositions and the Darkness of our false Hearts stop its passage And from the Desires we have of a true Reformation which must be begun in our own Hearts and Lives for all outward Forms and Models thereof are of little worth without the inward Amendment of our own Souls For the baser Metals are not changed by their being cast into a good Mold or by being made up in an elegant Figure neither will adulterate Silver pass when the Touch-stone tryes it neither can we
The Principles of Religion the best and most beneficial he shall reap any benefit from Vice let him rather with an impartial Reason unbiassed either with Lust or Passion enquire into the Principles and Duties of Virtue and he will easily discover them to be most reasonable and pleasant to love and practise them to be his highest Privilege as well as Interest to neglect or defame them the most stupid Folly which he cannot do till be can prove a base and selfish Spirit to be more Noble and Generous than an universal Love and Charity Pride and Luxury to be more amiable than Sweetness and Ingenuity Revenge and Impatience more honorable than Discretion and Civility Excess and Debauchery more healthful than Temperance and Sobriety to be enslaved to Lusts and Passions more manly than to live by the Rules of Reason and Prudence Malice and Injustice to be more graceful and becoming a Gentile Behavior than Kindness and Benignity the Horrors of an amazed Spirit to be fuller of Pleasure and Happiness than that peace and calmness of Mind which springs from the Reflections of an exact Conscience But if a Man cannot believe that the Idea of God is a Fancy that the Immortality of the Soul is a Fable then to what a degree of madness doth he Act who will venture the Rage of an Almighty Vengeance and the Ruin of an Immortal Soul for the sake of a Vice It is true the Rich Man in the Gospel did applaud himself in his foresight when he had filled his Store-Houses with Provision for many years Ease and Voluptuousness But no sooner was he surprised with the news of death than all his hopes were dasht into pieces with what Agony did the miserable Man hear his fatal Doom how did he quake and shiver when he found himself in another World beset with Devils and damned Ghosts Such is the Wisdom of every vicious Man he congratulate himself for one of the shrewd and notable Persons swells with conceits of his own cunning and sagacity as if all besides himself were weak People misled by the Cheats and Impostures of Priests But is this World all that the Wretch can enjoy hath he no prospect of any Being hereafter no expectations but what shall be interr'd with his Carcase If it be so then indeed this might a little excuse the silliness of his Choice But when there is no other state so certain and unalterable as that of everlasting Happiness and Misery which awaited good and evil doers let him think what a Sot he is to forgo these hopes for the sake of any Vice whatsoever for nothing can be more evident than that human Nature is so framed as not to be kept within due bounds without Laws which Laws must be insignificant without the Sanction of Rewards and Punishments but Temporal ones cannot be sufficient for this End therefore there is a necessity that there should be another future state of Happiness and Misery whereas if Temporal Prosperity did infallibly attend all good Actions this would be a Diminution to Virtue it self Men would do good by a kind of natural Necessity which abates just so much from the Virtue of their Actions as it does from the Liberty of them How then shall we reconcile these Contradictions that Men should believe that there is a State hereafter of endless pain to punish the Wicked and of endless felicity to reward the Righteous yet be so careless to avoid the one and to get the other that they should think a constant and habitual Obedience to the Rules of Virtue indispensibly necessary to Salvation yet live in known and wilful Impieties indulg themselves in gross and confessed Wickedness some wallowing in Lust and Wantonness others in Wine and Drunkenness some gratifying their Pride and Ambition others their Malice and Envy some sacrificing to their Filth and Luxury others to their Avarice and Covetousness some given to all kinds of Excess others to all kinds of Religion How can these Men look into their own minds without the deepest horror and despair 6. The nature of true Repentance For Vice can never be blotted out but by a timely Repentance such a Repentance as will bring forth all the Fruits of Virtue For he who thinks to purifie himself from his Sin without acquitting it is as wise as He who laps about a gangrened Member without any purpose of healing it But no Vice can be pardon'd till it is mortified He who prays against it but yet commits it directly contradicts his own Petition all he gains by it is that he is Self-condemned and he may as possibly wish himself into life while he cuts his own Throat as pray his Soul into Heaven whilst his Manners are unreformed And He who goes on in Vice upon the hope of an After-Repentance makes himself uncapable of God's Mercy by turning his Grace into Wantonness whereas from the Terms of Christ's Gospel a Man may as well expect to Repent when he is dead as when he is dying and he may as soon move Divine Compassion by the gnashing of his Teeth in the next World as by his last groans in this But the Goodness of God will not suffer it self to be mocked there is nothing more manifest in the Scripture than the absolute necessity of a virtuous Life here in order to an happy One hereafter It concerns us therefore to beware of all manner of Evil and we ought to be the more cautions because the Snares thereof are laid so craftily for 7. Evil is deceitful 1. Evil doth often assume another name to cover its native Vgliness though it doth always retain the same venomous and base Nature because it would not be known by its own proper Title and Character it doth impudently intrude and adopt it self into the Family of some Virtue as if it did resemble them and things that an alike do often cozen unwary Judges as for instance base Compliance with vitious and extravagant Company passeth for good Fellowship and Civil Conversation wanton and scurrilous Language is looked upon as Wit and true Breeding when Men pinch and are covetous this is called good Husbandry Thus Vice presents it self in such colors as may best please the diverse Humors of Men sometimes it suggesteth to them Pleasure sometimes Profit these are its most catching and therefore the most Fatal Temptations these are the baits which cover the Hook and they take with all Men that are not of a steady and resolved Virtue 8. Evil the most slavish thing 2. Evil by all its Arts would persuade us that it is a Privilege which we may challenge and which we may do in the use of the Liberty that God hath given us but we are grosly imposed upon by these Insinuations for it is not Power to be able to do that which is not fit to be done neither is it Liberty but Slavery and that the most unsufferable to have power to do Evil or to serve any Lust yet
be reformed before the Corruptions of our Hearts are purged away And when this once comes to pass then shall Christ be set upon his Throne then the Glory of the Lord shall overflow the Land then we shall be a People acceptable to him and as Mount Sion which he dearly loved then by Reflection we shall see our selves as in a Glass and our Faults being discovered we shall readily endeavour to amend them for it is not in this case as in bodily Distempers when the Body is necessitated by connexion of Causes to suffer the Malady upon it Every man is obliged to reform himself but the Soul it in its own power the first step therefore to a Cure is for a Man to convince himself by his own Reason that he hath done evil and the desire to have this Disease removed naturally follows thereupon For it is to no purpose to complain of bad Times or to expect better days so long as Mankind are so averse from cleansing their own Hearts Whereas if the Motions and Inclinations of the Soul within were once set right all things without will go true because they are all moved by those hidden Springs and if every Man would study to do his own business in the ways of a virtuous and good Life all Commotions in the Earth and all Differences would presently cease And Solomon makes this conclusion from all those wise Reflections he made upon things under the Sun Fear God and keep his Commandments for this is a Man's whole business and his whole Excellency So that there is nothing in Religion that I have wondered at more The best way to know what our Condition is must be from keeping God's Commandments than to see many Christians in continual Anxieties about their State complaining much of their want of assurance in this matter when it may be brought to a speedy and plain issue by examining our selves how we have kept God's Commandments the moral Precepts of an holy Life this one Mark of our Sincerity in Religion well attended to would silence all those Suspicions that many Persons are apt to entertain concerning their Condition If it were worth our while to enquire into the reason of these Doubts and Fears they may be