or pine Since 't is thy pleasure Lord it shall be mine III. Thy Med'cine put 's me to great smart Thou 'st wounded me in my most tender part But 't is with a design to cure I must and will thy Soveraign touch endure All that I prized below is gone But yet I still will pray thy will be done IV. Since 't is thy sentence I should part With the most pretious treasure of my heart I freely that and more resign My heart it self as its Delight is thine My little All I give to thee Thou gav'st a greater gift thy Son to me V. He left true Bliss and Joys above Himself he emptied of all good but love For me he freely did forsake More good than he from me can ever take A mortal life for a divine He took and did at last even that resign VI. Take all great God I will not grieve But still will wish that I had still to give I hear thy voice thou bid'st me quit My Paradise I bless and do submit I will not murmur at thy word Nor beg thy Angel to sheath up his sword To my guardian Angel. I. I Own my gentle guide that much I owe For all thy tutelary care and love Through life's wild maze thou 'st led me hitherto Nor ever wilt I hope thy tent remove But yet t' have been completely true Thou should'st have guarded her life too Thou know'st my Soul did most inhabit there I could have spared thee to have guarded her II. But since by thy neglect or heavens decree She 's gone to increase the pleasures of the Blest Since in this Sphere my Sun I ne're shall see Grant me kind Spirit grant me this request When I shall ease thy Charge and dye For sure I think thou wilt be by Lead me through all the numerous host above And bring my new-flown Soul to her I love III. With what high passion shall we then embrace What pleasure will she take t' impart to me The Rites and Methods of that sacred place And what a Heaven 't will be to learn from thee That pleasure I shall then I fear As ill as now my sorrow bear And could then any Chance my life destroy I should I fear then dye again with Joy. The Defiance I. WEll Fortune now if e're you 've shewn What you had in your power to do My wandring love at length had fix'd on one One who might please even unconstant you Me of this one you have deprived On whom I stay'd my Soul in whom I lived You 've shewn your power and I resign But now I 'll shew thee Fortune what 's in mine II. I will not no I will not grieve My tears within their banks shall stand Do what thou wilt I am resolv'd to Live Since thee I can't I will my self command I will my passions so controul That neither they nor thou shalt hurt my Soul I 'll run so counter to thy will Thy good I 'll relish but not feel thy Ill. III. I felt the shaft that last was sent But now thy Quiver I desy I fear no Pain from thee or Discontent Clad in the Armour of Philosophy Thy last seiz'd on me out of guard Vnarm'd too far within thy reach I dar'd But now the field I 'll dearly sell I 'm now at least by thee Impassible IV. My Soul now soars high and sublime Beyond the Spring of thy best bow Like those who so long on high mountains climb Till they see rain and thunder hear below In vain thou 'lt spend thy darts on me My Fort 's too strong for thy Artillery Thy closest aim won't touch my mind Here 's all thy gain still to be thought more blind Superstition I. I Care not tho it be By the preciser sort thought Popery We Poets can a Licence shew For every thing we do Hear then my little Saint I 'll pray to thee II. If now thy happy mind Amidst its various joys can leasure find T' attend to any thing so low As what I say or do Regard and be what thou wast ever kind III. Let not the Blest above Engross thee quite but sometimes hither rove Fain would I thy sweet image see And sit and talk with thee Nor is it Curiosity but Love. IV. Ah what delight 't wou'd be Would'st thou sometimes by stealth converse with me How should I thy sweet commerce prize And other joys despise Come then I ne'r was yet denyed by thee V. I would not long detain Thy Soul from Bliss nor keep thee here in pain Nor should thy fellow-Saints ere know Of thy escape below Before thou' rt miss'd thou should'st return again VI. Sure heaven must needs thy love As well as other qualitys improve Come then and recreate my sight With rays of thy pure light 'T will chear my eyes more than the lamps above VII But if Fate 's so severe As to confine thee to thy blissfull Sphere And by thy absence I shall know Whether thy state be so Live happy but be mindful of me there The complaint of Adam turn'd out of Paradise I. ANd must I go and must I be no more The Tenant of this happy ground Can no reserves of pity me restore Can no attonement for my stay compound All the rich Odours that here grow I 'd give To Heaven in incense might I here but live Or if it be a grace too high To live in Eden let me there but dye II. Fair place thy sweets I just began to know And must I leave thee now again Ah why does Heaven such short-lived Bliss bestow A tast of pleasure but full draught of pain I ask not to be chief in this blest state Let Heaven some other for that place create So 't is in Eden let me but have An under-gardener's place 't is all I crave III. But 't will not do I see I must away My feet profane this sacred ground Stay then bright Minister one minute stay Let me in Eden take one farewell round Let me go gather but one fragrant bough Which as a Relique I may keep and shew Fear not the Tree of Life it were A Curse to be immortal and not here IV. 