Slaves of this Enemy of God and all Goodness This grand Opposer of Man's Happiness To be led Captive by him at his Will To be dragg'd at the Chariot-Wheels of this insulting Conqueror What can be worse than first to execute his malicious Will and then be punished for so doing To be most cruelly tormented for obeying those Laws of Sin and Death which he gave them And this was the State of the Pagan World they worshipp'd Devils they received Oracles from them they obey'd them they were subject to their Dominion This is also plainly attested by their own Writers And when the Scripture speaks of their Conversion to Christianity it expresseth it thus that they were turned from Darkness to Light and from the Power of Satan unto God Acts. 26. 18. I have said enough one would think to set forth the miserable State of us Gentiles before-our Conversion but yet there is one Consideration more which exceedingly aggravates their Wo and that is that they are liable to be condemned to the greater and more lasting Miseries of the future State those Torments which admit of no Ease and will have no end which they cannot escape except they be recovered out of this Snare of the Devil and become the Servants of God That is unless they cease to do evil and learn to do well which how hard it was for them to do we may conclude from the Difficulty that we who have the many greater Helps which the Gospel-Dispensation affords us find in it And besides how full of Anxiety and disquieting Thoughts must their Sin and Ignorance and their Presensions and Boadings of Evil to come of a deserved Punishment for their Faults fill them with Nay tho they should repent and amend how uncertain must they be of the Pardon and Favour of God And therefore how must they through Fear of Death be all their Life-time subject to Bondage Thus I have very curiously given an account of the first Particular viz. The Condition of the Gentiles before Christianity II. I now proceed to sew some of the Advantages which the Gentiles have by becoming Christians And this will appear both in respect of Themselves and in respect of Others First If we consider them in themselves singly their Advantage appears in this that their Minds are greatly enlightned their Hearts are throughly purified their Lives are reformed and amended 1. Their Minds are enlightned Their Knowledg is both larger and clearer and surer than it was and consequently far more efficacious and powerful They know the Nature and Condition of Man far better they are now assured of a Spiritual and Immortal Soul which inhabits this Body which is the far more excellent Part of Man They have now assurance that they and all Men shall live after Death and that they shall be for ever happy or miserable according as they have lived here If they have lived a Holy and Vertuous Life they shall be brought into a State of endless Bliss If they have done Evil if they have not done Good that they shall fall under unsufferable and perpetual Torments They now understand that the Cause of all the Miseries and Imperfections of Mankind is their Sin That all the Calamities in the World owe their Original to the Wickedness of Men. They now understand the Dangerousness of their Condition and they are fully convinced of their own Impotency and Insufficiency which Acquaintance with themselves what a Preparation it is to Vertue and Holiness we shall see presently Again They know now that God is a Spirit of an Incorporeal Nature and such as their own Souls are and that He is but one The Father the Word and the Holy Spirit being all one That it was He that made the Heavens and the Earth by the Eternal Word and that by his powerful Decree all things are continued and that his Providence doth so particularly superintend all things that not a Sparrow falls to the Ground without his Knowledg and Permission And that this God knows all things that he searches the Hearts and sees the secret Works and the inward Thoughts of all Men and that he is infinitely good and kind That he is immutably Holy and Just and Pure That he will call Men to Account for the Deeds they have done in this Body and will reward the Good with Everlasting Life and will adjudg the Wicked to Everlasting Woe They also more perfectly understand their Duty and the way of Life in which they should walk They now know that Spiritual Worship is that which God principally looks at and that this is not only to be confined to certain Times and Places and Actions but that at all Times and every where God may be worshipp'd and that in the whole Course of our Lives and in all our Actions his glorious Perfections may be and are to be acknowledged And to him is to be ascribed his Excellency above all by Loving and Fearing and Believing and Obeying Him more than all They know they ought in all their Wants to make their Supplications to God and that they should praise and be thankful to him for all the Good they receive They know also that they are to apply themselves to God by Jesus Christ that it is by and through him the Merits of his Life and Death the Prevailing of his Intercession with the Father that they are accepted They are likewise fully instructed that they are to purify themselves from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit that they are to bring into subjection the Body and to keep it under that is that all the inferior Appetites and Inclinations be kept in a due subordination to the Reason and Law of their Minds They are now told plainly That they must not only be Just and True and Honest and Fair in their Dealings with Men so as not to circumvent and cozen not to deceive and disappoint but must stand to their Word keep to their Promises make good their Contracts but that they must also be compassionate and merciful courteous and kind gentle and meek loving and good to all Men to Neighbours and Acquaintance and also to Strangers and Forreigners to Enemies as well as Friends Nor only to the Good tho to them principally but also to the Bad. Thus are they instructed in their Duty and they see not only what they are to do but why they should do it They understand clearly the goodness the fitness the beneficialness the necessity of such a Life They see how natural how reasonable it is how just it is to live thus if they respect God who requires it who made and preserves them and from whom they receive all Good who is their undoubted Lord and perfectly Wise and Good and who will be their Judg. They know their dependence on Him and therefore must conclude that they ought to be at His dispose and be directed and governed by Him They see the manifold Advantages which accrue to them as well as to others by
not contradict it self 4. Where there are any seeming Repugnancies that Sence is to be taken 1. Which is most plain in it self 2. Most agreeable to the Design of the Whole 3. To other plain Places and 4. Most consistent with the eternal Reason of Man's Mind 5. As you have Ability and Opportunity acquaint your selves 1. With the Scripture-Dialect and Phrase the knowledg of which would have kept an ancient Author of Credit from interpreting that Command Thou shalt love the Lord with all thy Heart so as to infer that we should love nothing else It would also have hindred others from arguing that God does more than permit Sin because he is said to do those things which are done by Mens Sins c. 2. With the Customs to which the Scriptures refer and with those Reasons on which any of the written Laws are founded And observe the same Rules in understanding and interpreting these which you use in any other humane Writings and Laws As 1. Where any of the Precepts aro shortly obscurely or figuratively express'd in one place and in others more largely properly and plainly interpret and understand the first by the latter And take heed of pressing and squeezing Metaphors As here in this Chapter Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the Dead and Christ shall give thee Light no Sence can be made of this if we strain the Metaphor from the Dead 2. Do not make Precepts given to particular Persons general and obligatory to all where there is not the same nor a like Reason But where there is that reckon that what God by his holy Prophets has said to one or to a few he intended it to all 6. Take heed of imputing those Suggestions to the Holy Spirit which are only the Effects of an over-heated Brain an extravagant Fancy a deep Melancholy or some such thing I am not of their number who laugh at all the Illuminations of the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation I cannot restrain all that the Scripture says of these secret Teachings to the miraculous Effusion 〈◊〉 cannot but think that the Experience and Observation that every Man makes of himself especially every 〈◊〉 Man will assure him of the heavenly Irradiations But yet I doubt not that the Enemy of God and Goodness who â—pposes all God's merciful Designs to Man and endeavours to defeat them is hard at work here And as he has been observed to imitate the