truly resolved into a dark and melancholy Humor or into false Conceptions of God and his Affection towards Men or into the Breaches and inequality of our Obedience to his Laws Now the melancholy temper must be left to Physick and Time for the Scripture prescribes nothing at all in this Case any more than it does for a Frenzy or Feaver but that is a very false and dangerous Principle which some have entertained concerning God as if he did notreally desire the Happiness of Man but watched all Advantages to surprize him into Destruction as if his goodness was not a setled and constant Disposition of his Nature but took him at certain Fits as it does the Sons of Men as if we could have no sure Rule to know when we might hope for his Favor as if the Majesty of Heaven were merely arbitrary in dispensing of things as he pleases without considering any Qualification in his Creatures Whereas he who will not believe there is so much goodness in God as that he did not make us for our own Ruin can never have any quiet in his Mind because nothing but the goodness of God can be a reasonable ground of Hope or Security to him Many Mischiefs arise from false Notions of God and Religion The next Mischief to this doth arise from false Notions concerning Religion as if it did wholly consist in the performance of external Duties now we must not take the Measures of our Religion by the ebbings and flowings of our Spirits that depend upon our natural Temper but by a firm Resolution of Soul to keep God's Commandments by the conformity of our Wills to his Another Mischief proceeds from the frequent Interruptions of a holy Life and by the constancy of our Obedience to his Laws Another Mischief proceeds from the frequent Interruptions and great Breaches of a holy Life and this doth much disquiet the Spirits of Men so that usually they betake themselves to false Principles for relief Whereas that Person who rightly understands the Nature of God who hath worthy apprehensions about his Goodness to Mankind hath true Notions about Religion and is free from any melancholy Distemper who doth for the most part continue in an even course of Obedience allowing for human Frailties that befal the best of Men he enjoys a lasting Peace and Serenity of Mind without any considerable Change but such as he can give an account of from his sensible Failings and Variations For I do not believe that Comfort and Peace of Conscience are such arbitrary things as that God gives them to whom and when he pleases without any regard of our Carriage towards him but God hath so ordered Matters that Peace and Comfort shall be the natural result of our Duty and the discharge of a good Conscience towards God and towards man The truth is we do not live according to those Rules of Righteousness that are laid down in his Gospel for the Government of our Lives and so we are affraid to try our selves by this Evidence of our Love to God our Obedience to his Commands but are glad to hearken to any other obscure signs which we cannot be certain of neither will they bring the business to any issue like a Man that hath outrun himself in his Estate he is unwilling to look into his Books but had rather feed himself with some uncertain signs of his good Condition than examin his accounts that he may truly know what it is If we would not deceive our own Souls we must bring our selves to this touchstone Obedience to all the Laws of God by this means we shall take a certain course to understand what state we are in which Laws we are sufficiently enabled to keep by that Grace and Assistance that God offers and is never denied to those that are not wanting to themselves And Man being the only Creature in this visible World that is formed with a Capacity of Worshiping and Enjoying his Maker we have no just pretence to Reason The best way to know what our Condition is must be from keeping God's Commanments unless our Reason be determined to actions of Religion For as Men we are endowed with such a Faculty as is capable of apprehending a Deity and of expecting a future State after this Life whence it follows that our proper Happiness must consist in the perfecting of this Faculty which nothing else but Religion can so much as pretend to it is true indeed Health Riches Reputation Safety are necessary to render our Condition pleasant and comfortable in this World Now herein appears the advantage of Religion that it is not only the Moral but the Natural Cause of all these things because it doth not only
was one half perfectly black and the other exceeding white so that part of the Platonick Theology which relates to Practice is very clear and intelligible whilst that which is employ'd in Theory is monstrously dark and obscure THERE were also those who taught That Virtue was that excellent thing in which we should find our chiefest Good these Men came near but fell short of the Truth For Virtue is a Habit and Habits are for Actions Now it is confessed that our chiefest Good is our ultimate End and all things are for it but its self for no other end As for what Aristotle says That a happy Man cannot be in a calamitous condition he errs according to his Principles by which he requires Riches and Health of Body to the making up his happy Man whereas let him be in his Person either healthful or diseased let him be for his Fortunes rich or poor all is one for every Condition of Life is alike the Object of Virtue and for that reason no stranger to Happiness HAVING sought after Felicity where it is not it remains that we search for it where it is otherwise the most natural and most sincere of all our Desires would be false and unprofitable Some define it to be summum Bonum others Bonum hominis maximè expetendum some that it's Bonum homini per se sufficiens that which is able alone to satisfie all our Desires All this and much more is true and yet we are never the wiser For the Question still is what wonderful thing this is in which all these attributes are to be found For in this case it happens as it doth with a wayfaring Man who being asked Whither he goes Should answer to one Man That he went to his Journeys end to another that he went thither where his Business lay to a third that he was travelling to a place whither when he came he need go no farther For all this is true and yet he hath not told whither he is going had he reply'd That he went to London to Paris or to Rome he had satisfi'd the Enquirer Some such thing befalls us here for to be the chiefest Good the last End to be the most perfect Good and a thousand things besides we may be told and yet our Journeys end not known at all But without any more Circumlocutions we may be positive that our Happiness consists in Action Our Happiness consists in those Actions that proceed from Virtue and in that action alone which proceeds from Virtue and we may define it thus Foelicitas est actio vitae secundum Virtutem for to lead our Lives according to Virtue is in this Life the Supreme Good and he that knows no more of Happiness than this may rest contented and enquire no farther Aristotle seems to require a little more but some Men are so vain that they know not when they have said enough THAT the leading our Life by the Rules of Virtue is the only true Happiness appears by this that it hath all those Properties which are required to make true Happiness First IT is in our power for we see frequent Advices used to bring Men to the Practice of Virtue which were altogether vain had they no power to become so for who ever advised a Man to an Impossibility Secondly IT is proper to Mankind for what do we behold in any other kind of Being that can make us either easie or happy The rational Faculties which are busied in moderating those Passions that are common to us and Beasts are in none but Man by the strength whereof we can master these Heats of the Mind and make them submit to better Conduct Thirdly THIS only affords us Quiet and Contentment Had we all those glorious things which the Vulgar gaze at and admire let there be wanting only the inward testimony of a good Conscience which Virtue only can give us all these are as nothing and but cold Comforts and which is worst of all they will at length fail For Honour Wealth and Pleasure have Wings and fly away only the memory of a virtuous Life lasts for ever The things of this World not sufficient to make us happy The Excellency of all things in the World consists more in Opinion than Reality in Expectation much more than Enjoyment Besides a great part of a Man's Lite is gone before he arrives at 'em and when his Senses are dim with Age Pleasures are unsavory to the Palate And if we consider these things singly and apart they are of no weight at all and this is the Misfortune no Man can enjoy them all together for how can any one think it a Felicity to have a strong Body without soundness of Mind to have his Granaries full and his Constitution crazy What are Riches unless Pleasures attend them Yet he that follows Pleasure shall never get Riches What profits it to have a healthy Body and a weak Soul Yet the pampering the former will surely bring feebleness upon the latter What doth it signifie to multiply Notions and enlarge our Knowledg of things when he