'T is done Now farewell thou most happy place Farewell ye streams that softly creep I ne'r again in you shall view my face Farewell ye Bowers in you I ne'r shall sleep Farewell ye trees ye flow'ry beds farewell You ne'r will bless my tast nor you my smell Farewell thou Guardian divine To thee my happy Rival I resign V. O whither now whither shall I repair Exil'd from this Angelic coast There 's nothing left that 's pleasant good or fair The world can't recompence for Eden lost 'T is true I 've here a universal sway The Creatures me as their chief Lord obey But yet the world tho all my Seat Can't make me happy tho it make me great VI. Had I lost lesser and but seeming Bliss Reason my sorrows might relieve But when the loss
here despair to please my mind Her sweetest Honey is so mix'd with Gall. Come then I ll try how 't is to be alone Live to my self a while and be my own II. I 've try'd and bless the happy change So happy I could almost vow Never from this Retreat to range For sure I nor can be so blest as now From all th' allays of bliss I here am free I pitty others and none envy me III. Here in this shady lonely Grove I sweetly think my hours away Neither with Business vex'd nor Love Which in the World bear such Tyrannic sway No Tumults can my close Apartment find Calm as those Seats above which know no Storm nor Wind. IV. Let Plots and News embroil the State Pray what 's that to my Books and Me Whatever be the Kingdom 's Fate Here I am sure t' enjoy a Monarchy Lord of my self accountable to none Like the first Man in Paradice alone V. While the Ambitious vainly sue And of the partial Stars complain I stand upon the Shore and view The mighty Labours of the distant Maâ—n I 'm flush'd with silent joy and smile to see The Shafts of Fortune still drop short of me VI. Th' uneasie Pageantry of State And all the plagues to Thought and Sense Are far remov'd I 'm plac'd by Fate Out of the Road of all Impertinence Thus tho my fleeting Life runs swiftly on 'T will not be short because 't is all my own The Infidel I. FArewel Fruition thou grand Cruel Cheat Which first our hopes dost raise and then defeat Farewel thou Midwife to Abortive Bliss Thou Mystery of fallacies Distance presents the Object fair With Charming features and a graceful air But when we come to seize th' inviting prey Like a Shy Ghost it vanishes away II. So to th' unthinking Boy the distant Sky Seems on some Mountain's Surface to relie He with ambitious haste climbs the ascent Curious to touch the Firmament But when with an unweari'd pace Arriv'd he is at the long-wish'd-for place With Sighs the sad defeat he does deplore His Heaven is still as distant as before III. And yet 't was long e're I could throughly see This grand Impostor's frequent Treachery Tho often Fool'd yet I should still dream on Of Pleasure in Reversion Tho still he did my hopes deceive His fair Pretensions I would still believe Such was my Charity that tho I knew And found him false yet I would think him true IV. But now he shall no more with shews deceive I will no more enjoy no more believe Th' unwary Jugler has so often shewn His Fallacies that now they 'r known Shall I trust on the Cheat is plain I will not be impos'd upon again I 'll view the Bright appearance from afar But never try to catch the falling Star. On a Musician supposed to be mad with Musick I. POOR dull mistake of low Mortality To call that Madness which is Ecstacy 'T is no disorder of the Brain His Soul is only set t' an higher strain Out-soar he does the Sphere of Common sense Rais'd to Diviner Excellence But when at highest pitch his Soul out-flies Not Reason's Bounds but those of vulgar Eyes II. So when the Mystic Sibyl's Sacred Breast Was with Divine Infusions possest 'T was Rage and Madness thought to be Which was all Oracle and Mystery And so the Soul that 's shortly to Commence A Spirit free from dregs of Sense Is thought to rave when She discourses high And breathes the lofty strains of Immortality III. Music thou Generous Ferment of the Soul Thou universal Cement of the whole Thou Spring of Passion that dost inspire Religious Ardours and Poetic Fire who 'd think that Madness should b' ascrib'd to thee That mighty Discord to thy Harmony But 't was such ignorance that call'd the Gift Divine Of various Tongues Rage