rest of the Divine Methods so he is not wanting to resemble this also and therefore does inject Thoughts does cause unnatural Agitations in the Blond and i Humours does make use of a Melancholy Temper a wild Imagination a Time of Passion etc. Great Care is to be used that we impute not our own wild Ravings in the Suggestions of the wicked One to the good and holy Spirit of God For so we shall be in danger to think that to be the Will of God which is most contrary to it as we know many of old and too many of late have done I will here very briefly lay down some Marks whereby we may discern the one from the other 1. Ordinarily and after the first beginning the Holy Spirit works in us in a manner that is agreeable to our Natures and Tempers suited to our Faculties and to the Order in which they are set Let us only here distinguish as I said before betwixt Nature and the Depravation of it And I doubt not but by Observation we may easily difference these two for we shall discover something violent and unnatural in all the Diabolical And particularly I would observe whether theirise of such thoughts was from the Mind it self or from the Body and some Motions in it 2. The Holy Spirit does co-operate with us his Teachings are commonly the Reward of earnest Prayer and diligent Endeavours I do not say but he also prevents our earliest Endeavours but as our Saviour has taught us to ask and seek and knock and has promised that the Spirit shall be given to us soul take this Method to be a good sign that it is that Holy Spirit when he 〈◊〉 in this way 3. I consider the Opportunity the Necessity of his teaching us and look on it as no improbable Argument that it is he indeed when there is an apparent need of his Operation To help our Infirmities to lead us when we are in the dark to farther us when we are at work and when we are seeking the knowledg of his Laws then to enlighten us 4. I will obserue not only the general Temper but the present Disposition of my Soul when I suppose the Spirit teaches me Holiness Purity Humility Meekness a calm an obedient a loving Spirit are such Difpositions as invite the Divine Spirit he loves to visit to dwell in such Souls they are Temples for him If that be my general Frame my present Disposition I may reasonably presume it is the good Spirit that acts me But if I be impure and proud c. I have reason to fear the contrary 5. Above all consider the thing it self which is suggested If that be consistent with what we are by Scripture and other ways taught to be the Divine Will if it be pursuant of the Designs of Goodness if in order to our Perfection and the good State of God's other Creatures In short Is it good does it become us will it be beneficial to us and them If not assuredly it is not of God of whom comes all and only that which is good who wills all that is and nothing but what is good To conclude Endeavour therefore after a true clear and full knowledg of what is good for you to do and then have you got the most certain undoubted Mark of what is the Will and Law of Heaven concerning you If you once know this you will not be unwise but understanding what the Will of the Lord is THE ADVANTAGES OF CHRISTIANITY EPHES. 3. 6. That the Gentiles should be Fellow-Heirs and of the same Body and Partakers of his Promise in Christ by the Gospel IN 1 Tim. 3. 16. the Apostle reckons these as two parts of the Great Mystery of Godliness that the Gospel should be preached unto the Gentiles and believed on in the World And in the Verse before my Text he calls it Thâ— Mystery which iâ— other Ages was not made known to the Sons of Men as it is now revealed unto his holy Apostles and Prophets by the Spirit And in the 7th and 8th Verses he seems to glory that he was made a Minister of this Dispensation and accounts it a very signal Favour of God that he should be employ'd in preaching the unsearchable Riches of Christ to the Gentiles that is his unconceivable Grace that They should be brought into this State that the Offer of so great Privileges should be made to Them And he tells us that now This is done the Angels understand by it the manifold Wisdom of God which hath appeared in all his
considerable and of such importance so profitable so necessary as it is to live vvell As also because this cannot be done vvithout great care and diligence There is first great care to be taken and paâ—ns to be used that vve may come to an exact knovvledg of vvhat thaâ— Good is which we are to do all the days of our Life It is not so very easy to be out of all doubt vvhether this or that particular Action be good singly but much harder to knovv this if it be compared vvith others and vvith relations to them And yet more difficult to have a certain knowledg and setled judgment of all the good which ought to be done through the vvhole course of Life To retain and remember it requires farther care and it vvill cost us still more pains to bring our Wills into subjection to it And to keep them thus subject vvill be farther vvork He that vvill do all this must be very vvatchful over himself observe all his Motions curb and restrain his Appetites and call all those Motions to account vvhich vvill not stay for the direction of his Reason He must guard himself from all Temptations from abroad In sum He must be on continual Exercise and in the constant use of Understanding and very intent who preserves himself in that due composure of Mind and temper of Body which makes him capable to do good universally If he be either ignorant or mistaken or doubtful or unresolved if he be forgetful or inconsiderate if he be but inadvertent and incogitant for a Time or be averse and uninclined which may happen through a natural Temper an inveterate Custom a present Diversion or many such Causes he will omit the doing good And how hard is it to prevent all these things How diligent then must he be who at all times in all cases knows what is good and fit for him to do and who wills what he knows and does what he wills He must not only consider himself but others nor only Men but God also if he will fully understand and wisely judg what is good and that not only in general but in every Instance Nor must he only barely suffer himself to do what he knows to be good but also actively determine himself from an inward approbation of what is good And the Will must be so effectual as to set the inferior Powers to work And will all this be done without great Care without great Attention and Intention of Mind And as this Care and Diligence is necessary so it is also effectual As Men cannot live well without it notwithstanding all the other helps they have so if they be indeed watchful and careful how they live they will not fail to come to great exactness in Well-doing Which I thus make out All Men in the World are endowed with the knowledg of some Good some Virtue or other And if a Man well and carefully attend to that it will by that Cognation which is between all Virtues by good Consequence by Parity of Reason some way or other lead him to the knowledg of more and by degrees of all the great and more illustrious Goods And the practice of any one Vertue will afford him such Delight and Satisfaction that it will naturally dispose him to repeat the same and to seek after other Instances wherein he may have the same Pleasure and he will be greatly inclined to keep his Mind in the same State and Exercise whereby he will be excellently disposed and enabled for the search after all other things that are good both to judg truly of them and to will and do all that he thinks Good I need not say how great the advantage of the Christian is in this matter above what all other Men can pretend to For he has those sure Oracles which instruct him where Nature and unassisted Reason would have left him ignorant or mistaken or doubtful He that lives in the Christian Church and joyns himself to the Assemblies of Christians and will but open his Ears to hear he can't but understand in some sort that it 's good for him to do justly to love Mercy c. He can't but think it reasonable he should do so alway And that good Spirit of Truth and Holiness which moves upon our Minds and inspires with Wisdom and always strikes in with good and hearty Endeavours is ever ready to give his assistance to lead us into Truth To work in us both to will and to do what is good This he does certainly and constantly to them who set themselves seriously on the search after Knowledg and who are in good earnest careful to work out their Salvation Insomuch that no Man who has used care and diligence in this has ever been left destitute of the divine Assistance He who is no where wanting to hearty Desires and careful Endeavours after Goodness will not absent himself from his own Institutions but will make them effectual for the Ends to which they are ordained When we see the great Attainments of Socrates and other Heathens and what Heights of Goodness they rose to by the assistance of the divine Spirit when yet they had not our inspired Writings and