not thy Actions by halves nor so as thou shalt need to do them again Strive to do every thing as well as exactly as thou canst And tho it may happen so as that thou must do it again however thou mayst be better able to do it than now thou art yet this is all can be done to prevent it If we have considered the Reasons why we should thus take every Opportunity and be perswaded by them we shall not only do thus our selves but also endeavour that others that all with whom we have to do especially Children and Servants may do so And for that end I can't give a better Advice than that we should bring up our Children in some honest Imployment or other not suffer them to live at large to do this or that any thing or nothing what and when themselves have a Mind to it And for our Servants who are at our dispose that we should take care that they be neither idle nor ill imployed Let me also add concerning Friends when we are with them that as we ought to be careful that they do not steal Time from us so should we charge our selves that we do not rob them of it and by their Civility and Kindness to us engage them to neglect their more necessary and important Affairs Thus far I have gone in general Directions how we may not neglect any but employ every Opportunity of well-doing that offers it self The Sum is Let us redeem as much Time from the less necessary Works as is sufficient for our doing all those that are of greater Importance I now proceed to offer some Advice by what means and ways we should make Times that are adverse and opposite to become favourable and serviceable to us as we are Christians that is to the Christian Life and to all that Happiness which we naturally and innocently desire And also where we cannot make them thus pliant to our Desires and Purposes how we should avoid those Evils with which they threaten us That we may proceed more clearly we we will consider what Days may be said to be evil and what makes them so And by this our way will be more plain which we are to take either to alter or to decline the Evils 1. Those Days are said to be evil which hinder us from doing or enjoying that Good which otherwise we might The Evil of them is in such things as these Poverty Reproach and a bad Name Slavery Conâ—inement want and loss of Friends Sickness and Death the Ignorance and Mistakes of many but above all Sin of which there is greatest Danger For all the rest take Men off from doing Good but Sin makes them also do Evil. If we be made poor we shall not be able to feed the Hungry or cloath the Naked or relieve those that are ready to perish which the Rich Man can And if we die we are cut off from doing or enjoying any more the Good of this Life but if we commit Sin and practise Wickedness we not only do no Good but we do that which is contrary to it Evil. We not only deprive our selves of the Enjoyments that are innocent and natural but we by this bring our selves under great Sufferings and Misery These and such like are the Evils of any Days And the Divine Providence brings about all the rest except Sin either by natural and unseen Causes which we do not know or cannot resist Or by other Men who either master us by their Power or out-reach us by their Wit or prevail with us by their Authority Or lastly by our selves i. e. our own Folly and Negligence and Wickedness Indeed the greatest Evils of any Times come from our selves And tho Men generally complain of the Times the Times yet in many Cases if they would speak truly and properly they must blame themselves For they can't but observe that other Men are and they might be very good in those very bad Times which they so much accuse Our greatest Danger is from our Selves more than from Times and Things without us For without our own Consents nothing can make us sin And if we escape Sin and Wickedness nothing can do us much harm If we keep our selves from doing Evil we shall not fall into the worst of all those Mischiefs of which we are in Danger from the Times 1. Let this then be our first Care that we do not make the Days evil that by our own Ignorance and Folly our Carelessness and Viciosity we do not bring those Evils upon our selves for which we complain of the Times Perhaps by your bad Example you have infected others or by your ill or for want of your good Counsel some publick Persons are vicious and their Vices have had Influence on the Generality and the Age has been corrupted by this And now you complain against the Times when as your self are a great cause why they are so bad How many are there who should turn their Accusation of the Times against themselves They have and do help to make good Times bad and bad Times worse They neglect their own Duty and do not do the good of their Place they are foolish and idle and careless and vicious and whilst they are so no Times will be good to them They will never find a Season convenient enough wherein to do well Such a Temper as this will turn the best into very bad Times Let us therefore in the first place take Care that by our Wickedness and Folly we do not change good Days into bad nor increase the Evil of any Time Under this general Advice we shall find most of or all those particular Directions which I shall presently give But supposing that the Times are bad and we have no hand in it Suppose them worse than God be thanked they are as bad as in any Age they have been as we can well conceive them to be Let the generality be given up to all Wickedness not only debauch'd and sottish in themselves but profane and irreligious towards God and both