they converse as dangerous and unworthy Persons THE deficient Extreme of Prudence is called Simpleness or Folly which consists in such a vicious Habit as is contracted by the frequent neglect or refusal of the Advices of Prudence This is properly both a Sin and a Punishment Folly opposite to Prudence Having this peculiar brand of Infamy upon it beyond all other Vices that whereas some men have been so impudent as to take a pride in their dishonest Actions yet none have ever been so wretched as to boast of their Folly This being amongst all Men counted most reproachful and that which will render one most contemptible THIS is not the same with Natural Folly a principal defect of the Mind which may be called Stolidity or the Extremity of Dulness But the Folly we speak of doth rather come from the depravedness of the Will It proceeds from a depraved Will when it will not hearken to any thing delivered to it by right Reason and when men have once acquiesced in untrue Opinions false Judgments and have registred them as authentick Methods in their minds it is no less impossible to insinuate the Counsels of Prudence or to speak intelligibly to such Men than to write legibly upon a Paper already scribled over the immediate cause hereof is prejudice and of prejudice a false Opinion of our own knowledg When this hath a predominancy over the Understanding then we have no Passion but from it and we shall not be permitted to listen to the Voice of the wise Man speak he never so wisely What Lightness of Mind is THERE is also a Lightness in some Men's minds that produceth Folly An Example whereof is in them who in the midst of a serious Discourse have their minds diverted to every little Jest or witty Observavation which maketh them depart so often from their Discourse that all they say looks like a Dream or some studied Nonsense Thus prejudice and Levity are the causes of most of those Follies mankind are guilty of either their minds are prepossessed and barr'd up against all sober and prudent Instructions or they are so aiery and inconstant that for want of Ballast they cannot fasten upon any steady Principles when this is the state of the mind all its Actions will be rash and irregular nothing will be done according to the Measures and Counsels of Prudence neither will it know how to make use of any occasions for the obtaining the great End of its Creation A present cure for these Evils is Prudence which is the Art of Business directing a Man in the practical Affairs of Life to what is fit and convenient according to the variety of Circumstances it consists in a solid Judgment to discern the Tempers and Interests of Men the state of Business the probabilities of Events and Consequences together with a presentness of mind to obviate sudden Accidents For without this exactness of Judgment to distinguish between things we shall not be able to tell in some cases what is Vice and what is Virtue where the former is like the latter as it is in the instances of Pride and greatness of Spirit Religion and Superstition Quickness and Rashness Chearfulness and Mirth So of Ambition and Sufficiency Government and Tyranny Liberty and Licentiousness Subjection and Servitude Covetousness and Frugality NOW the just limits and boundaries of these Things Prudence necessary to judg between the limits of some Virtues and Vices none but a wise and skilful Man can judg of who can discern one from the other notwithstanding their great resemblance and can give to every Cause its proper Actions and Effects It is therefore necessary for every one that desires to be a prudent Man to observe his own Actions and the original of them his Thoughts and Intentions with great care and circumspection else He shall never arrive in any tolerable manner to the knowledg of what He doth well or ill And lest all this diligence should be insufficient as the partiality to himself will certainly render it it is very requisite for him to betake himself often to wise and good Men who may with all freedom admonish him of his Failings and direct him to their proper Remedies For we must not think that we live one day without Faults or that those Faults are undiscovered And He is happy who hath a discreet Friend to observe his Conversation The use of a Friend and to tell him where its Errours are this is the Way to grow better and this is the most likely Way to perfect himself in Virtue and Prudence which prudence depends very much upon experience without which no Person of ever so great Capacity can ever arrive to be a Wise Man more than a Fruit to maturity without Time It is true all Mens Apprehensions are naturally alike what one sees Red another sees not Green and Aloes is not bitter to one and sweet to another And that one Man is more learned is not because he knows otherwise than another but it is because he knows more Consequences and more proportions by his greater Industry and Experience WHEN Experience hath made us prudent then there will be no inconveniences in Human Life but we shall be aware of so that nothing shall be able to disturb our Happiness when the Philosophy of Speculative Men would take us off from all Employments that we may live in ease and quiet This teaches us to manage publick Affairs and all manner of Negotiation without making the least breach of the peace in our minds when their Wisdom Prudence the best manager of our Conversation for fear of danger would have us never go to Sea our prudence would have us govern our selves wisely since we are embarked and steer our course in the best manner when one will not