that encreases his Knowledg encreases only his Sorrow Nay the Glories of this World will disappoint a Man in that very matter which they particularly promised him For if you ask the Rich Man whether his Wealth hath freed him from Care or hath afforded him any Ease he will tell you That the poor Man's Necessities are not so heavy as his Troubles are by reason of his great Abundance whereby his Spirits are broken instead of being supported So Men in the highest Places of Honour may believe themselves safe and enslaved to no Man's Will but it is quite otherwise no Persons are so much concerned in the Humors of those below them and of those above them too as they are Thus transitory and vain is the Happiness of every voluptuous Man he finds in the issue nothing but Vexation so that there is not half so much delight in the Fruitions of Luxury as there is in the Denial of our Desires after it An honest Life is the most happy state WHEREFORE setting aside Aristotle's Phrases in plain Language the result of all our Felicity amounts to no more than this to live honestly For the Word Honesty tho S. Augustine could afford it no higher a place in the Life of a Christian than to be a Tyrocinium Christiani is indeed the chief Ingredient in a virtuous and good Disposition and mingleth it self with every part of our Christian Life whatsoever state it be high or low For whether it concern God or man rich or poor fortunate or miserable whether in publick or private in a high Condition or in a low and inferior Orb to behave our selves becomingly and as we ought upon every occasion is all summ'd up in the Word Honesty Whatsoever the Philosophers have asserted concerning other things Bona Fortunae Bona Corporis serves only to breed unnecessary Disputes Therefore Lucian that witty and
gentle Rain be by degrees distilled on the growing Plant the riper Age is like to bring forth a more plentiful harvest for Vertue only prescribes to a man a true and certain end to all his Endeavours which is the Glory of God in the first place then the doing as much Good as he can to himself and others This being the most high and noble End the sooner one sets about it the better 't is for thereby we avoid all lowness of Spirit confusion in our Actions and all inconstancy in our Resolutions And that Youth is best prepared for this work is manifest because it is an Age very inquisitive equally capable and possibly inclined to Good as Evil and many of those Sins which owe both their Birth and Growth to the Senses are not yet sit Temptations the Passions are not yet ready to catch fire at every spark the feign'd but false Beauty of Vice is not alluring the Virgin Purity of the mind is not defloured nor its native Modesty laid wast But if this Age be not used to the severity of Labour and the strict exercises of Virtue sensual Pleasures will break in and then is kindled that continual Combat so much spoken of by Philosophers and Divines between Sense and Reason the Body and the Soul Pleasure and Wisdom WHEN the Blood therefore is warm the Passions run high and are powerful but Reason is weak when the Body like an unruly Beast is untame and unbroken when Reason and Judgment are like the Morning Star stifled and overcast with Vapours then it is proper to put on a Bitt and Bridle to keep strong Reins and a steddy Hand Then Youth is to be held in from those Delusions that hinder the true Understanding and real Notions of things from all ill Company and Writings least they should be taken with the beautiful but false colours that are put upon vicious and bad manners FOR Young Men naturally think they can do and may do every thing as they list they are blind therefore the more bold they are impotent but yet presumptuous Fancy is now as active as the Wind but withal it is disorderly and tempestuous Youth is not idle and yet seldom well imployed it is restless and very impertinent it being that part of our time Youth is in the greatest danger of Temptations wherein we are most exposed to the Snares of the Devil these are troubled Waters in which his Baits are seldom seen and therefore they are the more greedily swallowed Upon this account it concerns men much in their Youth to remember their Creator because he only can protect them from their Enemies of all sorts Their Clay is as it were but just formed into Human shape it is but as yet scarce dry from the Potter's hand And as it is now in the best manner fitted for the Signatures of Virtue so it is most lyable to the Impressions of Sin and the Father of it They are now as Tradesmen newly set up their Souls are well furnished with a common stock of Natural Principles and their Bodies are adorn'd like the richest Shop in which the Trade of Life and Happiness is to be driven They should therefore be careful in a special manner that they do not break at the first setting up as unwary Merchants are wont to do for their rational Faculties the choicest Goods of the mind will wast and decay if they are wrapt up in Idleness and the Devil will gain Advantages over them So that it behoves them to resist his Temptations at first to set the strongest Guard in the weakest place and to double the security where they expect the sharpest Assaults to oppose his Craft with Watchfulness his Subtilty with strict and unwearied diligence to study God's Service in the first place and to do their actions the bestway And since in every Age the same Faculties are employed only the Objects changed and the Actions of those Faculties are not many it must needs be that our whole Life is but the Reacting the same things over upon divers Subjects and occasions in Infancy little quarrels with our Brethren and peevishness are afterwards Anger 's Hatreds Envies Prides Jealousies and a sensibleness in Youth for a frivolous Play-thing is the same afterwards for Honour or Interest If it be so then He that begins early to love and fear God will so increase in virtuous Deeds which are consequent thereupon that his Conversation will be in every respect as becomes the Gospel of Christ AND since a seasonable time is a circumstance requisite both to the Essence and Ornament of every Action in that time therefore in which the abilities of our Minds are fresh and lively those of the Body also vigorous and strong it is pity we should be idle and do nothing and yet more that we should be active and do evil we must think it a very unjust as well as unreasonable thing to spend the flower and fruit of our Age upon this when Vertue and Religion have only broken Intellectuals dead Affections a slippery Memory and a tired Judgment besides all other infirmities that necessarily attend the ruin of Nature in old Age when men do every thing less earnestly than is fit when they are of poor and mean Spirits as having been humbled by the chances of Life when they have weak or no desires The unfitness of old Age for the services of Vertue and Hearts to execute nothing when they are full of murmuring and complaint as ever thinking themselves not far from some evil or danger So that this is an Age too much a burden to its self and to all about it than to be able to go through all the services of Vertue For who can expect Grapes of Thorns or Figs of Thistles the morose and froward time of our Life the Frost Snow and Winter season being not for Fruit any more in the workings of Vertue than it is in Nature it being very difficult to begin the Christian Race when that of Nature is almost finished which good Fight is a hard warfare far old and decrepit Limbs NOW the Prudence of old Age consists in a deliberate knowledg of Men and Business founded upon long experience but the Folly of it is the ignorance of Vertue and Religion which at last will appear the only true and real Wisdom Therefore the Moral Philosopher chastises the neglect and indiscretion of those Men who then begin to live when they are to die there being little support and less comfort in declining years besides a sober reflection upon what we have done well and nothing can sweeten a sour and crabbed Age but the calling to mind a good Life passed For as Vertue and Goodness is the most excellent accomplishment of Youth so the innocency thereof is the joy and Crown of gray Hairs which are then truly honourable when they are found in the way of Righteousness WHEREFORE let us not deceive our own Souls but with all our might
