live by Accident and never to pursue any Felicity at all is neither Angelical nor Brutish nor Diabolical but Worse then any Thing in some respect in the World It is to act against our own Principles and to wage war with our very Selves They that place their Ease in such a Carelessness are of all others the greatest Enemies and Disturbers of themselves IT is Madness and folly to pursue thâ— first object that presents it self undâ—â—â— Notion of felicity And it is 〈◊〉 to content ones self in the Enjoymeâ—â— of a mean estate upon a suspicion there is no true happiness because the nature thereof is so much doubted in the World The Disputations concerning its nature argue its existance And we must cease to be Men before we can extinguish the desire of being Happy He only is truely Generous that aspires to the most perfect Blessedness of which God and Nature have made him Capable BY how much Greater the Uncertainty is by so much the more Heedful ought we to be lest we should be seduced and deceived in the Choice of Happiness For the Danger is the Greater And by how much the more Eager Men are in their Disputations concerning it by so much the more weighty is the Nature of the Theme to be presumed HASTINESS in catching at an unexamined Felicity is the great Occasion of all the Error about it among the Vulgar who are led like Beasts by their Sense and Appetite without discerning or improving any other faculty The lip of the Cup is annointed with Hony which as soon as they taste they drink it up tho the liquor be nothing but Gall and Poyson Being deluded with a shew instead of Pleasure they rush hand over head on their own Destruction IT is as natural to Man to desire happiness as to live and breath Sence and Instinct carry him to Happyness as well as Reason onely Reason should rectifie and direct his Instinct inform his Sence and compleat his Essence by inducing those perfections of which it is capable THINGS Good in themselves when they stand in Competition with those that are better have the notion of Evil Better Things are Evil if compared with the Best especially where the Choice of the one hinders the Acquisition of the other For where Good Better and Best are subservient to each other the one is the better for the others sake but where they interfere and oppose each other the Good are bad in comparison of the Better and the Better worse than the Best of all This is the Cause why Reason cannot acquiesce in any Felicity less than the Supreme which must needs be infinite because Almighty Power which made Reason active is illimited in its Operations and never rests but in the production of a Glorious Act that is infinite in Perfection IF Felicity be infinite the Loss is as great that attends our Miscarriage and the misery intolerable that follows our Loss For our eyes being open a Loss that is incomprehensible must needs produce a Greif unmeasurable an Anguish as infinite as our Damage ALL inferiour felicities are but Miseries compared with the Highest A farthing is good and pleaseth a Beggar in time of distress but a piece of Gold is Better An Estate of a thousand pounds a year is better than a Piece of Gold but our Ambition carries us to Principalities and Empires An Empire is more desirable than a Province and the Wider the Richer the Better it is the more Desirable But the Empire of all the Earth is a Bubble compared to the Heavens And the Heavens themselves less than nothing to an infinite Dominion PERFECT Felicity is not Dominion nor Pleasure nor Riches alone nor Learning nor Virtue nor Honour but all in Perfection It requires that every Soul should be capable of infinite Dominion Pleasure Learning and Honor for the full and perfect attainment of it IF all these be infinite and Eternal in that Felicity which is prepared for Man those Actions are of inestimable Value by Virtue of which his Felicity is gained and it becomes his Wisdom and Courage to suffer many Things for so noble an End Especially if in this Life it may in any measure be thereby acquired and enjoyed THE Great Reason why GOD has concealed Felicity from the Knowledge of man is the enhancement of its nature and value but that which most conceals it is the Corruption of Nature For as we have corrupted so have we blinded our selves Yet are we led by Instinct eagerly to thirst after things unknown remote and forbidden The truth is our Palates are vitiated and our Digestion so Corrupted that till our Nature be purified by a little Industry to make felicity Known is but to Expose it to Contempt and Censure It is too Great and Pure for perverted Nature THE Concealment of an object whets our Appetite and puts and Edge upon our endeavours and this carries some thing of Mystery in it For whereas the Maxime is Ignoti nulla Cupido