allow us to go to a Feast lest we should be surfeited either with the Food or the Wine the other shews us how we may be abstemious when we come to them WHEREFORE Prudence teaches us better Lessons for a life of Virtue than Philosophy can pretend to For she hath much Study but little Experience She can advise well but cannot act The advantage of Reading Men rather than Books whereas the Reading of men rather than Books enlarges our Souls for the Entertainment of the best and most useful Notions frees them from that narrowness of Spirit which scarce ever leaves the retired and solitary Student But if he will come abroad and walk with wise Men he shall be wise He shall understand the Customs and Humours of Men the Business and Duties of Life the Government and Events of Providence He must go out of the World if he would wholly avoid wicked Men but his prudence will be seen so in ordering his Conversation that he may not be polluted by their Company And one chief reason why in the Universities themselves men do not make so great a progress either in Piety or Learning as might be
nothing neither is it an Habit because he may be born with Courage it must then be a power of the Soul placed chiefly in the sensitive Appetite because it depends much upon the Heats of Blood and is common to all Creatures A Courage may be sometimes Mechanical But Tully tells us Fortitudo est viri propria virtus it most properly belongs to and becomes a Man best wherefore by the Greeks it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which Courage to convince you how much it is purely Mechanical may proceed in some measure from the temper of Air may be form'd by Discipline and acquired by Use or infused by Opinion But that which is more natural and so more National in some Countries than in others seems to arise from the heat or strength of Spirits about the Heart which may a great deal depend upon the measure and the substance of the Food Men are used to This made a Physician once say He would make any Man a Coward with six weeks Dieting For this Reason the English having their Bellies full of Beef have been esteemed most fit for any bold and desperate Action This also may be a reason why the Gentry in all places of the World are braver than the Peasantry whose Hearts are depressed not only by Slavery but short and heartless Food the effect of their poverty This is a Cause why the Yeomanry of England are generally Stouter than in other Countries because by the Constitution of the Kingdom they live easier as to Rents and Taxes by the plenty thereof they fare better than those of their Rank in any other Nation Their Chief and indeed constant Food being of Flesh And among all Creatures both Birds and Beasts we shall still find those that feed upon Flesh to be the fierce and the bold and on the contrary the fearful and faint-hearted to feed upon Grass and upon Plants Thus the veins of Courage seem to run like veins of Good Earth in a Country And some People are so far from having a firm and constant Valour in them that I can compare them to nothing better than the Scare-Crows Children make of straw wherewith they stuff empty Cloaths they look like Men but they have no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no true fortitude in them Secondly THE Actions of this Virtue are most splendid and great therefore they were always ascribed to the Demy-gods by the Ancients and Moses attributes Fortitude to God himself when he saith Jehovah is a God of War and commonly stileth him the Lord of Hosts Now all Virtues are to be defined by those Objects about which they are conversant Fortitude defined and by the Actions which they perform By which Rule we may define Fortitude to be that Virtue which teacheth us to moderate our Fears and our Confidence at what time and place to encounter Dangers and Difficulties when and where to decline and avoid them especially if there be any fear or hazard of Death according to the Doctrine of Aristotle of all things the most terrible and ghastly The Courage therefore of a valiant and wise Man is chiefly seen in running the Risque of War and all the mischiefs that follow upon it for his Countrey for his Religion for his Liberty As for all matters of less importance it is as eminent a part of Fortitude to fear Death and fly Dangers as it is to undertake and engage them The Extremes opposed to this Virtue on one hand are Rashness Fury and the like on the other side are opposite timorousness and want of Spirit When he describes the Object of this Virtue Aristotle mistakes himself many ways in overvaluing some things as Life and Liberty which are of no price in comparison with the fear of God or the Care of Religion which he either did not regard or knew nothing of it As for Life the Stoicks have delivered better Precepts concerning it when they tell us non est magna res vivere and consequently non est magna res mori tho in regard of Death so great a provision is to be made against it as they believed so many Circumstances of Insensibility and hardiness of Mind are urged and all its Forces are mustered together that they seem to have consented with Aristotle in making Death to be the most dreadful thing imaginable FOR if common Honesty and Integrity be valued as it ought to be Honesty and Integrity the most valuable things the meanest part of it is more precious than all the possessions of this World and will much overballance the Torments of Death and rather than we should suffer the least part of our Integrity to fall to the ground we ought to venture upon all Perils whatsoever