every Errour though sometimes it would require a very curious Artist in the midst of all the deformities of Errour to descry the defaced Lineaments of that Truth which it did at first resemble as Plutarch spake of those Egyptian Fables on Isis and Osiris that they had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 certain weak appearances and glimmerings of Truth but so as they needed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some notable Diviner to discover them Whence the difficulty arises to find out Truth AND this I think is the case of all that search after Truth they must go along and dangerous Journey sometimes they must meet with no path at all sometimes with so many and those so contrary in appearance to one another that the variety confounds them Nay she is so involved and interwoven with mistake that Mankind seem to have done that to Truth which the Egyptian Typhon did to the good Osiris when he hewed her lovely Form into a thousand pieces and scattered them to the Four Winds Ever since her sad Friends such as dare appear in her behalf imitating the careful search that Isis made for the mangled Body of Osiris have wandred up and down gathering up Limb by Limb still as they could find them All the parts are not yet found nor ever shall be until her Master's Second coming He shall bring together every Joint and Member and mould them into an immortal Feature of Loveliness and Perfection IN the mean time we must not be wanting in all necessary Care for so doubtful a passage through all the Falshoods as well as Vanities of this Life For these are the Evils that produce most of those Heats that are amongst men And if ignorant or malicious Physicians in this violent Feaver did not apply new Heats instead of Julips they might by writing and speaking Truth reduce the World in a short time to its antient healthful and natural Temper For if Truth as Democritus fansied Truth must be sought for not without but within us lies at the bottom of a deep Well we must seek for it in the Center and heart of our selves And we shall find her seated in that Dominion which the Understanding and Judgment hath over the Passions which are the Glasses that discover to us all the secret workings of the Mind and they are the Instruments too whereby She acts either Good or Evil For according to the evenness and moderation of men's tempers so much the more impartial their judgments are and consequently so much the clearer Prospect they have of all manner of Truth This will encourage us to walk in the practice of Uprightness and Veracity until we come to that other World where are the Eternal Laws of Right and Justice the immediate and most steady Principles of Truth and Goodness where are infallible Rules for all cases and Actions however circumstantiated from which the Will of God though never so absolute shall never depart one tittle For his Truth hath place in every declaration of his Mind and signifies an exact correspondency or agreement between his Mind and his Words between his Words and the truth of things the correspondency of his Words with his Mind depends on the rectitude of his Will the Conformity of Words with his Mind and with the truth and reality of things depends not not only on the rectitude of his Will but the perfection of his knowledg and the Infallibility of his Understanding Therefore Porphyry tells us That this is one of the Properties of God to have regard to the Truth and this is that which doth set men near unto God and afterwards he adds That Truth is so great a Perfection that if God would reveal himself to Men he would have Truth for his Body and Light for his Soul Of URBANITY IN the Opinion of some austere Men this Vrbanity which we call a Virtue may be thought to have a more fit place in Erasmus his Moriae Encomium because it contains the Doctrine how we should behave our selves in our Pastimes Indeed the Life of a Man truly Virtuous doth properly consist in all Seriousness and Gravity little or no room is left for Jesting or any kind of Facetiousness But because Man is a Creature of a weak and frail Constitution easily subjected to Sadness and Melancholy Facetious Speeches a pleasant and jocular Humour A facetious or pleasant Humour allowed of by our Religion have been commended by Philosophers as virtuous not disallowed by Reason commonly affected by Men often used by Wise and good Persons These things ought to have some place in our Conversation otherwise we should think our Religion chargeable with too much sourness And Aristotle believed them so necessary to sweeten the practice of the grave and serious Virtues that He brings in Vrbanity like a Fool in a Play to make Sport or like the Battel of the Cowards in the Arcadia after the sad Story of Argalus and Parthenia HE doubts very much Whether He should set it down for a Virtue or no For in reckoning up the Vices of common Language He makes them to be Three First Stultiloquium Speaking foolishly Secondly Turpiloquium Talking lewdly Thirdly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in English we call Jesting or Faceâ—iâ—â—â—â—â—ss BUT since for the refreshing man's Life and the smoother carrying on the more difficult Exercises of Virtue there seems to be great need of some Mirth and Relaxation We must find out a due temper for them that we may keep the middle Way even in our Recreations NOW if such a Medium can be discovered there will likewise be seen the two Extremes betwixt which it passes as Buffooâ—â—ry on one side by Aristotle called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is nothing but Impudent shameless and injurious Scoffing without any respect to Time or Place or Persons On the other Rusticity by Aristotle called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is nothing but a stupid Sullenness that makes men appear Ill-bred and unfit for Company WHEREFORE if I can make it out when Facetious Humours are allowable and when they are Wicked and not to be endured I shall be able to shew a Man how to get the Reputation of a Wit and of one that is both Good and Wise too 'T is true there is nothing Men differ much in their Opinions about Wit that men differ more in than in determining what Wit is sometimes they place it in Words and Phrases sometimes in Apposite Tales sometimes it puts on the dress of Similitudes or is wrap'd up in humorous Expressions sometimes it is lodged in a sly Question or a sharp Repartee sometimes a tart Irony goes for Wit or a big Hyperbole In short No Man can give a reasonable account of its Ways because it doth answer to all the numberless Rovings of men's Fancies and to all the turns of their Language IT will be therefore very hard to settle a clear and certain Notion hereof so as to make a Virtue of That which appears
because Christianity is not so harsh an Institution as to forbid mankind wholesom and useful Pleasures or sacrificing to the Graces as the Ancients call'd it when it exposes all wicked and base practices to due Contempt because it is expedient that Vices should appear ridiculous to the whole World For some Persons are so temper'd that they are sooner pleased or vexed into better Manners than they can be prevailed upon by grave and severe Reproofs when it is made use of to confute such Disputers as disavow the clear Principles of Reason and Sense What use the Ancients made of Urbanity therefore the most rigid Patrons of Virtue in old time and the great Introducer of moral Wisdom among the Pagans did make use of tart and facetious Sayings to dash the impudence of the Sophister and to confound the wantonness of the Sceptick for they thought it a disadvantage to Truth and Virtue if the defenders thereof should be denied the use of this Weapon since it is that especially whereby the Advocates of Vice and Errour do maintain and propagate them And there is no doubt but Christians may claim the same priviledg provided they do not sport with holy Things nor detract from the good Name of their Brethren to gratifie a Fancy provided also they do not offend against the reputation of Persons eminent in Dignity or Worth nor raise Animosities and Feuds in the Neighbourhood in brief if without wronging others or doing any prejudice to our own good behaviour we can be facetious then Vrbanity may consist well enough with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that fitting Decency and Stately gravity which ought to be seen always in our Conversation Of MODESTY FROM such Virtues as become Men we must now discourse of a Female-Virtue For all Ages and Nations have made some distinction between those that are Masculine and others that are Feminine And this being such we must in complaisance allow it to be a Virtue tho Aristotle is so ill bred as not to do it For according to his way of Arguing it is not gotten by frequent Actions therefore it is no Habit and therefore it is no Virtue it is rather born with us runs in our Blood and is given by Nature as a preservative against too much Boldness or too much Lightness to which Vices Youth are most liable HENCE it comes to pass Why Modesty looks not well in elder Persons that it doth not look well in Elder Persons For they through their long experience and trial of most Casualties in Life ought to be well assured of what they do and therefore should not blush at any thing For it is a Quality which of it self will decay through maturity of Years and it hath this difference from Fear that shame and bashfulness makes us look red Our Fear makes us look pale and therefore is certainly a diverse Passion arising from diverse Causes the one makes the Blood flow into the Face in the other it ebbs into the Heart THIS makes it appear more like a Passion than a Virtue Now there is a considerable difference between one and the other Passions are seated in the Blood For a Passion floats in the Blood rises and falls with the Ebbs and Tides of our Humours and it were an easie task for any Man that understands the Anatomy of the Brain the structure of the Spleen and Hypocondria the divarications of the Nerves their twistings