Records of exemplary Lives and brave Deaths particularly of that holy and wonderful one of the Son of God Can we imagine that this good Spirit will not convey strength into our Souls when we have those helps and are in the use of his own Methods I conclude this with that which seems a most convincing Argument both of the wonderful Efficacy as well as Necessity of great Care and Caution Watchfulness and Diligence to be used by those that would live very well 't is this That this without the great advantages which we Christians have has raised Men to an higher pitch of Holiness and Goodness than our most perfect Institution without that can ever bring us to There is no Man who considers but will allow the Christian way leads to far greater Perfection than any method which the Heathens ever had and that we have abundance of Advantages under our Dispensation which they never enjoyed And yet we can't but with shame confess that several of them have out-stript most of us in the Race of Vertue Of which if we examine the Reason we shall be able to discover none but what may be resolved into this viz. That they were careful how they lived and we are not Socrates and others of them made living well their great Study their own Business whereas we account it our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our Diversion We bestow little care and pains on that and this is the true reason why they were better without the Christian Religion than we are with it We may be somewhat more assured of the truth of this Observation if we will but take notice of our selves or others For we shall always find that according as we are more or less intent on and diligent in the business of
more brute Animals nor as unbodied Spirits that we should endeavour the Welfare both of the Mind and of the Animal together of neither abstractedly and singly 3. The Soul or Mind is confessed to be more excellent than the Body And every one who thinks a Man has Pre-eminence over a Beast will not deny but that it is and ought to be superiour For tho the Spirit uses the Ministrations of the Body yet in abundance of Instances it governs and disposes of it as it pleases And it is manifest that the Mind was not made to be subject to the Body but the Body to it the Soul of Man is supream There is none who observes Man's Frame but must conclude that it is the Will of his Creator that his Mind should rule and his Body be in Subjection 4. The Soul has a sense or understanding of Good and Evil and an Inclination or Love to all that appears good and an Aversion from all that to it seems evil And according as any thing is apprehended by the Mind to be good or evil so it determines it self and all within its Power to or from it for or against it This is the Cardo or Hinge on which all our Frame turns the first Spring of all our Motions the Primum Mobile in Man as all Men acknowledg by their Practice For when they would engage themselves or others to any Undertaking they shew its Goodness or when they would take them off from it they make it appear evil Which Practice plainly supposes that we all believe Man determines himself according as he apprehends a thing to be good or bad If this be true then we cannot but conclude that God intended when he made Man after such a manner that his Will should be conformable to and guided by his Understanding and in particular that he should will and do good that all he did should be good for else why should he frame him so as that he can will nothing but what appears to him under that colour and why did he so form the Human Understanding that some Things and Actions are by all thought Good and Evil But we shall be more fully assured of this that God who made us vvills that vve should love and do all Good and hate and shun all Evil if vve make a nearer Inspection into the Souls of Men for vve may observe not only an unalterable Inclination to do that vvhich vve think to be on one account or other Good But 5. Also a very earnest desire and care to knovv more perfectly vvhat is and all that is Good or Evil. No Man is vvilling to be ignorant or mistaken and he is no-vvhere more careful of true Understanding than in the matters of Good and Evil. That natural Desire of Perfection vvhich is common to all things does exert it self in the Mind of Man in this Particular And if this be the condition of Man that he does naturally and necessarily perceive some things that are Good and Evil and by an easy and natural Ratiocination will discover others And if he go on to Perfection which all desire and tend to he will attain to a clear and certain knowledge of all that is Good And if it be unnatural for him to will without or against all understanding Then we must conclude that his Wise Lord wills that he should do all that is Good 6. This will further appear if we consider the Account to which Men call themselves for their Actions wherein they approve and acquit themselves if they have done well but disallow and condemn all evil Actions Nay if they did ill tho they intended well they blame themselves for their Miscarriage which supposes that they think they might and should have prevented this by being better informed in the matter they undertook But if they know or thought it was Evil and yet chose to do it they then rebuke themselves sharply and their Consciences arraign them for a notorious Crime and they are without Excuse to themselves All this shews that he who made Man thus to review his Performances to excuse and approve the Good to censure and condemn the Evil will'd that all he does should be good Love of Good seems to be the supream of all our Passions that to which all the rest of our Affections lead and in which all our Faculties terminate from which all our other Passions issue and by which the Mind governs the Body and is governed it self And the greater and better the Good is the more naturally it is loved Therefore as we have shewed that according to natural Order this Good of the Mind ought to be preferr'd before the Good of the Body so that which is right and fit and becoming before any other Good of the Mind that is the Moral before the Natural for the one is in order to the other This Subordination and Subserviency which is so conspicuous among our several Faculties shews us that it is God's Will that we should thus reduce our selves out of that Ataxy and Conftssion into which Sin has brought us into that excellent Harmony and Serviceableness of one Faculty to another and of all to the supream that we should assert the Minds Superiority over the Body and as to what is principal in the Mind viz. the love of what is fit and becoming that all the rest should be brought under subjection to it I might now proceed to abundance of Particulars but that they would detain me too long on this Argument It may be sufficient to my purpose in general that whosoever considers the various Faculties of Man and the Order and Reference they have to each other the many Inclinations and Appetites and Capacities of our Natures and the Operations which do necessarily flow from them and will allow that the Exercise and Perfection of and keeping due order amongst these natural Faculties the following these Inclinations and the Gratification of these Appetites the filling up these Capacities the doing these Actions which necessarily follow Nature are the Will of our Creator as they must be unless he has made things in vain that is unless he knew not or car'd not what he did From thence he will most certainly collect abundance of the Divine Laws and attain to a most clear Knowledg of what God requires of him If we further consider the Reference Man has 1. To God 2. To other Men. 3. The Order and Rank and Relation he is in to Inferiour Animals and other Beings we should presently discover what kind of Behaviour becomes him on all these accounts i. e. what is best and therefore fittest for such a one in such Circumstances to do and consequently what is the Will of the wise and good Maker and Governour Thus we have discovered God's Will that we should do good not only from a Consideration of the Divine Nature to which Goodness is essential But likewise from a view of the Nature which he has given us which is