All Love comes in at the Eye we affect an Object to which we are Blind and the more Blind we are the more restless We are touched with an unknown Beauty which we never saw and in the midst of our Ignorance are actuated with a Tendency which does not abate the value of our Virtues but put Life and Energy into our Actions THO Felicity cannot perfectly be understood because it is incomprehensible to Men on Earth yet so much of it may be discerned as will serve to meet our Instinct and feed our Capacity animate our Endeavour encourage our Expectation to hope for more then we enjoy enable us to subdue our Lusts support us in temptations and assist us in overcoming all obstacles whatsoever INFINITE Honors and Pleasures were there no more in Felicity are enough to allure us but the fruition of all in the Best of Manners in Communion with God being full of Life and Beauty and Perfection in himself and having the certain Assurance that all shall be included in his Bliss that can be thought on it is a Thing so Divine that the very Hope of it fills us with Comfort here and the Attainment with perfect Satisfaction hereafter HE that can enjoy all Things in the Image of GOD needs not covet their fruition in a Baser Manner Man was made in GODS Image that he might live in his Similitude I am not so Stoical as to make all Felicity consist in a meer Apathy or freedom from Passion nor yet so Dissolute as to give the Passions all their Liberty Neither do I perswade you to renounce the Advantages of Wealth and Honor any more then those of Beauty and Wit for as a Man may be Happy without all these so may he make a Happy use of them when he has them He may be happy with Difficulty without them but Easily with them If not in Heaven yet certainly on Earth the Goods of fortune concur to the Compleating of Temporal Felicity and therefore where
defiled by the Guilt of Sin For as long as we think GOD to be an infinite and Eternal Enemy to all Offenders we cannot use any Endeavor to please him because we Know there is no Hope of Reconciliation and the vanity of the Attempt appears like a Ghost that always haunts us and stands in our Way to oppose and discourage us in the Archievment we would undertake For to Fight with Impossibility is so Foolish a thing that Nature it self keeps us back from doing it Till therefore we believe our Reconciliation possible we have no Strength at all to endeavour our Salvation Our Despair oppresseth and frustrates our Desires with the inevitable Necessity of our Eternal shame and Guilt and misery TO believe that GOD will be so Gracious as to pardon our horrible Apostacy and Rebellion is a Work so Great that GOD accepteth it instead of all other Works of Innocence and Piety to believe that he hath given his Eternal Son to dy for us and that he so Loved us as to come down from Heaven to suffer the wrath of GOD in our stead is so much against the Dictates of Nature and reason that GOD imputeth this Faith alone for Righteousness not as if there were no Good Works necessary beside but by this alone we are justified in his Sight and out Justification cannot be ascribed to any other Work of ours whatsoever Howbeit that which maketh Faith it self so Great a Vertue is that we thereby receive a Power and an Inclination with all to do those Works of Love and Piety the Performance and the Reward of which was the very End of our Saviours Coming THAT there is implanted in Man a Faculty of believing is as certain as that his Eys are endued with the Faculty of seeing or his Soul with Knowledge or any other Faculty And that this Power implanted is of some Use in Nature is as sure as any Thing in the World For nature never gave to any thing a Power in vain this therefore being one of the Powers of the Soul must have a certain End ordained for it And its use is the Excercise of Faith in order to that End OBJECTS of Faith are those Things which cannot be discovered but by the Testimony of others For some things are known by Sence some by Reason and some by Testimony Things that are Known by Sence are present some time or other to the Senses themselves Those Things which Reason discovers are Known as Effects are by Causes or as Causes by Effects a Good and rational Demonstration being made by the Concatenation of Causes and Effects depending upon each other whereby Things remote from Sence are evident to Reason because the one is necessarily implied by the existence of the other But some Things there are which have no such necessary Dependance at all such are the fortuitous Occurences that have been in the World with all those Actions of free Agents that flow meerly from their Will and pleasure For of these there can be no certain Knowledge when they are past but by History and Tradition That the World