And it is worth our observing that there is no passion in the mind of Man so weak but it masters the fear of Death Revenge triumphs over it Love slights it Honour aspires after it Grief flies to it Nay pity the tenderest of them all provoked many of Otho's Followers to die in compassion to their Emperour who had slain himself and Seneca adds mori velle non tantum Fortis aut miser sed etiam fastidiosus potest A Man would die tho he were neither Valiant nor miserable only upon a weariness to do the same thing so oft over and over But then it is easiest to leave this World when we have such expectations of a happier State as the Christian Faith gives us they who are strangers to these hopes fear Death as Children are afraid to go in the dark and as that natural Fear in Children is increased with Tales so is the other with the Conceits of philosophers Secondly THE Peripatetick extols Liberty as the Object of Fortitude This hath been very much cryed up by the Ethnick Wisemen and likewise by mistake among some Christians such as the Gnosticks in the Apostles times who were so far from being Valiant in the maintenance of their Faith that they pleaded their Christian Liberty on the behalf of their cowardly Revolts from it in the time of Persecution And some Errours of another kind about Liberty have been the cause of Wars and Murders of Bloudshed and Rebellions as much as any other thing whatsoever Saint Paul who certainly understood the Nature and the price of Liberty much better than Aristotle left us this Rule Art Thou called a Slave for so I rather render the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 care not for it that thing which Men contend for so hotly He doth not think it worth regarding so far was the Apostle from esteeming it at that rate as that under pretence thereof Wars might be raised Robberies and all manner of Villanies committed and all to preserve that which no Man ever knew what is is and no Man ever yet had it For if by this word we mean 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the licentious power of doing what we list it is neither possible for Men living in Society to have it neither
takes thankfully what God is pleased to give him BUT against all this that hath hitherto been alledged two bad Customs are kept up and maintained THE first is Solemn and chargeable Feasting THE second is immoderate Lust Feasting an Enemy to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 FEASTING by long Usage and the Customs of living loosely hath gained so highly against all Rules of Temperance that on Sacred and Civil Occasions it cannot now be omitted nor reflected upon without giving offence to the greatest part of Mankind For if we look through all the solemn Acts which pass in the World whether they be Civil Meetings Congratulations or friendly Entertainments whether it be sadness or mourning at Funerals or jollity at Marriages whether it be the Celebration of Commencements in the University the Sacred Installation of Bishops or the Innaguration into publick Offices the principal part of all the Pomp and Business is the Feast Indeed in Civil and Temporal matters this loosness might be tolerated but in honour of the Saints that the name of the Action should be termed a Feast is very improper So that Castruccio Castracano being gently reproved by some of his Friends for his frequent Feasting and Entertainments had cause enough for Apology when he answered If Feasting were not a good thing men would not so much honour God and the Saints with it But much better Counsel is given by St. Hierom if we could take it when he tells us Stultum est nimiâ saturitate honorare velle Martyrem quem constat Deo placuisse jejuniis it is a foolish thing for men to think they honour a Martyr by feasting on his Festival who in his life-time pleased God chiefly by his fastings Unto all these holy Gormondizings Sacrifice it self may seem to have given the first occasion For what is a Sacrifice if we truly describe it but a merry Meeting and what was in old time more Celebrated more extolled for Honour unto the Gods than the Caenae Pontifiâ—ae and such were the Lupercalia the Eleusinian Mysteries the Feasts of Bacchus Flora Venus all which were but so many Festivals of Lust and Debauchery in which the Votaries imagined their Deities were pleased as the Salvage and bloody Sacrifices to Saturn Bellona Moloch Baal peor and all the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the ancient Paganism supposed the Divine Being to take pleasure in the miseries and tortures of his Creatures Drunkenness the most filthy Vice AND to this Day Intemperance by publick Approbation hath gain'd upon all sorts of men Drunkenness is by every one declaimed against and not without reason For there are Vices as Montaigne observes wherein there is a mixture of Knowledg Diligence Valour Prudence Dexterity and Cunning but this is altogether Brutish and earthly and the dullest Nation in Europe is that where it is most in Fashion But this Defence may be made for this dull Nation as He is pleased to call it that when Wine to hot Brains is like Oil to Fire and makes the Spirits by too much lightness evaporate into Smoak and perfect aiery imaginations or by too much Heat to break out into Frenzies yet this very Wine may improve the Abilities of cold Complexions may be necessary to rouze sleepy thoughts and perhaps to animate the spirits of the Heart as well as enliven those of the Brain Therefore the old Germans seemed to have some reason in their Custom not to execute any great resolutions which