be-friend you in doing this or that good in particular If we observe this it will be a great help For when we consider in general what time we have for doing good we shall see the most we can reckon to be so very short and that little so very uncertain that we shall not be able to put it under another account than of possible or not improbable We can be sure of none but what is present This will make us very careful to enquire what is the best and most necessary of all the good Works we can do And when we have found that we shall be as diligent to do it with all our might and without delay Whatsoever our Hand finds to do as Solomon expresses it we shall do with our whole Strength He that is well resolved that he can make no certain account of any Time but of that vvhich is vvill certainly be careful to employ that to the best and most necessary Purposes And he that does this has learnt one most excellent Rule for the redeeming his Time Let him also think before-hand vvhat parts of Time do most befriend one good Action suppose Thinking vvhen it may be the fittest season for Speaking and vvhen for other Actions When you have thus considered your Time think hovv you have spent it And if you be sensible of mispence for the future resolve on retrenching all your unaccountable expences of your Time Such as you cannot justify to God and your ovvn Conscience nor to any one that thinks every thing should be put to a good use Having thus used frequent Consideration both of the good Actions you can do and also of the Time you have to do them and prepared your selves 10. Let your next care be to make and keep a serious resolution of filling up every little space of Time vvith doing some Good or other Let it be your constaint care and study to be alvvay doing Good of some kind that no Minutes be laid out on evil Works no Time leak from you in Idleness no Hours be spent on that vvhich has so very little Goodness that it 's doubtful or undiscernable Many of our Businesses afford us abundance of spare Time vvhich a good Mind knovvs hovv to spend in divine Meditations or the like The Naturalists observe that the same Vessel vvhen 't is fill'd vvith Water vvill yet receive Bodies of another Nature And nothing more common than for one Body to incorporate and unite vvith another I am sure there is no Time but may be more employed than it is And very fevv of our good Actions the Goodness of vvhich may not be condensated and vvill admit of others of other kinds and more of the same 11. Be ever inclin'd and resolv'd to do as much good as you can be not content to do a little but design the most do not satisfy your selves to do good only but still aim at doing the best By this means we shall crowd more of Good into out Time The same Ground well husbanded will yield twice as much Corn as if it were in the Hands of a Sluggard And the same Time may bring forth twice as many good Actions if it be well look'd to as otherwise it would Do as many good Actions together as thou canst put as much Good into as little room as is possible Do every Action as well as thou canst make it as good as 't is capable of being 12. Allot the greatest and best and first Portions the most of your Time to the best and most necessary Works those which most tend to Man's greatest Perfection Such are those that are requisite to the getting and keeping a good Mind and Conscience and such a Plight of Body as renders it most useful to the Soul in all wise and vertuous Actions viz. Consideration being conversant in the Scriptures in Prayer in Christian Conference All Acts of Justice and Mercy c. 13. Where there is an Equality on other accounts that one Action is not apparently better than the other Do that to which Season does most invite Things will most assist in the doing it and give Probability of best Success when 't is done The Reason of this Advice is plain because by doing thus we are likely to do most good and in a shorter time than if we set our selves to do that which Opportunity does not so much favour 14. Take the first Time or Season of doing a good Work do not stay in hopes of a better when it may be you may never have another This is wise Counsel in any good Work not to be dilatory to procrastinate But 't is necessary in those that are inwardly and immutably good and eternally obligatory Let no Conceit of present Difficulty put thee off Do not neglect a good Season in an uncertain Expectation of one more convenient Say not to good Works as Felix said to St. Paul Go away for this time when I have a convenient Season Acts 24. 25. 15. Avoid those things which are certain and some of them double mispence of Time Such are these 1. Intemperance Whosoever exceed the Bounds which Nature and Vertue has set to their Appetites of bodily Pleasures they for a space utterly disable themselves from using their Time to any good purpose And so they continue till by Sleep or Abstinence they are recovered to their natural State During which time how many fair Opportunities of doing brave Actions have they lost 2. Immoderate Passion This does so detain the Soul in the Thoughts of some one Object that it is wholly inobservant of any thing else that comes before it Whilst I am over vehemently angry with one I take no notice of another whose Wants would otherwise move my Compassion They do loudly call for my Charity but I am so deaf with the noise of mine own Passion that I cannot hear 3. Wicked Company Such will be saying or doing ill things There is some Danger that the Infection catch hold on me and by sorting with them I become one of them Or if by God's Grace I be preserved from running into the same Excess with them yet I may through Cowardise or Imprudence not rebuke them By suffering Sin on them I may bring it on my self If I do rebuke them it may be to no purpose it is not likely to have any Effect Thus if I be not Company-proof I shall be snared And if I be kept from falling into their Sins yet I have lost some hours which might have been better spent in good Company or in my Closet 4. Courtship and Complement great portions of Time are spent in these Trifles by which I do not mean those Expresses of Civility which become us to use in many cases but when we employ our Minds in studying to speak Words or use Gestures that are wholly insignificant that do not correspond with the Sense of our Souls that have no Truth on which they are bottom'd that are used with a vain with
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
no farther than they act in subordination to Christ 4. Another great Abuse of Government is Arbitrariness by which I mean a lawless unreasonable unaccountable imposing on their Subjects which if it happen to be of such things as are grievous and burthensome and against all natural Equity it is then Tyranny Our Saviour hath done much to prevent this also for himself hath given all those Laws which are Fundamental and Essential and hath left them on Record So that Men can add none but such as are circumstantial about Time or Place or some such things and these also must not oppose and thwart but be in subordination to those Laws which our Supream Lord himself hath enacted And 5. By this he hath also prevented those many Innovations which probably must otherwise have been than which perhaps there is not a worse Pest to any Government But in the Christian Institution how are all probable Pretences of Innovating cut off The Laws of Christ must not be repealed but continue in force for ever and they were found sufficient to direct and regulate the Christians Practice in those first Times when they lived best and the Church was in the most flourishing tho in the most persecuted Condition I believe all that have consulted History will attest this That whatever Innovations have been made in the Christian Church since the very first establishment of it have been very hurtful and mischievous 6. As this Spiritual Government doth not cross its own Ends nor is inconsistent with it self so neither doth it interfere with the Civil and Secular Government but they may and do conspire together to promote the welfare and good State both of the Souls and Bodies of Men as well in respect of this Life as that to come 7. Great care is taken that the Officers discharge their Trusts and perform the Duties of their Places for glorious Rewards are proposed and promis'd to them that shall convert Sinners from the Error of their Ways Dan. 12. 3. And terrible are the Threats denounced against those that neglect their Duty Ezek. 3. 18. So that if reasonable Hopes and Fears will ingage Men to their Duty our Saviour hath taken care to do it 8. A Charge is laid upon the People that they obey those that are set over them Heb. 3. 17 c. But I proceed to consider those other Advantages which a Christian receives by being a Member of the Church of Christ that excellent Society of Christians I have already mentioned three The Fourth is The excellently good Laws by which this Polity is to be governed This will be evinced by considering 1. The Persons to whom the Christian Laws are given and they are All those to whom they are or may be known but they who are actually and immediatly obliged by them are All that have given up their Names to Christ whether they be high or low rich or poor learned or ignorant old or young In whatsoever condition any Man is if he call himself a Christian he is under the Law of Christ None of the Society are exempted neither St. Peter nor his Successors nor whoever they be that assume to themselves the highest place in the Church can plead they are not under Obligation to the Laws which require all Men to live soberly righteously and godlily They cannot make themselves Superiors to the Laws of Humility and Meekness of Temperance and Chastity of Truth and Fidelity of Innocence and Honesty of Equity and Charity of Devotion and Piety These and the rest of the Christian Laws lay an Obligation on every Member of the Christian Church to obey them And this is a great Security to Men of the same Society that all the Members of it are subject to the same Laws with themselves None can plead an Exemption from nor look on themselves as Superiors to the Laws of the Society They are not the Makers of those Laws and therefore can neither dispense with themselves nor others for the breach of them for none that hath a less Power than that by which any Law was made can controle it and he that takes this upon him assumes to himself a Power which belongs not to him Thus then we that are Christians are all under the same Christian Laws and whosoever doth not obey it is self-convicted and a confess'd Criminal he must own himself a Transgressor of the Laws of that Society of which he is But besides the Laws which oblige Christians in common there are those which are given to Men in those different Relations and Conditions in which they are either antecedentally to and independently on their being Christians or consequently to this That is both Husbands and Wives Fathers and Children Masters and Servants and all Subjects as well as spiritual Governors and Teachers and those that are under them and taught by them All those nay and in all varieties of Conditions in which Men usually are they have Laws peculiar to that Relation or Condition in which they are There is scarce any particular Case can happen to any Man in which the Law of Christ doth not direct him how to behave himself And this leads us to another Consideration which commends the Law of Christ so that it is a great privilege to be in that Society which is under it that is 2. The Matter about which it is conversant which is no less than all the Faculties and Powers of Humane Nature all the Works and Actions which Man does not only the outward but the inward those of the Soul as well as those of the Body his Affections and Desires his Discourses and Thoughts are regulated by this Law as well as his Words and external Acts. Under the former Particular I said All Men to whom this Law is publish'd were obliged by it and in this I say That all that is in Man is under its Government It regulates all our Thoughts of and Affections to and carriage towards God We are all required to love God with all our Heart to fear him above all to submit to all his Dispensations chearfully and in all we do to refer to him principally In reference to each other every Man is bound to be just and honest to all nay to be good and charitable to every other Man to hurt to injure none neither to speak evil of nor do evil to any Man to be kind to Friends and to forgive Enemies not to be angry with any rashly I must not descend to Particulars but this I may say in general That the Laws of Christianity regulate all our Affections and Actions toward one another in such sort that they engage us to do no kind of Evil to any one but all manner of Good to every one in particular as far as that can consist with the common Good of all And this the Christian Law doth consider so particularly and so fully and perfectly that there is no room for no need of a review Here is no Defect to be