uncharitable and and unjust dishonest and inhuman towards Men But let us imagine the Wise and the Learned the Rich and the Honourable to be hearty Opposers of and Enemies to the Christian Life and Spirit and that they use their Wit and employ their Knowledg and their Interest in obstructing the progress of Goodness and Vertue as much as is possible Nay not only so but they who hold the Scepter by whose Counsel publick Affairs are managed are violent Persecutors of the Cause and People of God and of all Goodness and their Rage is bent against every one that is like to and a Follower of the Son of God Suppose you be in a Family where not only thy Fellow-Servants or thy Brothers and Sisters but thy Father and Mother or thy Master and Mistris be not only wicked themselves but Abetters of Wickedness in others Let thy Case also be such that thou by being good wilt not
End 't is not Good that he designs 4. Much more does he lose the Season who imploys it in evil Works Nay 5. That Time is in part lost and not husbanded as every one thinks it should be in which less good is done than might have been done in it Tho a Man has been doing well yet if he might have done much better he is commonly thought and said not to have employed and improved his time as he might and is supposed should have done According to this discourse doing well is not only the End and Reason why but also the Way and Means how we should redeem the Time And it is a plain Corollary deducible from hence that the more and greater Good any Man does in Time the more he redeems it And he that does all that Good in it which by Man can be done in such a Time he performs what the Apostle here requires most perfectly He does his Duty fully On the other hand he who does less than the Times will suffer or it may be help him to do either doing some lesser Good where he neglects a greater or doing but a part of a much greater Sum which he might do he does fail in his Obedience to this Exhortation of redeeming the Time in Proportion to his falling short of doing the good he might The Sum of all this is That he who so complies with Things and Times and as far as they are in his Power so accommodates them to himself as to do the most Good which they enable or assist or but suffer him to do He does redeem the Time in the Apostle's Sense And thus far the Explication of it shews the reasons of those Directions for the doing it which I have already given and will make the entertainment of the few I shall add more easy Supposing then that we understand what is good for us to do and that we are alway willing and ready to do this Good we know and ever moderately and orderly busy that we are sensible of our dependance on Time and Things without us and that we have got a good knowledg what influences they have on our doing good to oppose and hinder or to farther and promote it which is all that I have directed hitherto I proceed now to another general Advice which is this 8. Take a view of all the Good which Men in General or your self in Particular have a capacity of doing in respect of human Nature and Faculties Set before you all in any kind which one endowed with the Faculties of human Nature can possibly do which is fit and becoming one in such Relations and Conditions as every Man is to do in respect of God of Himself and of all other Men and Things all that is honourable to the great Creator and Lord of all that is perfective of human Nature in a Man's self and in other Men and conduces also to the welfare and best state of all other Beings and Things Take a survey of Man and of all of this sort that he is capable of doing survey your selves also what Good it is in particular that you can do whether it be more or less than others in your Condition Now this is all summ'd up in those general Heads of doing justly loving Mercy and walking humbly with God as the Prophet has exprest them Or as the Apostle more fully living soberly righteously and godly But this is not all I mean that we should know all the Good that can be done by us but that we also set before us all the Actions we can do which are capable of being and doing thus much good And they are our Thoughts and all those which are transacted by and in the Mind it self our Words which convey our Thoughts to others And all our other mechanical Actions vvhich directly or indirectly fall under Liberty and to vvhich vve may be determined by our Wills Consider vvell hovv fit and good all these may be What is the Goodness of each of them singly and of all of them together And that you may know this consider what respects they bear and in what order they are to one another how one does prepare and make Way for another and consequently vvhen they do cross and oppose each other Consider also more distinctly what Actions are the best which are of less Goodness which are of most and which of least Consequence This will very much direct us in what order to do them and in case of Competition which to prefer This will hugely conduce to our gaining and improvement of Time that is to our doing the most Good as I have shewn The Sum of this Direction is that we consider and that not slightly and seldom but often and seriously of all the Good we can do and of all the Actions whereby we may do it Let us hang a kind of Table before us wherein the good Actions of our Lives the Heads of them I mean may be fully enumerated and delineated in an orderly Series And let this be in our Eye very often every day look on it Think of it so long and so often till you be perfect in it and have no need of