had not been twice debated and agreed to at several Assemblies one in the Afternoon and t'other in the Morning because they thought their Counsels might want Vigour when they were sober as well as Caution when they had drank BUT Drunkenness must be reckon'd a Vice Drunkenness hath a very ill influence on the Mind that hath a very ill influence upon the Soul the worst condition of Man being that wherein he loses the knowledg and government of himself Notwithstanding this Gluttony is a Vice far more frequent and dangerous Gluttony is also a dangerous fault For had Meats that intoxicating property which Drinks have how many of our grave and serious Persons as they would be thought should we find hardly able to pass the Streets For Gluttony being the more secret and retired Vice is generally practised with more security but with no less guilt In this Case therefore it will be of use to us to consult the most excellent Grotius and to hearken to his Censure of this Sin who says assidua convivia etiamsi absit ebrietas culpâ tamen non carent that daily Banquettings tho no man be drunk in the Company yet are very blameable The Abuse of Natural Lust is the most pleasing part of Intemperance THE second and most hazardous tho the most pleasing part of Intemperance is the gross abuse of natural Lust It is somewhat difficult to extend the pleasure of Drinking beyond Thirst and to fashion in our Imaginations an Appetite artificial and against Nature whereas the most regular and most perfect Mind hath but too much to do to keep it self untainted from the follies of natural Lust from being overthrown by its own weakness on this side For it is unavoidably planted in our Nature made up with our Constitution it is fomented and put into a flame upon every small occasion and by every spark of a Temptation it breaks out many times with that violence that it is a great part of our strength and wit which serves to restrain it The Providence of God hath kindled that fire in our Veins as neither Precepts of Virtue Rules of Temperance recess from all Opportunities strength of Youth and scarcely the weakness of old Age can prevail to extinguish it WERE all the Offences of mankind amassed and heaped up together at least two thirds of them were accountable upon that score submission to the Will of God hath bounded our thoughts and confined them within the limits of Humility else we might justly expostulate and contest with the Divine Providence which hath been pleased to subject mankind to so perpetual to so importunate so vexatious a trouble and punish them afterwards for transgressing IT was a favourable and merry Conceit of a Cardinal of Rome that there was no Law beneath the Girdle but both he and we to our cost shall find it otherwise yet notwithstanding all this so madly hath mankind been affected that even the finest Wits and most commendable for Eloquence most abounding with Precepts of Morality and Policy and all Elegancy of Literature have laboured to give entertainment to nay to improve this troublesom Guest There hath for some hundred Years passed a sort of Writings which we call Romances the subject whereof is the strange Adventures many Dangers Fights and wonderful Atchievements which Knights Errants have undergone in pursuit of their Mistresses which Books are the greatest fomenters of Folly Lust and Idleness that have appeared upon the Stage of Human madness Romances the great fomenters of
God did once shine in the understanding of Man at the same time it was also stampt upon his Will as it appeared from that entire freedom and indifference the Will then had to stand or not to stand to accept or not accept the Temptation The will now a Slave I will grant the Will now to be as much a slave as any one will have it being free only to sin But from the beginning it was not so neither is This Nature but Chance therefore it were blasphemy to lay our Faults upon God as the Author of them as if He had made us crooked But when they came out of his Hands the understanding and will never disagreed what was propounded by the one was never contradicted by the other Neither did the will attend upon the understanding in a servile manner but as Solomon's Servants waited upon him it admired the Wisdom of its Dictates and heard the Counsels thereof which did both direct and reward its Obedience For it is the nature of this Faculty to follow a Superiour Guide the Vnderstanding but then she was a Subject as a Queen is to her King who both acknowledges a Subjection and yet retains a Majesty Passions the Instruments of Virtue IF we pass downward to the Passions we shall be convinced what influence the Vnderstanding hath in rendring them the Instruments of Virtue which the Stoicks look'd upon as sinful Defects and irregularities as so many deviations from right Reason But in this they were constantly out-voted by other Sects of Philosophers To us let this be sufficient that our Saviour Christ was seen to weep to be sorrowful to pity and to be angry which shews that there may be Gall in a Dove Passion without sin and Motion without disturabnce BUT then the Vnderstanding must keep them within their just bounds as in the case of Love which is so often compared to a Fire as if it could chuse whether it will heat or no no more than a Flame can The inferiour Affections governed by the Vnderstanding therefore there is need of a sound mind to fix it upon its right Object that it may not degenerate into Lust So in the case of Hatred it must be the Vnderstanding that must confine it to its proper Object that it may not become