so weighty a conclusion 〈◊〉 may return to this most certain and most compendious way to her own Happiness which is to be acquired by bearing Afflâ—ction patiently and endeavouring to overcome whatever tempts her during the time of this her Pilgrimage â—ith a careful preparing of her self for her future Condition by such Noble Actions and Heroick Qualifications of Mind as shall render her most welcome to her own Country which belief and â—uâ—pose 〈…〉 in an utter in câ—pacity of eâ—ther 〈…〉 at nothing but what is not in the Power of Mâ—n to confirm upon her with Câ—urage she â—ets upon the main Work and being still more â—aithful to her self and to that light that asiâ—â—s her at lasts she tasts the Fruites of her Future Harveâ—â— and does more then presage that great Happiness that is accrewing to her and quits her from the troubles and anxieties of this preâ—â—nt World stays with it in Tranquility and Content 〈◊〉 at last leaves it with Joy. Therefore let us furâ—â—er consider that the Soul has Four Qualities beâ—â—use her Faculties are Fourfold The First is Unâ—erstanding The Second is the Will The Third 〈◊〉 the Memory The Fourth is the Affections 〈◊〉 Heart which is the principle Seat of the Rational 〈◊〉 The Mind is the inward Act. The Thoughts 〈◊〉 the Mind the Fountain of Counsel the soul of Life 〈◊〉 understand by the Mind and live by the Soul. 〈…〉 A Deceision or a Demonstration of the Mutual and Reciprocal Relation betwixt the Soul and the Body 1. THE true Love of God raises the Soul to the highest Perfection the purest and fullest Love shall wear always the weightiest Crown of Gloâ—y Where this Love is if it meet with hard Precepts it desolves it into sweet promises and fills the Heart with the shining Beauty of Soul ravishing delights by Divine Respiration giving it true Repose causing the Delights and Pleasures to be as Capacious as the Soul that lovely Creature of God whom his Majesty is always pleased to fill with an Ineffable Pleasure in perpetually extending their Knowledge of Intellection by Consequences and Lights always New which they draw from their Light and their Knowledge always acquired they always find something to be discovered in the Immense Spaces of Truth they always find some-Shing to be enlightned with of the Perfection of the aupream Essence which they always see all entire and ill exposed to their Eyes and which they never knew so perfectly but that there always remains something further to be known and discovered they always Drink of this Lively and Eternal Spring and are always a Thirst they drein from thence every moment by a full and entire Knowledge of the intuitive Vision but they always find it full and inexhaustable to Reason and Intellection which they always make a further Progress into and further still find something to be known in the Fountain of its infinite Incomprehensibility The Reprobate Souls do also find by the exercise of their reasonings a Thousand and a Thousand New dispairs in their State of Reprobation and Misery The Prophets say they always remain awake to the End they may always see their Misery and Woe which does express the exercise of the active Faculty in Unhappy Souls which proves that all Souls have out of the Body the exercise of the Faculties of Perceiving of Imagining and of Recollecting which they do not exercise here but dependent upon the Body For thus we say without difficulty that they may compare one thing with another that they Conceive the Nature of Bodies by pure Intellection by which they form Universal Notions from whence they draw Consequences and frame Ideas but these Ideas do not cause us to Believe that the Body and the Soul can be united like two Liquors or like two Metalls which are melted one with the other which are made either by an Unctuous or Viscous Humor which binds the Parts of them together nor by Nails Pegs and Joynts We may not imagine here any thing material for we are to cut off every thing that presents it self Corporeal to our Spirits for we are to conceive precisely only a mutual and necessary Dependance in such a manner as God has directed and disposed which is the way to conceive the manner how our Souls are in our Bodies as well as we are capable to comprehend They are not in us by a Local and Corporeal Circumscription they are not there as Liquor is in a Vessel or as a Bird is in the Nest or Cage or as the Body is in the Air which environs it but they are in us as God is in the World in which we must conceive him as saith St. Augustin Much more containing than contained for we may remember that tho the Nature of the Soul is a Spiritual Nature which doth as Essentially exclude Local extention and by Consequence all sorts of Ideas of Local Presence such as we commonly conceive under Corporeal Images of Immediation of Preportions and of Coextention of Substances as it doth Essentially include the Grounds and the Acts of the knowing Faculty Bodies have their proper Fashion of being within Places and Spirits have