hands that Life or Death Plenty or Poverty every thing depends upon his Will for the Winds and Seas Earth and Air Fire Hail and Vapour obey his Voice and are all of 'em as often as he pleases the Instruments and Executioners of his Will he that stills the Ragings of the Multitude and becalms the Passions of the Mighty he at whose Command new Creatures enter upon the Stage of the World and the old leave it what is it impossible for him to do nay what is it this Almighty Governor cannot do without moving one step out of the Common Road of his Providence without imploying any extraordinary Instrument or exerting any Act of extraordinary Power for what Secular Interest can there be imagin'd whose Success or Disappointment depends not upon some or other of these Natural Causes And yet we must acknowledge further Thirdly That the Almighty has not prefixt or set himself such immutable inalterable Laws but that he has reserv'd to himself the Prerogative of suspending or over-ruling 'em when he pleases I mean with respect to the Motions of Natural Bodies or Revolutions of Secular Affairs and if such an Interposal of Divine Power cannot be conceiv'd to be other than a Miracle I must confess I do not look upon one Age only but every Age an Age of Miracles Nay I believe such as these wrought every Day for the Protection or Relief of those who depend upon this Governor of the World for I know not to what purpose I should like Jonah or his Mariners call upon God in a Storm if it were never to be laid till it had naturally spent its force and fury I know not to what purpose I should implore the Almighty's direction upon all my Deliberations in perplex't and intangled Affairs if I could expect no other Light than what my Labouring Mind could give it self I know not why I should address my self to God in the Pains and Danger of an insupportable Disease if the Medicines will be the same and their Vertue the same if the Feaver will abate and its flames be extinguish't or extinguish life in the same degree and manner if I Pray or if I do not All these ways of Divine Providence are very plain and intelligible and therefore 't is manifest that we may without any absurdity ascribe to God such a Super-intendency and Direction over Humane Affairs as may render the issue of 'em most serviceable to the true interest of those that Worship him As to the second Part of Divine Assistance which consists in aiding us in the Attainment of Holiness and Vertue I do readily acknowledge as far as this is perform'd by the internal Operations of his Spirit by the Influx of Divine Light or Heavenly Vigour I do no more understand the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the manner of Sanctification than that of the Creation of the Soul This I know that Vertue is the Rational work of a Rational Creature 't is the work of Man thô assisted by God 't is a Rational work which implies the Knowledge of our Duty and a Power to perform it and therefore this I know that this aid must consist in the Improvement of my rational Faculties in some accession to the Reason of my Understanding and to the Power and Liberty of my Will Now thô I cannot comprehend how God does this yet how easily can I believe it possible for him to do it since 't is natural to imagine that he who created my Understanding can improve it and he who invested me with a Rational Liberty can confirm or enlarge it or if you please rescue it from that diseas'd and servile Condition unto which it was degenerated and restore it to the health and soundness of its first State The Third Act of Divine Providence does not imply a new manner but a new degree of Assistance and therefore contains in it no further Difficulty this time which I have spent upon the illustration of Divine Goodness towards Man will not I hope be judg'd mis-imploy'd or lost if it be consider'd that such is the Confidence or rather such is the wantonness of some Men that they reject every thing which carries in it I will not say any seeming Contradiction but any seeming Difficulty But it doth not so nearly concern the Happiness of Man to be instructed in the manner as to be throughly perswaded of the Truth of Divine Assistance and therefore choosing rather to be tedious than defective in the proof of it I will add to those Arguments taken from the Nature of God whatever force and strength can be derived from the Consideration of Divine Government which is the Expression of the Divine Nature and the Image of its Perfection visible in its Effects The Gospel contains this Doctrine in almost every Page and the lives of Apostles and Martyrs are so many illustrious Instances of the Divine Faithfulness and Love performing those Promises which he had made 'em by his Son The Jewish Polity was a Theocracy God did for a great while preside over 'em immediately and govern 'em if I may so speak without a Substitute or Vice-roy Repeated Miracles repeated Prophecies extraordinary Manifestations of himself and