about the Veins and Arteries and the sympathy of parts to give as certain and mechanical an account of all the motions of the Passions as of any vital or animal Function in the Body Virtue is seated in the Soul WHEREAS Virtue proceeds from the strength and improvement of our natural Abilities When the Supreme Faculties of the Understanding and Will govern the inferiour Affections and do keep them within their lawful bounds the same thing is called Grace as it proceeds from the assistances and impressions of the Spirit of God upon which it wholly depends and not upon the motion of the Heart or the circulation of the Blood AND many have laboured to make Modesty one of these Virtues and to that end they have found out therein an excess which the Greeks name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Latins Stupor which makes a Man over-bashful in the performance even of honest Actions whereby the Works both of Virtue and Industry have been very much hindred The other extreme is called by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Impudency which is a quality of a quite contrary nature rendring Men bold and adventurous let the action they undertake be good or bad Something like to Aesop and his fellow-Servant of which the one professed he could do all things the other that he could do nothing the one is afraid of every Bush the other fears no Colours but sets upon all rash attempts the Medium betwixt these two extremes is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 verecundia Modesty which in the youthful Age especially is ipsissimus virtutis color the very Complexion of Virtue ACCORDING to this account of Modesty Modesty useful for the regular guidance of our actions it may be made very useful for the regular guidance of all our Actions for in humane Nature there is generally more of the Fool than of the Wise and therefore those faculties by which the foolish part of mens Minds is taken are most potent Now overmuch boldness is a Child of Ignorance yet it doth strangely possess some Men those that are either shallow in Judgment or weak in Courage Nay you shall see an impudent Fellow Act Mahomets part and make the People believe he can call a Hill to him he sees no dangers and considers no inconveniences NOW the modest Man weighs the difficulties which he is to encounter he will not offer at any thing beyond his Strength nor Mountebank-like promise great Cures when he wants the Grounds of Science But to fail in any lawful or just Enterprise it would put him so out of countenance that he would not be able to bear it For to do a good and laudable action in spite of invidious Men who grudge at the prosperity of Virtue he thinks that a piece of dareing Manliness which he may affect without the breach of Modesty At the same time he Blushes at the sound of an Oath and is ashamed of Drinking he is too bashful for the Chamber of the Whore and cannot behold the detestable Foreheads of the violent unjust and debauched Race of Mankind without great confusion of Face IF we consider Modesty in these Actions we shall find it the most indispensible requisite of a virtuous Man a thing so essential to the making him so that every the least declination from it is a proportionable receding from goodness and the total abandoning modesty in these and many other cases ranks Men among Brutes I need make no collection of the Suffrages either of Philosophers or Divines to prove this matter it
as those ill Impressions by which they are deluded it will certainly have a surer effect in the composing and purifying of their thoughts than all the rigid Precepts of the Stoical or the empty distinctions of the Peripatetick Moralists NOW then it is required in that Study which shall attempt according to the force of Nature The Diseases of the mind cured by business to cure the Diseases of the Mind that it keep it from idleness by full and earnest Employments and that it possess it with innocent various lasting and even sensible Delights therefore where Industry and Trade do fill the Thoughts as it does the whole Soul of the People in Holland you shall find none of those Distempers that infect the minds of the Slothful and unactive Strangers among them are apt to complain of the Spleen but those of the Country seldom or never which I take to proceed from their being ever busie and easily satisfied For this seems to be the Disease of People that are idle and is incident to all men at one time or other from the Fumes of indigestion from the common alterations of some insensible degrees in Health and Vigour or from some changes or approaches of change in Winds and Weather which affect the finer Spirits of the Brain before they grow sensible to other parts and are apt to alter the shapes or colours of whatever is represented to us by our Imaginations whilst we are so affected yet this effect is not so strong but that Business or intention of Thought commonly either resists or diverts it but such as are idle or know not from whence these Changes arise and trouble their Heads with Notions and Schemes of general happiness or unhappiness in Life upon every such Fit they begin reflections on the condition of their Bodies their Souls or their Fortunes And as all things are then represented in the worst Colours they fall into melancholy Apprehensions of one or other and sometimes of them all these make deep impression on their minds and are not easily worn out by the natural returns of good Humour But this is a Disease too refined for a People whose Heads are bent upon laborious Arts they are well when they are not ill and pleased when they are not troubled they seek their happiness in the common Eases and Commodities of Life never amusing themselves with the more Speculative contrivances of Passion or resentments of Pleasure WHICH brings me to the other Extreme that is contrary to Art in the Excess which is that Errour of mens Labours in all Ages when they have still directed them to improve the arts of Pleasure more than those of Profit Hence it is that Men are Extravagant in painting their Coaches The mischief of improving Arts of Pleasure more than these of Profit when their Heads would be better employed in inventing new Frames for Carts and Ploughs they are at a prodigious Charge for the Fashions of Cloaths when they might spend their time better in devising new materials for Cloathing or in perfecting those we have the Furniture and magnificence of Houses is risen to a vast Expence within our memory But Men would improve their time much better and exercise a far more useful Art in studying how to order Timber better harden Stone improve Mortar and make firmer Bricks If men would be persuaded to follow the beneficial Arts of Life and not be guided by vain Fancies we should not be so overwhelmed as we are by Gaudiness and Superfluity so debauched by Pride and Luxury NOW then I will proceed to exhort the Man who hath most leisure to prosecute earnestly all the useful Arts of Life and for his Encouragement in these Ways I will briefly lay down before him the Advantages He will gain by them First THE usual course of Life of the Gentleman especially in England is so well placed like Virtue between two Extremes The Advantage Gentlemen have above others between the troublesom noise of pompous Magnificence and the baseness of Avaricious Sordidness that the true happiness of living according to the Rules and pleasure of uncorrupt Nature is more in their power than any others To them in this Way of Life there can nothing offer it self which may not be turned to a Philosophical use If they will consider the Heavens or the motions of the Stars they have in the Country a quieter Hemisphere and a clearer Air for that purpose if they will observe the generations of living Creatures their Stables and their Ponds their Parks and their Kennels will give 'em Eternal matter of Enquiry If they would advance their Fruits or their Plants then the Pastures and Orchards the Groves and Gardens furnish them with perpetual Contemplations And from their Sports Hunting Hawking Fishing Fowling they may receive as much solid Profit as they do Delight FOR if the Gentleman who is so much at leisure can be brought to the love of some Art or business Men most at leisure may much advance the happiness of mankind by loving some Art or business the World would become more active and industrious consequently the happiness of Mankind would be much promoted for that the minds of all sorts of men would be so taken up in some profitable Art or other that they would not have time to think of those things that disturb the peace of Human Societies And let 'em not imagine that Business doth debase them or corrupt their Blood because where Arts do most flourish there the greatest Riches and power are established And if that be true that every thing is preserved and restored by the same means which did beget it at first they may then believe that their present Honour cannot be maintained by intemperate Pleasures or the gaudy shews of Pomp but by true Labours and industrious Virtue and if we enquire into the Ways of Life of some of the Greatest Men that have lived in times past we shall find that amidst the Government of Nations the dispatch of Armies and noise of Victories some of them disdained not to work with a Spade to dig the Earth and to cultivate with triumphing Hands the Vine and the Olive THESE indeed were Times Conquerours and other Great Men have laboured with their hands of which it were well if we had more Footsteps than in ancient Authors then the minds of Men were innocent and strong and bountiful as the Earth in which they laboured then the Vices of Human Nature were not their Pride but their Scorn Then Virtue was it self neither adulterated by the false Idols of Goodness nor puff'd up by the empty Forms of Greatness as it has been in some Countries of Europe which are arrived at that corruption of Manners that perhaps some severe Moralists will think it had been more needful for me to persuade the Men of this Age to continue Men than to turn Philosophers HOWEVER there is nothing whose promoting is so easie Diligence hath done the most