those Works to â—â—â—fection which they begin whilst they 〈◊〉 old for most of them are such as reâ—â—â—re a considerable time for the doing them I am sure that is such which we have here mentioned III. That in which the Child must be train'd is his Way so 't is in the Hebrew which we render the Way he should go that is in the course and kind of his Life and Practice in what he should do all the days of his Life let him begin to walk in that way let him be initiated in the Work and Business of his Life let him begin beâ—â—mes what he should always be doing His Way i. e. in that Practice and Life for which he was made in the doing those Works for which his Nature was design'd by his great and wise Creator and for which he is by peculiar Endowments and Abilities Temper and Disposition as well as by his Condition and Circumstances fitted and capacitated This I take to be the true meaning of that Phrase His Way which implies two things 1. The Way that 's common to all Men the Way of Man of every Man every one endow'd with humane Nature and Faculâ—ieâ— 2. That Way which is peculiar to this or that or the other Man that for which by his Genius as we say by his Temper and Inclination or by his external Condition he is most adapted and fit and as it were set apart That is by Divines commonly called our general Calling this our particular That Way which is common to all and is the Way of every Man is the doing those Works which every one that has the Nature of a Man is made and furnished to do I need not mention those of the Body which are common to us with Beasts But the other which are more peculiar to Man and belong as it were to him are Knowledg and Choice and keeping good Order among all our Faculties pursuing the Inclinations we have to our own Perfection and Happiness and to help others to be in as good a condition as our selves are or would be To be devout towards God To be just and honest true and faithful and charitable to Men To do that universally which we think to be fit and right which upon the largest knowledg we can get we judg to be good To do no Evil and to do all the Good we can possibly This is the Way of every Man That which is this or that Man's Way besides is to be employed in this or that Trade according as he is fitted the Husbandry Merchandise Mechanick or Liberal Arts the Study of Physick Law Divinity as his own Inclination and Capacity and the Opportunity he has to attain to any of these shall direct Tho we cannot read it in the Faces of Children yet in their Humour and Carriage we may conjecture what they will be fit for Now whosoever takes a survey of the Nature of Man as he will discover it was the Contrivance and Work of great Wisdom and Goodness so from an Observation of the several Faculties and Capacities Inclinations and Appetites Instinct and Saâ—â—city of Mankind he will conclude which is the Way in which he should go which is the Way of Man the Life that is suitable to such a Nature as ours is For he will be fully resolved in this that it must be the natural Exercise and Perfection of those Powers the filling those Capacities in the Pursuit of those Inclinations the Regulation and Satisfaction of those Appetites the Observance of those Instincts and giving heed to such Presages and Conjectures as the Mind by its Nimbleness and Sagacity makes If these be considered 1. Severally and a part 2. Jointly as they are all united and consisting together they make up the whole human Nature As they consist with and are in subordination to each other they will give us a clear view of the whole Way or Life of Man all that he was made for by his great Creator That which will help us to a more distinct knowledg of this will be to compare our Nature with the Brutish which is below us and the Angelic which is above us We partake of both Natures we have the Faculties and Appetites both of Angels and of Brutes From hence I infer That if we live wholly as either meer Animals or as pure Spirits we live not agreeably to our Nature and State We must on the one hand raise up our selves above the low Life of Sensitives and yet we must not foar so high as the Life of Spirits devested of Flesh and Blood That Way is too low and this too high the Way of Man lies in the middle betwixt these two We must not sink down into and yet we must comply with our earthly fleshly animal State And indeed here is the great Difficulty to see that these two Lifes do not clash and interfere but conspire with and be serviceable and friendly to each other to bring down Heaven to Earth and to advance Earth to Heaven as much as is possible This is the Skill this is Wisdom indeed that the Soul condescend to the Condition and Services of this lower Life of Flesh and Sense and yet not lose not forgo its own spiritual Life To come down from and yet still to be in Heaven whilst we are on Earth To behave our selves like Men in the Flesh and yet at the same time to act as becomes those who are endow'd with spiritual divine Souls this is the way of Man in contradistinction to the way or life of brute Animals Quest But how is this Life to be attained What must we do that we may neither sink below our selves and become Brutes nor yet stretch our selves beyond our Line and live like the Spirits which are not in conjunction with earthly Bodies Answ Let us be in a sincere and constant pursuit of that which is and when we are fittest to judg we think to be best This will be as the Polar Star to direct our Course If we mind this we shall steer safely betwixt the two Rocks we shall neither depress the Soul nor neglect the Body we shall advance Understanding and Liberty and all the rational and higher Faculties And this will be done without prejudice to Sense and the Animal Life and Powers If we constantly aim at doing that which is best which is that to which by our very Natures we are framed we shall then make more account of our Soul than of our Body more account of Understanding and Liberty and Conscience than of Sense and Animality we shall bring the Body into subjection and keep the Animal serviceable to the Mind And when they are once come to this which is the true natural State and tends to the preservation and perfection of them both as well as conduces to that of the World without then the Interests are reconciled they are all one they combine and conspire together the Soul makes much of its good Servant the Body and the
in general he hath no malice against it But we must also consider it particularly as it is subjected in this or that Man A Man may be Aliquis in omnibus nullus in singulis in respect of his Love as well as his Knowledg We must do good to the Generality of Mankind but we must also do good to Particulars Again We must be beneficent to this and that and the other Man but yet always with respect to the rest of Mankind Our particular Affection must not exclude our Regard to the Community On the other side our loving and doing good to this or that or the other Person must consist with and be determin'd and bounded by our doing good unto all Men. This is founded on that received Principle The greatest Good is to be preferred and it is a greater Good which reaches more than that which belongs to fewer And caeteris paribus that is better which is good to all than that which is only good to some In treating of this Argument I shall enquire 1. What that is which is Good to Man 2. By what means we can contribute to it 3. Free the Apostle's sense from some Difficulties 4. Offer some Considerations that may engage us all to the Practice of this great and good Duty 1. In answer to our first Enquiry That in general is Good to Man which is either his Perfection or which has a Tendency to it that has the Goodness of the End this of the Means Here we are to consider that Man is made up of two Natures of various Powers and Faculties that one of these Natures is superiour to the other and some of these Faculties are subservient to the other that when we speak of Perfection we intend the Perfection of the whole and have special regard to that which is principal and supream the Soul of Man For tho the Body has its Perfections and Goods yet if these be not consistent with and subservient to the Soul they are of no account We are not therefore so much to consider our lower Appetites and the State of the Body in this Discourse but as it is serviceable to Knowledg and Wisdom to a Determination of our selves according to Reason to the good Government of our Wills and Affections and contributes to that Joy and Peace which is consequent on Vertue and Goodness Nor is any State of our Body or any outward Condition to be accounted good but evil which does disserve and hinder us either in the use of our Understandings or in the Government of our Wills and Appetites If it do not further and promote these things it is not good to us as Men. I will more particularly speak my meaning in these few Propositions 1. Man's Perfection consists in a good i. e. a clear distinct full and quick underderstanding of all those things that are within his Compass particularly in the Knowledg of God and of himself and of the Rules and Reasons of his own Actions 2. In a Will constantly following what is Good In the Guidance and Government of his Affections his Appetite and Inclinations his Intentions and Resolutions and all Principles of Action according to his best and clearest Knowledg Particularly in the exercise of a natural rational hearty Religion in a constant and even Fervency of Devotion toward God also in the Inclinations Habits and Practices of Vertue which refers to Men all which is summ'd up in Love and Goodwill 3. In that Joy and Peace that Tranquillity and Satisfaction which is the Companion of an Understanding so enlightened and a Will so directed 4. That is a good State and Temper of Body which will not obstruct and hinder but assist and be instrumental and serviceable to the Soul in all these things Natural Life and Health and Strength and such like are the Bodies Goods which are then good to Man when they serve the Ends aforesaid when they minister to Rellgion and Vertue to Knowledg and Goodness 5. Those outward Circumstances an Estate and Reputation and such like are the best which most help us to obtain to secure and use the Perfections before named when they tend to increase our Religion toward God or our Charity to Men and minister to our Devotions and Vertue as a competent Estate and a clear Reputation have an Aptitude to do All that 's good to Man in any respect must be either subservient or at least consistent with this therefore a Gratification of the sensitive Appetite if it prove prejudicial to Vertue and the Soul is not good but evil to the Man And an Estate may be for hurt to the Owner thereof as Solomon speaks God many times doth good to us when he withholds Estates or Health or Reputation from us For thereby he cures us of many Maladies rids us of many Vices And so amongst Men they that have Power over others and understand which are the best Methods to promote their Happiness do it very often by inflicting some Penalty and by debarring them of some Gratification of one or more of their Appetites But we must see that this be not a Cloak for Maliciousness we must not pretend that to be a Kindness which is not nor say we act from Charity and with Intention to make others happy when we act from Revenge when Peevishness or Malice are the true Principles of what we do We consider Man all this while in his present State but we are also to consider him in reference to the future And in that respect we attribute as great Perfection to him as we can suppose him capable of that he is there freed from all the Imperfection under which the best Men labour here and delivered from those bad Circumstances from which the most fortunate Men are not exempted in this Life Thus I have given a short Summary of what 's good to Man and you will see the Reason in the following Discourse why I have made such particular and distinct mention of that which is a subordinate and that which is a principal and final Good of that which is good to a part and to the whole II. I now proceed to shew what are those ways in which one Man may do good to another They are of two sorts either such as are mediate and which by means of others or immediate and by himself are done Of the first sort are our hearty Desires and Prayers to God that he would do them good and also when we live so good Lives as God is pleased to testify his Acceptance of them by shewing Mercy to our Family Kindred or Country Thus the Posterity of Abraham obtained great Mercies for his sake Of this kind also are our Persuasions and Intreaties with Men on the behalf of others when we prevail with others to do them that Good which our selves could not To this also appertains the making of good and true Reports and giving just but fair Characters of Men. When we give any Character of