recourse to it when your Memory shall presently and easily suggest it to you on every occasion And when we consider what we can do we must not only think what we can do by our selves immediately but by other Men and Things For tho we can't by our selves suppose persuade another yet we may by some other that is abler and has greater Authority with him There is none but may see the usefulness of this Advice in order to our doing Good in which Men so frequently and grosly miscarry for no other cause but want of this Consideration Tho they know all the Good they can do and are willing and ready to do it yet they do it not they often do the contray Evil because they consider it not they act preposterously and so hinder themselves They do a less Good when they might do a greater they set upon the End before the Means They do not the Good they might if they would but take a full and distinct view of all they are capable of doing Seneca I remember gives this Reason among others why Men do so grievously miscarry Quamvis sepissimè de partibus vitae consulitur nunguam de toto They seldom or never take all their Actions they can do into Consideration They do not take a full view of their whole Course and Way as they must if they consult about it If this be so necessary in order to our living vertuously 't is on the same account necessary for our redeeming Time which cannot be done but by well-doing This being not only the only End why but the only Means also whereby we can get and keep Time or Season 9. Take also a general view of the whole Time you have for all Good as well as of those parts of Time which will most
to my Argument If the great God to whom nothing is hard yet do not will to effect all that which implies no contradiction to be done much less should Man let his Desires run parallel with Possibility nor can it be congruous for him whose Power is limited to have an unlimited Will a Will that 's only bounded by contradictions an affection commensurate to the greatest Power This surely was the Stoicks-sense when they would not have us to extend our desires beyond the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things in our Power And if they intend this that where we can do nothing by it in order to the obtaining the thing we wish there we should cease to desire I am of the same mind But if they intend that we should be unconcerned in all that is not wholly and solely in our Power I think they leave us little or nothing to be employed in for our very Acts which we are said to be Lords of seem most if not all partly to depend on other causes besides our selves There is thus much of Truth in their Precept that we should have the greatest affection to those matters where if we engage our own Power we may reasonably expect the Concurrence of all other Causes that are necessary to effect it And it will be our Wisdom if we would avoid the Torment of Disappointment only to desire that which in such an order of Causes not only can but probably will be produced and on whose production that Desire may have some Influence This is the first Caution that the thing we desire be Possible The 2d is That it be for Common-Good at least not to the prejudice of the Publick And this is also sufficiently intimated in the Rule it self For if any thing be really advantageous to a Man's Private Interest it must be also to the Publick and if it be not this it cannot be the other He that sinks the Ship endangers his own Life nor shall any one Member of the Body better its condition by drawing to it self the Nourishment which should be dispens'd to all No if all the other Members suffer that one must suffer too Man is a Member of the Body Politick a part of Society and if it do not go well with the Polity in general it must go ill with him in particular As therefore we should not for the safety of one Member destroy the Body so it would be equally unreasonable for a Private Interest to undo the Publick And besides this consideration of every private persons reference to the Community as he is a part of it if we further look on him as a Lover of Good and can but suppose him to prefer the greater before the less and to think that that which is beneficial to many is better than that which is so to one or to a few he cannot if these be his Thoughts desire his own particular Interest may be promoted with Disadvantage to the Publick That 's the second 3. As our Desires must be harmless as to the Publick so likewise to every other Man For there can be no Reason why I should pull down his House that I may build one for my self upon its Ruins why I should endanger his Life to save my own for he is naturally of equal value with my self and if he be not so well improved as I perhaps neither may he deserve much Blame nor I Praise for this but it may be the Circumstances into which we fell were the chief cause of this Difference Perhaps if he had been in mine he might have been better than I and if I had been in his I might have been worse than he But be it otherwise our present Inequality doth not argue however that he hath forfeited the Right he had or if he hath yet not to me This then must be remembred that my Desires be innocent I may be as wise as a Serpent for my self but then I must be as innocent as the Dove to others Nor yet do I deny but my Desires may extend to those things which may a little inconvenience my Neighbour provided that Inconvenience bear no Proportion to the Loss I should sustain by the want of what I desire It seems not unreasonable that he should be debarr'd of the Pleasure