God did once shine in the understanding of Man at the same time it was also stampt upon his Will as it appeared from that entire freedom and indifference the Will then had to stand or not to stand to accept or not accept the Temptation The will now a Slave I will grant the Will now to be as much a slave as any one will have it being free only to sin But from the beginning it was not so neither is This Nature but Chance therefore it were blasphemy to lay our Faults upon God as the Author of them as if He had made us crooked But when they came out of his Hands the understanding and will never disagreed what was propounded by the one was never contradicted by the other Neither did the will attend upon the understanding in a servile manner but as Solomon's Servants waited upon him it admired the Wisdom of its Dictates and heard the Counsels thereof which did both direct and reward its Obedience For it is the nature of this Faculty to follow a Superiour Guide the Vnderstanding but then she was a Subject as a Queen is to her King who both acknowledges a Subjection and yet retains a Majesty Passions the Instruments of Virtue IF we pass downward to the Passions we shall be convinced what influence the Vnderstanding hath in rendring them the Instruments of Virtue which the Stoicks look'd upon as sinful Defects and irregularities as so many deviations from right Reason But in this they were constantly out-voted by other Sects of Philosophers To us let this be sufficient that our Saviour Christ was seen to weep to be sorrowful to pity and to be angry which shews that there may be Gall in a Dove Passion without sin and Motion without disturabnce BUT then the Vnderstanding must keep them within their just bounds as in the case of Love which is so often compared to a Fire as if it could chuse whether it will heat or no no more than a Flame can The inferiour Affections governed by the Vnderstanding therefore there is need of a sound mind to fix it upon its right Object that it may not degenerate into Lust So in the case of Hatred it must be the Vnderstanding that must confine it to its proper Object that it may not become Rancour against our Brethren by the same over-ruling Power Anger may be brought to vent its self by the measures of Reason and never be touched with any transport of Malice or the violence of Revenge And for the lightsome passion of Joy it may be made a Masculine and severe thing not like the crackling of Thorns but the most solid recreation of the Judgment Sorrow hereby is forced to be as silent as our Thoughts and that Anchor of the Mind Hope is fastned upon the Actions of Innocence and Integrity instead of the Mud of this World FOR as in the Body when the Heart and Liver do their Offices and all the smaller Vessels under them act orderly and duly there arises a just temperament upon the whole The cause of peace and satisfaction to the Soul which we call Health So in the Soul when the Vnderstanding governs the lower Affections there arises peace and satisfaction upon the whole Soul which is such an healthful Constitution as is infinitely beyond the pleasures of the Body THIS is the Faculty that rules in us the immediate product whereof is Science Science the immediate product of the Vnderstandding as the first Creature God formed was Light so the first motion of Adam after he was furnished with a sound Understanding and an obedient Will was after Knowledg But by a foolish desire after more and by taking some false steps he lost his Way and left his Posterity in the dark either following wrong Scents or much in doubt what paths to walk in However there is a Providence in the conduct of Knowledg as well as of other Affairs on the Earth and it was not designed that all the Mysteries of Nature and of Providence should be plainly understood through all the Ages of the World and what was made known to the Ancients only by broken Conclusions and Traditions will be known in the latter Ages of the World in a more perfect Way by Principles and Theories The encrease of Knowledg being that which changeth so much the Face of the World and the state of Human Affairs I do not doubt but there is a particular care in the conduct of it by what steps and degrees it should come to Light at what Seasons and in what Ages What Evidence should be left either in Scripture Reason or Tradition for the grounds of it how clear or obscure how disperst or united All these things were weighed and considered and such measures taken as best suit the designs of Providence and the general Project and Method proposed in the government of the World And it is not to be questioned but the state both of the old World and of that which is to come is exhibited to us in Scripture in such a measure and proportion as is fit for this forementioned purpose not as the Articles of our Faith or the precepts of a good Life which he that runs may read but to the attentive and those that are unprejudiced and to those that are inquisitive and have their minds open and prepared for the discernment of Mysteries of such a Nature There are many secrets that pass our Vnderstandings HENCE it is that in every Science there are more Arcana to pose our Understanding than easie Conclusions to satisfie it which things being so far beyond the reach of our Reason must needs enforce us to believe that there is an admirable Wisdom which disposeth and an infinite Knowledg which doth comprehend those Secrets that we are not able to fathom In Divinity likewise there are Mysteries that with their brightness dazzle and confound our Reason by their own astonishing Glory and Splendour they render themselves invisible to us Now our Reason must not presume to Science in those Mysteries which are so far removed from its Notices whenever it offers to judg of them it falls into uncertain Opinions and loses its self in a Maze of thoughts wherefore that our Reason may learn to be Modest and to keep within its due bounds let it try whether it can understand how a drop of dew can be Organiz'd into a Fly or a Grashopper let it tell us how the Glories of the Field are spun or by what Pencil the Herbs and Flowers are so finely painted if these Objects do pose it which our Eyes converse with daily then let it not pretend to understand incomprehensible to order infinite and define ineffable things FOR to know how far our Science can go is one of the best Points of Knowledg The advantage of knowing how far our Science will reach we can have For this will secure us from those bold Untruths and very absurd Errours
and goodness of Divine Providence that we were not left to take our own course but were rescued from Sin and misery ignorance and darkness by so kind an Hand ALL that we have to do is to obey his Commandments and this is the best way to encrease our knowledg in Religion For the practice of a Trade shall give a Man a truer knowledg of it than reading all the Books that ever were writ about it and so we shall better know a Countrey by travelling into it than by poring upon all the Maps that ever were made of it In like manner Obedience to the Will of God doth dispose us for the knowledg of it by freeing our Minds from prejudice by making our Understandings more clear and taking away the great Obstacles of Wisdom which without the practice of Religion will be so far from being any furtherance to our Happiness that it will be one of the saddest and most unhappy aggravations of our misery For when we come into the other World no reflection will more enrage our Torments than to think that we chose to lead vitious Lives and to make our selves miserable when we knew the way to Heaven and Happiness For after all that hath been said upon this Head S. Paul's Judgment is undoubtedly true 1 Corin. 