theirs likewise there is nothing of likeness betwixt one and the other for to think otherways were to subvert and destroy both Corporeal and Spiritual Nature for it is with the manner how the Soul is in the Body as it is with the Soul it self We cannot comprehend it as oft as we conceive it by Imagination what Corporeal Image so ever we make of it or under what material Form soever we may conceive of it for the manner how the Soul is in the Body is altogether as Spiritual as is the Substance of the Soul if it be demanded after this in what Part of the Body the Soul is or whether she is in all the Body the Question will be difficult to resolve However the Learned say that all the Soul is in all the Body and all of it in the Essential and Integral Parts of it as God is in all the World and in all the Parts of the World not by that Co-extension and Local Chimerical Presence which gross Spirits do imagine but by the intimate Presence of his Essence Essentially operating in all the World. We must say the same of the Soul that it is in all the Body by relation of its dependance and activity but this does not hinder but that we may say she is more properly and more particularly in the Brain since it is by that Part that the action of the Soul upon the Body immediately Commences and that all the actions of the Body upon the Soul terminâ—tes wholly in that Part as it sensibly appears by that which interrupts and suspends the action of the Soul upon the Body and the action of the Body upon the Soul for as often as it happens that the action of the Body upon the Soul is interrupted it is because there is some relaxation or some obstruction in
that carries her towards God in general If she be not preoccupy'd â—nd transported with some Passions or other but the â—oul can by no means be the formal or physical Cause of the heat which is in our Bodies for it is impossible to conceive that a Spirit should produce heat yet â—y their Virtue and Operation they make the Body move by Empire and by Will and yet this the Soul is â—aid to do out of it self but whatsoever is done in us Physically is done by the act of our Body and its Life for there is in us a material principle of vegetaâ—ion or a vegetative Life which the Soul doth not â—ause so there is likewise a certain kind of acts of â—eeing of Hearing of Tasting of Smelling of â—ouching of Self-moving or of Sensibility in the â—ody in which the Soul hath not any part to which â—â—e doth not Influence any thing and to which she â—ath not so much as a Sentiment 3. To think and know is the Life of Spirits who â—eceives Being from the first of Beings or the prinâ—â—ple of Beings the Great Almighty from whom â—â—ery thing that is receiveth without ceasing its â—eing by a perpetual and never interrupted Communiâ—n of the Supreame Essence by reason that he is the â—rinciple of Life or the Essential and Original of â—ife It must needs be that every thing that Lives â—eceives continually a Life from him by a like Inâ—â—uence and by a like Communication of Life and by â—onsequence every thing that thinks and knows â—hinks and knows by him since to think and know the Life of Spirits This is the solid Metaphysick â—f St. Augustin and the Theology of others who â—ith agreeeble to the Scriptures that an Angel and Man differ without doubt for an Angel is a Spirit â—hich God makes tryal off out of the Body and â—hose Thoughts and Affections he hath not subjected to the dispositions of a Body and a Man is a Spiritâ— which God makes tryal off in the Body to which he subjects it before he Crowns it with Eternity But the Soul of Man if God had not disposed of it after that manner would have had no need of a Body wherefore the Union of Souls with Bodies is a hard and difficult Empire which God doth exercise over them and which if his Majesty would not sweeten the rigoâ—â— and difficulty of it by the Pleasures of agreeable Sentiments which he hath annexed to the Acts and Operations of Souls in Bodies It could not be a tryal but a Misery nay the Fathers maintain that if God should not Spiritualize Bodies that is to say take away from Souls the dependance which their present State gives them upon Bodies they could not have so firm a hope of being raised again as now they have because he would not put the Just Souls whose approved Fidelity deserves to be Crowned into Bodies that should constrain them and which enslaved their Thoughts which is what Spiritualized Bodies cannot bear because Spiritualization of Bodies will consist in this precisely that they should no longer exercise an Empire over the Souls and that they should be no longer a Charge an Obstacle and an Incumbrance to them for the Body cannot in any manner act upon the Soul so as to Illuminate it or Affect it Physically or Immediately by it self for the Body cannot subject the Soul to be United to it nor can the Soul be willing to submit to the Body which humbleth and constraineth it It is therefore God the Author of universal Nature