Anger and Scorn and bestow mine Alms with Contempt or Passion or if I do this to be seen or talked of or meerly to save my Credit or only to rid my self of the trouble of an importunate Beggar or do it without knowledg or never considering meerly out of custom or from a natural tenderness and compassion I do not in this case walk exactly I add no more under this Particular having already said so much as perhaps may discourage some that are looking towards Vertue They will be ready to say Why such Exactness this is more than needs nay more than can be used for if we should be thus nice in all our Actions we should be hindred from doing them as he that will not do a thing unless he do it well will probably not do it at all We should miserably perplex our Minds and fill our Souls with endless anxiety and scrupulosity and all this to no purpose for we should never be exact in what we do No more than a Mathematician who has an exact Idea of a Triangle or a Circle can draw such Figures To this I reply 1. That we may by the Divine Assistance attain to such exactness as to do that which is really Good Tho it will not be perfectly yet it is truly so nay and by degrees we shall be going on towards the greatest Perfection as both your selves and every one's Experience testify 2. There is great necessity of our taking heed to be exact lest if we be not we should do ill For 1. Vice does so border upon Vertue that it 's not very easy to discern the Boundaries And the Passage from good to bad is so short and facil that without good care and caution it will not be prevented It is a Matter of some difficulty to set the Limits to each in speculation and in general And 't is still harder to do this in particular and a farther work yet to keep within the bounds we understand especially when these are variable and cannot be set without a respect to very alterable Accidents and such Circumstances as are hardly discernible E. G. In the Case of Temperance Who can say Thus far it goes and no farther thus much a Man may eat or drink but not a jot more All will grant this is not to be defined in general nor that the same quantity is to be allowed to every one for one will be starved another drunk So then every one must determine his own proportion which to do truly and wisely he must be able to distinguish betwixt the desires of Nature and those that arise from Disease And he must always understand what is the good state or plight of his Body in general and that is when it is most serviceable to the Soul in all its Capacities and in the doing every Work in which that shall imploy it when it will not only be fit to serve the Soul in some few but in all the Businesses which shall be required of it and is not more helpful in one or some of the lower whilst it proves an Incumbrance and Impediment in the higher and greater Operations and this not only with respect to the present but to the longest time Now all this requires both a good presence of Mind and great exactness of Thoughts It supposes observation and remembrance of what is past and a diligent calculating and exact weighing both of the state of his own Body and also of his condition in the World Nor must he only consider himself but others his Wife and Children and the Poor For he that allows himself all that may conduce to the good plight of his own Body without consideration of his Family and Kindred without regard to the urging necessities of poor Strangers he is excessive in his self-gratification Indeed whosoever considers how many things are to be thought of and compared before a Man can wisely determine himself to that which is good and fit for him to do not only in this but in many other Instances even all that he is to do in his whole Life will easily grant that there is need of great care and exactness of great caution and circumspection On these and such like Accounts how easy is it for a Man to go beyond the bounds of any Vertue nay how hard is it not to do this When he intends Temperance not to fall into an unreasonable unnatural denial of himself in those Gratifications which are not only allowable but commondable And lest he should indulge himself in sensual Excesses he will obstain from those Entertainments which are natural and innocent and if not necessary yet very convenient and useful Again How hard is it not to slip out of a just indignation and displeasure at some miscarriage and offence into an immoderate over vehement anger and an unbecoming fury and rage How difficult is it to say Thus far I may and shall he angry and beyond this I will not go and to keep to this Resolution On the other hands whilst a Man is but laying fit restraints on this Passion how apt is he to fall into stupidity and an unactive dulness which has a semblance of mildness and neither be moved in himself nor yet use that discipline to others which Nature and Justice requires I might observe the same in all other Vertues there is a great vicinity and nearness betwixt them and Vice The Heathen Moralists have placed almost all Vertues in the midst between two Vices And the difference they have made betwixt them is That one is an Excess the others Defect the one is more the other less than should be So that according to this Explication of it Vertue does but differ gradually from Viciocity And how exact must he be that will neither exceed nor be deficient do more nor less than what is fit He that looks but carelesly and with a wandring eye on them will not be able to distinguish betwixt Vertue and Vice they are sometimes dressed up so like each other So an abjectness of Mind may pass for Humility And he that does not narrowly observe them may be easily deceived and think himself or another vertuously humble when indeed he thinks untruly So Liberality and Magnificence and a vain Profuseness may be mistaken for each other And whilst a Man is sacrificing to Vanity and throwing away his Mony out of ostentation and a lavish humor he may think himself liberal and magnificent if he do not exactly observe 2. I may also perswade the same from the tendency there is in some good Action to that which is very evil Insomuch that if we do not set a very strict watch over our selves we shall begin in a very good and commendable Work but end in a very ill one We shall slip from that which is good and fit to that which is vicious and deformed To give an instance or two This Man sets out in defence of some important Truth that which either is or
the very Fundamental Laws whereby God governs the World which are such as these viz. That every Man should endeavour both his own and others Preservation and Perfection That he keep not only himself but others in that place and order which the great and wise Creator has appointed them That thus doing he carries on the same Design which the Maker and Lord of all does most evidently intend and prosecute as appears by the Inclinations and Appetites which he has given all his Creatures and by the Rank and Order in which he has set them to and with each other He that knows that not only himself but all living things have these Inclinations and do naturally desire their own Pleasure and Perfection and that they are all fitted for the Service of each other He will conclude that this is the Will of him that made us all and is our common Lord that we should follow these Inclinations in our selves and comply with them in others endeavouring to preserve every Being and the lowest Life and not only so but to increase and perfect it as much as is consistent with the Service and Advancement of the higher and best Life which is the Divine Life of the Mind which in this State depends on the Life of the Animal in us If it be thought the Will of God that we should preserve our selves because of that Self-Love that is natural to us for the same reason it must be thought his Will that others preserve themselves And if we oppose or hinder them that they cannot we resist God's Will If we do not what in us lies help them to do thus we do not his Will universally He then that observes these things will read the Will of the World's Maker in most legible Characters such as have no Obscurity but the most unlearned Man in the World may run and read If it be here excepted That sometimes these Inclinations clash they cannot all be gratified And that Nature's Scholar has no Direction in this case here are several things which God wills but what shall be done where there is a Competition I answer That which every Man's Reason will direct him 1. Be sure there be a Contrariety betwixt an Inconsistency of these natural Inclinations with each other that the same living Creature Man himself cannot be preserved and continue as it is if he become serviceable to the publick If these can both be let them If they cannot 2. Let it be in this as in all other cases it is let the Superiour dispose of the Inferiour as may best promote the most publick lasting greatest Good Thus we see a Grain of Corn which in a close Granary might be kept entire for which State one would think it was made being so whole and one in it self But yet it is by the skilful Husbandman thrown into the Ground where it rots and dies as the Apostle saith in a little time and so the Grain seems lost but yet afterwards it sprouts and multiplies it self into abundance perhaps sixty or a hundred This may teach us not to be so careful of our own particular Beings when by the giving them up we may do a far greater good Again By Nature as I have said we are inclined to seek after Pleasure but yet by Nature also i. e. by Brute Animals that seem to regard only what is present we are instructed to lay aside our Pleasure when by that we may proâ—ure some better or more lasting or publick-Good than that our Pleasure would be So do the old Birds abstain from abundance of particular Gratifications to hatch and feed their young that is they are more pleased with a publick than a particular Good And how common is it with us to cut off a part to save the whole But if natural Reason unassisted by Revelation be not sufficient to direct us in this yet by the help of that we shall be fully furnished with the knowledge of what God would have us to do where there is a competition of one natural desire with another More particularly Whosoever considers the Humane Nature which is the top of God's Workmanship in this lower World besides these Affections which we have hitherto taken notice of common to all Animals he will discover some things which are more particularly found in Man which will shew him what the Will of God is Some of which are these following 1. That Man is a compounded Being made up of very many Parts and Faculties and those of very different Natures and for divers Uses The two to which all the other are reduceable are his Body and his Mind That has very various