8.1 That Knowledg puffeth up but Charity edifieth Now when the Apostle said this Corinth the Metropolis of Achaia was as all other rich and populous places excessively proud and luxurious softness and ease had expell'd all the thoughts of the Laborious Exercises of Virtue Yet as it often happens the men were ingenious though they were wicked In a word all the World condemn'd them for their Debaucheries but admired them for their Parts Wherefore St. Paul tells them very truly that their knowledg was the Original of all their Errours they might be blown up with Science but they must be Edified with Charity In like manner did the Gnosticks dote on the Mysteries of Words did pride themselves about Fruitless Genealogies and the unintelligible methods of Science for which reason St. Paul did severely reprehend these vain-glorious Sciolists and declare that a little Charity towards an offended Brother was more valuable than all their subtle Theorems or the Positions of any the most celebrated Dogmatists So the Philosophers of old gave another Interpretation to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 know thy self and improved it into Self-conceit and Arrogance their Principles and their Dictates seem always to be framed rather to oppose than to establish Truth If from them we pass to the times of Christianity we find Julian and Lucian Arrius and Socinus all of them in a several way despising the plainness and simplicity of the Gospel for the sake of their own trifling Opinions which must not submit to the teachings of Fishermen Nay how many Volumes are there in the World whose Subject is little else but breach of Charity which Charity and not great Words nor the phantastical Hypotheses of those that call themselves Wise must set a lustre upon all we do For neither Happiness here nor Heaven hereafter is to be gotten by haughty Looks or Suppositions but by a constant Tenour of Bountifulness in our Lives and integrity in our Actions Supposing therefore we were set upon the highest Mountain of Metaphysicks and had thence the ravishing Prospect of all the Kingdoms of human Learning all the Glories of Philosophy yet we will not worship one Notion that cannot be brought into the practice of a Holy Life An Enquiry into the Causes of the decay of MORAL VIRTUES A Manifest decay hath been brought upon Moral Virtue First BY Hypocrisie or Formality when Men follow a Form of Godliness and deny the Power thereof Secondly BY Licentiousness of Living whereby Debauchery and ill Manners have much prevailed Thirdly BY decrying the use of Reason in Matters of Religion Fourthly BY making Morality and Grace opposite to one another MEN of all Ages have been industrious to elude the practice of Moral Virtue by some trifling childish and unprofitable shews thereof How can we but stand amazed at the folly of Mankind that love to be their own Impostors Hypocrisie condemned and that when they may be truly good at so easie and advantageous a rate labor to be but seemingly so at the expence of a great deal of pain and trouble and with the Pharisees take twice as much pains to scour the outside of the Dish only that it may shine and glister than is needful to keep the inside neat and cleanly Thus they change wise Notices of things for childish Conceits freedom of Spirit for narrowness of Soul chearfulness of Mind for slavish Fears a sweet and obliging Conversation for cynical Zeal Temperance and Sobriety for harsh and Monkish Mortifications in a word they change all the Branches and Fruits of a holy Mind and virtuous Actions for Forms and Gayeties It will not therefore be unseasonable to caution Men against this Formality as a most dangerous Cheat that secretly enervates all the Power and Efficacy of that Goodness it makes a shew of that whilst it pretends highly to advance Religion undermines it This I shall endeavour to do First BY laying down some of its most peculiar Characters Secondly BY discovering the Arts it makes use of to overthrow the power of Moral Virtue Thirdly BY explaining what the Power of Moral Virtue is and wherein it consists FIRST then the Formalist serves God barely out of a Principle of Fear and not at all out of Love he only looks upon Him as a great and austere Being that sits in the Heavens demanding harsh and arbitrary Homage from his Creatures he apprehends Him as an imperious Almighty One that because He hath bestowed upon us these little imperfect Beings takes upon Him to impose severe and unreasonable Laws and exacts for the few pleasures He hath granted to the Life of Man to be paid with sharp and troublesom Penances But all this while he has not tho least thought of gaining his Favor by divine and virtuous Qualities Whereas if we would attain to the Spirit and Genius of true Holiness we must look upon it as a wise and gracious Design of Heaven to fill the Souls of Men with all Excellencies perfective of their Natures Religion no Trick for Religion is no Trick or Artifice but its natural design is to make Men truly good it is no Contrivance of Heaven to bring advantages to it self but it was graciously intended for the sake of Men to carry on their Creator's Work in compleating those things which He made and to make 'em more like Him than He left them But the Formalist or Hypocrite is utterly unacquainted with all inward Sense of Goodness and so he can please God as he thinks by giving him his due of Religious Performances he is not at all concerned for solid and essential Righteousness THUS the degenerate Jews in the time of the Prophets were
of their Sect may be overcome with Wine but can never be drunk though to be overcome with Wine be downright drunkenness in a carnal Epicurean yet it was something else in a great Stoick How Immorality becomes uncurable NOW Immorality under the disguise of piety becomes uncurable Passion and Self-will is made more implacable by pretences to Sanctity and Godliness without Virtue serves only to furnish the Conscience with excuses against Conviction for it is easie to convince a debauched Person of his Distemper from the blemishes that are in all his Actions But Hypocrisie by lodging it self in the Heart and so by being undiscernible becomes fatal and the Man is past Recovery before he feels his Malady THEREFORE of all men He who hath the Form of Godliness only is conceited with it is the most desperate and incorrigible Sinner For he thinks the performance of the outward acts of Devotion will fix him so in a State of Grace that he needs not any Virtue Thus the Supercilious and self-confident Pharisees were at a greater distance from Heaven than Publicans and Harlots For these our Saviour could by his gentle Reproofs soften into a relenting and pliable Temper But as for the Pharisees their mistaken Piety only made 'em more obdurate and obstinate in sin searing their Consciences against the Force of his sharpest Convictions so that He very justly consigned them up to an unrelenting and inflexible stubbornness Secondly MEN deceive their own Souls How Men deceive their own Souls when they think themselves exempt from the Rule and Judgment of natural Conscience which they fansie exercises its binding Power only over those that are in a state of Nature and Unregeneracy but as for them that are enlightened by the Spirit of God they are directed by the Motions thereof not by the Laws and Dictates of Nature Hence the plain and practical Principles of Reason and Honesty come to be neglected and ever after men are led by giddy Enthusiasms and are befooled by the temper of their Complexions they derive all their religious Motions from the present state and constitution of their Humours and according as Sanguine or Melancholy are predominant so the Scene alters BUT the Spirit of true Religion is of a sedate Temper and dwells in the Intellectual part of a Man In what manner the Spirit of Religion works and doth not work out or vent it self in flatulent Passions but all its Motions are gentle composed and grounded upon the Laws of Reason and Sobriety The Impressions of the Divine Spirit are steddy uniform and breath not upon the Passions but the Reasons of mankind all its Assistances work in a calm and rational way they are not such unsetled and unaccountable motions as discompose but enlighten our understandings the Spirit of God only discovers the Excellency and enforces the Obligation of the Laws of God to the Consciences of Men and works in us a reasonable love of our Duty and serious resolutions to discharge it Therefore the Spirit of every good Man is sober discreet and composed such as becomes the gravity and seriousness of Religion which floats not in his blood nor rises and falls with the Ebbs and Tides of his Humours but he maintains a calmness and evenness of Mind in all the various Constitutions of his Body he confines his Piety entirely within his Soul and chearfully keeps it from all mixtures of Imagination as knowing a Religious Fancy to be the greatest Impostor in the World And there is nothing that spoils the Nature of the best Religion more than outragious Zeal which instead of sweetning embitters the minds of Men so that those Vices which Moral Philosophy would banish are often kindled at the Altar of Religion For it abuses the prudence and discretion of good Men abhors a Christ-like meekness and sobriety and fills their Religion with ill Nature and discontent Hence it is that no Quarrels are so implacable as Religious ones Men with great eagerness damn one another for Opinions and Speculative Controversies IF this be Religion farewel all the Principles of Humanity and good Nature farewel that Glory of the Christian Faith an universal Love and kindness for all Men let us bid adieu to all the Practices of Charity and to the Innocence