various Dispensations and Providences to his Church This it seems was a Secret to the Angels themselves But what is this of which so great things are spoken This that is called a Mystery that deserves so great a Name For it intimates to us 1. That it is a thing of great importance and moment a matter of great consequence as well as 2. That it is secret and concealed And indeed if it were not a matter of moment the Obscurity and Secrecy of it would not make it of more account with wise Men whatever it may do with the Ignorant This was an Art the Heathens used to bâ— get in the Worshippers of their Gods a Veneration of their Religion by concealing some parts of it and turning them into Mystery They in this imitated some Painters who draw a Curtain which hath nothing behind it But far be it from us to imagine any such Artisice used by the Author and Publishers of the true Religion No their business hath been to reveal not hide not to obscure and vail but to declare and uncover Truths They have manifested them to us as much as the Matters themselves and our Capacities would bear and when they have done all such is the greatness of some things in Religion and such is the littleness of our Understanding that there will yet and alway remain something that is beyond our reach too big for us to comprehend too glorious for our Minds to behold There are Mysteries to the highest Angels of Heaven much more to us Mortals Their knowledg is gradual That now saith the Apostle in the tenth verse of this Chapter unto the Principalities and Powers in heavinly Places might be known by the Church the manifold Wisdom of God and so may ours well be thought It increases according to the further discoveries God makes to us so that that is known in a following Age which was not in the formet Thus it was in this particular before us That the Gentiles should be Fellow-heirs and of the same Body and Partakers of his Promise in Christ by the Gospel For the full understanding of which Words and the Mystery they import we will consider I. In what condition the Gentiles were before they were called to be Christians II. Their excellent State after they became Christians And from both these will appear how great things are done for the Gentiles and how much the Christian Dispensation excells not only the Gentile but the Jewish also This is exprest in the Text by such Words that they are Fellow-heirs c. III. We will consider by what means this is to be done which is here also declared to be the Gospel IV. And then we will conclude with some Inferences I. As to the Condition of the Gentiles before Christianity 1. If we take an account of this Matter from the Jews I know not whether we should look on the Gentiles to be Men or not for they will scarce afford the Nations as they call'd them by way of contempt as we say the People any better Names than Dogs But we will not rely upon them who were so highly conceited of themselves and their own Privileges and who treated all other Men with so much disdain and scorn as the Jews are known to have done Nor 2. Will we take our account from some Christians of a Jewish Spirit who confine the Divine Love to some Places and Times and will not allow that God has had any regard at all for Men that have not been baptized in these latter or circumcised in the former Ages If they were not of such a Denomination within such an Inclosure they exclude them from the Favour of God and look on them as wholly rejected as those for whom God has no regard at all They will not allow them to be in any possibility of escaping the Torments of Hell and the Miseries of the future State That is because God thought not fit to confer on them all the Privileges which he vouchsafed to some they conclude he had no kindness for them Because he bestowed on the Israâ—â—â—â—es greater Helps to Vertue than he 〈◊〉 to the rest of the World which he 〈…〉 partly for the sakes of those excellâ—â—tly good Men from whom they sprang and partly because they were so very â—ull and hard-hearted as Moses every â—here tells them therefore in compassion to their Infirmities he vouchsafed them â—â—ese Helps therefore he loved the Israelâ—tes and had no affection for any other Or because we Christians are bless'd with the Gospel-Revelation which is not made to others that therefore God loves us only and either hates of slights all the World besides All which are great Mistakes and false Conclusions which neither agree with the natural Notions which we all have of God for with the Revelations he has made of himself For how can we conceive that that God who is Love it self and the tender and compassionate Father of Spirits and who hath inculcated this in the Bible that he loves the World and desires not the Death of a Sinner that he should lay aside all thoughts of the far greatest part of Mankind and wholly abandon their interests that he should have no care of their Concerns no regard whether they be happy or miserable for ever No no these are unworthy dishonourable unnatural unreasonable unscriptural Representations of God Men of these conceits make our Condition worse than 〈◊〉 Jews themselves for the Jews as I reâ—ember thought the Gentiles would not after death but these Men conclude 〈◊〉 under everlasting Wo. And as much 〈…〉 is better not to be than to be miserable so much better do the Jews think of the Gentiles than such mistaken Christians We will dismiss â—oth these and take our Information from Scripture We will neither rely on the proud and scornful Jews nor yet on such narrow-spirited Christians as I have mentioned but see what representation the Gospel makes of the Gentiles See in the second Chapter of this Epistle where the Apostle describes to us the State of these Ephesians before they became Christians and we have no reason to think them to have been worse than others Verse 1. They were dead in Trespasses and Sins So immerst in them that there was very little hope they should ever get out of them They walk'd in them it was their practice their course and way of life According to the fashion or course 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of this World after the guise and manner of Men as to the far greatest part According to the Prince of the Power of the Air the Spirit that now works in the Children of Disobedience i. e. They liv'd in obedidience to and were under the Dominion of the Devil to whom they are still in subjection who will not obey the Divine Laws Doing the VVill of the Flesh and of the Mind that is indulging themselves in Sensuality and also being Slaves to Pride and Revenge and such which I take here to be
engage us also to do or suffer any thing for them We cannot but draw this easy Conclusion If he so loved us we ought also to love one another I mention only some and those but a few of the Advantages which we may and do receive by the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper for the increase of our Holiness and our Peace And this may suffice at present to the Sixth Particular I now proceed to the Seventh and last Seventhly The wise and good Counsels together with the holy and virtuous Examples of the Members of this Society both those that are on Earth and those that are in Heaven There is no Member of the Christian Church who wants Counsel or deserves Reproof or to whom Exhortation is necessary but lives among those who both can and will as Occasion serves advise and rebuke and persuade him for the Christian is fully instructed in what is good and fit and it is his duty not to suffer Sin upon his Brother but we are to exhort one another daily to the practice of Holiness And if we look into the Remains of the good Men who in former Ages were Members of the Church on Earth we shall find a rich Treasure of most wise and excellent Counsels that will direct our Behaviour in every Condition we can fall into These are extant in the Books of the Scripture and in other Writings of a Christian Spirit and Temper And as for the Examples how many are those that have gone before us in the ways of Holiness and Vertue whose Practice is our sure Guide in the ways that lead to Happiness I need not mention those known and celebrated Names of Abraham Isaac and Jacob of Job and David and the Prophets of the Lord who were all Members of the same Church of which the Eternal Word the only Begotten of the Father is the Head Besides these ancient Worthies we have the Lives of those good Men who were with and since our Saviour who have set us the fairest Copies of Meekness and Humility of an undaunted Courage a firm Patience an Obedience to Superiors a Justice and Honesty in all Dealings an universal Charity and Good-will an exact Temperance a true and an excellent Religion In short they have gone before us in all the ways of Holiness and Goodness But over and above and which is more than all these we have upon sure Record the most admirable Patern of Goodness that ever the World saw in the most excellent Life of our most blessed Lord. There is Holiness in perfection and Vertue in its most exalted state there we see the utmost possibilities of Goodness to which Human Nature can be raised on this Earth This and the rest of those great Examples serve to instruct our Ignorance to quicken our Dulness and to encourage our Faintings and Despondencies Besides these we have Examples of Men now alive which teach us Religion and Vertue and engage us to practise it As bad as the World is there are those who shine as Lights in the midst of the darkness of this Earth There are many whom the Grace of God hath taught to live soberly and righteously and godly who keep their Appetites and Passions under due restraint and good government so that they are harmless in their Conversation and not only so but they live to the good purposes of promoting their own and other Mens good