Parts and Members this contains two illustrious Faculties the Understanding and the Will Now whosoever takes notice of this he cannot but conclude if he suppose the Creator wise that he did design and does will that all these Faculties and Parts should be put to the Uses for which they are fit That they should neither be unimploy'd nor yet diverted from their proper Employment and used otherwise than by their Natures they are fitted to be Thus then by what God has wrought in us we infer That it is his Will that we should be imploy'd and in various Works that we should neither be idle nor yet doing only one thing that we should be in the Exercise not only of some Faculty but of all and that we should not be in any unnatural use of our selves or of any part of us but ever be doing those Works for which our Parts and Faculties were plainly designed by their Maker and by their Frame are fitted 2. The Soul and Body do in this State very much depend on each other they so sympathize that if one be well or ill the other partakes of its prosperous or adverse Condition I do not say that they are so totally dependent on each other that the one cannot possibly subsist or act without the other that they began and will end together For natural Reason gives us good probable Presumptions and the Religion of Christ assures us of the contrary St. Paul's and many other good Mens Experience proves to us that the more the outward Man decays the inward may grow more vivacious and be daily renew'd and increase in Strength and Vigor This by the assistance of the Divine Grace and our co-operation has often come to pass But yet every one is sensible of such a mutual Dependance of the Soul and Body that the good or bad State of the one ordinarily has Influence on the other And this shews plainly that he who made us so intended and wills that not one but both of them should be regarded that when we design the Welfare of one we should not look on that as divided from but as united with the other that we should not so gratify the Body as if there were no Soul nor should the Soul forget that it is in the Body that we should not look on our selves as
natural to Man which is corruptive of Men this is a false Notion We must not look on our selves as meerly passive 2. We must not take up with inadequate Thoughts of our selves so as to take a part for the whole to think that we are nothing but Body leads us into Sensuality and a Study to please and serve the Flesh Or on the other hand to imagine that we are in this State nothing but Soul will dispose us to neglect the Body and so we shall be prone to turn either Brutish or Monkish 3. It is not enough that we know our whole selves but we must rid our Minds of confused Imaginations For whilst these remain we do if not prefer the Body before the Mind yet equal them and either set the lower Faculties above the higher or in the same Rank And this as all Disorders are is very pernicious and therefore not the Will of the Good One. For the making all this clear let us consider a particular Instance Suppose a Man perswaded that it is the Will of his Maker that he should endeavour his own Preservation and Perfection So long as he esteems the Depravation of his Nature as a very vehement Desire of bodily Pleasure to be natural he will then study to procure such Delights he will earnestly intend them tho they be indeed the bane of his Pleasure and of his very Being This Man so long as he has these imperfect Thoughts of himself will not look on himself as obliged to mind that part which he considers not as part of himself He will not intend the preservation and perfection of his Mind whilst he looks only on his Body as himself And if he has confused Thoughts of his Nature not distinguishing betwixt his Machine and his Life nor preferring one before the other as he cannot possibly think himself bound to preserve that Order betwixt these two which he understands not So whenever the Body is in danger to be destroyed he will apprehend that the Soul is in the same Hazard And so can never willingly sacrifice his bodily Life whilst he thinks it the same with the higher Life of the Mind Nay 't is much if the Law of Self-Preservation does not prevail against any other And how 〈◊〉 or necessary soever it be for him to die for his Religion on Countrey c. yet he will not chuse it he will not think himself obliged unto it 4. I have directed you to seek for the Will and Law of God in the sense of the Wise and Good and the Agreement of the Community of Mankind with them for 't is not likely they should all be deceived when they all agree that this or that ought or ought not to be done But here I must caution you 1. Not to divide these but to take their Suffrages where they consent I dare not lay so great stress on either singly as I do on both jointly 2. Be careful not to mistake those for Wise and Good who are neither Do not â—â—unt Men wise because they are fortunate and successful which is a common Cheaâ— Neither call Men Good 1. Who only make a shew but are not what they seem nor 〈◊〉 Those that have something which has the Vogue to be Good but is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pharisees 〈…〉 3. Those who are but partially and very imperfect 〈◊〉 Good not so Good as to bear a Denomination which is always taken à parts 〈◊〉 their Ill still weighs it down 3. As I would not in this case lean on the Understanding of the Wise and Vertnous when they think contrarily to the Community so neither would I be concluded from the Opinions of one or of some few against the generality of the Righteous 4. See that it be the unfeigned Sense of their most impartial uncorrupted Judgments which is best known by proposing a matter generally so as that they be not actually concerned in it when no Appetite nor Passion nor Custom does corrupt and bribe them I mean by this that we should observe Men that are and when they are most free from those things which too often obliterate and extinguish the Sense which their Souls have of what is fit and what is not To this let me add That we should do well to take notice of the first thoughts which Men have of these matters which as they are freest and truest so commonly they are the most inward and the very sense of their Minds The Reasons of these Cautions will appear to any one that considers them I need say no more but this to shew their necessity That Men have often thought that to be the Sense of Mankind which was not and have been frequently imposed on under an appearance of Goodness so as to think that to be their Duty which they judged was and were ready to take up every Burden which they laid on them the they required not only more than but contrary to what God required 5. In reference to that way of God's making known his Mind in an extraordinary manner to some and by them to others If I were to speak to those who are Strangers to our holy Scriptures and might have some Enthusiastic Dream as the Alcoran obtruded on them with all the Vogue and Noise of the credulous Multitude I would advise them to look well that the pretended Revelation of the Divine Law be in every respect worthy of that God whose Authority it boastâ—â— 1. That the things therein revealed be such as may beseen the great Author in the Wisdom and Goodness and Holiness of them they bear these Characters of Divinity and every one that sees them may say these are the Laws of the good Creator 2. That the manner of the Publication may not be unbecoming him 3. That they receive some super-human Attestation that something be done which may convince all considering Persons that they have a Divine Author By these things I should detect the Frauds and Forgeries of abundance of Men who have pretended Inspiration and to give us the Laws of Heaven But to us who have examined the Scripture by these Marks and are perswaded of their Divinity I need not insist on these matters My Business is to prevent our mistaking the sence of these Divine Writings That they are abused and miserably wrested by some that receive and rely upon them cannot be doubted by us St. Peter himself one of the inspired Writers complains of some that wrested St. Paul ' s Epistles to their own destruction It concerns us therefore to see that we have the true sence and meaning of these Books As to the understanding the Will of God concerning us let me offer a few Considerations 1. That there is nothing in the Bible to which God obliges us that is repugnant to the Law of Nature and the Reason of our Mind 2. He has enjoin'd us nothing but what is pursuant of the End for which he made us that is our Perfection 3. The Scripture does
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
Let us suppose that some Men are such Devils as to hate Vertue and that they are enraged against every one that is a Lover of Goodness Yet even in this case Care is taken by the great Governor of his Church and of the World 1. That no opposition shall prevail against the Christian Society but that they shall contiuue some-where or other in the World in spite of the Malice of Earth and Hell And 2. That whatsoever any Man suffers in and for well-doing he shall receive an abundant Recompence for it He shall at present feel that inward satisfaction of Mind which will make the worst Condition not only tolerable but easy and perhaps his very Persecutors will give a testimony to his Vertue and will at least tacitely approve that which they punish and persecute And after he hath ended this Life with Self-satisfaction as well as Honour from all that knew him and were Lovers of Goodness he shall then enter into inconceivable Bliss and be filled with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory 2. This is the Condition of Christians in respect of them who are without Let us now consider them with reference to those that are within the Members of the same Body united with them in the same Society Men who are of the same Institution and under the same Obligations with themselves Now as there is scarce any Society in which Men are but they receive considerable Advantages by it for they are by this secured from very many Outrages to which if they were alone they must necessarily be exposed and they by the mutual Assistance one of another have their Wants supplied much more conveniently than they could have been if they had continued by themselves Insomuch that it is scarce conceivable that any Society should be so bad as Solitude They are a wretched Company of Men indeed from whom a Man will flâ—e into a Wilderness and rather chuse to be among the wild Beasts than to associate with them But grant that a Solitude a Desert may be more desirable than some Societies yet this cannot be imagined of that which is the best Society of the whole World And such is the Christian Church to be a Member of which and live in Communion with it is one of the greatest Blessings that can be given to any Man because of the inestimable Benefits he is entitled to and receives by this For by being one of this Corporation he is both more obliged and engaged as well as more assisted and helped to do well and consequently to be happy than he could be if he was alone or of any other Society This will be very evident if we consider these following Particulars 1. The Profession which every one makes when he becomes a Christian the Terms on which and the Rite with which all are first admitted to this holy Corporation and also the Condition of our Continuance in it by which we understand the Quality of the Members of this Body 2. The large Bounds and vast Extent of this Society the great Numbers of them that have been and are of it and the Length of its Duration 3. The Excellency of the Order and Government which is established in this spiritual Polity 4. The good Laws that regulate our Affections and Carriage to each other which are given to all the Members of this Holy Society 5. The Holy Solemnities and Sacred Rites to which every Christian is admitted in the publick Assemblies 6. The proper and wholesom Discipline which is used towards Offenders 7. The wise and good Counsels the holy and vertious Examples of the Members of this Society These and such like Particulars if well consider'd will make it evident how much advantage it is likely to