extraordinary Revelations were the Illustrious proofs of God's affection and care for that People so that it were to insult over my Reader 's Patience or to reproach his Stupidity if I should go about to confirm this Truth from the old or New Testament 't is therefore only necessary to Examine what the Heathen thought of the Necessity of this Divine Assistance and what instances of it may be found amongst them whether the Gentiles had any Notion of the Fall and Corruption of Man is not here Necessary to be enquir'd but this I am sure they were extreamly sensible of that opposition which Vertue met with from the World and the Body they were extreamly sensible that the Inclinations of the one and the Affluence and Troubles of the other did naturally tend to engage 'em in Vice and therefore thô they do sometimes magnifie Humane Nature yet they were not so forgetful of their own Infirmities or the Condition of this Life as not to judge the Assistance of God indispensably necessary to render them Vertuous and Happy Hence 't is that Pythagoras Socrates and Plato were Eminent in that part of Religion which consists in Prayer and Invocation Max. Tâ—t Disser 30. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The life of Socrates was a life of Prayer And hence it was that they did generally ascribe their Laws to those Gods from whom they received their Oracles The Cretanes Romans c. not more Confidently believing that they received their Laws from Minos Numa Pompilius c. than that these received them from Jove Aegeria and other Gods and I wonder not that Cicero should somewhere say Nunquam vir magnus sine Divino afflatu That there never was a great Man who enjoy'd not some Divine Impulse since
good or ill-behaviour of Man to any thing rather than to God what Impiety But I have done I have sufficiently consider'd which way the stream of Authority runs and it evidently appears to be against all such Notions of Fate as put it out of a Man's Power to be Virtuous and Happy and determine his Sin and Misery wholly Necessary and unavoidable I will now proceed to consider Reason and Revelation against Fate Secondly What plain Reason and as plain Revelation do dictate in this point Thou dost believe Fate and therefore dost despair of Happiness Thy sense must be plainly this All is in the Power of Fate nothing in thine own there is nothing in thee to do that can contribute to make thee Vertuous or Happy Whence can this Necessity this Fate proceed there are but two Principles that were ever fancied to be the first Causes of all things God and Matter Dost thou believe this Necessity proceeds from Matter from the Motion of Atoms or the Influence of Stars This belief as St. Austin argues doth subvert the Foundation of all Religion for he who believes that he depends upon Fate not God can have no sufficient Reason for the Worship of that God on whom he hath no Dependence but this is that peradventure thou wouldst have well when thou art able to prove Reason and Understanding to derive themselves from senseless Atoms when thou can'st find out any kind of Natural Motion of Matter or Atoms which can be the Cause of Liberty or Freedom in the Will any Motion that can at once be Necessary for so all Motion of Atoms must be it of what kind it will and yet free too for such all my Deliberations and all my Choices I make prove the Motion of the Mind to be then I will acknowledge a Fate not only independent from but if thou wilt Superiour to God then I will forbear all farther attempts of Charity as vain and leave thee to thy Fate and Misery But these are Notions so absurd in themselves that no Similitudes no Arguments can make 'em appear one jot more ridiculous or irrational than they do to all Men of sense at the first hearing There are some Errors as well as Truths that are self-evident there needs no Demonstration to convince us that the one are Errors and the other Truths and of this kind are the Errors we are speaking of if a Man should assert that Death is the Original of Life that senseless Matter gives Being to an Understanding Mind that Necessity is the Parent of Liberty and such like it were an unpardonable weakness in any Man to think that such assertion did stand in need of a laborious Confutation But there are who suppose God the Author of all things and yet suppose Events fatal too the former Opinion was ridiculous this is impious for suppose Mankind fatally guided by the Influence of the Stars and these Stars to have received this Power and Energy from God is it not natural for every Man to break out into the words of St. Austin Aug. de C. D. l. 5. c. 1. Illi verò qui positionem Stol larum quodammodo decernentium qualis quisque sit quid ei proveniat boni quidve mali accidat ex Dei voluntate suspendunt si easdem stellas putant habere hanc potestatem traditam sibi à summâ illius potestate ut volentes ista decernant magnam Coelo faciunt Injuriam in Cujus velut Clarissimo senatu ac Splendidissima Curiâ scelera facienda