of his Prospect rather than I want a House to dwell in Thus all the Members of the Body will suffer a little rather than one should perish and many will rather put their Shoulders to the Burden than one should be oppressed with it This is the third and last Particular to be considered for the regulating our Desires which I shall further discourse of in the second part of the proposed Method II. How far the Desires of what belongs to another are forbidden Where I shall consider First What is that which gives Titl◠and makes any Possession proper to a Man And Secondly In what case such Properties may or may not be desired by Another First That Men have Properties that some have Right where others have none we suppose and the Scripture allows it in the 10th Commandment and in other places where buying and selling is spoken of or indeed where Charity and lending to him that would borrow or giving Alms is commanded For no Man can lend or give what 's not his own if there were no Property any Man might take without anothers leave This then supposed we 'll consider the Foundation of this and that we may in generel conclude is the Law by this understanding both the Law of Nature and of Nations and the Municipal The Municipal Laws are very various according as the Condition and Temper of the People and Custom of the Place and such other Circumstances inclined the Wisdom of the Governours to make them And that they have very variously determined of Proprieties and the ways of acquiring just Title is known to them who have but looked into the Laws of several People as of the Jews Athenidns Spartans Romans c. Those ways which obtain amongst us and have been generally received if we abstract from the Particular Modes and Determinations of them are these Inheritance Gift Contract and Cession The rest are sufficiently known I forbear to speak any thing of the Particularities which are observed amongst us in giving or buying or the rest because it would be needless to do it at this time Only this I add That there being several wise uninterested Men made Judges in these Cases when they come in debate and they have the Law reported to them on both sides by the Advocates and in case of Defect in the Law or Failure in Judgment there are Courts of Equity for the supply of such Shortness or Redress of such Wrongs Things being thus nothing can be imagined better nor a more commodious Settlement invented This I have said that we may acquiesce in our own excellent Constitutions and be satisfied that he to whom our Law gives Right hath a good and undoubted
Statute-Book 'T is both the Common and Civil and Canon-Law whereby God governs his Subjects If any should imagine that because a great part of or all the Bible was directed to particular Persons of such Times and Places that therefore they were intended for no more Or because they were writ in an exotick and strange Tongue with which most of the World are unacquainted therefore they must not be looked on as a Revelation of the Divine Will to all Men I would desire such to consider 1. That in whatever Language they were writ the same Objection would lie against them 2. Here is work for Industry and that which may engage Men in Study and encourage Learning and may occasion Men of one Nation 's acquainting themselves with others and with the Wisdom and Customs of all Places and Times 3. That what is contained in our Bible was directed to some particular Persons this was no more than was fit to procure its Entertainment amongst them If it had been spoke to all perhaps none might have minded it at least not so much as they probably would to whom it was particularly addressed 4. That however some few might be immediately concerned in it and it might have especial respect to the Men of one Age and Place yet this hinders not but that it might have a farther reference to all that were them or should be afterwards in all Nations to whom it should come And tho there might be and were some of the Laws founded on particular Reasons which afterwards might cease yet this takes not off the Obligations of those Laws which are founded on universal and immutable Reasons such as belong to all Mankind in all Ages Where the very same reason does not continue yet there is often a Parity which is sufficient to lay an Obligation on us Exempli Gratiâ Tho we may not look on our selves as obliged to offer Sacrifices on an Altar to God by the Hands of a Priest yet we may and should offer up to God of our Substance by the Hands of the Poor And so the Law of Sacrifices may still direct and in some sort bind us And thus we may make use of the abrogated Laws which were temporary to direct our selves in the Knowledg of what the Will of God is to us by considering Parity of Reason which is the way we take in all Humane Laws This Exception being thus removed we need not question but the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament contain a Revelation of God's Will to us and all Men. V. God teaches Men what his Will is by secret Suggestions of his Spirit 'T is this which often shews us the way in which we should go which directs us saying This is the way walk in it I believe there is no Man but one time or other feels himself most powerfully instigated to do such or such an Action which at that time he clearly apprehends to be good And at other times he is as forcibly with-held from what by a clear light he sees to be evil And this he cannot reasonably impute to any other cause besides the Spirit of God He is not conscious of any Power within himself that