that is the Immediate and Efficient Principle and Cause of the Union of Souls and Bodies for his Wisdom acteth as universal Cause in the whole frame of Nature 't is evident then that none but God alone can give the Soul the Sentiments and Ideas which she hath from the occasion of the Impressions which are made upon the Body for 't is the Author of Nature which enlightens us by the Ideas which we receive upon the occasion of the Impression of exterior Objects and who affectionates to the Conversation of the Body by the agreeable or disagreeable Sentiments which he gives us to make us know by way of instinct that which is profitable or hurtful for the Converâ—ation of our Bodies and of Humane Species This action he joyns to that by which he moves our Bodies when our Thoughts and Wills require it and is properly the action by the which he Unites our Bodies to our Souls and our Souls to our Bodies This is the active or actual Union which the Schools call the Unitive action of God which is joyned to the Immutable Decree and Will by the which he hath determined to continue it so long as the structure of the Body shall subsist and makes in the Soul and in the Body that Estate of Union which is called Passive and Formal Union and this the Almighty doth by the Essential act of his Supreame Nature for his Essence and Nature is infinitly pleased to act thus continually esteeming it his Pleasure and his Glory by which also he is the occasional Cause of all the Eneffable Pleâ—sure of Holy Souls and so much the rather because the Analogy of the Divine conduct Inspires us to acknowledges an occasional Cause of all our Joy and Fâ—â—icity As there is an occasional Cause of the Torments of the Reprobates for each of these he is pleased to make tryal off in the Body by their Obedience or Disobedience annext to each of which is Felicity or Misery for these shall go into Life Eternal but the Wicked into endless burnings 4 Our Body is a Structure full of Harmony whereby all the Parts are United to one common Center which is the Brain wrapt up in Membranes and distributed and divided into divers Compartments proper to receive and retain the Traces and Impressions which the Divine Image shall inâ—amp upon it We say also that the Soul is â—â—n the Body but we take care not to conceive it For all that as truly and properly contain'd in the Body it is United to the Body but we may not conceive her as poured into and mingled with the Body or as adjusted to its extent by a co-extention and immediation of Greatness of Figure or of Substance but they have the greatest part of their Thoughts and of their Ideas and of all their Sentiments of Pleasure and of Pain by the occasion of their Body because they act upon the Body by the action of the Will which removes them and moves them in the manner as have been already said The Learned say that they are no otherways in the Body therefore every thing we conceive beyond this will be false contradictory and extreamly dubious That which we call good Sense and Judgment is nothing but the Power and Faculty which the Soul hath to Order and Regulate our Thoughts to suspend and stay them that she may consider and maintain their Connexion and Dependence But she is said sometimes to loose this Faculty
and Power when the Motion of the Blood Humours and of the Animal Spirits or of the Fibres of the Brain which is the Organ of the Internal Sense which are annexed the Species of things that is to say the Impressions which remains of the Objects are disordered and embroiled in such sort that the Natural Order and Connexion of these Species cannot be observed and kept but are confusedly and tumultuously excited and stired up by a tumultuous and irregular agitation of the Organ in which they reside from whence comes necessarily that kind of Folly which consists in a disorder and a fantastick Confusion of Thoughts without Order and Dependance or Connexion because the Fibres of those Parts of our Bodies arâ— scorched up on which the Soul usually acts and to say this may not shake a Truth so well Establisheâ—â— and Proved that it needs no further Illustration therefore let it be our Care and Study to seek thâ— Kingdom above rather than to puzle our selves in the nicities of Nature or the manner how our Soul acts in our Body for better it is that the Soul and Body be free from pollution than to understand all the knowledge our Nature is capable of being enlightned with for 't is not he that understands al Mystâ—ies or all Secrets but he that is Obedient and Dutiful to the Divine Laws that shall be filled with Joy in the Heavenly Ierusalem that Place of spotless Purity where no Impure thing can dwell Wherefore our Lord chose rather to Suffer any Indignity than that we should continue in the Guilt of Sin because any pollution unquallifies us for his Kingdom and Robs us of the Happiness of being meet to be Citizens thereof For since Fruition is the end of Knowledge it is of great moment to us so to demean our 〈◊〉 as