Estate and Welfare I have now briefly touched upon the Privileges Men do or may receive by being Members of the Christian Church but I have not in my Discourse observed the Method which I intended because I would be shorter I shall therefore only mention how it is with them in respect of God and of the Devil And briefly the Case is thus in respect of God That it is a matter of far less difficulty for us who have the Gospel and live tho but in the outward Communion with the Church to repent of our Sins and become good Men and to live holy Lives than it was or is to any others This is now made so practicable so feasible a matter that no Man falls short of it who is not foolishly obstinate unaccountably sottish and unnaturally neglectful of himself and careless of his own Happiness so that whoever fails it must be resolved into his own gross stupidity sottishness and self-neglect for he is now put into a condition and capacity of receiving the greatest Mercies from the Divine Bounty and is in the way in which God usually does communicate them But as many as are recovered out of a state of Sin to a Life of Vertue their past Sins are all pardoned their frequent Infirmities and Shortnesses are also remitted so as they shall not rise up in Judgment to condemn them and they have eternal Life ascertain'd to them by the immutable Promise of that God who cannot lie They are under his Protection and special Providence who orders all things that befall them so as that they turn to their Advantage and are made serviceable to their Vertue and will increase their Happiness Lastly As to the Devil the Prince of the Power of the Air the Spirit that works in the Children of Disobedience They are redeem'd from under his Vassalage he hath now no more Power over them he cannot domineer over their Souls or Bodies as he did before the coming of our Saviour His Oracles are silenced his Power lessened the Light of the glorious Gospel hath scatter'd the Powers of Darkness so that now they creep into the Corners of the Earth Now that Mens Souls are freed from the Ignorance and those Errors under which they were held their Bodies are also free from the Hellish Cruelties of Tyrannical Fiends They are no longer under the Power of Satan now that they are become Subjects of the Kingdom of Christ who hath conquered and triumphed over the Head of the Apostate Spirits and hath the Keys of Hell and Death Thus I have briefly represented the great Benefits which accrue to Men by being Members of the Church of Christ whether we consider them as single Persons or as in Societies with reference to God or the Devil For whether we consider the Greatness and Largeness the vast Extent and long Continuance of the Church or the excellent Wisdom and Goodness of many of its Members whether we look on the Engagement laid upon them in their first Admission into the Church or the admirable Order and Government of it or the incomparably good Laws which are given to all its Members or the proper and wholesom Discipline which is used in it or the Religious Exercises which are used in the Publick Assemblies we must necessarily confess that all these will have a mighty Influence on Men to make them good in themselves and good in all their Relations And if they become good they are then from under the Dominion of the Devil and within the Kingdom and so under the Protection and Care of the Soveraign Lord of
Title affected a greater Authority then is competible to Men. 2. Their wretched Covetousness which shewed it self in the Instances of devouring Widows Houses of esteeming the Gifts and the Gold above the Altar and the Temple 3. Their abominable Hypocrisy which appeared in their teaching others to do what themselves would not do in serving a carnal Interest by a Religious Carriage making long Prayers in pretence and wearing broader Phylacteries that so under these Vizards they might pass more unsuspected and have a better Opportunity to seize on their prey This further appeared in their partial Obedience chusing to obey those Commands that were least considerable but yet make the greatest appearance of an extraordinary Holiness whilst they omitted the weightier and more necessary but which have less of Pomp and Ostentation They were much in external Washings and Purifications neglecting to wash their Hearts from Wickedness They 〈◊〉 Mint and Anise and Cummin in which they would seem to supererrogate their Goodness transcending the too narrow Bounds of the Law whilst they omitted Faith and Judgment and Meroy They would build the Sepulchres of the Prophets whom their Fathers had slain whilst themselves persecuted and at last murdered the greatest Prophet that ever the World had Who could have believed that they who pretended to such as honourable Esteem of the Dead should have so little Affection for the Living The fairest account of this Carriage is this Nos mericles ca qua per didimus bona magni facimus qua habimus nihili But perhaps the truest is mortui non â—â—rdent The Prophets that were dead could not be Witnesses of their Wickedness nor rebuke them otherwise than by their Writings which themselves having both the keeping and the interpreting of would be sure to make them speak nothing to their Disparagement But tho they could either conceal or put a false gloss on the Writings of dead Men yet they could not either silence our Saviour or by any Arts of interpreting clude the sense of his Words No he would speak and tell them their Faults truly and plainly These and such like were those great Crimes in these Enemies of our Religion which our Blessed Saviour so severely taxed and threatned Whereupon it might have been supposed that his Disciples had been out of danger of these Evils that they would not have come near the place where their Pilot had set a Sea-mark But not to go further back whose takes a view of the Christian Church at least a great part of it in these Western Parts as Erasmus hath represented it he 'll say that Pharisaism then lived and râ—â—gned as much as ever Our Saviour had not it 〈◊〉 by all those terrible Denunciations afrighted this unchristian Temper out of the World but it appeared rather to have gotten ground and to have prevailed against the true Christian Spirit Now as Erasmus complains the Disciples of Christ are more truly Pharisees than the Pharisees themselves and Christians are become more ceremonious than Jews How every where doth so far this in the Romish Church even in those that should have been Examples of good Works And what Reformation hath since been made let every Man judg who doth not only judg of Things by Names and of Men by Professions There hath indeed been a very great and good Change made for which thousands of Souls must bless God but that much of this Leaven of the Pharisees still remains is too notorious that this Proteus who can change himself into any Shape or Colour who is of all Sects and Professions who can be Pagan or Jew or Mahometan or Christian Papist or Protestant a Member of the Church of Rome or Geneva Scotland or England a Teacher or a Learner That he is under these several Forms that this Pharisee is to be found in the Christian Church as well as the Jewish Synagogues that he is both of 〈◊〉 and Bellarmine's Persuasion a Follower of Calvin and of Arminius In brief I know no Way no Sect but this Serpent insinuates it self amongst them That I be not mistaken I understand by all this what our Saviour plainly taxes viz. a Spirit of Pride that affects and arrogates undeserved Titles and a Power which no Man can reasonably challenge of Covetousness or an Humour of monopolizing all the World a neglect of the greatest Commands with endeavours to make amends by a Zeal in the lesser matters An exact Observance of Externals with a Supine Omission of the Intrinsicks and Essentials of Religion such are Truth and Justice Love to God and Men. This is what I understand by a Pharisee Whilst I am on this Argument I must insert this necessary Caution that all I aim at is to tax the Vices of some Men in our Church not to disparage all Let none therefore take occasion from what I say to wrest my Words and think me an Enemy to the Church who if I had been so I should then have been silent or flatter'd and said all is well Let none be so unreasonably suspicious of my honest Intentions as to think me to be undermining whilst I am really using the best Method I know to build and settle That I take to be a free and plain censuring a publick Notice-taking of those Sins that are done openly in the Face of the Sun such we are guilty of and these are the Disturbers of our Peace these shake our Foundations These are they that cause Earthquakes and raise those Tempests that threaten our Subversion Whilst we pretend to instruct others who are grosly ignorant our selves to exhort them to a diligent Observance of those Commands which we neglect and so pull down what we would seem to build Whilst we are frequently guilty of profane Swearing Intemperance and other Immoralities we open other Mens Mouths but stop our own for we cannot condemn that in them which we allow in our selves nor can they approve that in us which we have taught to condemn in them Whilst we live in the neglect of God are really without any Sense of or Love to him in our Minds have not Faith and Hope in him Whilst we are void of true Love to Men are so far from Charity from Bounty and Kindness that we are not Just Whilst we omit Judgment Mercy and Faith tho we be very punctual in all lesser Observances both of God's and the Churches Commands we are no better than they who tithed Mint and Anise and Cummin and made long Prayers And if we be such our Saviour threatens us and Men not only threaten us but our way too by such Practices a good way is evil spoken of Assuredly those are the things that have given Men that Advantage against us which else they could never have had for Who shall harm us if we do well No certainly if we lived in the Love of God and of all Men in Humility and meekness in Temperance in Justice and Truth in Mercy and Goodness tho our Church-Constitutions were