can do thus and there is no other visible Cause of this powerful Influence So that it may well be ascribed to the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation This brings to mind some of the Divine Precepts which we had forgot or did not then think of This discovers to us in some particular Instances what God would have us do which in other ways we could not have known Now this being so distinguishable from the other ways as to the manner and yet so consistent with and agreeable to them in the matter of the Revelation we may well conclude that it 's another way in which God discovers his Will unto Mankind Thus I have briefly considered the five ways in which God makes his Will known unto us Concerning which ways I will further say 1. That there is no Law of God which is not in one or more of them publish'd unto us 2. That some of them and indeed many are in all these ways to be known by us 3. Those that are thus many ways declared are hereby signified to be of great Importance to be known and done by us Therefore was it that the Divine Providence took such care that they should not be conceal'd from us 4. Those which are notisied to us in some one way only e. g. the Scriptures are not contradictory to nor contradicted by any other that are revealed to us in the other ways There is no Repugnancy no Inconsistency betwixt them but they all exactly harmonize and agree with each other Whosoever thinks otherwise he takes that to be a Command of God which is not There may be and is something more revealed in one way than in another but there is nothing in one that is repugnant to that is inconsistent with indeed that is not agreeable to what is in another Therefore if we at any time should interpret the Scripture-Revelation in contradiction to the unquestionable Principles of the Reason and Mind of Man we misunderstand it These are both God's Revelation of his Will to us and he cannot contradict himself Whosoever will do that which is every Man 's necessary Duty and greatest Interest to do that is seek after a perfect understanding of the Will of God concerning Man he may by a diligent Exercise of himself in these ways attain unto it And whatever Pains he takes in it I can assure him he will find himself well appaid in the Effect of his Labour For that must be great Holiness of Life and abundant Satisfaction and Quiet of Mind If I were to give a Compendium of that which all these ways appears to be the Will of God and more than a Compendium I must not offer at it should be this viz. the Perfection and good State of all Men. Whosoever either considers the Goodness and Wisdom of God or the Inclinations and Faculties which he has given to all Men or the Sense of the wisest and best nay of all Men who are in a restless Pursuit of somewhat they often mistake for their Happiness or the holy Scriptures or the secret Motions of the Divine Spirit He will say that all these do centre in and aim at this And consequently shew that this is certainly the Will of God And if we be once assured in our Minds that the Goodness and Perfection or best State of Man is the Divine Will we have got a Clue that will direct us through all the Labyrinths of Particulars And if we have but once form'd true and distinct Notion of what our Perfection is we shall then see clearly what are the Particulars of which it consists what are the means that are in order to it and what are the things that oppose and hinder it And in effect we shall be directed to a right understanding of all the
the Doctrine of Indulgences for Sins to come of Masses for the Dead and the like which whosoever considers in their tendencies I doubt not but they 'll be satisfied it 's the Interest of Money not of Goodness that is carried on by the Asserters of those Opinions that they serve Mammon and their Religion is Covetousness This Inordinacy of Desire turns Apostles into Judas's Pastors into Robbers the House of Prayer into a Den of Thieves and it doth as easily transform the Flocks of Sheep into Herds of Wolves For notwithstanding the Sheep's Coat and Shape if there be a ravening Appetite an unsatisfied Desire 't is a Wolf tho it seem a Sheep a Wolf in Sheeps cloathing Nor can it be expected it should be otherwise but if the Sea hath overflown its high Banks the lower Marshes must needs be drowned and if the Physician be seized with this Disease the unskilful Patient must be so much more If the Spiritual Men whose Converse is in Heaven yet be so much within the Influences of this Earth the Laity they whose Employment is in it must be more under the power of them If the Light of the Heavenly Bodies be obscured by terrestrial Vapors then the Candle which is in the Earth must be put out by its Damps And if the Disciples of Jesus be under the Power of Desire it 's not to be imagin'd that Moses's Scholars or the Followers of Mahomes or the Worshippers of many Gods should be free from its Dominion We 'll therefore take it for granted that if Christendom be not exempt from this Tyranny of Desire the rest of the World is not If the Gospel hath not rectified Mens Affections neither the Pentateuch nor the Alcoran nor the Traditions of the Gentiles have or can do it Thus we see that Desire hath an Empire further extended than ever they had who would be call'd Lords of the World We 'll next consider how this Catholick King this universal Bishop this proud Sultan this great Cham manages his Affairs And we may observe that this Vsurper who hath dethroned Reason the lawful Sovereign of the World and hath assumed his Scepter does