be to those who are received into this excellent Society Let us briefly run over them First Every Man by his entring into it professeth he will observe the Counsels obey the Precepts and follow the Example of Jesus Christ that is he engages himself to the practice of all Holiness and Purity of all Goodness and Vertue whatsoever And whosoever does not thus must contradict and bely his Profession and proclaim himself an Hypocrite which Men are not willing to do The Conditions of Mens being received into the Church are these that I have already mentioned or which is the same in other words to repent and believe or obey the Gospel These are the Terms upon which every one is admitted at first and those upon which he continues is his Perseverance and not only so but also his bringing forth Fruits meet for Repentance For every Branch that bears not Fruit is cut off saith our Saviour Thus then by the very Terms on which I am received into and continued in this Society I am mightily engaged to an holy and excellent Life If I do what I have taken upon me to do I shall be a very good Man and if I be only a Pretender but make not good my Engagement if I only pretend to be a Christian but am none I am an Hypocrite here and my Portion shall be with Hypocrites hereafter And if other Men will make good their Profession and perform the Conditions of Christianity then will manifold Advantages accrue to me from this For they are obliged both by the Commands and Example of our Saviour to be not only just and honest but merciful and kind and bountiful to all but especially to their Fellow-Christians And lastly To ratify this Engagement and make it more solemn and sensible and strong that common and easy and significant Ceremony of Baptism or Washing is used which as it signifies to us that inward Purity to which Christianity obliges us so it brings this to our remembrance as all corporal and sensible things do put us in mind of those more spiritual with which they are joined I will not now insist on those secret Blessings and unseen Graces which we may upon good grounds believe God vouchsafes to all that use his Ordinances The Sum of what I have said under this Particular is That it is a very great Advantage to be of the Church of Christ because of the Terms on which and the Rite by which we are received into it and because of the Profession we and all Men make at our first entrance All which lays a great obligation on us all to live good Lives which if we do we shall be in capacity of receiving and they in a disposition of doing great Good to us By this we understand the Nature and Quality of the Members of the Christian Society that they are holy and vertuous and good Men for such must they be who are resolved to obey the Commands and imitate the Example of Christ I speak of that which indeed is not that which only seems to be the Church of Christ of real not nominal Christians I proceed Secondly To a Consideration of the vast Extent and long Duration of this Holy Society It is spread over the face
beneficial this Temper is to Humane Nature is very apparent The Body it self shares in the Advantages that come by it In the Opinion of the French Philosopher as well as the Observation of many it is literally Health to the Navel and Marrow to all the Bones It gives Warmth and Motion to the Blood and new fresh Spirits to the whole Body and on this account he thinks it more adviseable to live in a mistaken Love than in Hatred that is true and hath a Foundation But if this admit of Dispute yet that is unquestionable that it is far better to love with Reason than to hate without it and that is all I plead for But these are the least of the Advantages we have by Love the greater are those which more immediately concern the Soul and they are summ'd up in this the knocking off the Shackles and Fetters which Hatred and Sorrow and Fear had bound up our Powers by Love that comes and mightily rescues us from that Bondage and Thraldom It sets us at liberty unties the Tongue of the Dumb and unlooses our Hands that were bound It brings us back from the Solitude whither Hatred or Fear had driven us to a Converse amongst Men and makes us active and disposes us to the Employment of all our Powers which is necessary to their Perfection and hath a great tendency to it That is the first from the consideration of Love in General Secondly Now consider it with its Object Enemies 1. They may do us much Good and we are often the better for them 1. That whereby they intend to ruin us is often our Advancement the Blow by which they would kill cures us so that the Sword becomes a Lancet and the Enemy who designs to make Wounds proves a Chirurgion and heals them Indeed this being besides their Intention we perhaps shall not think they merit our Love or Thanks the more but however they are Instruments of Good to us and we should love that which is any cause of Good to us Joseph on this account was not himself nor would have his Brethren angry with themselves because tho they intended him Evil yet God did him good by it and used them as Instruments thereof We love things that cannot intend us any Good if yet we receive any from them such are all without Reason Thus the Sword with which a Man hath defended himself is of great value with him and why should not we as well love them that do us Good against their Will as those that do it without any Will at all But 2. We owe much to their evil Designs and mischievous Devices against us This makes us cautious and circumspect and this Caution makes us wise He considered this rightly who when he would repay every one what he had received from them gave his Prudence to his Enemies This Apprehension makes us more exact in what we do than otherwise we should be We shall go upright if we know there be those that watch for our halting We shall be more accurat in our Actions where we are to receive our Doom from Enemies than where Friends are to judg us Friends are often so blinded with Passion that they can see nothing that is amiss and Enemies are so envious that they acknowledg nothing Good but what is eminently so This is therefore a Spur to make us do our best Many Men if they had had fewer Friends and more Enemies had been much better than now they are Therefore we must love them as we love Poisons that are mixt by the Physician so as they are made soveraign Medicines and cure our Disease This is the first 2. Tho our Enemies do Evil to us yet there is Good in them and for the sake of that we must love them Wilt thou destroy the Righteous with the Wicked said Abraham to God Far be it from thee It is the same Injustice for any to hate and destroy the Good which is in any Man with the Evil where a Separation can be made God sent his Angel to bring Lot out of Sodom and in the Deluge Noah was warned and saved in the Ark We should follow this Example prosecute and destroy the Wickedness the Evil of a Man hate that with a perfect Hatred but spare the Man be kind to our own Kindred have regard to God's Creature and Image lovâ— the Christian Physicians do never cut off any part of the Body which is not so corrupted that there is no hopes of a Cure and where the rest of the Body is not in danger by it and the Part it self not vital not necessary to Life And in the Body Politick the Relatives of an Offender are not involved in his Sufferings where the Offence is not very great nor there unless it can be supposed they were Partners with him or it be necessary for the publick and greater Good both to demonstrate a great Severity against such Crimes and thereby to terrify Men and also the more to engage all Relations to concern themselves in one anothers well-doing Somewhat like this should our Carriage be in the Case before us Is there any hopes that the Evil may be removed from the Life and Mind of the Man without his Ruine Try if it may And it is hard to say that a Man is or can be so much our Enemy that he will never be our Friend We cannot affirm that the Case is desperate that he is unreconcileable Surely no Man is so much a Devil as to be implacable this can never be Besides there may sometimes be a deal of Wisdom and Goodness which must be loved and the Man valued for it Lastly We are never to do any Evil which will make it impossible for our Enemies to be happy this would be to cut off a vital Part. Such was his hellish Malice who perswaded his Enemy to blaspheme in hopes of Life and then presently stabb'd him and then triumph'd in the greatness of the Mischief I never yet met with an Instance of one more a Devil This Man had perfectly cast off Humanity and he hath done so too in great measure who doth not so much desire every other Man's Happiness as that he can do nothing that is not in order to at least very consistent with it As to the other Comparison let us not do that which the Soveraign Lord of Heaven and Earth so much disowns punish the Fathers for the Transgression of the Children Let every one die for his own iniquity Find out the Criminal let him suffer Here 's a disorderly Passion founded on some easy and ordinary Mistakes remove these but let the Man live Let not him suffer unless this be the best Method for the removal of this and prevention of a worse Evil that may befal him What I have now said signifies that a special Care and due Regard should be had to all that is good and when our Anger and Displeasure would instigate us to devise and do Mischief
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they would lay out themselves and do their best 1. To be quiet To give no occasion of Disturbance to others to be no way accessory to the Disquiet of their Neighbours to prevent as much as in them lies all Molestations that might arise in the Society whereof they are Members neither to say nor do nor leave unsaid or undone any thing from whence Commotions and Quarrels Anger Enmity or any foolish and hurtful Unquietness might ensue But on the contrary to preserve Peace and Love and Friendship and Kindness amongst Men. And as one of the Means that lead and contribute to this Quiet 2. To do their own Business their proper particular Work On which how much the Quiet and State of Men depends may appear in the Sequel of this Discourse And I hope to make it evident that this is a thing more considerable and of far greater moment than at first it may seem and that it deservedly challenges our utmost Care and Diligence And this latter Duty being in order and a help to our Discharge of the former I shall begin with it And shall enquire I. Into the Occasion of this Precept when it was given by St. Paul II. Into the true Meaning and Impose of the Words here used When I have done this I shall offer some Considerations which will make it appear to be good and fit and profitable and necessary for us to do as we are here directed I. As to the Occasion of this Precept It was probably the same with that in 2 Thess 3. 