Disquiets When he first manifested himself to Adam after his disobedience how sedately does he reason it with him and Eve and it was in the cool of the Day the time fittest for Quiet Meditation Afterward when he was pleased to visit Noah and to make a Covenant with Abrâ—ham and renewed it with Isaac and Jacob how did he lay aside Majesty and appear to them in such a manner that they seem not at all to have been terrified as their familiar Conference makes very plain In the giving of the Law on Sinai tho' the Divine Wisdom thought it necessary to make some Impressions on the fears of a People that were sunk below more ingenuous Principles yet that terrible Sight was at a distance from them and they received the Law from Moses a Man like themselves And in all the old Dispensation when God manifested himself and his Will to the Prophets and by them to the rest of Mankind how well did all his Administrations comport with the calm and composed Frame of Man's Mind That which was once said might be said almost generally of all the Divine Appearances to Man that God was not in the Wind nor in the Earthquake nor in the Fire Kings 19. 11. all terrible things but in the still Voice But that which makes this undeniable is the last and great Administration of Humane Affairs by God's only begotten Son and by his Holy Spirit The Son of God became Man and took upon him the form of a Servant that we might think of and address to him without any Discomposure And how quietly did he behave himself He indeed fulfilled the Prophecy which said that he should not cry nor lift up nor cause his Voice to be heard in the Street As he was meek and lowly all his Life so at his Death like a Sheep before his Shearers is â—â—mb so he opened not his mouth If at any time he clad himself in Zeal and appeared in Anger yet this troublesom Passion was in him so moderate and calm and under the Government of Wisdom and Charity that it neither discomposed him nor those with whom he conversed The holy Spirit of God in his most plentiful effusions had not this effect to make Men raving and frantick but calm and composed All his Influences fall on our Souls gently and easily he does not use Violence and Force but moves us naturally He does not afright and amaze but insinuate nor suddenly excite vehement Passions but instruct and teach and in this natural way raises those Affections that are consequent on and do comport with the use of our Minds If we take a view of all the Methods which the Wisdom of God has used with us we shall observe that his Doctrine has â—iâ—â—illed on us as the Dew and his Speech has drâ—pp'd as the Rain as the small Rain on the tender Grass as Moses said of his that is gently and gradually and in no such way as might astonish and dismay us As there was no noise of Axes and Hammers in building the Temple at Jerusalem so neither has any noise been in building the Temple of which that was a Type the Christian Church Since then God hath been pleased to administer humane affairs in so quiet and still a way as not to put us into the least Discomposure we cannot but conclude that a quiet even frame of Spirit is with God a thing of great Price and therefore most excellently Good 4. If any desire yet further assurance in this matter let him consider the Nature of Man Let him consider it both Singly and in Society and see if Quietness be not exceedingly well suited to it and if the contrary be not very incongruous Let any one that sees a Man in Fury and Rage or under any disturbance say if he be himself if this become him On the contrary if he see him quiet and composed and reason calmly and cooly this is a pleasing Sight now he acts as he thinks a Man should It is for Lions and Tigers for Bears and Wolves to roar and howl and rage but this is not fit for Men it belongs to them to reason and to be wise and judge truly of things but Wisdom and Vnquietness are seldom consistent together And for Society tho' it is a most lovely thing when the Members of it are all united in a firm Peace yet when they are Quarrel some and Contentious when they are cashing with each others Interests there is not a more horrid Monster to be found than this It appears ugly and deformed to all Men. From whence it appears that Quietness is most agreeable to Humane Nature whether alone or incorporated in Society and consequently highly good and commendable I need not add to this how well it becomes us as Christians to be quiet I will only say this he that hath the Faith of Christ what should dismay or disquiet him He may triumph over all the troublers of other Mens Peace and say that none of them all shall discompose him 5. To this we may add the numberless Advantages which arise from being quiet both to Single Persons and to Bodies of Men. He that keeps himself undisturb'd hath a clear understanding a perfect freedom and is hereby enabled to the best Discharge of all the Functions of his Mind He enjoys a great and constant satisfaction this being the State of and according to Epicurus the highest Pleasure In short this Man hath attain'd to a great degree of happiness already and is in the ready way to the most consummate Perfection and Bliss of which he is capable 6. This is intrinsecal to and an essential part of Happiness insomuch that it cannot be without it No Man that is in trouble is happy and no Man that is quiet can be thought miserable After all this which is but a short summary of what might be said to shew the goodness the profitableness the absolute necessity of Quiet sure every one will set an high value on this most inestimable Jewel and will by no means prodigally throw away his own nor uncharitably hinder other Men's Quiet Nay I hope every one will by the excellent Goodness of this be perswaded to be so wise as to provide for and secure Quiet to himself and that he will also in all prudent and fit ways bestir himself that all others may live quiet and peaceable Lives as well as himself Since therefore Quiet is so necessary to so great a part of humane Happiness out of the desire we have that both we and others should be happy let us endeavour to keep them and our selves quiet and as we would not be accessary to our own or their misery let us not trouble our selves or them III. I proceed now to the Directions and Advices whereby we may be assisted in the Performance of this great and good Duty I begin with those that respect every Man 's own Quiet Indeed this is in the first place to be looked to because
Thus Timothy after him was promoted to an high Office in the Church and he had been nourish'd up in the Words of Faith and good Doctrine and from a Child had known the Scriptures The other Apostles of our Lord however defective their first Educationn might have been yet they had this Want supplied by three Years Conversation with our Lord and after he left them they were miraculously inspired with the Spirit of Wisdom And lastly which is very considerable the blessed Jesus himself was subject to his Parents and went with them to Jerusalem at twelve Years old where he was amongst the Doctors and asked them Questions He 's said to grow in Wisdom c. and he grew by those ways of Instruction which were ordinary His Parents directed the Doctors informed him by which he has honoured and as it were consecrated this Way and has greatly commended it to us all When the Son of God himself was train'd up in this way whilst he was young we should all look on this Way as the best Method we can take with our Children And After this Example I shall not need to mention any more 〈◊〉 this is sufficient to convince us of the Goodness of this Way and that 't is ordinarily necessary to fit Men for any high Place But if we aim at no more for our Children than so much Wisdom and Goodness as will qualify them to discharge themselves faithfully and honestly in any ordinary way of Life yet neither is this to be expected ordinarily unless they be instructed and