Rancour against our Brethren by the same over-ruling Power Anger may be brought to vent its self by the measures of Reason and never be touched with any transport of Malice or the violence of Revenge And for the lightsome passion of Joy it may be made a Masculine and severe thing not like the crackling of Thorns but the most solid recreation of the Judgment Sorrow hereby is forced to be as silent as our Thoughts and that Anchor of the Mind Hope is fastned upon the Actions of Innocence and Integrity instead of the Mud of this World FOR as in the Body when the Heart and Liver do their Offices and all the smaller Vessels under them act orderly and duly there arises a just temperament upon the whole The cause of peace and satisfaction to the Soul which we call Health So in the Soul when the Vnderstanding governs the lower Affections there arises peace and satisfaction upon the whole Soul which is such an healthful Constitution as is infinitely beyond the pleasures of the Body THIS is the Faculty that rules in us the immediate product whereof is Science Science the immediate product of the Vnderstandding as the first Creature God formed was Light so the first motion of Adam after he was furnished with a sound Understanding and an obedient Will was after Knowledg But by a foolish desire after more and by taking some false steps he lost his Way and left his Posterity in the dark either following wrong Scents or much in doubt what paths to walk in However there is a Providence in the conduct of Knowledg as well as of other Affairs on the Earth and it was not designed that all the Mysteries of Nature and of Providence should be plainly understood through all the Ages of the World and what was made known to the Ancients only by broken Conclusions and Traditions will be known in the latter Ages of the World in a more perfect Way by Principles and Theories The encrease of Knowledg being that which changeth so much the Face of the World and the state of Human Affairs I do not doubt but there is a particular care in the conduct of it by what steps and degrees it should come to Light at what Seasons and in what Ages What Evidence should be left either in Scripture Reason or Tradition for the grounds of it how clear or obscure how disperst or united All these things were weighed and considered and such measures taken as best suit the designs of Providence and the general Project and Method proposed in the government of the World And it is not to be questioned but the state both of the old World and of that which is to come is exhibited to us in Scripture in such a measure and proportion as is fit for this forementioned purpose not as the Articles of our Faith or the precepts of a good Life which he that runs may read but to the attentive and those that are unprejudiced and to those that are inquisitive and have their minds open and prepared for the discernment of Mysteries of such a Nature There are many secrets that pass our Vnderstandings HENCE it is that in every Science there are more Arcana to pose our Understanding than easie Conclusions to satisfie it which things being so far beyond the reach of our Reason must needs enforce us to believe that there is an admirable Wisdom which disposeth and an infinite Knowledg which doth comprehend those Secrets that we are not able to fathom In Divinity likewise there are Mysteries that with their brightness dazzle and confound our Reason by their own astonishing Glory and Splendour they render themselves invisible to us Now our Reason must not presume to Science in those Mysteries which are so far removed from its Notices whenever it offers to judg of them it falls into uncertain Opinions and loses its self in a Maze of thoughts wherefore that our Reason may learn to be Modest and to keep within its due bounds let it try whether it can understand how a drop of dew can be Organiz'd into a Fly or a Grashopper let it tell us how the Glories of the Field are spun or by what Pencil the Herbs and Flowers are so finely painted if these Objects do pose it which our Eyes converse with daily then let it not pretend to understand incomprehensible to order infinite and define ineffable things FOR to know how far our Science can go is one of the best Points of Knowledg The advantage of knowing how far our Science will reach we can have For this will secure us from those bold Untruths and very absurd Errours
and goodness of Divine Providence that we were not left to take our own course but were rescued from Sin and misery ignorance and darkness by so kind an Hand ALL that we have to do is to obey his Commandments and this is the best way to encrease our knowledg in Religion For the practice of a Trade shall give a Man a truer knowledg of it than reading all the Books that ever were writ about it and so we shall better know a Countrey by travelling into it than by poring upon all the Maps that ever were made of it In like manner Obedience to the Will of God doth dispose us for the knowledg of it by freeing our Minds from prejudice by making our Understandings more clear and taking away the great Obstacles of Wisdom which without the practice of Religion will be so far from being any furtherance to our Happiness that it will be one of the saddest and most unhappy aggravations of our misery For when we come into the other World no reflection will more enrage our Torments than to think that we chose to lead vitious Lives and to make our selves miserable when we knew the way to Heaven and Happiness For after all that hath been said upon this Head S. Paul's Judgment is undoubtedly true 1 Corin. 