12. We command and exhort that with Quietness they work and eat their own Bread Such he means as he described Vers 11. Who walk disorderly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of their Rank working not at all but Busyâ—â—die◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 very busy yet did nothing nothing they should do nothing to the purpose that which they did or seem'd to do was next to nay worse than nothing They neglected their own Business but would be thrusting themselves into other 〈◊〉 By this neglect of their own Affairs they were reduced to such Straits that they could not live of themselves and by their overâ—â—â—oâ—ousness they so insinuated into others that they lived upon them Which dependent parasitical Life being so unbecoming and base and casting so much Ignominy upon the Religion they profess'd Nay it being so unjust that they who did nothing and therefore deserved nothing should have anything the Apostle enjoyns them as he had before that they who would not work should not eat And that they should work 〈◊〉 Quietness and eat their own Bread This was the occasion of that Exhortation in the second Epistle and 't is most likelyâ— that on the same occasion he had before given them the same Precept in the Text To do their own Business In which we may be further confirm'd by what follows in the end of the 11th and 12th Verses Working with your own Hands that ye may walk honestly towards the Gentiles and that ye may have need of nothing By which as he plainly intimates that the very Heathens did not approve of Idleness and Beggary but thought it unseemly for Men to live the Lives of Drones and Parasites so likewise that he should prevent such foul Miscarriages with the ill Consequents of them if he could engage them to mind and do their own Business This would raise them from the Bed of Sloth this would keep them from being Eves-droppers and Interlopers in other Mens matters and thereby cut off many Occasions of great Troubles both to themselves and their Neighbours This would probably secure them from necessitous Dependances and their Religion from Contempt Thus we see the Occasion of this Precept partly from the History set down in the second Epistle where it is repeated partly from the Reasons annexed to it in this From which we may conclude in order to our next Enquiry that this doing their own Business was something that was good and honest in the account of the Heathens and that by natural Light might be discover'd to be so Something also that would be a means to secure them from a Dependance on other Men for Necessaries which is one of the worst States of Humane Life Erasmus thinks the Apostle had in his Eye both the Idle and the Busy-bodies Deterret says he ab otio ab alienis Appetendis Grotius is of the same Mind and tells us that they who offend against this Rule are by St. Peter called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and by St. Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and by the Greeks commonly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of which number he reckons parasitical Smell-feasts drolling Buffoons and such like Flies with which Greece then swarm'd II. Having seen the Occasion let us now proceed to the Sense and Import of the Words And here the main Enquiry is What is meant by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 your own private matters those which are peculiarly and properly yours 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seems here to be opposed to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to be distinguished from the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our own in opposition to other Mens and in distinction from what is common both to us and them Do your own not others Mens Business Do not only what belongs to all Men but that also which particularly appertains to you For our better understanding this we may consider Man under a fourfold respect 1. Of his Nature as he differs from Beasts and as he differs from other Men i. e. we may look on him as endowed with Understanding and Liberty in general which is common to all Men or as with greater Understanding with all those Inclinations and Aversations which may be supposed to be born with Men that are peculiar to this or that Man 2. We may consider a Man under the various Changes that are made in his Nature the several Accessions to his natural Faculties with all that Knowledg with which Study and Experience has enriched him with all those Arts and Habits which by Time and Exercise he has acquired or else with all inculpable Impairments and Lessenings of the Faculties either of his Body or of his Soul 3. We may consider him in that Condition in which he is in respect of outward things such as Poverty of Riches Liberty or Confinement Honour or Disgrace c. 4. Consider him in those Relations in which he is to other Men whether he came into them by Necessity arising either from Nature or Laws or voluntarily and out of Choice As Husband or Wife Parent or Child Master or Servant Magistrate or one of the People Teacher or Learner of the Clergy or the Laity c. This with some Addition is Tully's Quadruplex Persona which every Man bears Now as to the Business before us Whatever Work is sutable and proper to Man under any of these Considerations that may be said to be his Work he was as it were made and fitted
to understand by Nature the Corruptions and Depravations of it So many that declaim against Nature interpret that Phrase 1 Cor. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which should be rendred the animal Man the Man that lives the Life of a mere Animal one that hath not the Reason and Understanding of a Man By Nature therefore I understand here 1. Nature in General 2. Particularly that part of humane Nature which is common to Man with inferior Torts of Beings 3. That wherein he differs from and excells them and agrees with those that are better 1. As for Nature in general it is observable that all Beings do by their motions and alterations conspire to the preserving of the Universe that they do not more endeavour their own Good and Continuance than the Good of the Whole Nay many times they leave their own proper Tendencies and seem to neglect as it were their private Concerns to promote the more Publick and Universal This is so obvious to every Observation and there are so many Instances of it in both animate and inanimate Bodies that I need not insist upon it I shall only mind you of another almost as common as this that Animals of the same kind are loving and helpful to each other and do not only associate and herd together but will also expose themselves to danger for their mutual Defence and other good Offices But I go on further and more particularly 2. To that part of Nature which is in Man common to him with other Animals his Body how does every Part minister to other and all of them conspire to preserve and perfect the whole How is Nourishment conveyed from one to another through the whole Body And when it is thus with it the Body is in its natural good State of Health If it be otherwise if one Part draw all the Nourishment to it self it is then diseased and this tends to the Dissolution of the whole and consequently of that Part it self which does not distribute Add to this what the Naturalists have observ'd that no Passion is more agreeable to Man's Body than Love which is the Principle of doing Good that nothing contributes more to his Health nor is a more certain Argument of it than Good-will that the very Body of Man is never in better State than when he is most enclined to do good Offices And that the Motions which maintain Life are then most equally vigorous when we are in the Exercise of Charity and Compassion 3. This is no less congruous to the Nature of Man as distinguished from all other Animals it is agreeable to the Mind and Reason of Man Hear the Sence of an honest Heathen which is the Voice of Nature not of Revelation Saith he to his Friend Qui tibi amicus est scito hunc omnibus amicum esse Again Non sum uni angulo natus Patria mea est totus hic Mundus Nor was it only one but many of the Philosophers that called themselves Citizens of the World not that they forgot their Native Country but they remembred their Relation to the whole They look'd on themselves in the same order to the Universe which others do to the Town where they were born and dwell Again Posterorum res ago He did not content himself to be a Benefactor to the present Age but would take care also that those that should be born after should receive advantage by his Labours and so they have Lucan says of Cato and as many as speak of him say the same Hi mores haec dura immota Catonis Secta fuit servare modum finemque tenere Naturamque sequi Patriaeque impendere vitam Non sibi sed toti genitum se credere Mundo Thus we see Nature taught the very Heathens And I do the more willingly insist on this Argument from Nature because I cannot think that the God of Nature being also the Author of our Religion should make this inconsistent with that or destructive of it And because by this means we shall have a great assistance both in the understanding of our Duty and in making us willing to do it Had this been duly observ'd Men had never sacrificed their Sons to Moloch And if this be received one of the greatest Objections against our being Religious vanishes In general then If it be natural for the Soul of Man before it be corrupted with any of those Passions that are the off-spring of Folly to observe and be affected with the welfare and ill State of others besides it self If it be displeased and unquiet and griev'd when it goes ill with them and joyed and delighted to see them in good Plight then it 's natural to it to will and endeavour their good and welfare The Understanding of Man is a large and unlimited kind of thing it reaches forth it self to all Beings and views them and wherever it sees Good it loves and desires the continuance and when it observes Evil it 's troubled and wishes it were not and will endeavour it may not be And if this be natural to the Mind of Man unaltered by wicked Practices and foolish Passions then it is natural to it to do good universally and then certainly to all Mankind Again it 's natural to the Soul of Man to love Pleasure and to pursue it and to be averse from whatsoever displeases it Now nothing can be the object of Pleasure but Good or if any Evil be 't is only in order to what is Good and as it serves that i. e. as it is good in Reality No Man can be delighted to see any Beings in an ill Plight or if he be he is in an unnatural state himself and his Soul is corrupted More particularly and distinctly If we understand by natural that which proceeds from an inward Principle and which tends to preserve and perfect Nature in general and particularly that which is a Conclusion deriv'd from Principles of Reason and clear Discourses for that 's natural to Man which is rational then I will use this Method to evince that all this which is here required is agreeable to Nature in general and to humane Nature in Particular 1st It 's natural for us to be acting If we either conform to the rest of the Beings we live with in the World or act agreeably to our own Natures we must be doing The best Philosophers assure us that in the vast Universe there is not one little Particle that is idle but the World and all in it are in uncessant motion tho' some Bodies that move more slowly and less discernibly than others are said to be at rest Whether we climb up into Heaven or dive into the Sea or dig into the Bowels of the Earth we shall find all Beings employed and busy nothing idle The Heavenly Bodies are whirling about perpetually the Waters cease not to run and in the Caverns of the Earth which might be imagined the dens of Sleep yet the Mines are made And