not to be unfit for the Union of Glory and amongst other aspiring Knowledge the due Knowledge of a Mâ—â—â—s self is highly conducive to attain to this Happiness for such a Knowledge shews him the Humility of the Frame he ought to be in to qualify him to be worthy to enter into this Glorious City where every Holy Soul will be beloved of Angâ—ls and admired of Men Such qualified Persons beâ—â—g the true Friends of God seeing they have defined to Wâ—â—ship God in the inward Court of their Souls as well as in the out Court of his Sanctuary and in the admiration of him in all his Works of Wonder for there is nothing of more concern to us than to be truly sensible of his exceeding Mercy which ought to be deeply It graven in all ouâ— Minds so as to raise our Sons to a high pitch of Gratitude for all the benefits we have momently received from him the rememberance of each of which are reviving Comforts and are able to cheer the Hearts of the most dejected Penitents for the true Sense of this assures them that they shall be for ever Blessed even to such a Perfection as to be Perfect Sovereigns in his Glorious Kingdom where every one will be a Sovereign Prince being Blessed with infinite Injoyments such as the beholding the unvailed Vision of God and the sweet Society of Saints and Angels where God Essence and Works will satisfie all Holy desires all Blessed wishes and eager Thirst after Purity and every Heavenly Injoyment 5. The Will which is that Invincible and Insurmountable movement which pusheth on all knowing Natures towards God is without doubt and Operates perpetually in Just Souls and in Reprobated Souls but it is there and Operates there very diversly The Just Souls have found the good they sought they are arrived to the term they have so long persued they imbrace it they possess it they lose themselves they plunge themselves drown and ingulph themselves in it When they are arrived to the Place of their repose to the Center of their Desires to the port of their Wishes they have nothing more to follow to search after in this Fortunate State they pâ—ssess because they taste with an inexplicable Tranquility and an incomprehensible Satiety the Soveâ—eign good and therefore are fully satisfied content and quiet But this Tranquility and this Satiety does â—â—t lull them to Sleep nor ever cloy them the Will â—atisfied and arrived to its term does not cease proceeding on always It Operates and Sturs up it self Eternally in a most happy repose these Holy Souls are always satisfied and always a Hungary always at quiet and always sturred up they Will and Desire always that which they have and would always have more for they are immediately United to the Sovereign good and to all his Joys and are always till vehemently desirous of being more United to â—im Thus the Will hath its Excellency and Perâ—ection in Holy Souls without any of the Imperâ—ections it is at present subject to for now it 's not â—ble to ballance it self betwixt True and False good for at present it 's sotting and wavering betwixt the False Images of good which the Immagination and the Senses presents to it in the present State and betwixt the true and solid goods which Instinct and Reason Philosophy and Religion preposses to it It is happily drawn in by the Presence and Injoyments of the Sovereign good whose Immensity draws them and carries them by force and fastens them to his Sovereign Beauty and to his Soverigâ— Delights for it 's his Wisdom in whom they see the Source of good and as it were all the true Treasure and Foundation of Life giving Excellencies and therefore cannot be turned aside by any False good but there is a vast difference betwixt these happy Souls and the Souls oâ— the Reprobate as to their final State for as to the latter of these the Fountain of good repulses them and throws them back from the Vision oâ— Glory and in the same time wounds and transperceâ— them with a Thousand deadly Darts they are Etâ—rnally thirsting after Pleasure but have Eternally nothing but Grief Pain and Dispair for their Portion So that the Will placed in them to be the beginning and seat of their happiness is found to be the Eternal principle and seat of their unhappiness and dispair for as all the agreeable Passions will be in Holy Souls so all the Afflicting ones will be in Reprobate Souls The Dispair of the Soul lies in the seeing and perceiving the Impossibilities of a voiding Evil and the not being able to attain the good she persues which must needs be a dejection and a discouragement accompanied with profound sadness because of this crue Sentiment of Privation and yet by some is called truly and properly Voluntary because the Will is thaâ— Motion by which the Soul is driven on invincibly toâ—wards God to Unite her self and to be United to him which is the Love of God in general and maâ— be called properly Voluntary for when the goâ— which is aspired after cannot be acquired Dispair bâ— consequence succeeds for the resentment of the Appetite preceeds