and th' effects of Wine IV. But thou Seraphic Soul do thou advance In thy sweet Ecstacy thy pleasing Trance Let thy brisk passions mount still higher Till they joyn to the Element of Fire Soar higher yet till thou shalt calmly hear The Music of a well-tun'd Sphere Then on the lumpish mass look down and thou shalt know The Madness of the World for groveling still below The Consolation I. I Grant 't is bad but there is some relief In the Society of Grief 'T is sweet to him that mourns to see A whole house clad in Sorrow's Livery Grief in Communion does remiss appear Like harsher sounds in Consort which less grate the Ear. II. Men would not Curse the Stars did they dispence In common their ill Influence Let none be rich and Poverty Would not be thought so great a Misery Our discontent is from comparison Were better states unseen each man would like his own III. Should partial Seas wreck my poor Ship alone I might with cause my Fate bemoan But since before I sink I see A Numerous Fleet of Ships descend with me Why don't I with content my breath resign I will and in the greater ruine bury mine The Choice Stet quicunque volet potens Aulae culmine lubrico c. I. NO I shan't envy him whoe're he be That stands upon the Battlements of State Stand there who will for me I 'd rather be secure than great Of being so high the pleasure is but small But long the Ruine if I chance to fall II. Let me in some sweet shade serenely lye Happy in leisure and obscurity Whilst others place their joys In popularity and noise Let my soft minutes glide obscurely on Like subterraneous streams unheard unknown III. Thus when my days are all in silence past A good plain Country-man I 'll dye at last Death cannot chuse but be To him a mighty misery Who to the World was popularly known And dies a Stranger to himself alone The Meditation I. IT must be done my Soul but 't is a strange A dismal and Mysterious Change When thou shalt leave this Tenement of Clay And to an unknown somewhere Wing away When Time shall be Eternity and thou Shalt be thou know'st not what and live thou know'st not how II. Amazing State no wonder that we dread To think of Death or view the Dead Thou' rt all wrapt up in Clouds as if to thee Our very Knowledge had Antipathy Death could not a more Sad Retinue find Sickness and Pain before and Darkness all behind III. Some Courteous Ghost tell this great Secrecy What 't is you are and we must be You warn us of approaching Death and why May we not know from you what 't is to Dye But you having shot the Gulph delight to see Succeeding Souls plunge in with like uncertainty IV. When Life 's close Knot by Writ from Destiny Disease shall cut or Age unty When after some Delays some dying Strife The Soul stands shivering on the Ridge of Life With what a dreadful Curiosity Does she launch out into the Sea of vast Eternity V. So when the Spatious Globe was delug'd o're And
my Spirit under the greatest Ariditys and dejections with the delightfull prospect of thy Glorys O let me sit down under this thy shadow with great delight till the fruit of thy Tree of life shall be sweet to my tast Let me stay and entertain my longing Soul with the Contemplation of thy Beauty till thou shalt condescend to kiss me with the kisses of thy mouth till thou shalt bring me into thy banquetting house where Vision shall be the support of my Spirit and thy Banner over me shall be Love. Grant this O my God my Happiness for the sake of thy great love and of the Son of thy love Christ Jesus Amen Contemplation the Fifth Two Corollaries hence deduc'd the first whereof is that God is therefore to be loved with all possible application and elevation of Spirit with all the heart soul and mind 1. AMong the Perfections of human nature the faculty of desiring or reaching out after agreeable Objects is not the least considerable and 't is the peculiar glory of man to be an Amorous as well as a Rational Being For by this he supplies the defects of his nature not only enjoys the good he unites with but digests it as it were into himself and makes it his own and relieves his domestic poverty by forreign negotiation 2. But tho the Pathetic part of man be one of the noblest perfections he is furnish'd with yet so generally faulty are we in the due application and direction of this noble faculty that to be pathetically and amorously dispos'd is lookt upon by some not as a Perfection but as a Disease of the Soul and is condemn'd by a whole order of men as inconsistent with the Character of wisdom according to that Stoical Aphorism Amare simul sapere ipsi Jovi non datur 3. But certainly Eve was intended as a Help for Adam tho in the event she prov'd the instrument of his seduction and our Passions were given us to perfect and accomplish our natures tho by accidental misapplications to unworthy objects they may turn to our degradation and dishonour