this I dare encounter the Sensualist who seeks for Delight from brutish Gratifications or the malicious angry Man who expects to have it from Revenge or the selfish and contracted Man who pursues it in ways of Self-love and all the Pleasure he hath is in doing Good to himself To all these I can shew greater and better purer and more lasting Pleasures in the Exercise of an universal Love Here 's Pleasure that will be constantly fresh and new no satiety no clogging The Sensualist hath the pleasure of a Brute in his Enjoyments the malicious Man hath the pleasure of Divels the selfish of the Sons of Earth but the Man of Benignity and unbounded Love hath the delight of those that are Heaven-born the Joys of Angels and partakes of the greatest Pleasure of God himself for that undoubtedly is to do good I have now shewn how much the temper and practice of universal Goodness tends to make us Knowing Religious Vertuous Quiet and Joyful which are the greatest and most desirable Perfections of the Soul of Man But perhaps some may set a greater value on things less excellent and will be more sensible of what concerns their Body than their Mind and of that which is without than that which is within them Now therefore that I may engage such Men also if it be possible to a Life of Beneficence and that I may fully discover the manifold Vertues of a benign Nature and Life I will consider those also that are of less Importance which relate to our Body and Good-name and Estate but yet ought to have some place in our account And lastly how Instrumental this must be to begin and continue and confirm Friendships which in all these and the other respects before-mentioned are hugely serviceable to us 1. Universal Beneficence conduces to long Life Psal 34. 12. David asks this Question What Man is he that desires Life and loves Days that he may see Good Not that he thought there were any that did not but therefore he proposes this in form of Question the better to excite their attention and to make us all regard what he would say which is to direct us what Course to take that we may attain our desire and that is 1. Keep thy Tongue from Evil and thy Lips from speaking Guile 2. Depart from Evil and do Good seek Peace and pursue it This is the Direction the Scripture gives to preserve Life and we find this very passage cited in 1 Pet. 3. 10. And that we may be assured that by doing Good is meant Beneficence see how it is brought in there as an Argument against rendring Evil for Evil at the 9th Verse Not rendring Evil for Evil nor Railing for Railing but contrariwise Blessing c. and then follows at the tenth Verse For he that will love Life and see good Days c. Reason and Experience will say the same There are we all know two sorts of Enemies to Mans Life one is within the other without him Those within are the Diseases which as they arise from other causes so very often I know not whether I should say for the most part arise from disorderly Passions I know not any better general Prescription for the preventing or curing those Diseases that arise from ill temper of the Blood and other Humours than to keep the Mind in a benign disposition and willingness to do good Offices For there is a great Sympathy betwixt Soul and Body and experience and observation shews us that when the Soul is thus affected it gives and continues alacrity and briskness to those motions in which both Life and Health consist And for those that arise from Passions which are contrary to this universal good Affection or proceed from want of it such as Anger Malice Envy great Sorrow and excess of Self-love or a too particular and contracted Affection what ill effects these have on our Bodies and what Distempers they cause I leave it to Observation and Sense to testifie But we are sure that those sudden changes of Colour trembling of the Flesh palpitation of the Heart stopping of the Breath Sighing Inflaming our Heaviness distorting of the Face and Eyes which are so often consequent on those are very ill Symptoms And the best way to prevent them and all the dangers they threaten us with is to preserve in our Minds an Inclination to do good universally For this will extirpate Malice and destroy Envy it will moderate Anger and not suffer us to be Peevish it will set us at liberty from a too particular Affection and ease our Griefs and thus prevent very many of those Diseases which we lie under for want of due regulating our Passions Nor will this seem strange if we consider that Physicians when they advise a Method for preserving Health caution us about our Passions that they be kept in order I have before shewn that to be universally Benevolent is the best and perhaps only way to govern them and if so 't is evident that it must have a great Influence on Life and that which is the Life of Life without which Death would be more eligible Health The causes of Man's Death that are without him are Men or other things such as infectious Vapours in the Air Famines the ill Qualities of his Food or other such like As for Men Tully tells us it was the Opinion of one Dicaearchus that many more were slain by Men than died by Diseases or any other way The truth of my Discourse depends not on the certainty of his Conjecture all that I shall infer is that those great numbers that die by the hands of Men and before their time come by this means might have had their Lives lengthened For if the Law of Universal Love were observed by all then Quarrels and Contentions War and Fighting Stabbing and Poyson would have no place But there is no better Preservative against infectious Diseases than the Vertue and good Disposition of the Mind of which the Sum is Benignity Therefore Histories tell us that in that lamentable Plague at Athens which was so contagious and mortal yet Socrates escaped and this was ascribed to his Vertue and excellent Disposition in general particularly to his Temperance which I have shewn how it as well as all other Vertues derives from Universal Love One observation will very much assure us of the Truth of what I have said wherein I will appeal to the experience of every one it is this That an unwillingness to be doing Good is for the most part if not always accompanied with indisposition of Body and that when we enjoy the best Health we commonly feel our selves in the greatest disposition to Beneficence For the Soul and Body as in other matters so here mutually operate on each other Whence I infer That as Benignity and Goodness in the Mind contribute to the Health of the Body so the good plight of the Body inclines the Soul to Good-will And for the other Perfections
in opposition to their Opinion of old must be understood in the same Sense they took them in and then the plain Sense of our Saviour is that we should design their Good and Welfare who desire and intend ill to us That we should repay Hatred with Love ill Offices with good ones and in sum do well to them that do evil to us not requiting Hatred with Hatred one ill turn with another 3. Let us consider the Words with Relation to other Precepts This is necessary to be considered for the understanding the Bounds and Limits of any Precept and consequently how far it is obligatory There are two Propositions which in general may serve for Rules in the Interpretation of any Command and they are not that I know denied by any First That no Action that is impossible is commanded and none that is necessary forbidden If any Laws be made that keep not within these Bounds it argues Folly and perhaps Cruelty in the Maker of them and he to whom they are made cannot be under any Obligation Secondly No Law that is particular and of less moment can null one that is greater and universally obliging Such are those Love and do Good Avoid Evil c. And where two good things are in Competition and one is apperently better chuse the best because that which is less good habet Rationem mali 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is the untransgressible Law it is contrary to Nature to do otherwise this is perpetually obliging This is a Law which cannot be abrogated from which no other Law can derogate in the least So that no Precept whatsoever can oblige any Person not to do that which is better Of two good things the greater of two Evils the lesser is always to be chosen And indeed Men naturally do chuse that which they appreliend to be so These two Rules premised it is manifest that our Saviour in this Precept of loving our Enemies doth not command us 1. To love any thing that is in it self Evil nor to be pleased with our own Harm considered in it self This is impossible for Humane Nature to do He doth not by this intend to make us affected to Evil as we are to Good This we cannot be whilst we are Men our Nature must be first destroyed Every one naturally and necessarily intends his own Preservation and is averse from that which tends to his Ruine The desire of his own Preservation and Perfection is a Principle so deeply ingraven in Man's Nature that it cannot be obliterated Nor 2. Are we here commanded to do no Evil to those who are our Enemies Men who are competent Judges of Offences and who have Power and Right to punish Offenders are not hereby forbidden to inflict Penalties on them where other Methods will be probably ineffectual to remove or prevent some greater Evils This makes doing ill to any not only excusable but necessary where a greater Evil cannot be removed without it And 3. If we may do any Evil to another then we may also desire and will it It is unquestionable a Man may will to do what he may do And he may do Evil to another Man where 1. It is the likeliest means to procure the Offender some greater Good than by this he is depriv'd of Or 2. Where it is but consistent with his Happiness if it be in order to the greater Good and Advantage of others the Liberty and Security of other Men the Publick Peace This is the only Reason I can readily think of why the Life of a Robber should be taken away that People may be secure and quiet in their Possessions and encouraged to Labour and Industry to get by their being protected by the Laws in keeping what they have and also lest the Contagion should spread and the Malefactor himself proceed to more Offences and others receive the Infection from him All which is more valuable than such a Man's Life These are the Principles of Justice and our Saviour came not to overturn any of these Foundations This then seems to be the Sense of our Saviour in this Precept Not that we should love any thing that is Evil to us and tends to our Ruine as such Nor that we should not endeavour and take the best and likeliest ways to free our selves from a bad Estate Nor that we should not do and desire some Evil to Men who may be our Enemies provided that it be in order to a greater Good than it is a Deprivation of to themselves or others and never inconsistent with their Happiness But that we should desire and do as much as we can all that Good to them who design and do the worst Evils to us which can be consistent with our wisest Endeavours after their our own and others greatest Good This seems to be all that is meant by this Precept Only this Caution is necessary that Passion and Interest and Folly must not determine in the case but Wisdom and Righteousness must sit in Judgment and decide what is and what is not consistent with their or other Mens greater Good II. Now let us consider the Reasonableness of such a Practice considered in it self and the Arguments that are drawn from such a Consideration of it as well as the more external that perswade to it 1. Consider Love in it self It is the most pleasant as well as the most beneficial and perfective Operation of Man There is none but will confess himself beholden to this Passion for the greatest Delights he hath ever met with It is that which makes us receive any thing of Pleasure in our Enjoyments Without it the best Condition would afford us no Content and with it we shall have Satisfaction in the worst It is Love more than any other thing that differences Mens Delights Estates Enjoyments c. Our Delight consists not in having abundance of Riches nor in being honoured nor in knowing much but in our Love and value for these things He that hath much and loves not his Wealth hath no more of pleasure from his Riches than he who is poor Hence is it that the Necessitous hath more of Delight in his Condition than the Wealthy-Man in his because he more loves and values his few Necessaries than the other can his many Superfluiries But I need no further Evidence of the Pleasures of Love and Good-will than an Appeal to every Mans Sense and Observation of himself will give The more he has of this the better it is with him If therefore it be extended as far as there is any thing that may be an Object of Love how great must his Delight be The most that we know of Heaven which is a State of the greatest Pleasure and Delight that Humane Nature can have is that there is a constant and a great Love and Hell which is the greatest Torment is destitute of all Good-will Love and Kindness are banished hence and Spite and Hatred and Envy take the place How