present State in the Body is Time so our future State out of the Bodâ— is Eternity the due consideration of which ought to Penetrate us and cause a General and Universaâ— Change in our Ideas that now in time we may sâ— prepare for Eternity that we may be Eternally happy when Time shall be no more Now of these twâ— States the one appears infinitly Precious and Essential and the other infinitly despisable We ought therefore earnestly to endeavour to render our selves worthy of being rewarded by him to whom the secrets of all Hearts are at present unclosed and now immediately relate our selves to him by our Confession of our dependance upon his Supereminent excellency over us and over all the World that we may â—â—el indubitably the Pleasures and Delights which he contains for his Goodness is ready to discover the Charms and Beauty of his Sovereign Nature to all â—ho desire to be united to him by shewing Love and Charity to all their Christian Brethren that when God â—hall make up his Jewels they may be found worthy of â—eward at the end of the present Oeconomy when his Mâ—jesty shall put an end to the Vicissitudes of Time when â—e shall fix all things in an immutable and an eternal Orâ—er when he will give a beginning to the New World â—nd when he will re-establish all the Bodies and reâ—nite every Soul to that Body which she animated â—pring this present life this will â—e do who calls â—â—mself the Resurrection and the Life the first born â—mongst the dead the Father of Ages to come he 〈◊〉 whom we are all raised up again in a Mistery and â—â— a Figure and will undoubtedly raise us effectually 〈◊〉 the last Day For then we shall be even in our â—odies like Angels disfranchised from the businesses â—d the inclinations which we have upon the occaons of the Body St. Paul also teaches us that our â—odies shall be Spiritualized and we may upon this â—â—inciple decide with certainty that the re-union of â—odies doth not at all change the Foundation of that â—â—ate of the Soul out of the Body the manner and â—â—â— cumstances whereof we have been illustrating â—r when our Bodies shall be Spiritualized by the â—surrection they shall be no more a charge to the 〈◊〉 tho the Learned say That the Nature of our â—dies shall not be chainged so as to become knowâ—â— Natures or cease to be extended Substances but that the Body shall be no more an obstacle oâ— hinderance in any thing to the Soul but our Bodies will serve to do Honour and Glory to the God of Nature Our Bodies after they are raised will have a perfect and sovereign agility that is to say an intire indifference for all sorts of motion which will cause them without any resistance to be carried every where whether the Souls would have them for then they will have neither Levity nor Gravity but will be aâ—â— light as the Air and as swift as a Thought thâ— Bodies of themselves have not either lightness 〈◊〉 weight so as to ascend or descend but being afters they are raised from the Grave Spiritualized theâ— will by the Almighty Power be able to do this wheâ— our Bodies shall be replaced with our Souls and ouâ— whole Man will be replaced in a much purer structure than ever it was at first before it was defile by Sin. From whence we may see the excellenâ—â— train of the Divine System of Religion which without doubt clear and certain that the Universâ—â— Resurrection will be a Circumstance of that Glorious Solemnity of Justice which God will make at thâ— consummation of Ages for the consecration of hâ— Eternal Temple for the overture and commencâ—ment of his Immortal Reign for the solemn Coronation of his Royal Majesty and for the compleat Trâ—â—umph of Man-God for the justification of his Prâ—vidence and the full Declaration and Maâ—â—festatio of his Glorious Will at the end of this preseâ—â— Oeconomy of Time. The Scripture speaks of Hoâ—Souls as if they had the Pleasure of walking on thâ— Globes of the Heavens and to be in the midst of thâ— Stars to walk upon the Sun and the Moon after tâ—â— manner of Spirits it accommodates it self to oâ— ross manner of speaking and of conceiving tâ— most Spiritual things under Corporeal forms whicâ— may be called a clear distinct Idea of the visibâ—â— World which God gives to Just Souls they waâ— after their manner upon the Arches of Heaven they are capable of being at the same time at both the Poles of the World they are said to fill its whole extent they are in both the Hemispheres Their Horizon is not at all a limited Horizon which never permits us to see here but a little portion of the Universe it is not bounded But by the bounds of Nature We do not at present see these Heavenly Bodies but only these parts of them which reflects the light upon us We do not see the Sun the Moon the Stars and the Terraqueous Globe of the Earth and the Seas but only one side of them But the pure Souls immediately â—nlightned by God as they are they see at the same â—ime the whole Globe of the Sun all the Face of the Moon both the Hemispheres