decerni qualia si aliqua terrena Civitas decrevisset genere humano decernente fuerat evertenda How outragiously do these Men reproach Heaven whilst they believe those Crimes and Villanies decreed by that August Senate and glorious Court in Heaven which had any City upon Earth decreed it had deserv'd to have been damn'd by the Common Vote and raz'd to the ground by the united Arms of Mankind When I consider that the Stars are the Work of God that their Order and Motion was prescrib'd by him that whatever Vigour and Efficacy they have they have received it from him and then Remember that God is a most infinitely kind and good Being I shou'd easily suffer my self to be perswaded that they could shed no influence upon this lower World but what were extreamly beneficial to it that they could have no Aspects but what were favourable and benign I could easily believe that all the Inclinations they form in the Body if they form any could be no other than Innocent and Vertuous I can never believe that Lust or Falshood Malice or Cruelty can come down from above or that our Minds should be impregnated with Sin and Folly by the Influences of Heaven No certainly if there be any Vertue in the Stars that extends it self to Man it must rather be the seed of Life and Health and Vertue than of Diseases Death or Vice Antiq. Lect. l. x. c. 20. I can easily fall in with the opinion of those Learned Men in Coelius Rhodiginus who thought that that Vertue of Coelestial Bodies which tended of it self to excellent Ends was marred and perverted by a vitious Education And so the Gravity of Saturn did degenerate into Sullenness Niggardliness and Melancholy The Magnanimity of Mars into Rashness and Fool-hardiness The Sharpness and Sagacity of Mercury into mischievous Craft and deceitful Subtilty The Sweetness and Gentleness of Venus into filthy Lust and so on And this Thought does well become every one that pretends to any Religion whether Revealed or Natural for this is Consonant to the excellency of the Divine Nature But this sort of Fate springing from the Influence of any Natural Bodies is not only repugnant to Reason but to our Sense and Experience for nothing is more plain than this that any such Influence cannot affect the Mind but through the Body and we do frequently find our Reason asserting its Power and Dominion against all the force and strength of the Body Nor doth Reason only but in every Nation Law and Custom triumph over the strongest Inclinations of Nature As the Innocence of the Seres the Chastity of those in Arabia and Osroene the Abstinence of the Brachmans and numerous Instances which he that pleases may see in Bardesanes the Syrian and others does abundantly manifest that their manners are the Effects not of the Influence of those Planets that Rule their Birth but of those Laws and Customs that Rule their Countrey Since therefore that Necessity which our Natural Tempers and Inclinations do impose upon the Mind is the utmost Fate that we can imagine to proceed from the Influence of any Natural Bodies 't is Nonsense to suppose that Fate insuperable or incontroulable which we see baffled and defeated every day and in every Nation The sum of those Reasons I have offer'd against Fate is this If we make God the Author of it we impiously Charge him with what is repugnant to his Nature for a Good
I once prevail with my self to stoop to 'em but when the toil and Difficulty and Meanness too of this attempt had given me a little disgust and the Pleasures of Friendship and Fortune by neither of which have I ever been utterly deserted incountred my Natural Inclinations to ease and softness I soon exchang'd my former Notion of Happiness for a more calm and quiet one I began to think it wise to live to day and to prefer my present Blessings in Possession before the uncertain future ones of Opinion and Expectation I wish't for an Opportunity to retire from every thing that might awaken my Ambition or interrupt my quiet and thought that in a lazy shade and obscure retreat I might with most freedom and truest Contentment enjoy my self a cheap Pleasure and an humble Friend and laugh at the Ambitious restless part of Mankind Sometimes springing a thought of light and lost in the Pleasure of a Speculation I have resolved to devote my self entirely to a Studious Life I ador'd the Memory of those great Souls whose Works have given 'em an Immortality here below I look't upon the Learned as Epicurus words it as Gods amongst Men I did not question but Contemplation which once seem'd to me to be the Business of Angels must needs be the Joy and Delight of Man but alas that I must say it all that Learning which is purchas'd with toil and Difficulty is but a vain uncertain Amusement of the Mind it has much of Pomp and Ostentation in it but is of very little use I would it were not true that those parts of Learning which are of most Use have least of Certainty and Demonstration and those which can justly pretend to most Certainty