given him opportunity of doing and has peculiarly fitted him for and where that is needful has otherwise authorised him to the doing it much more which God has commanded him to do or Men who have Right so to do have imposed it on him or himself has Voluntarily undertaken that is his proper Work his own Business I now proceed to those Arguments which perswade us to mind to do to be diligent in this III. The considerations which may perswade us that this is very good and necessary and according to the Will of God are such as these 1. The Account it was in with the wisest of the Heathens 2. The Testimony which the Holy Scriptures give to it 3. The suitableness of it to the Nature of Man and to his State and Condition 4. The numberless Benefits which flow from it both upon our selves and others upon single Persons and upon Societies And also the horrible Mischiefs which arise from the neglect of it 1. St. Paul gives this as one reason why they should do their own Business that they might walk honestly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seemly towards them that are without which plainly implies that when Men minded their own Business they did that which was seemly and fit in the account of the Heathens It is plain what the great Athenian Law-givers thought of it by these two or three Laws 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Any one that would might indite an idle Person he was it seems outlaw'd and the Punishment in Draco's Laws was no less than Death So it was also amongst the Egyptians as Heredotus and Diâ—dorus Siculus inform us from whom probably this Law was brought into Greece The other was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That no Man should be of two Professions or exercise two Trades We may suppose one Reason of this to be lest being divided betwixt both they should be good at neither And another Reason because as they would not allow Men to be idle so neither to be over-busy they would have them moderately employ'd And in pursuance of the Design of this Law which was to keep Men at work they required them every Year to appear before that great Court of the Areopagites to give an Account how they maintained themselves It is a known Story of Menedemus and Asclepiades who had no visible Estate and yet look'd well and liv'd handsomly tho they followed the Study of Philosophy all day which it seems was not the way to getâ— Livelihood then neither which made them to be suspected and when they were cited into the Court they call'd for the Millers who testified that they wrought with them in the Nights and so earn'd their Living Which procured them not only an honourable Dismission but also a great Reward from their Judges Besides They have another Law whereby they excuse a Son from maintaining his old and indigent Father if he had never put him to a Trade Nay amongst them none might be allowed to keep a Servant in his House who had not been brought up in some Employment To this let me add That I have not yet observed any flourishing Commonwealth or Kingdom where their Law-makers and Magistrates have not taken care that all Men should be employ'd in some honest useful Calling and be industrious in it When Rome it self was degenerate yet one of the Emperors when he saw an officious Courtier sprinkling Water before him to lay the Dust as he walked and seeing he expected Thanks for it told him That he was so far from rewarding that he used to punish Works that deserved much better than his But I pass on to some more cogent Arguments 2. See what the Scripture saith in this matter and it is full and plain Besides this and the parallel Place in 2. Thess we have St. Paul exhorting the Romans chap. 12. 11. that in Business they should not be slothful which by a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies they should be sedulous and diligent active and industrious To be earnest and active in Business he thought very consistent with Fervency of Spirit and to be a part of the Service we do to God And as he exhorted the Thessalonians to Industry in their Callings that they might want nothing themselves so he charges the Ephesians that they should work with their own hands that they might be able to supply the Wants of others Let us hear St. Peter in 1 Pet. 5. 15. Let 〈◊〉 of you suffer as a Murderer or Thief or as Evil-doer that is a Transgressor by Perâ—ury c. of the Laws or as a Busy-body in other Mens Matters Did Busy-bodies suffer in those days Were they punished as Malefactors Was this counted a Crime If it were punish'd in ours we must enlarge and multiply our Bridewels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a kind of Pope that will not contain himself within his own 〈◊〉 his proper Diocess but will be an Oecumenical Pastor One that takes upon him the inspection into other Mens Business see at what Company the Apostle puts him and in the next Verse plainly opposes to these Suffering as a Christian he look'd on these as no Christians Let the pretended Successor of St. Peter well consider how far he is guilty of what St. Peter here condemns I conclude with St. Jude who gives us an account of the Sin of the Angels which as far as I can understand by the Expressions was a Violation of this Precept I am now discoursing of v. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We render the first Words kept not their first State but they may as well be read they kept not their Principality their high Place of Regiment and Power in which the Sovereign Lord had set them They did not discharge the Office they bore in that Celestial Hierarchy But some of them it is likely affecting an universal Monarchy in Heaven and others out of Idleness left their own Habitation deserted their Station forsook the Province allotted to them that is neglected their own proper Work and Business For this is spoken as their Sin and not their Punishment they forsook not were cast out of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their proper Place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may also signify the Place of their Administration their Province I know not whether 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be not so to be understood when it is said that Moses was faithful in all his House If this were the Sin of the Angels as it seems not improbable it should be a Warning to us how we desert our Station and neglect our own Business and so either become idle and useless or troublesom to others and perhaps rebellious against our Governours as they may be thought to has been For if we commit the Sin we must expect to fall into the Condemnation of the Devil So much for Scripture 3. To do a Man 's own Business is very suitable to Humane Nature and the Condition in which it is here In the Nature and State of Man here these
Things are observable 1. He is endowed with many active Powers which were never intended by the wise Contriver to lie idle and do nothing What means this Shop of Tools which we have in our Body if they must never be used Man's Body is the House where his Soul must dwell It must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whilst in this State the Soul must act with and by the Body 2. That he is limited in his Presence and Power and Knowledg He cannot be in many Places at once nor endure to be in perpetual motion nor can he so well understand and act but very little at a distance Now by all these things he seems to be directed and determined by his Nature and State to some Business that is near him for he can best understand and act where he is present I said Man and many Faculties but they are not sufficient for every Work for they may as well be over as under-wrought 3. He does that most willingly which he has been accustomed to do and which he can do with most ease and most perfectly And this we may suppose of his own Business For probably a Man falls upon that Profession to which he has either been trained up by his Parents or to which his own Inclination hath led him Now that in which he hath been instructed and exercised or to which he has been inclin'd will be most easy to him for he understand it best and has greatest Skill in it and has likewise the greatest and most frequent Opportunities of doing it He that leaves his own Work which he is fittest for and meddles with the Affairs of others by this means neglects what he can best do and faulters in the doing that for which he is not qualified 4. He must be most concerned to do it and best affected to it For he has a great Love to and Care of himself and a natural Affection to his Kindred and those who are near him he is more sensibly moved by them than others and by them when they are near him than when at a distance Now this is a considerable part of a Man's Business to provide for himself and Family to order matters so that it may be well with his Wife Children and Relations If he has so little Love for himself as not to do his own Work who does he think will do it 5. There is such a fitness in it that it would be a great Injustice for any Man not to do his own Work God has committed to his Care a proper Depositum a particular Trust is laid on him by the great Governor of the World which is That he do that Good which the Place in which he stands and the Relation he bears to others calls for If he be a Parent he is to see to the Education of his Children if a Magistrate to the keeping of the Laws of the Society if a Minister to instruct his People in their Duty And whosoever doth not the Duties of these and such Places they are unjust Or in whatsoever Employment any one is if he does not what he pretends to if he takes upon himself a Profession but neglects to do the Work of iâ— he is a Liar a Hypocrite makes a shew of what he does not do promises but performs not bears Men in hand makes them rely on him but deceives and disappoints them He that does not suum opus facere cannot suum cuique tribueâ—e for the Necessities of others his Family his Country challenge this from him 6. It is fit for every Man to be doing his own Business because if he do not this he will be doing something else for which he is not so fit If he does not his own he will be a-doing other Mens and so will be guilty of two great Faults neglecting what he is fit to do and offering to do what he is unfit for as I have already suggested And to this I might add that every Man is accountable for his own Work and not for other Mens On all these Accounts Man is fittest for his own Work And if Order be observ'd every thing will be put to that use for which it is fittest because probably every thing will then attain its End But how unbecoming and ugly how vain and ineffectual is it to use Things to other purposes than those they are fitted for If the Ox and Horse should change Conditions as the Poet expresses it Optat Ephippia bos piger optat arare caballus The Saddle would not sit well upon the Ox nor the Yoke upon the Horse Just so unseemly so to no purpose will it be for one Man to undertake another's Business The last Argument by which I would engage all Men to a diligent Attendance on their own proper Business is from the numberless Benefits which will flow in upon us and others if we do thus Let Reason be heard let your own Experience and Observation be consulted let the Records of Ancient Times be look'd into and these will all bear witness to this Truth They will assure us that Industry is the best Preserver and Restorer of Health that the Bed of Idleness becomes very often a sick Bed that a needless Medler in other Mens Matters very frequently loses his Life for a punishment of his vain Curiosity And is not this the plain and sure Way to Riches Have you observed many of those that mind their Business fall into Want I deny not but Accidents may befall them by the over-ruling Providence The Battel is not alway to the Strong nor the Race to the Swift but ordinarily it is And the best way for a Man to secure his Estate from such Accidents is to be at his Business Time and Chance happens to all Things but commonly Solomon's Observation holds The diligent Hand makes rich I appeal again to your Experience whether those that break amongst us be the Industrious the Sedulous the Shop-keepers the Men that mind their own Affairs or rather the Idle the Men who are in all places and thrusting themselves into every Man's Company and Business Our neighbouring Commonwealth puts it out of doubt that Industry is the High-way to Wealth They have no Mines but this hath brought home the Indies and hath made a Place that is barren of all things to be the Storehouse of these Western Parts of the World Nor is this the way to Riches only but also to Honour Seest thou saith Solomon a Man diligent in his Business He shall stand before Kings he shall not stand before mean Men he shall be exalted There are few Men who are so unfit for or so averse from the Business of their Calling but by diligence they may attain to a Mastery to have a perfection in it and if they do let it be what it will they will be praised whilst they live and when they die be remembred with esteem But is it thus with the idle Man No as he is dead whilst he lives