was made so many years ago that Man was created in an estate of Innocency that he fell into Sin that GOD appeared and promised the seed of the Woman to break the Serpents Head that there was a Flood that Sodom and Gomorrah was burnt by fire that all the World spake one Language till the Confusion at Babel that there were such men as Julius Caesar or Alexander the Great or such as Abraham and Moses and David that the children of Israel were in Egypt and were delivered from thence by Miracles that they received the Law in the Wilderness and were afterwards setled in the Land of Canaan that they had such and such Prophets and Priests and Kings that Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary that he was GOD and Man that he died and rose again that he ascended into Heaven and sent the Holy Ghost down upon his Apostles Nay that there is such a City as Jerusalem all these things can no other Way be understood but only by Faith for no Light of Nature nor principle of Reason can declare such verities as these among which we may reckon these that all the Nations in the World except that of the Jews were Pagans and Idolatrous till the Gospel began to come forth from Jury that by the Miracles and Perswasions and Faith and Patience and Persecutions and Deaths of the Martyrs they were converted and forsook their Dumb Idols and erected Temples to the GOD of Heaven that his Eternal Son was crucified in Judea that such Emperors made such Laws that such Councils were held in such Ages that such and such Fathers sprung up in the Church that there is such a Place as Rome and Constantinople these and many Millions of the like Objects to them that live in this Age and never stirred any further then the English Coast are revealed only by the Light of History and received upon Trust from the Testimony of others Nevertheless there is as great a Certainty of these Things as if they had been made out by Mathematical Demonstration or had been seen with our Eys FOR tho there are some false and some Doubtful Testimonies yet there are also some that are True and Certain And least all Faith should be utterly blind and vain and uncertain there are External Circumstances and inward Properties by which those Testimonies which are true and infallible are distinguished from others ALL those Things that are absolutely necessary to the Welfare of Mankind the Knowledge of which is of general Importance that are unanimously attested by all that mention them and universally believed throughout all the World being as firm and certain as the Earth or the Sun or the Skye it self We are not more Sure that we have Eys in our Heads then that there are Stars in the Heavens tho the Distance of those Stars are many Millions of Leagues from our Bodily Organs THE Objects and Transactions which in former Ages occur to our Eys I mean the Spiritual Eys of the intelligible Soul that are seated within are by Faith received and brought to the understanding When they are transmitted to our Knowledge their Nature is apprehended immediately by the Soul and their existence examined by Reason There being certain clear and infallible Rules by which their Truth or falshood may be discerned And for this Cause is it that we are commanded to Try all Things and bold fast that which is Good It is our Duty to be ready always to give a reason of the Hope that is in us For Reason is a transcendent faculty which extendeth to all Objects and penetrates into all misteries so far as to enquire what probability may be in them what Agreement or repugnance there is in the Nature of the Things revealed what Harmony or Contradiction there is in the Things themselves what Correspondence in all the Circumstances what consistence between those
Despair has comfort and refreshment answerable to it in infinite Hope 'T is the present food and Support of our Lives 't is the Anchor of our Souls in the midst of all the Storms and Tempests in the World 't is the foretaste of Bliss and Coelestial Glory a Glympse and Appearence of the Beatifick Vision without which to Live is to Dye and to Dye is to perish for evermore THE Great Reason for which a right Hope is accounted so Great a Vertue is because its Objects do really surpass all Imagination The fulness of the GODHEAD in the Soul of Man the Perfection of the Divine Image a Transformation for Glory to Glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord Communion with the Father Son and Holy Ghost infinite Love and Bounty the Estate of a Bride in Communion with GOD the Possession of his Throne with another Kind of sweetness then the Bridegroom himself enjoys the Resurrection of the Body and Life Eternal in a Kingdome where all Occasions of Tears and Fears shall ever be removed Where all Regions and Ages