use the same evil Arts which all others do Where he hopes to gain the Affections of his Subjects he practises Flattery gratifies them tho to then Ruine and pleases tho in that he undoes them Where they will not love they shall fear and if he cannot court them by Flatteries he will rule them as a Tyrant and in both ways his Government is arbitrary and irregular Either Laws are never made or never kept in his Dominions That which is commanded is for the most part evil or impossible no Reason to be given of it besides Will And tho it were not yet sooner might the free Air be hedged in or the Winds chained up than the Subjects of this Prince who are Sons of Appetite be restrained Nor can they be turned from their Purpose unless by a Passion accompanied with more Power than they have As the Stream of a great River cannot be turned from its Course except it be met by the fiercer Tide The calm and quiet Decisions of Controversies that used to be in Courts of Judicature where Reason ruled are either wholly laid aside or strangely degenerate and so either to bad purpose or to none at all Here the Clients do not consider Justice but Interest neither do they regard Right or Title if they can make the least Pretence and therefore will desire in their Advocates not Law but Oratory and Sophistry They will also suborn Witnesses that shall swear for Hire not for Truth and will corrupt their Judges to pervert the Sense of the Law and under colour of Justice to be unjust In these Courts the richest Client hath most Right and the best Purse carries the Cause Or if this will not do they try another If they either want Craft or Money they will fly to Power if they cannot out-wit their Neighbours they will try to out-master them if the Court and the Law will not give it for them they 'll see what the Camp and Army will And now the Armour is put on the Sword girded on the Thigh and the Trumpet sounds to Battel the Guns begin to thunder and lighten thousands are murdered Cities burnt whole Countries laid waste Or if this fail too and be found insufficient to execute the Commands of inordinate Desire the Souldier then will turn a Religionist and he that wore a Vizard of Justice will put on a Form of Godliness will persuade People to gaze into Heaven whilst he picks their Pockets and will tell them they cannot make sure of an Inheritance there unless they part with their Possessions here falsifying the Gospel now as he did the Law before and wresting our Saviour's plain Words to the enriching himself and impoverishing his Brother Thus I have given a brief Representation of the State where Desire rules by which Fiction we may a little guess at the Truth of Things and how they are and have been and are likely to be in the World because of Covetousness Assuredly this was it that made the Grecian and Romans in former days and the Turks in these later to make so great a part of Mankind their Tributaries This hath made Men seek after new Worlds as if the old were too little to bound their Desires This took away the Land and Liberties and Lives too of many thousand Americans This made the Goths and Vandals invade Italy the Moors Spain and the Danes and Saxons to mention no other England But need we go to Histories and past Times for proof of the evil Effects of Desire No surely our own Observation and the Days we live in will give us too many Nor will I rake into the Ashes where lie hid the Sparks of Contention that kindled our late Wars no let them lie buried in eternal Oblivion Nor do I care to uncover the Graves of the Dead let their Dust rest in Peace for me Nor will I discourse of the Actions of our Governors where we are for the most part unable to understand and therefore incompetent to judg whether they proceed from Desire or Understanding for so I should speak rashly and perhaps falsely too of my Rulers Let us therefore consider the Mischief Desire doth amongst our selves and so we shall keep within the compass of our Knowledg What Havock doth it make whilst the poor envy their rich Neighbours and they again grind the Faces of the Poor Whilst they that have much grasp at all and would leave their Brethren Possessors of nothing and in this Sence seem to construe our Saviour's Words To him that hath shall be given and from him that hath 〈◊〉 that hath little that makes no Increase shall be taken what he hath But I need not insist on the Oppression Force Extortion Over-reaching that is amongst us which is the Issue of unlawful Desire They whose Employment lies in Courts of Judicature have
indeed of his own of any thing They drink Wine in Bowls and forget the Afflictions of Joseph And how impotent and unable is he to do the good Offices which he may have some desire to do He hath not the use of either Mind or Body they are both disabled from discharging their Functions Nor indeed is it possible he should for by Luxury and Softness and Excesses of corporeal Gratifications the Soul is made careless and inconsiderate inordinate in its Desires and impatient of the least Difficulty and Opposition and the Body is rendred weak and feeble through want of Exercise and Diseases Thus I have shewn concerning the four commonly called Cardinal Virtues how they are befriended by this great Principle of doing Good to all And every one will understand that Dependance which most of the other Virtues have on it and how much it contributes to their Being and Growth This Man of universal Good will how full of Humanity and Courtesy is he even to Strangers and those he knows not What hearty Civility and real Kindness