make Men the worst Return of their Studies and are of least use I have observ'd accordingly that the most Learned are not always the most serviceable to the World not only for this Reason but also Thoughtfulness and Retirement rendring Men very Commonly as unfit for as a verse to Business bereaving 'em of that Sufficiency and Skill that Address and Presence of Mind which is not to be gain'd but by Conversation and Experience and it was easie for me to remark that the active and busie Man was not only more Skilful but more Eloquent too than the Contemplative as having a much clearer insight into the Humours and Passions of Men and the secret Springs and Interests by which they are mov'd and being able to manage 'em with a more popular Dexterity and more cleanly gentile Insinuation And now I began to esteem of Learning as a pretty Ornament of Life but not fit to be the support of it I thought it might serve to fill the void and empty spaces but not to be the Business and Imployment of Life I have been sometimes ravish't with the Beauty of a Noble Action and resolv'd to lead a Life severe and Vertuous spent not in private Ease and lazy Divertions but in the Honour and Pleasure of doing good But good God! how weak is Nature how slight are such Impressions how numerous the Temptations how prevalent the Inclinations which carry us another way This has been a long time my state toss't on uncertain Seas and hoysing Sail to every Wind that blew and I find that neither greatness of Mind nor Fortune doth raise Men above this Inconstancy For I meet with my own Reflexions my own Passions in the Excellent * De Tranquillitate animi Seneca only the Character of himself he there presents us with is express'd with more life and briskness and exalted as much above this of mine as was the Nature and Station of that great Man above mine I cannot say that I have yet made my Port but I have discover'd it and I Sail thô slowly yet in a direct Line having my Happiness my Haven all along in ken From this Account of the Rise and Progress of Man's Misery The Nature or Vniversal and Immediate Cause of Happiness Inferr'd 't is easie to infer what it is wherein the Happiness of this present life consists or at lest what the Universal and Immediate Cause of it is namely a Conformity of our Minds and Lives to true Reason and sound Philosophy this is a state of Light and Knowledge of Peace and Security of lasting and rational Delight This invests the Understanding in its just Soveraignty and Dominion and restores the Will to it 's true Liberty this makes our prospect of the future taking and inviting and our Reflexion on the time past easie and comfortable This layes a solid foundation for our Reliance on the Merits and Intercession of our Mediator and raises our Hope as high as Heaven this prevents our Misfortunes and Calamities or what is more Happy enables us to Conquer 'em In a word this makes us great in Life but much more great and venerable in Death Righteousness and Goodness revealing its Beauty and Glory most then when all things else do shrink and fade Two general Rules for attaining Happiness inferr'd We see the Happiness that springs from our Conformity and Subjection to Reason and 't is easie from those two things wherein especially I have declar'd the Sinners Deviation from Reason to consist to infer what we must do if we will live Rationally First We must propose to our selves a Wise and Rational End of Life Secondly We must pursue this End with Life and Spirit and Constancy These I laid down as the first and most Comprehensive Rules for the Attainment of Happiness I will therefore say something of each but briefly and in general terms as the Nature of this Treatise requires First We must propose to our selves a Rational and wise End of Life that is the true Happiness of a Rational Creature When we have done this when our Understandings are fully convinc't and perswaded of the Excellence and Necessity of it and when we have possess'd our Minds with a sacred Reverence a firm and devout Love for it This like the Eastern Star the Magi will lead us through all the windings and turnings of Life to Bethlehem and Happiness this will soon disingage us from that Labyrinth of Contradictious Desires and wild Opinions in which the Fool and Sinner is endlesly entangled When we have done this we shall find every place a School every one we Converse with a Tutor and every passage of our Life or another's full of Instruction Not a look whether Chearful or Melancholy not a word whether wise or foolish not a Sigh that an oppress'd Heart vents not a Joy that smiles in the face but will teach us Philosophy shew us the Use and Beauty of Divine Truth and Divine Vertue for in the Vicious we shall see what false and fading Pleasures what idle fears what vain sorrows false Principles and the Tyranny of Sin fills their Minds with in the Good we shall see what true Peace Vertue creates in the Mind what Constancy and Majesty in the Life what