8.1 That Knowledg puffeth up but Charity edifieth Now when the Apostle said this Corinth the Metropolis of Achaia was as all other rich and populous places excessively proud and luxurious softness and ease had expell'd all the thoughts of the Laborious Exercises of Virtue Yet as it often happens the men were ingenious though they were wicked In a word all the World condemn'd them for their Debaucheries but admired them for their Parts Wherefore St. Paul tells them very truly that their knowledg was the Original of all their Errours they might be blown up with Science but they must be Edified with Charity In like manner did the Gnosticks dote on the Mysteries of Words did pride themselves about Fruitless Genealogies and the unintelligible methods of Science for which reason St. Paul did severely reprehend these vain-glorious Sciolists and declare that a little Charity towards an offended Brother was more valuable than all their subtle Theorems or the Positions of any the most celebrated Dogmatists So the Philosophers of old gave another Interpretation to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 know thy self and improved it into Self-conceit and Arrogance their Principles and their Dictates seem always to be framed rather to oppose than to establish Truth If from them we pass to the times of Christianity we find Julian and Lucian Arrius and Socinus all of them in a several way despising the plainness and simplicity of the Gospel for the sake of their own trifling Opinions which must not submit to the teachings of Fishermen Nay how many Volumes are there in the World whose Subject is little else but breach of Charity which Charity and not great Words nor the phantastical Hypotheses of those that call themselves Wise must set a lustre upon all we do For neither Happiness here nor Heaven hereafter is to be gotten by haughty Looks or Suppositions but by a constant Tenour of Bountifulness in our Lives and integrity in our Actions Supposing therefore we were set upon the highest Mountain of Metaphysicks and had thence the ravishing Prospect of all the Kingdoms of human Learning all the Glories of Philosophy yet we will not worship one Notion that cannot be brought into the practice of a Holy Life An Enquiry into the Causes of the decay of MORAL VIRTUES A Manifest decay hath been brought upon Moral Virtue First BY Hypocrisie or Formality when Men follow a Form of Godliness and deny the Power thereof Secondly BY Licentiousness of Living whereby Debauchery and ill Manners have much prevailed Thirdly BY decrying the use of Reason in Matters of Religion Fourthly BY making Morality and Grace opposite to one another MEN of all Ages have been industrious to elude the practice of Moral Virtue by some trifling childish and unprofitable shews thereof How can we but stand amazed at the folly of Mankind that love to be their own Impostors Hypocrisie condemned and that when they may be truly good at so easie and advantageous a rate labor to be but seemingly so at the expence of a great deal of pain and trouble and with the Pharisees take twice as much pains to scour the outside of the Dish only that it may shine and glister than is needful to keep the inside neat and cleanly Thus they change wise Notices of things for childish Conceits freedom of Spirit for narrowness of Soul chearfulness of Mind for slavish Fears a sweet and obliging Conversation for cynical Zeal Temperance and Sobriety for harsh and Monkish Mortifications in a word they change all the Branches and Fruits of a holy Mind and virtuous Actions for Forms and Gayeties It will not therefore be unseasonable to caution Men against this Formality as a most dangerous Cheat that secretly enervates all the Power and Efficacy of that Goodness it makes a shew of that whilst it pretends highly to advance Religion undermines it This I shall endeavour to do First BY laying down some of its most peculiar Characters Secondly BY discovering the Arts it makes use of to overthrow the power of Moral Virtue Thirdly BY explaining what the Power of Moral Virtue is and wherein it consists FIRST then the Formalist serves God barely out of a Principle of Fear and not at all out of Love he only looks upon Him as a great and austere Being that sits in the Heavens demanding harsh and arbitrary Homage from his Creatures he apprehends Him as an imperious Almighty One that because He hath bestowed upon us these little imperfect Beings takes upon Him to impose severe and unreasonable Laws and exacts for the few pleasures He hath granted to the Life of Man to be paid with sharp and troublesom Penances But all this while he has not tho least thought of gaining his Favor by divine and virtuous Qualities Whereas if we would attain to the Spirit and Genius of true Holiness we must look upon it as a wise and gracious Design of Heaven to fill the Souls of Men with all Excellencies perfective of their Natures Religion no Trick for Religion is no Trick or Artifice but its natural design is to make Men truly good it is no Contrivance of Heaven to bring advantages to it self but it was graciously intended for the sake of Men to carry on their Creator's Work in compleating those things which He made and to make 'em more like Him than He left them But the Formalist or Hypocrite is utterly unacquainted with all inward Sense of Goodness and so he can please God as he thinks by giving him his due of Religious Performances he is not at all concerned for solid and essential Righteousness THUS the degenerate Jews in the time of the Prophets were