We may indeed be debased as well as innobled by them but then the fault is not in the large Sails but in the ill conduct of the Pilot if our Vessel miss the Haven The Tide of our love can never run too high provided it take a right Channel our Passion then will be our highest Wisdom and he was no Stoic that said as the Hart panteth after the water brooks so panteth my Soul after thee O God. And again my Soul is athirst for God. And again my Soul breaketh out for fervent desire And again whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire in comparison of thee 4. Being therefore from the foregoing Periods arrived to this Conclusion that God is the true End and Center of man I think I ought now to let loose the reins of my affections to unbay the current of my Passion and love on without any other boundary or measure than what is set me by the finiteness of my natural powers 5. 'T is true indeed whenever we turn the Edge of our desire towards any Created good 't is Prudence as well as Religion to use caution and moderation to gage the Point of our affections lest it run in too far there being so much emptiness in the enjoyment and so much hazard in the Possession When we venture to lean upon such objects we are like men that walk upon a Quagmire and therefore should tread as lightly as we can lest it give way and sink under us 6. But how excellent a Vertue soever Moderation may be in our concernments with other objects we have nothing to do with it in the love of that Being who is our End and Center There is here danger but of one Extreme and that is of the defect We can love but finitely when we have lov'd our utmost and what is that to him who is infinitely lovely Since therefore our most liberal proportions will be infinitely short and scanty we ought not sure to give new retrenchments to our love and cut it yet shorter by frugal limitations 7. For if God be our End and Center he must necessarily have all that good in him which we can possibly desire and if so then he is able to stay and satisfy all our Love and if so then nothing so reasonable as that he should have it all We are therefore to love him with all possible application and elevation of Spirit with all the heart Soul and mind We should collect and concenter all the rays of our love into this one Point and lean towards God with the whole weight of our Soul as all that is ponderous in nature tends with its whole weight toward the Center And this we should do as directly as may be with as little warping and declension the Creature as is possible For so also 't is to be observ'd in nature that not only all weight or Pondus tends toward the Center but that also it moves thither as nigh as it can in a direct and perpendicular line The Prayer MY God my Happiness who art fairer than the Children of men and who thy self art very Love as well as altogether lovely draw me and I will run after thee O wind up my Soul to the highest pitch of Love that my facultys will bear and let me never alienate any degree of that noble Passion from thee its only due object Quench in me all terrene fires and sensual relishes and do thou wound me deep and strike me through with the arrows of a divine Passion that as thou art all Beauty and Perfection so I may be all Love and Devotion My heart is ready O God my heart is ready for a Burnt offering send down then an holy fire from above to kindle the Sacrifice and do thou continually fan and keep alive and clarify the flame that I may be ever ascending up to thee in devout breathings and pious Aspirations till at length I ascend in Spirit to the Element of Love where I shall know thee more clearly and love thee more Seraphically and receive those peculiar coronets of glory thou hast reserv'd for those that eminently love thee Amen Contemplation the Sixth The second CorollarÅ· that therefore God is ultimately to be refer'd to in all our actions and that he is not to be used by us but enjoyed 1. AS there is nothing of greater and more universal moment to the regular ordination of human life than rightly to accommodate the Means and the End and to make them uniform and Symbolical so is there nothing wherein men are more universally peccant and defective and that not only in Practice but also in Notion and Theory 2. For altho to do an ill action for a good End and to do a good action for an ill End are generally acknowledg'd alike criminal yet concerning this latter 't is observable