principled and exercised to it in their first Age. Of this we may be further satiâ—fied if we take notice how it is with us all in other Matters Does any one come to great Skill in his Profession and Trade to which he has not been bound Apprentice in his younger Years Or if some few do yet nevertheless the other is the common way of Men. And we look on the tender Age as the proper Time of beginning to learn any thing and that if we do not inuâ—e our Children betimes they will be in great danger of miscarrying And if it be so in all things else why should it not hold in the matter before us is it because Vertue is not difficult or that Institution and Exercise the common way of attaining to other things are not the means of acquiring this Or is it because we think Children uncapable of such Principles But none of these are true and therefore if we do wisely in binding those that are young to Trades putting them betimes into this or that Employment which we would have them follow and come to the Master 〈…〉 we shall also do no less wisely to bind them out betimes Apprentices to Vertue and Goodness which is the Way of them and of all Men. And if we do not this we do not act uniformly we contradict our selves and do not that in one Case which we approve in all other tho there be no difference I now speak of Education in general and that which I say is Let your Children be taught something or other that they may be fitting themselves against they be Men to be employed in some way that will be beneficial to themselves and the Publick That I might the more effectually persuade you to this I have appealed to your own Observation and to ancient History whether this be not the only likely way to make good and useful Men I will now offer you Reason why it must be so Young tender Minds are more apt to receive Impression and to retain those that are made them afterward the Reason of which I take to be this that they are more vacant to attend they are not prepossefs'd with nor so fixedly busy about nor intent on other things those Impressions that get first possession keep it the Experience of Mankind does attest this Quo semel est imbuta recens servabit odorem Testa diu And it is semblably in other sorts of Creatures both Animals and Plants they are all we know more teachable and more pliant at first than afterwards This may convince us of the Necessity of teaching them betimes that which we would have them understand perfectly Let me add this That our Minds come to Knowledg gradually that there is no one way of Life but there are many things to be known before we comprehend it fully that this requires Time and Trial that therefore we should begin early But besides Knowledg Practice is required and to be doing is the way to do well Now to begin betimes to do what we would do perfectly is very necessary because we shall be sooner accustomed to it and be kept from accustoming our selves to other things For 't is observable that sewer Actions shall habituate a Child to any Practice than a grown Man It sooner and easier becomes a Custom if it be begun in tender Years than at full Growth as you can easily with a hand bend a Plant when a Tree will not yield to all your Might But this is sufficient to give you a view of the Reason why it is so which your own Thoughts may easily trace further I will now dismiss this Argument by which I hope as many as will attend to what either themselves observe or is observed in History will be persuaded to look well to the Education of their Children because according to all Observation and that not without good reason to second it this is the only ordinary way to make them good and useful Would you have your Children come to good would you have them useful in their place in some way or other This is the only Method in which you can probably expect it take care of them in their first Time see to their Instruction and their Practice in their tender Years If we had no such Assurance of the Likelihood of this our timely Care to produce such great Effects yet the very Apprehension that it is meerly possible for so much Good to come of it should methinks engage us to make the Experiment and we can't doubt the Possibility when we have Examples before our Eyes what has been done And if this be so what manner of Parents what kind of Men are those that are not moved with so fair a prospect of so much Good of so many and great Benefits as may come to their Child or Scholar to themselves to their whole Family the Town and Country where he was born the Church and State of which he is a Member Would ye not have your Children to be good and useful to enjoy Wealth and Honour amongst Men on Earth and to find Mercy with God at the great Day and to be happy for ever Surely there 's none so role of naturel Affection as not to desire this But why then do you not endeavour that it may be thus with them Why do you not as much as in you lies form them 〈◊〉 all that Wisdom and Vertue whilst they are
are as well necessary as available to the attaining of all those Ends which Wisdom can design It will much conduce to their Accomplishment and they cannot be obtained without it The Ends which Wisdom aims at are the good State of a Man's self in particular and of the World in general That 's ill Nature misguided by Folly which intends more Evil than Good or Evil not in order to Good That which only designs a particular Good without regard to the more common is Subtilty Craft and Selfishness but only that is Wisdom which designs the Welfare of particulars and the Community too It is said of Solomon that he was a Man of a large Heart as the Sand on the Sea And Wisdom is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a loving Spirit and is said to have his Delights with the Sons of Men Prov. 8. 31. It gives a Man an Aptitude a Largeness of Heart and Greatness of Mind Now where there is Love and that not contracted and pent up in a narrow Soul it will desire the Welfare of all This then being supposed that Wisdom aims at the good Estate of the Man himself and of others as it is certainly true and therefore we never say any Man designs wisely who intends Mischief but only he who designs Good or a particular and less Evil in order to a common and greater Good These being the Ends which Wisdom proposes what more accommodate means can be chosen for attaining this End than to do the Good that is within our Power Nothing more natural than to be doing that which we wish should be and that our Endeavours accompany our Wishes And tho I cannot say that every particular Man's Endeavours are necessary to the Welfare of the Publick because the All-wise Providence hath taken care that the Publick Good shall not depend on so great an Uncertainty as is every single Man's Goodness of himself yet whosoever doth not cast in his Mite into the publick Treasury he so far diminishes and takes off from the Publick Good And however doing Good to others is absolutely necessary to his own Good State Tho my Endeavours may not be necessary for the Good of others they are for my own It remains then that I shew in particular that this is one of those means which are both effectual and necessary to the attaining of whatever Wisdom can aim at either as to a Man 's own particular or the World in general When a Man considers himself throughly he considers both his Reference to this and to the future Life And he that intends wisely for himself he principally intends the Welfare of his Soul the good State of his Mind and that his Body may be in a Condition to serve that and all other things contributing to the Welfare of both Particularly he proposes to his aim Knowledg Religion and Vertue Tranquillity and Pleasure Life and Health a good Name and a competent Estate And true Wisdom that loving Spirit will design for others as for it self Now to do good universally is the best and a very sure plain and short way both to get and to keep these things both for our selves and others First It is the way to the best Knowledg For 1. He that 's bent to do all the Good he can to Men will be diligent to get Knowledg that he may be able to inform others None that considers but knows thiâ— to be one of the great Excellencies of Man and that we cannot be more uâ—eful to each other than by communicating useful Truths For by this means we direct the Ignorant and perhaps erring Travellers nay we open the Eyes of the Blind we give Light to them that sit in Darkness In short by this we lay the Foundation of Vertue and Peace and there 's no Man but knows this that Knowledg is one of the best Gifts that one Man can give or communicate to another He therefore that 's resolved to do all the Good he can will earnestly seek after that Knowledg which will be so benesicial to others as well as himself and he doth not only seek it for the Improvement of his own Mind but hath this further Inducement to search after it that he may be more beneficial to other Men. He doth now not only study as Seneca saith Vt proficiat sed ut prosit not only to