of the Earth there is â—o Antipodes to them they all see at one view all the â—air prospects of Nature and all the beautiful Table of â—he visible World for besides that their Knowledg universal in this respect so it is not at all successive â—ut all full and clear at once so that they see all things least by reflection by which we compare one â—hing with the other to observe diversities and sinâ—â—arities by which we pass on from that we know that we do not as yet know which may be called â—e proper species of reasoning which brings into the â—orld all the Arts and Sciences as proper means to tend Knowledge as is an effort and agitation of â—hought but this is to be understood of the preâ—â—â— Life But what we spake before we spake of 〈◊〉 future Life i. e. of pure Souls made Glorious by Majesty on high who presides over all our Knowâ—â—ge and over all our Sentiments and causes them us in spite of us and all this by the assistance of 〈◊〉 admirable and illuminating Wisdom which are 〈◊〉 Essâ—ntial Character and Attributes of that which 〈◊〉 call Divinity or Supreame Nature so that a reâ—â—e and an attentive Man cannot be ignorant of 〈◊〉 excellent Truths by the assistance of the provident Wisdom of our great Creator for he it is that teaches us that the Luminous Body of the Sun with the Firmament shews perpetually his Glory every thing sympathysing with each other in the mistaken Miseries which Men call good till their Spiritual Eyes are open and they see they are deluded by great mistake when the sensation by which one Man doth see and understand an other is made with a confus'd sentiment of Pleasure and with a certain agreement which
a vail I mention this not to divert any from aspiring to the highest degrees of Perfection but to reprove that preposterous course many ta 〈…〉 est weight upon those things 〈…〉 least and have more Zeal for 〈…〉 then for express downright Comm 〈…〉 the one to commute for the contemp 〈…〉 For some Men are apt to scruple small thi 〈…〉 not startle at Injustice or Oppression which 〈…〉 to be rectified that Men may have an equa 〈…〉 to all the Commands of God not letting any 〈…〉 slip their Observation For he that breaks the 〈…〉 command is guilty of all not but that he that brea 〈◊〉 them all is guilty of more severe Punishments then he that breaks but one But the meaning is he that breaks one shall not go Unpunished being deeply guilty of Disobedience God having required an equal regard to all his Precepts and who so gives him not their whole Heart offers to him but a lame and unacceptable Sacrifice for any thing less than the full power of our Wills cannot please God who is of purer Eyes than to behold any the least Evil with approbation for his Wisdom being so pure a Majesty cannot be pleased with any thing that is impure of Heart Necessary is it therefore to give him the full of our Mind Will and Soul or as our Catechism expresses it To serve him with all our strength in every Centure of our Lives For the more we serve him the more and better shall we be regarded honoured and rewarded by him the searcher of all Hearts Of the excellent Qualification of the Soul from its high Extraction ALthough Men do not know the Soul neither can they see it because it is like the Eyes of our Bodies it sees every thing but it self but it self 〈…〉 assuredly know that by it we 〈…〉 inabled to do actions of Piety 〈…〉 Consciences dictates to us what is 〈…〉 done for that is a good and faith 〈…〉 that whensoever we do amiss we do 〈…〉 our Souls and stupifie our Consciences 〈…〉 Evil or cause others so to do But to a 〈…〉 let us begg of God to give us a chast Spi 〈…〉 is the Crown of faithful Souls Wherefore 〈…〉 said of Virginity that it is the Life of Angels 〈…〉 animal of the Soul the advantage of Religion which is a mutual a strong and voluntary inclination to the Worship of God for it is empty of Cares and ought to be full of Prayers which are fed with Fastings it is very advatagious to Devotion and Retirement for whosoever is careful of his Time and Behaviour shall not be robbed of his reward for his good intentions Secondly Then fail not of being eminent in your Generations for Virtue and Piety by being burning and shining Lights unmingled with any manner of Evil that you may follow the Lamb wheresoever he goeth But above all be Humble for that is the Ornament of our Holy Religion and it makes you to differ from the Wisdom of the World. For our Learning is then best when it teaches us Humility for to be proud of our Learning is the greatest Ignorance in the World for our Learning is so long in getting and so very imperfect that the Learnedest person in the World knows not the Thousandth part of that which he is Ignorant of so that he cannot attain to any Maturity of Knowledge proportionable to that of Angels No Man therefore has any cause to boast of his excellency for what thou hast thou hast received from God and art the more Obliged to return him Thanks for it and thou art bound to improve the Grace that he hath given thee to his Glory Consider then that thou wer't nothing before thou as Born and what wer 't thou in the first Regions of â—y dwellings before thy Birth but uncleaness What â—â—ast thou for many Years after but Weakness and â—â—ailty As the Psalms expresses It even as the smoak â—at vanisheth away Ps 102. 