and Spaces and Times and Eterternities shall be before our Eys and all Objects in all Worlds at once Visible and infinitely Rich and Beautiful and Ours Our very Appetites also being ravished with Sensible Pleasures in all our Members not inconsistent with but springing from these high and Supeperior Delights not distracting or confounding our Spiritual Joys but purely Superadded and increasing the same while our Bodies are made like to his most Glorious Body by that Almighty Power whereby he is able to subdue All Things to himself all these infuse their Value and the Hope that is exercised about these Things is a Vertue so great that all inferior Hopes which this doth Sanctifie are made Vertues by it but without this all other Hopes are Debasements and Abuses of the Soul meer Distractions and delusions and therefore Vices I Know very well that Presumption and Despair are generally accounted the Extreams of Hope and the only vices that are Opposite thereunto But I Know as well that there may be many Kinds and Degrees of Hope of which so me may be vicious and some Vertuous and that some sorts of Hope themselves are Vices When ever we make an inferior Desire the Sovereign Object of our Hope our Hope is abominable Idolatrous and Atheistical We forget GOD and magnifie an inferior Object above all that is Divine To Sacrifice all our Hopes to Things unworthy of them or to be Remiss and sluggish in Hoping for Things of infinite Importance is apparently Vicious But to be just to all our Encouragements and to lift up our Eys to the Eternal GOD with an humble Expectation to wait upon him and to hope for all that from his Bounty which his Goodness has promised to desire the most high and perfect Proofs of his Love is the Property of a most Great and Noble Soul by which it is carried above all the World and fitted for the Life of the most high and perfect Vertue CHAP. XVII Of Repentance It s Original its Nature it is a Purgative Vertue It s necessity its Excellencies The measure of that sorrow which is due to Sin is intollerable to Sense confessed by Reason and dispensed with by mercy REPENTANCE is a Sowre and austere Kind of Vertue that was not created nor intended by GOD but introduced by Sin made fair by Mercy in remitting the offence and pardoning the Sin It is a Strange Kind of off-spring which flows from Parents so infinitely different and has a mixture in its Nature answerable to either an Evil which it derives from Sin and a Goodness which flows from Mercy It s Evil is that of Sorrow Indignation and Shame Its Goodness is the usefulness and necessity of the thing considering the Condition we are now in It is highly ingrateful to Sence but transcendently convenient and amiable to Reason for it is impossible for him that has once been defiled with sin ever to be cleansed or to live after in a Vertuous manner unless he be so ingenious as to lament his Crime as to loath acknowledge and detest his Error THE Union of the Soul and Body is mysterious but that Sin and Mercy should be united as Causes so infinitely different for the production of a Child so Black and so Beautiful is the Greattest Wonder which the Soul can contemplate on this side Heaven and will continue to be remembred for ever and appear more Wonderful than before when the perfect Disparity and Opposition between them is clearly seen in the Light of Glory THE Efficient Cause of Repentance is either Remote or Immediate It s immediate Efficient Cause is the Gracious Inclination or the Will of the Penitent its remote Efficient is GOD the Father of Lights from which every Good and Perfect Gift descended It s Material Cause is Sorrow It s Formal Cause which makes it a Vertue is the Reason and Manner of that Sorrow the Equity and Piety wherewith it is attended containing many ingredients in its Nature too long a particular to be described here It s Final Cause is either immediate or ultimate the first is Amendment the last Salvation BEING thus bounded by its Causes its Definition is Easie Repentance is a Grace or Christian Vertue wherein a man confesses hates and forsakes his Sin with Grief that he hath been Guilty of it and purposes of Amendment of Life in Order to His Peace and Reconciliation with GOD that he may answer the Obligations that lye upon him discharge his Duty lay hold on the Advantages of GODS Mercy escape everlasting Damnation and be made a Partaker of Eternal Glory AMONG the Vertues some are Purgative and some are Perfective The Purgative Vertues are all Preparatory to Bliss and are occasioned only by the Disorder of the Soul the perfective are Essential to our formal Happiness and Eternally necessary by the Law of Nature Repentance is not in its own Nature If Simply and absolutely considered necessary to Bliss But in