far as this Standard And Secondly That we may not go beyond it First That we may proceed so far 18. It has been taught by some of the severe Masters of Spiritual Mortification That we ought to take up the most low and abject thoughts of our selves that are possible to be conscious of no manner of excellency in our selves and consequently not to be affected with the least Self-complacency That we ought to account our selves to be Nothing to have nothing to be worth nothing but to be very refuse and off-scouring of all things And this they call the Mystical Death or the Spiritual Annihilation Now whatever degrees of excellency this may have which I shall not now dispute 't is most certain it can have nothing of Duty For tho it may and oftentimes is required of a man to think the Truth yet he can never be under an Obligation to be mistaken Besides 'T is hard to conceive how any man especially one that dwells much with himself and heedfully reflects upon the actings of his own mind should be master of any considerable excellency and yet not be conscious of it And besides That very degree of Attention which is required that a man should not think himself more accomplish'd than indeed he is will also infallibly hinder him from thinking he is less 'T is true indeed Moses knew not that his Face shone after he had been conversing with God on the Mount. He saw not the Orb of glory that stream'd from him and wondred what it was that made him so dreadful to the people But 't is not so with the Soul whose reflexive faculty will not fail to give her information of her most retir'd and reserv'd accomplishments 'T is not with the Lesser as with the Greater World where whole Tracts and Regions and those some of the best too lye undiscover'd No Man cannot be such a Stranger to his own Perfections such an America to himself For who can know the things of a man if not the Spirit of man which is in him And accordingly we find that the ignorance of our selves with which Mankind has been hitherto so universally tax'd runs quite in another Channel and does not consist in overlooking any of those indowments which we have but in assuming to our selves those which we have not 19. I confess were it possible I should think it advisable for some persons to be ignorant of some of their excellencies and like the Sun not to reflect home to their own Sphere of light Not that I think in the least unlawful to be fully conscious of ones own worth but only I consider that some men have not heads strong enough to endure Heights and walk upon Spires and Pinnacles But if they can stand there without growing vertiginous they need not question the lawfulness of the station they are still within the Region of Humility For 't is not every thinking well of ones self that falls in with the notion of Pride but only when there is more of Opinion than there is of Worth. 'T was this that was the Condemnation of the Apostate Angel not that he took a just complacency in the eminency of his Station but that he vainly arrogated to himself what was not his due in that he said I will ascend into Heaven I will exalt my throne above the Stars of God I will sit upon the sides of the North I will ascend above the heights of the Clouds I will be like the most High. 'T was for this that the Angel of Death drew upon Herod not because he was pleas'd with the sineness and success of his Oratory but because he was not so just to God as the People were to him but lookt upon himself as the Head-fountain of his own perfections and so gave not God the glory 20. But now if we take care to proportion our estimation of and our Complacencies in our selves to the measure of our endowments and if we look upon those very endowments not as originary and independent but as derivative from the Father of lights from whom every good and perfect gift descends and accordingly refer all to Gods glory and with the Elders in the Revelations take off our Crowns from our Heads and cast them at the foot of the Throne we have not only the express words of the Text but likewise all the reason in the world to warrant the Sobriety of our Opinions For this is but to have a right and exact understanding of ones self And why may not a man be allow'd to take a true Estimate of himself as well as of another man Or why should a man think an excellency less valuable because 't is in himself The Happiness of God consists in seeing himself as he is he reflects upon the Beauty of his Essence and rejoyces with an infinite Complacency Now certainly that wherein consists the Happiness of the Creator cannot be a Sin in the Creature Besides I would fain know why a man may not as lawfully think well of himself upon the Score of his real worth as desire that others should think well of him for the same reason And that he may do the latter is confess'd as well by the Practice as by the common Suffrage of Mankind For otherwise what becomes of that good Reputation which Solomon says is rather to be chosen than great Riches and of which the Best and Wisest men of all ages had ever such a tender such a passionate Regard Nay 't is lookt upon as a very Commendable thing to be so affected and the contrary is censured as the mark of a dissolute and unmoraliz'd temper Only there