better himself but others also Nor is he only ingaged to study but 2. Is also determin'd to seek after that Knowledg which is best which is most useful and brings the greatest Benefits with it He that steers the Course of his Studies by a design of doing Good will not spend his time in Trifles and Curiosities in idle and empty Speculations in groundless Conjectures and endless Disquisitions His pursuit is not after any piece of useless Learning and all that he counts such which doth not make him wiser or better which doth not help him to direct his Life to govern his Passions by Reason and Vertue to quiet his Mind to preserve his Health and rid him of ill Circumstances and be some way useful to other Men. And then 3. He will be very communicative of what he knows and there is no better way to get to keep to improve Knowledg than to communicate it The liberal Soul will not Usurer-like hoard up Knowledg and applaud himself that he knows such and such matters of which others are ignorant No but he takes a Pleasure in the Information of others and heartily endeavours to make them as wise as himself and whilst he instructs them he refreshes his own Notions and preserves a Memory of them And indeed this Furniture of Souls i like that of Houses if it be kept close and unused it grows mouldy and Moth or Rust corrupt it whereas if commonly used and open to common sight it 's preserv'd This is the Sum An earnest design of doing the Good we can to other Men will engage us to seek after Knowledg after the best and most useful and when we have got it to communicate it to others and in all these ways increases it in our selves Secondly To do Good unto all Men is the way to be truly religious Religion or to have a due regard to God this is certainly one of the greatest Perfections of Man's Mind It 's that wherein we manifestly excel all the Creatures of this lower World and is the most spiritual divine Quality in the Soul of Man Besides it is impossible we should be happy without it for if it be necessary to our Happiness that we think truly of and be rightly affected to things in which we are less concern'd 't is absolutely necessary that we have right Apprehensions of and beâ—itting Affections to God who is offered to our Thoughts so often and with whom we always are the Knowledg of whom is Eternal Life For the clearing of this I will not now shew how great a part of Religion doing Good is because I have already discours'd
him and tho it be pleasant to other Eyes to behold this Light it makes his to smart and puts them out The Angry Person is never quiet is like the troubled Sea ever casting up Mire and Dirt. Every Wind causes the Waves to rise every Word casts him into Disorders nay Silence it self will cause Commotions in him so that Contraries have the same effect on this Subject and his vitiated Palate is disgâ—sted both with â—owre and sweet This is one of the Race of the churlish Fool Nabal of whom we read that he was such a Son of Belial that he could not be spoke to And if he be desirous of Revenge how fearful is he to take it And yet how impatient till it be had And how restless when he hath it for fear of a Reâ—aliation And the Man of immoderate unreasonable Desires is tormented before they are accomplished and when they are is unsatisfied and disappointed The Sensualist his Expectations are great his Enjoyments next to nothing and both full of Trouble the first of a Delay the second of a Defeat The Ambitious Man is vex'd to the Soul that others do not make that account of him that he doth of himself that they do not esteem him as much as he would have them much more perhaps than he doth deserve and many times than he knows he deserves Tho some tho many honour him if any one cast a slight on him he cannot bear it This great little Man that is so big in Conceit and so small in Truth so little in other Mens Opinions and so great in his own can never be at rest because there can be no agreement betwixt his Thoughts and Things betwixt his and other Men. He doth not think of himself as he is nor will others think as he doth He can never have his Wishes and his Desires are impossible and can never be accomplished And the same or greater is the Trouble of the Covetous that poor rich Man is in perpetual Disquiet He is infinitely sollicitous to get and as anxious to keep He is anxious to have and fearful to lose and being rack'd betwixt Desire and Fear he enjoys nothing He seeks for Riches when he hath them and seeks endlesly because tho he finds what he sought he knows it not nor doth he think himself rich tho he be And 't is all one as to Enjoyment whether a Man have a small Estate or a poor Mind whether he be poor or conceit he is so therefore is it that he hath and hath not that he wants what he hath Thus is he distracted betwixt getting and keeping And certainly infinite are the Cares and Anxieties that disquiet these Two-penny Souls 1 Tim. 6. 10. For the Love of Money is the Root of all Evil which while some have coveted after they have erred from the Faith and pierced themselves through with many Sorrows 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 transfixerunt And are not these three the great Incendiaries of the World and the Troublers of our Peace both within and without But lastly The Remorse and Anguish that arises from Conscience of Sin when they have at any time been transported by the Rage of Anger or Madness or Envy or by unsatiable Desires of Esteem or Wealth or Pleasure so as to imbrue their hands in the Blood of some harmless Abel or Vriah or take away honest Naboth's Vineyard When they have maliciously belied a blameless Joseph or some way or other have irreparably and undeservedly injured their innocent Neighbour then is it that they feel the sharp Stings of an unquiet Conscience then are they frighted with Ghosts and Specters and lash'd with Furies and gash'd with the deep Wounds of self-accusing Thoughts And these are certainly the most inward and piercing the most insupportable of all the Sorrows of which the Mind of Man is capable Now let us see what an Antidote universal Good-will is to preserve us from these that are the worst of Diseases Charity saith the Apostle envies not it is not troubled that Men are so well but desirous they should be better and happier than they are And the Reason of this follows for us said She seeks not her own that is not only nor chiefly nor in opposition to the Concerns of all others The charitable Man will take care to be innocent none shall ever be wrong'd by him nor shall any suffer or be worse by what he doth where that is not necessary to publick Good Nor secondly doth he in the first place intend himself nor doth his own single Interest in his Esteem outweigh the Concerns of many but he always gives the Verdict for the Community against a private tho it be his own Interest Nor thirdly doth he much less only and wholly design himself he knows not how to confine his Thoughts and Desires to so narrow a Compass but his Goodness hath enlarged his Soul and stretch'd it forth as far as there is any Being And where Love hath taken possession of any Man it constrains him to wish well and do Good to All so that where this Plant of God's planting grows those Roots of Bitterness Envy and Malice are pluck'd up and cast out Where this Divine Temper of Benignity and Beneficence is Envy and Malice can have no place Where a Man is so outed of himself and all particular and private Affections and Respects are brought into due Order and a fit Compliance with the more publick and universal there is no Foundation for envious Discontents or malicious Purposes When this Spirit and Power of the blessed Jesus the Son of God appears those Furies and Fiends those evil Spirits vanish and flie away as the Shadows of the Night do before the Brightness of the Sun Anger tho it may sometimes by surprize enter into the loving Soul yet it cannot stay there This mighty Power of God the Spirit of Benignity commands these Winds and Storms and bids them obey and they are quickly calm and still and the Face of the Soul is presently smooth and clear again This Cordial soon allayâ— the Feverish Heats of that Passion and quenches the Violence of a Fire that was kindled in Hell and would consume the World We read of some Evil-Spirits that would cast those into the Fire that were possess'd of them Such is Anger also it casts into the Fire and makes them foam and tears them in whom it is But this Power of God this great Love casts it out also When David the Love that 's after God's own Heart plays on his Harp before Saul the evil-Evil-Spirit will go from him Thus Goodness easeth the Soul of that Vexation which arises from An Besides It suffers no plotting of Revenge nor Contrivances of retaliating Evil for Evil and so prevents some of the greatest and most violent Disturbances which we are subject to And how accurately well doth it bound and moderate those Desires which when they are irregular are the Causes of so great Disquiet For our Love to