Relation to Sinners it is as necessary as Physick to the Recovery of Health or as the Change it self is by which we pass from the Distemper we are Sick of to the right and Sound Estate which we had lost by the Disease As the malady is accidental so is the Cure For the Nature of Man may be well and perfect without either this or the other He that is originally pure has no need of a Purgative Vertue but he that is faln defiled musts needs rise and wash away the filth before he can be clean FOR this Cause even among the Heathens themselves the more Knowing and Learned have a Conscience of Sin their Priests and Philosophers devised several Rites and Manners of Purgation which they taught and imposed on their Disciples with much Circumstance and Ceremony in order to their Reception Nor was there any Temple or Religion in the World that pretended not something to Diviner Mysteries Which were graced beautified
and Conversations It s exercise in Self-denial measure mixture and proportion Its effects and atchievments Chap. XXIII Of Temperance in God How the Moderation of Almighty Power guided in his Works by Wisdom perfecteth the Creation How it hath raised its own Glory and our Felicity beyond all that simple Power could effect by its Infiniteness Chap. XXIV Of Patience It s original How God was the first patient Person in the World The nature and the glory and the blessed effects of his eternal Patience The Reason and design of all Calamities Of Patience in Martyrdom The extraordinary reward of ordinary Patience in its meanest obscurity Chap. XXV The cause of Meekness is Love It respects the future beauty and perfection of its object It is the most supernatural of all the Vertues The reasons and grounds of this Vertue in the estate of Grace and Misery It s manifold effects and excellenlencies Of the Meekness of Moses and Joseph Chap. XXVI Humility is the basis of all Vertue and Felicity in all estates and for ever to be exercised As Pride does alienate the Soul from God Humility unites it to him in adoration and amity It maketh infinite Blessedness infinitely greater is agreeable to the truth of our condition and leads us through a dark and mysterious way to Glory Chap. XXVII That Contentment is a Vertue Its causes and its ends Its Impediments Effects and Advantages The way to attain and secure Contentment Chap. XXVIII Of Magnanimity or greatness of Soul Its nature It s foundation in the vast Capacity of the Understanding It s desire Its objects are infinite and eternal Its enquiries are most profound and earnest It disdaineth all feeble Honours Pleasures and Treasures A Magnanimous Man is the only Great and undaunted Creature Chap. XXIX Of Modesty It s nature It s original Its effects and consequences Chap. XXX The excellent nature of Liberality Rules to be observed in the practice of it Regard to our Servants Relations Friends and Neighbours must be had in our Liberality as well as to the Poor and Needy How our external acts of Charity ought to be improved for the benefit of mens Souls Liberality maketh Religion real and substantial Chap. XXXI Of Magnificence in God Its resemblance in Man The chief Magnificence of the Soul is Spiritual It is perfectly expressed in the outward life when the whole is made perfect and presented to God God gives all his Life to us and we should give ours all to him How fair and glorious it may be Chap. XXXII Of Gratitude It feeds upon Benefits and is in height and fervour answerable to their Greatness The Question stated Whether we are able to love GOD more than our selves It is impossible to be grateful to GOD without it A hint of the glorious Consequences of so doing Chap. XXXIII The Beauty of Gratitude It s principal Causes Amity and Communion are the great effect of its Nature The true Character of a grateful Person Gods incommunicable Attributes enjoyed by Gratitude All Angels and Men are a grateful Persons Treasures as they assist him in Praises He sacrifices all Worlds to the Deity and supreamly delighteth to see him sitting in the Throne of Glory An APPENDIX Of Enmity and Triumph Of Schism and Heresie Fidelity Devotion Godliness Wherein is declared how Gratitude and Felicity inspire and perfect all the Vertues To the Reader The Author 's much lamented Death hapning immediately after this Copy came to the Press may reasonably move the Readers charity to pardon those few Errata's which have escaped in the Printing by so sad an occasion CHRISTIAN ETHICKS OR DIVINE MORALITIE Opening The Way to Blessedness By The rules of Virtue and Reason CHAP. I. Of the End for the sake of which Virtue is desired IT is the Prerogative of Humane Nature to understand it self and guide its Operations to a Known End which he doth wholly forfeit that lives at random without