is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be observ'd in this as well as in the former and as we are not to stretch out our selves beyond our measure so must we take care with the great Apostle not to give others occasion to think of us above that which they see us to be Besides if we may not be allow'd to take the full Height of our own Excellencies how shall we be able to give God thanks for them The Elders must know they wear Crowns before they can use them as Instruments of Adoration and Herod must be conscious of the right Genius of his Oratory before he can give God the Glory Again in the last place if a man may not have leave to take Cognisance of his own Deserts and to value himself accordingly what will become of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Apostle speaks of the answer of a good Conscience towards God which is nothing else but a Sentence of Approbation which a man passes upon himself for the well managing of that Talent of Liberty which God has entrusted him with Now this is the Reward of Vertue and therefore certainly not contrary to it 21. Neither is this Self-esteem only the Reward of Vertue but also the Cause of it too and consequently 't is not
theirs Anger and Contention Malice and Revenge For the Proud man is not content to be his own private Admirer but quarrels with all others that are not of his perswasion and with the Tyrant of Babylon kindles a fire for those who will not fall down and worship the Image which he has set up 35. Neither does the Leprosy stop here But as it betrays us into many sins so in the Third and last place which is the most dismal Consequence of all It frustrates all Methods of Reformation Gods judgments will but exasperate and inrage him because he thinks he does not deserve them and his Mercies will not indear him because he thinks he does Advice he thinks he does not need and Reproof he cannot bear Besides he thinks so well of himself already that he wonders what you mean by advising him to become better and therefore as he does not endeavour after any of those excellencies which he thinks he has so neither can he dream of mending those faults which he thinks he is not guilty of Thus is the man Seal'd up to iniquity and deeply lodg'd in the strong holds of sin where nothing that has a Salutary Influence can come nigh him And in this he resembles the first Presidents of his Folly who from Angels transform'd themselves into Devils and fell beyond the possibilities of recovery 36. These are some of the fruits of this Root of Bitterness and tho more might be named yet these I think sufficient to justify this Admonition of the Apostle to every man not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think but to think soberly according as God has dealt to every man the measure of faith Let us then all endeavour to conform our opinions concerning our selves to this Standard Let us not stretch our selves beyond our natural dimensions but learn to entertain modest and sober thoughts of our own excellencies and endowments and mortify our understandings as well as our sensitive affections And thus shall we compleat our Lent Exercise by joyning the mortification of the Spirit to that of the flesh without which the greatest Austerities wherewith we can afflict the latter will not be such a Fast as God has chosen For what will it avail to macerate the Body while the principal part the Soul remains unmortify'd The Humility of Moses must conspire with his Forty days Fasting to qualify a man for Divine Intercourses to make him the Joy of Angels the Friend of God. Thus then let us accomplish the Refinings of our Souls and fill up the Measure of our Mortifications To which end let us add this one further Consideration to what has been already said that Humility in the Judgment even of the High and Lofty one that inhabits Eternity is a Vertue of such great Excellency and singular advantage to the happiness of Mankind that our Blessed Saviour came down from Heaven to teach it that his whole life was one continu'd Exercise of it and that he has dignify'd it with the first place among his Beatitudes Let us then as many as profess the Religion of the Humble and Crucify'd JESUS make it our strict Care that we neglect not this his great Commandment nor omit to Copy out this Principal Line this main stroke of the Pattern he has set us Especially let us of this place who are set among the greater Lights of the Firmament and whose profession and business is to contemplate Truth and to think of things as God made them in Number Weight and Measure labour in the first place to take just and true Measures of our Selves that our Knowledg puff us not up nor our Height become our Ruin. CONSIDERATIONS UPON THE NATURE OF SIN Accommodated to the ends both of Speculation and Practise Considerations upon the Nature of Sin c. SECT I. Of the division of Sin into