3. A great debtor then â—â—t thou to God to thy Parents to the Earth and all â—â—e Creatures For all Men that have ever been were â—â—ressed with Hunger and the Frailties of human Naâ—re so that the best and wisest Persons are subject â—o the Necessity of Nature wherefore there is great â—â—ause of Humility for the Spirit of Man is light and â—oublesome his Body is bruitish and sickly he is conâ—ant in his Folly and Errour inconstant in his Manâ—er and Good Purposes his Labours are vain intriâ—ate and endless his Fortune is changeable but selâ—om pleasing his Wisdom comes not till he be ready 〈◊〉 die or at least till he have spent great part of his â—â—me in wast His death is certain always ready at â—he Door but never far off upon these or the like Meâ—â—itations If we dwell on them or frequently retire 〈◊〉 consider them we shall see nothing more reasonable â—an to be Humble and nothing more foolish than to â—e Proud Humility consists not in railing against our â—â—lves or wearing mean Cloaths or going softly or â—â—bmissively but in a hearty and real mean Opinion â—f our selves Thirdly Believe thy self then an unworthy Person 〈◊〉 heartily as thou believest thy self to be Hungry Poor 〈◊〉 Sick when thou art so love to be concealed and 〈◊〉 esteemed off Be not troubled when thou art â—ighed and undervalued and when thou hast done â—ny thing worthy of praise return it to God who is â—â—e Giver of the Gift and Blesser of the Action and â—â—ive him thanks for making thee the Instrument of is Glory Secure a good Name to thy self by being â—irtuous Pious and Humble and when People have â—n occasion to speak well of thee take no content in â—raise when it is offered thee but let thy rejoycing be in Gods Gift but let it be alay'd with Fear lest thâ— Good bring thee to Evil. Pray often for Gods Gracâ— with Humility of gesture and passion of desire thaâ— God may be Glorified by thy Example of Humility which may be as well in a low condition as in a ricâ— Begg God 〈◊〉 irriâ—h thy Soul with all Graces anâ— when thou had attained them give God thanks 〈◊〉 them Pâ—ide hinders the acceptance of our Prayerâ— Humility pierceth the Clouds and will not give oveâ— till God accepts neither will it depart till the mosâ— high regards For he resisteth the Proud but 〈◊〉 Grace to the Hâ—mble St. Jam. 4 6. Then begg Gâ—acâ— and Pardon that it may be a remedy and relief aâ—gainst Misery and Oppression and be content in 〈◊〉 conditions begg Tranquility of Spirit Patience iâ— Affliction that we may gain Love abroad and Peacâ— at home Coâ—sider the blessed Sâ—â—iour of the World 〈◊〉 who left the 〈◊〉 of his Father the Lord of Glory 〈◊〉 who took upon him the liâ—e of Labour and came tâ— a State of Poverty to a Death of Malâ—fâ—ctouâ—s to thâ— Grave of Death and the intolerable Calamitiâ—s which we deserved Therefore it 's but reasonable that wâ— should be as Humble in the
from the dismal Thoughts that 't is impossible to acquire the good so much wished for for we should not be afflicted penetrated and overwhelm'd with the Privation of good if we did not Love it which made St. Augustin say That the Eternal Dispair of the Reprobates in Hell is a true Love of the Sovereign good but this being a nicity that concerns us not we may not with saifty dive into it or amuse our selves about it but strive to be Cloathed with the true Love of God whereby we are sure we may be qualified to enjoy the full Bliss of Heaven the true hopes of which fills every Holy Soul with exceeding Joy even such reviving Joy as may give him some small glimmerings even in this Life of what hereafter will undoubtedly be his Portion in those Glorious Regions above where every true Penitent will be a Favorite of that great tremendious King who is the searcher of every Heart and observer of every Action here and the Infinite rewarder of every Virtue hereafter To him therefore be Glory and Praise Might Majesty and Dominion ascribed by us â—nd all the whole Creation now and for ever A Recapitulation of the moral consequences drawn from what have been established concerning our Souls and for the Conviction of our Duties and the Condemnation of Disorder NO Man of Reason can believe that Ingratitude is an Ornament to Nature or that Injustice Meâ—s a reward nor that Treachery is a Virtue or an Honest and Commendable Quality nor on the contrary that Justice Fidelity and Gratitude are things Condemnable and Wicked Men make Laws according to their Fancy they make themselves Obey'd for fear of Punishment when they have the Power in their Hands But it 's remarkable that Men who make Laws cannot make themselves Obey'd nor be Beloved or Beleived when they act things disagreeable