considering what is worthy of his Endeavors or fit for his Desires THE End is that which crowns the Work that which inspires the Soul with Desire and Desire with a quick and vigorous Industry It is last attained but first intended in every Operation All Means which can be used in the Acquisiton of it derive their value from its Excellency and we are encouraged to use them only on the Account of that End which is attained by them IT is the Office of Morality to teach Men the Nature of Virtue and to encourage them in the Practice of it by explaining its use and Efficacy THE Excellence of Virtue is the Necessity and Efficacy thereof in the Way to Felicity It consisteth in this Virtue is the only Means by which Happiness can be obtained SINCE the Consideration of the End is that alone which does animate a Man to the use of the Means they that treat of Virtue do worthily propose the End in the beginning and first shew the Excellency of Bliss before they open the Nature of Virtue For it is a vain thing to discover the Means unless the End be desired by those to whom the Nature and use of them in their tendency to that End is taught and commended for if the End be despised all endeavors are but fruitless which instruct us in the Means and the Knowledge of them vain if they never be used or improved THAT Reason whereby Man is able to Contemplate his End is a singular Advantage wherein he is priviledged above a Beast It enables him not only to examine the Nature and perfection of his End but the Equity and fitness of the Means in Order thereunto and the singular Excellency of his first Cause as its Glory and Goodness appeareth in the Design and Contrivance Especially in making mans Happiness so compleat and perfect THE Heathens who invented the name of Ethicks were very short in the Knowledge of Mans End But they are worse then Heathens that never consider it THE more Excellent the End is the more prone by nature we are to pursue it and all the Means conducive thereunto are the more Desirable REASON which is the formal Essence of the Soul of Man guides Him to desire those Things which are absolutely supreme For it is an Eternal Property in Reason to prefer the Better above the Worse He that prefers the worse above â—he Better acts against Nature and â—wervs from the Rule of Right Reason WHATEVER Varieties of Opinion there are concerning Happiness all conclude and agree in this that Mans last End is his perfect Happiness And the more Excellent his Happiness is the more ought his Soul to be enflamed with the Desire of it and inspired with the greater Industry THE more perfect his Bliss is the greater is the Crime of despising it To pursue an infinite and Eternal Happiness is Divine and Angelical to pursue a Terrene and Sensual Felicity is Brutish but to place Felicity in Anger and Envy is Diabolical the pleasures of Malice being Bitter and Destructive TO
Quality contains within it either Natural Dispositions or Habits Habits may be either Vertuous or Vicious Virtuous Habits are either Theological Intellectual Moral or Divine And these are branched into so many Kinds of Vertue as followeth THE Theological Vertues are generally divided into Three Faith Hope and Charity which are called Theological because they have GOD for their Principal Object and are in a peculiar manner taught by his Word among the Mysteries of Religion To which we may add Repentance forasmuch as this Virtue tho it be occasioned by sin is chiefly taught by the Word of GOD and respects GOD as its Principal Object For which reason we shall account the Theological Virtues to be four Faith Hope Charity and Repentance to which if we making them more we may add Obedience Devotion Godliness THE Intellectual Vertues are generally reckoned to be five Intelligence Wisdome Science Prudence Art Which forasmuch as the Distinction between them is over-nice and curious at least too obscure for vulgar Apprehensions we shall reduce them perhaps to a fewer number INTELLIGENCE is the Knowledg of Principles Science the Knowledg of Conclusions Wisdom that knowledg which results from the Union of both Prudence and Art have been more darkly explained The Objects of Wisdom are alwayes Stable Prudence is that knowledge by which we guide our selves in Thorny and uncertain Affairs Art is that Habit by which we are assisted in composing Tracts and Systems rather then in regulating our Lives and more frequently appears in Fiddling and Dancing then in noble Deeds were it not useful in Teachers for the Instruction of others we should scarce reckon it in the number of Vertues ALL these are called Intellectual Vertues because they are Seated in the Understanding and chiefly exercised in Contemplation The Vertues that are brought down into action are called