Material and Formal and of the reality and necessity of that Distinction 1. TO make this our Discourse about Sin more clear and distinct before we enter upon its Nature 't will be requisite to premise somthing concerning the double acceptation of the word For nothing can be defined before it be distinguish'd 2. I observe therefore that Sin may be consider'd either abstractedly for the bare act of Obliquity or concretely with such a special dependence of it upon the will as renders the Agent guilty or obnoxious to punishment I say with such a special dependence of it upon the will for not every dependence of an action upon the will is sufficient to make it imputable as shall be shewn hereafter The former of these by those that distinguish more nicely is call'd transgressio voluntatis the latter transgressio voluntaria or according to the more ordinary distinction the former is the material the latter the formal part of Sin. 3. This distinction is both real and necessary 1. it is real because the Idea or conception of material sin is not only distinct from the Idea of formal sin as it may be in things really the same but when consider'd as alone does positively exclude the other For this notion a bare act of Obliquity does not only prescind from but also positively deny such a special dependence of it upon the will as makes it imputable for punishment 4. Now as it is a certain sign of Identity when the Idea of one thing necessarily includes the Idea of another so is it of real distinction when the Idea of one thing in any case positively excludes the Idea of the other There may indeed be distinct conceptions of one and the same thing whereof there are different Propertys or Degrees but then one does only abstract from and not in any case positively exclude the other Which when it does it is an evident sign of real distinction 5. But the greatest Argument of real distinction is separability and actual separation For nothing can be separated from it self And this also has place here For the material part of sin may actually exist without the formal That is there may be an act of obliquity or an irregular act without any guilt deriv'd upon the Agent or to speak more strictly without that special dependence of the act upon the will which is the foundation of that guilt This is evident in the case of fools and mad men 6. And as this Distinction is real so also is it very useful and necessary 1st in the notion to prevent ambiguitys and fallacys that might arise from the use of the word sin As when St. John says he that commits sin is of the Devil certainly 't would be a fallacy to argue hence that every mere act of obliquity is Diabolical because a sin since not material but formal sin was the thing intended in Saint John's Proposition 7. 2ly in the thing for the honour and vindication of the Divine Attributes Particularly from the damning of Infants merely for the corruption of nature commonly call'd Original sin It being repugnant to
Life so the most Happy but that it may become Happier unless somthing more be comprehended in the Word Vertue then the Stoics Peripatetics and the generality of other Moralists understand by it For with them it signifies no more but only such a firm 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or habitude of the Will to good whereby we are constantly disposed notwithstanding the contrary tendency of our Passions to perform the necessary Offices of Life This they call Moral or Civil Vertue and although this brings always Happiness enough with it to make ample amends for all the difficulties which attend the practise of it Yet I am not of Opinion that the greatest Happiness attainable by Man in this Life consists in it But there is another and a higher Sense of the Word which frequently occurs in the Pythagorean and Platonic Writings viz. Contemplation and the Vnitive way of Religion And this they call Divine Vertue I allow of the distinction but I would not be thought to derive it from the Principle as if Moral Vertue were acquired and this infused for to speak ingeniously infused Vertue seem'd ever to me as great a Paradox in Divinity as Occult qualities in Philosophy but from the nobleness of the Object the Object of the former being Moral good and the Object of the latter God himself The former is a State of Proficiency the latter of Perfection The former is a State of difficulty and contention the latter of ease and ferenity The former is employ'd in mastering the Passions and regulating the actions of common Life the latter in Divine Meditation and the extasies of Seraphic Love. He that has only the former is like Moses with much difficulty climbing up to the Holy Mount but he that has the latter is like the same Person conversing with God on the serene top of it and shining with the Rays of anticipated Glory So that this latter supposes the