doth he express to those that oppose his Interests nay that intend him Mischief How gladly doth he pardon Injuries and receive a repenting Enemy into his Bosom How willing nay forward is he to lend to the Borrower to give to the Indigent And what he gives is from a liberal Hand and a bountiful Mind no grudging no sparing appears in his Communications He is as willing to take care of the Conveniences as to relieve the Necessities of others hath not only so much Charity as to keep them just from starving but so much as will engage him to endeavour to make them happy And then for the lesser Offices that are the Graces of Conversation and make it pleasant they derive from the same Original For he and he alone that is set on doing Good to All will be affable and of easy Address by all He will not fail in giving all Expressions of Civility that are proper and natural for the artificial and excessive the Effects of Vanity and Hypocrisy he uses them not He hath the Civility of a Courtier and the Heartiness of a Friend In short his Countenance and Behavior and Words to all are such as you may read in them real Good-will I add only two more This Man is humble and meek The true Cause as well as the Effect and Consequence of most Mens Pride is that they consider few or none besides themselves The proud Man therefore loves himself too much because he loves not other Men at all Whereas the Man who lives under the Power of this Principle he values other Mens Merits as well as his own and desires they may have the Praise due to them and doth not think himself disparaged when another is commended or if by Accident that come to pass he is not concern'd because it 's for the Good of the Man that is worthy and of Mankind and he can be content to sacrifice his own Credit to the Welfare of other Men and the Publick In short where a Man loves others he desires that for them which he doth for himself and consequently that they may have the Honour done them which they deserve as he would not be debarr'd of the Praise he merits And for Meekness This Love covers a Multitude of Faults and so maketh those not to be which are so far is it from multiplying and magnifying them from increasing their Numbers and Aggravations It doth not make Faults where they are not or where they are doth not make them worse doth not call a little Wart a Wen but rather where they can be extenuated lessens them and considers which are the Miscarriages of surprized Infirmity and unwilling Mistake and distinguishes between them and others Nor is he forward to take Vengeance or eager to punish but is a Man of Long-suffering and Forbearance and will never punish but when it is the likeliest and almost only way to Amendment I have shewn how much the Principle of universal Beneficence conduces to Knowledg Religion and Vertue I now proceed to shew how very available it is to our acquiring and keeping the rest of those good Things that make up the Happiness of Man And none that considers how essential doing Good is to the Religion of Christ and how necessary to the Happiness of Man will wonder that I Inâ—ist so long on this Argument for tho I had the Tongue of Men and Angels I could not sufficiently declare the Excellencies of this Divine Temper Fourthly The next of those good Things I mention'd which are in the Soul are Quiet and Tranquillity Joy and Pleasure which I therefore join together in my Discourse because they are not often parted in Nature and their Opposits go under the same Name of Trouble and because where they are as they should be they qualify one another For that is a good and desirable Quiet which is in order â—o and attended with Joy and that is an allowable Joy which doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Soâ—l and 〈◊〉 the Mind of Peaâ—e Whereas iâ— thâ—se 〈◊〉 destroy each other they are not as they should be nay if they do not serve and befriend each other they are blaâ—â—ablâ— For the Soul may be too much becalm'd that it cannot move its 〈◊〉 may be frâ—zen up by a Stoical Apathy which will not only rid it of the evil and painful but deâ—rive it also of the good and pleasant Passionâ— that which doth 〈◊〉 is very opposite to its Welfare Again The Mind of Man may be transported with Joy beyond the Bounds which Nature and Convenience have set and so as to indispose it for doing that Good to it self or others it might do But when those two concur and consist together that is an excellent State indeed 〈◊〉 then a gentle Wind fills the Sails and doth not raise the Waves the Soul is then active and moderate And this State of Joy and Peace is the best State of which Souls are capable 't is the Crown of all our Works the natural Reward of our Labours and if our Actions be vertuous 't is a sure Reward It is the End and Consummation of all it is the Fruit and Flower that grows on them all And now I shall endeavour to shew how much the Principle of universal Goodness where it 's practis'd and become a Temper contributes to the Quiet and Pleasure of Souls Some of the greatest Causes of our Disquiet are Maâ—â—ce and Envy bitter Anger and boundless Desires and Conscience of Evil. The malicâ—ous spiteful Man is upon the Wrack as often as he cannot bring about his mischievous Designs He gâ—ashes his Teeth when he sees God and Nature so to shelter and secure the Man against whom he hath set himself that no Storms he can raise shall light on him The Envious is himself in torment if other Men be not As often as the Candle of God the Suâ— shines on enlightens and warms his Neighbour it parches and burns