For Unjust and Tyrannical Laws People pay only an exterior Obedience to their Commands but the Heart and the Spirit cries out and demandâ— Justice from him whom all Men naturally feel over their Heads as a Protector of Justice and an avengeâ— of Oppression and Unjust Authority We sometime receive Unjust Laws but we do not believe them to be Just for all that but as to the natural Laws oâ— Duty and Consciences all Men receive them and be lieve by an invincible Determination of a Superioâ— Light which equally perswades them alike for Natural Light convinces us with invincible force and this is an Infallible Character of Natural Light. Conscience is then in us undoubtedly Natural and as certain as it is an Essential Companion of our Nature and a Propriety inseparable from our Soul From hence arises in us by the help of Grace all Moraâ— and Christian Virtues because it is impossible to conceive that Corporeal Nature can be the subject oâ— Magnanimity of Justice of Fidelity of Continencâ— and of Truth for a Corporeal Nature alone cannoâ— have the Light of Order or of Duty or the Inclination or Determination of Duty or the Pleasure oâ— Performance or the Pain of the Violation of Duty for Duty Order and Justice have no Bodies they arâ— things totally Spiritual and Intelligible and there fore without the assistance of the Soul cannot havâ— the Idea or the Sentiment of them because it is by the Soul that they are Ingrafted and poured into ouâ— Corporeal Nature God having assembled togetheâ— both these in one single whole not as one but acting by this Indubitable Method God have prescribed by reason of their dependance one upon another or to say better the Union betwixt each other and are all animated with one and the same Influence of Divine Life and marked with one and the same resemblance and equally Impelled by the same Love of Duty For which reason we are obliged to Love and to Accomplish all the extents of Justice of Truth of Charity and of Civility and of Mutual or Reciprocal respect towards all Men upon the consideration that this Life is short and troublesome and all things in it are frail and perishable and the noblest Pleasures in it are essentially false as well as empty they leave the Heart even during this Life Sick and Famished and if not retired from before Death they will leave the Soul Eternally deceived by a cruel Privation and an insupportable desolation of regret For the best injoyments of this Life are a perpetual alternativeness of real Cares and Torments all things here being but false shadows of Repose and lucid Intervals of Reason a Theater of Eternal Mutations a Chain interlinked with short and transitory Felicities and long and durable Miseries a vehement and impetuous Whirl-wind of Hurry and Ambition which after having much tormented and agitated the Body and Soul having raised a Thousand snares in the Heart and Spirit it disappears into Air and Smoak for so it is that this Life doth not exercise it self but upon the false and perishable Objects of Time and â—s deceitful and deceiving Oeconomy whereas the nâ—ture Life exercises it self upon Objects wholly True and wholly Solid because the future Life is â—ut as it were one Day all Uniformity for there very Holy Soul will Eternally be United to eversting Triumphs and Felicities for there every Soul â—ill be Essentially Living infinite Happy and Joyous no here it have been exercised in Trouble in the future Life it shall rest in Glory and endless Felicities as the Apostle saith Such as Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard nor Heart conceived 2 Cor. 12. 4. Much less can the feeble Eloquence of Man express by any description that his Idea or Sentiment can conceive to put into Method to declare or so much as describe Our Soul is said to commence when it goes out of the Body That which we call time is taken either by relation to the duration of the abode of every Soul in its Body or by relation to the duration of the whole present Oeconomy of the visible World destined to the Tryal of the Souls in the Bodys and in whatsoever signification we take Time in opposition to Eternity it signifies precisely a State of Instability of Change and Vicissitude i. e. a State which ought to have an end for these are two things which enter Essentially into the Idea which is called Time Vicissitude and End the space of the duration that our Souls are in our Bodies is called Time for these two Reasons First because it is to have an end And Secondly because in the interim so long as it endures it holds us exposed to a Thousand Chainges and Vicissitudes and which is to be lamented that Vicissitude of being obnoxious to pass from Good to Evil from Virtue to Sin to Crimes or Vice but on the contrary Eternity is Immutable and an Interminable State and Order of things As much as Time includes Instability and End so much does Eternity excludes both Time speaks Changeâ— and End Eternity speaks the Being always the same and never ending Thus as our