acquisition of the former and consequently has all the Happiness retaining to the other besides what it adds of its own This is the last Stage of Human Perfection the utmost round of the Ladder whereby we ascend to Heaven one Step higher is Glory Here then will I build my Tabernacle for it is good to be here Here will I set up my Pillar of Rest here will I fix for why should I travel on farther in pursuit of any greater Happiness since Man in this Station is but a little lower than the Angels one remove from Heaven Here certainly is the greatest happiness as well as Perfection attainable by Man in this State of imperfection For since that Happiness which is absolutely perfect and compleat consists in the clear and intimate Vision and most ardent Love of God hence we ought to take our Measures and conclude that to be the greatest Happiness attainable in this State which is the greatest participation of the other And that can be nothing else but the Vnitive way of Religion which consists of the Contemplation and Love of God. I shall say somthing of each of these severally and somthing of the Vnitive way of Religion which is the result of both and so shut up this Discourse 27. By Contemplation in general 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we understand an application of the Understanding to some truth But here in this place we take the word in a more peculiar sense as it signifies an habitual attentive steddy application or conversion of the Spirit to God and his Divine Perfections Of this the Masters of Mystic Theology commonly make fifteen Degrees The first is Intuition of Truth the second is a Retirement of all the Vigour and Strength of the Faculties into the innermost parts of the Soul the third is Spiritual Silence the fourth is Rest the fifth is Union the sixth is the Hearing of the still Voice of God the seventh is Spiritual Slumber the eighth is Ecstacy the ninth is Rapture the tenth is the Corporeal Appearance of Christ and the Saints the eleventh is the Imaginary Appearance of the Same the twelfth is the Intellectual Vision of God the thirteenth is the Vision of God in Obscurity the fourteenth is an admirable Manifestation of God the fifteenth is a clear and intuitive Vision of him such as St. Austin and Tho. Aquinas attribute to St. Paul when he was wrapt up into the third Heaven Others of them reckon seven degrees only viz. Taste Desire Satiety Ebriety Security Tranquility but the name of the seventh they say is known only to God. 28. I shall not stand to examine the Scale of this Division perhaps there may be a kind of a Pythagoric Superstition in the number But this I think I may affirm in general that the Soul may be wound up to a most strange degree of Abstraction by a silent and steddy Contemplation of God. Plato defines Contemplation to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Solution and a Separation of the Soul from the Body And some of the severer Platonists have been of Opinion that 't is possible for a Man by mere intention of thought not only to withdraw the Soul from all commerce with the Senses but even really to separate it from the Body to untwist the Ligaments of his Frame and by degrees to resolve himself into the State of the Dead And thus the Jews express the manner of the Death of Moses calling it Osculum Oris Dei the Kiss of God's Mouth That is that he breath'd out his Soul by the mere Strength and Energy of Contemplation and expired in the Embraces of his Maker A Happy way of Dying How ambitious should I be of such a conveyance were it practicable How passionately should I joyn with the Church in the Canticles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let him Kiss me with the Kisses of his Mouth Cant. 1. 2. 29. But however this be determin'd certain it is that there are exceeding great Measures of Abstraction in Contemplation so great that somtimes whether a Man be in the Body or out of the Body he himsel can hardly tell And consequently the Soul in these Praeludiums of Death these Neighbourhoods of Separation must needs have brighter glimpses and more Beatific Ideas of God than in a state void of these Elevations and consequently must love him with greater Ardency Which is the next thing I am to consider 30. The love of God in general may be considered either as it is purely intellectual or as it is a Passion The first is when the Soul upon an apprehension of God as a good delectable and agreeable Object joyns her self to him by the Will. The latter is when the motion of the Will is accompany'd with a sensible Commotion of the Spirits and an estuation of the Blood. Some I know are of Opinion that 't is not possible for a man to be affected with this sensitive Love of God which is a Passion because there is nothing in God which falls under our imagination and consequently the imagination being the only Medium