of a Christian Spirit Let the Laws of our Saviour be cancel'd as Precepts of Sedition Let us banish Religion out of Human Converse as the Mother of Rudeness and incivility Let us go to the School of Atheism and Impiety to learn good Manners BUT if nothing bids greater defiance to the true Spirit and Genius of Religion than a Form of Godliness denying the Power thereof then let not the Wisdom of God be charged with the Folly of Men Let then the furious Sons of Zeal without the Power of Godliness tell me the meaning of such Texts as these Learn of me for I am meek and humble I beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called with all lowliness long-suffering forbearing one another in Love put on therefore as the elect of God holy and beloved bowels of mercy kindness humbleness of mind meekness forgiving one another if any man have a complaint against any even as Christ forgave you so also do ye So saith James 3. Who is a wise man and endued with knowledg amongst you let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness and wisdom He that can reconcile these holy Precepts with a peevish or Cynical disposition may as well unite Christ and Belial make a Christian and a Pharisee the same WHAT remains then but that we set our selves to a serious minding of true and real Goodness An exhortation to mind true and real Goodness that we trifle not away our Time in pursuing the Shadows of it nor waste our Zeal upon its Forms and Instruments that we cheat not our Souls with a partial Godliness nor damn them with an half-Religion For we must measure our profitableness under the means of Grace by the influences of it upon the obedience of our Lives we must pursue Christianity in its true and proper usefulness give a sincere Obedience to every Law of Righteousness we must not divorce Piety from Justice and Charity but join the love of God with the love of our Brother be impatient against our own Sins and other mens Opinions spend our Zeal in our own and not other men's Business be ever zealous for the prime and most substantial Principles of Religion not for uncertain and unexamined Speculations we must set our selves with all our might against our Lusts and our Passions for all our Devotions without it will never expiate one habitual Sin neither will a maimed or halting Religion ever arrive at Heaven nothing but an entire Obedience to the Laws of Christ will gain admittance there Let us therefore inform our Minds with the Excellency of true Religion and Goodness Let us adorn them with an inward Purity
practice of Virtue it is as impossible that a Man should he happy or pleased as for a sick Man to find ease by removing from one Bed to another because the Distemper is lodged within his Breast all the Disorders of which must be quieted before we can be happy for Happiness must be in our Hearts and it must spring out of our own bosoms and from thence thro the comfortable influence of God's Holy Spirit must all our Peace and Pleasure flow Wherefore I cannot conclude this whole Discourse with a better or more persuasive Exhortation than that which S. Paul makes use of to the Philippians Phil. iv 8. Finally Brethren whatsoever is right sincere and true whatsoever is comely grave and venerable whatsoever is fair just and equal whatsoever is sacred pure and holy whatsoever is generous noble and lovely whatsoever is of credit value and esteem if there be any Vertue if there be any Praise think of these things FOR these things the Lord will have us to do God's Will must be the Rule of our Actions and his Will must be the Rule of all our Actions whose Laws are like himself just and holy pure and undefiled unchangeable and everlasting fitted to the first Age of the World and to the last to the wisest and to the simplest to the times of Peace and of War established against all alterations and occurrences whatsoever for there is no time in which a Man may not be just and honest merciful and compassionate humble and sincere a Conversation thus tempered we ought to continue and carry along through honor and dishonor through all the terrors which evil Men or Devils can place in our way and if we consider the Nature and Reason of Things Virtue only doth qualifie and dispose us for the injoyment of God Vertue only doth qualifie us for the enjoyment of God because it quiets the Mind rectifies all its Faculties governs the Affections cleanses the whole Soul from all sin and pollution whereas if it were possible for a wicked Man to be admitted into the presence of God or a local Heaven to see all the glories and delights of that Place and State all this would signifie no more to make him happy and contented than heaps of Gold and Consorts of Musick a well spread Table or a rich Bed can bring any relief to a Man in the Paroxism of a Fever or in a sharp fit of the Stone the Reason is because the Man's Spirit will still be out of order till he be put into a right Frame by Virtue and Godliness 'T IS true all Men naturally desire ease and happiness because all Natures would fain be pleased and contented but they hunt after it Men are apt to mistake their Happiness where it is not to be found Men say loe here is happiness and loe there in a high Place in a great Estate or in earthly Delights but believe them not they are all shadows when you come to embrace them therefore your Happiness must be nearer and more intimate to your Minds than any thing this World can afford for those who look after the Pomps of this World grow vain and inconstant lazy and negligent those who covet the applause of the People are often disappointed of the felicity they hoped for because the People guide not themselves by Reason but Chance All outward things coming thus short of rendering us Happy we must expect our Happiness in observing the Duties and in obeying the Precepts of Virtue because they are upon all accounts for our advantage and are founded upon the Interests of Mankind so that if it were not that the God of this World did blind Mens Eyes and abuse their Understandings from discerning their true Interest it were impossible so long as Men love themselves and have a desire of their own Happiness but they should be virtuous If men sought their true Happiness they must be Virtuous for God promiseth to make Men happy for ever upon condition that they will do those things that will make them happy and easie in this World considering our infinite obligations to God the unquestionable Right and Title he hath to us and his Sovereign Authority over us he might have imposed Laws and have given us such Statutes as were not so good for us but so gracious a Master hath he been as to link together our Duty and our Interest and to make those things instances of our Obedience which are Natural means and Causes of our Happiness IT hath been antiently observed that Pythagoras his Learning ended in a few Musical jingles Thales his Wisdom in some uncertain Astronomical fansies Heraclitus his Contemplations concluded in Solitude and weeping Socrates his Renowned Philosophy led him to the practice of unnatural Lust Diogenes his sharpness of Wit to use his body to endure all manner of nastiness and coarse Labour Epicurus his Inventions and Discourses of which he boasts so much set him down contented with any kind of pleasure The same thing may be said of the Stoicks and Peripateticks WE must therefore be much out of the way if we search for Happiness in their Lessons and neglect our most Holy Religion Religion is the surest foundation of our Hopes which whosoever does he will unsettle the strongest Foundation of our hopes he will make a terrible confusion in all the Offices and Opinions of Men he will destroy the most prevailing Argument to Virtue he will remove all human Actions from their firmest Centre he will deprive himself of the prerogative of his immortal Soul and will have the same success that the ancient Fables make those to have had who contended with their Gods of whom they report that many were immediately turned into Beasts Whereas if we were to contrive a way to make our selves happy we should pitch upon just such Laws as those of Christianity are The Laws of Christ are most agreeable to the frame of our Natures they are so agreeable to the Frame of our Natures and Understandings they require of us so Rational and Spiritual a service of God they oblige us to perform Duties so plainly necessary and beneficial to us the harshest and most difficult Precepts thereof tending upon one account or other to our manifest advantage it being very reasonable for a Man to be sorry for what he hath done amiss and to amend his Life for the future to mortifie Lusts and Passions which are so disorderly and troublesom to the Mind to bring down every proud Thought which fills a Man with insolence and contempt of others to be patient in the meanest Condition which will prevent those anxieties that come from the contrary Passions to love Enemies and forgive Injuries which removes the perpetual torments of a malicious and revengeful Spirit FOR a Man is accomplished by two things First BY his being enlightened in his intellectual Faculties which is the perfection of his Understanding Secondly BY his being well directed