Practical and at other times Moral Because they help us in perfecting our Manners as they relate to our Conversation with Men. THE Moral Vertues are either Principal or less Principal The Principal are four Prudence Justice Temperance and Fortitude Which because they are the Hinges upon which our whole Lives do turn are called * Cardinal and are commonly known by the name of The four Cardinal Vertues They are called Principal not onely because they are the chief of all Moral Virtues but because they enter into every Vertue as the four Elements of which it is compounded THE less Principal Vertues are Magnificence and Liberality Modesty and Magnanimity Gentleness of behaviour Affability Courtesie Truth and Urbanitie all these are called less Principal not because they are indifferent or may be accounted useless for then they would not be Vertues but because tho their Practice be of extraordinary Importance in their places they are more remote and less Avail in the Way to Felicity and are more confined in their Operations DIVINE Vertues which we put instead of the Heathenish Heroical are such as have not only GOD for their Object and End but their Pattern and Example They are Vertues which are seen in his eternal Life by Practicing which we also are changed into the same Image and are made partakers of the Di Knowledge and Truth in the Sublimest Height we confess to be Three but we shall Chiefly insist upon Goodness and Righteousness and Holiness All which will appear in Divine Love in more peculiar manner to be handled BESIDES all these there are some Vertues which may more properly be called Christian because they are no where Else taught but in the Christian Religion are founded on the Love of Christ and the only Vertues distinguishing a Christian from the rest of the World of which sort are Love to Enemies Meekness and Humility ALL these Virtues are shut up under one common Head because they meet in one common Nature which bears the name of Vertue The Essence of which being well understood will conduce much to the clear Knowledge of every one in particular VERTUE in General is that habit of Soul by force of which we attain our Happiness Or if you please it is a Right and well order'd Habit of mind which Facilitates the Soul in all its operations in order to its Blessedness These Terms are to be unfolded 1. VERTUE is a Habit All Habits are either Acquired or Infused By calling it a Habit we distinguish it from a Natural Disposition or Power of the Soul For a Natural disposition is an inbred Inclination which attended our Birth and began with our beings not chosen by our Wills nor acquired by Industrie These Dispositions because they do not flow from our Choise and industry cannot be accounted Virtues T is true indeed that vertuous Habits are sometimes infused in a Miraculous Manner but then they are rather called Graces then Vertues and are ours only as they are Consented to by our Wills not ours by choise and acquisition but only by Improvement and exercise Tho they agree with Virtues in their Matter and their end yet they differ in their Original and form For as all Humane Actions flow from the Will and the Understanding so do all Vertues when they are rightly understood whereas we are Passive in the reception of these and they flow immediately from Heaven AND it is far more conducive to our Felicity that we should conquer Difficulties in the attainment of Vertue study chuse desire pursue and labour after it acquire it finally by our own Care and Industry with Gods Blessing upon it then that we should be Dead and Idle while virtue is given us in our Sleep For which cause GOD ordered our state and Condition so that by our own Labour we should seek after it that we might be as well pleasing in his Eys and as Honorable and Admirable in the Acquisition of vertue as in the Exercise and Practice of it And for these reasons GOD does not so often infuse it and is more desirous that we should by many repeated Actions of our own attain it GOD does sometimes upon the General Sloth of mankind inspire it raising up some persons thereby to be like salt among corrupted men least all should putrifie and perish Yet is there little reason why he should delight in that way without some such uncouth and Ungrateful necessity to compell him thereunto FOR any man to expect that GOD should break the General Order and Course of Nature to make him Vertuous without his own Endeavours is to Tempt GOD by a presumptuous Carelesseness and by a Slothful abuse of his Faculties to fulfil the parable of the unprofitable Servant THE Powers of the Soul are not vertues themselves but when they are clothed with vertuous Operations they are transformed into Vertues For Powers are in the Soul just as Limbs and Members in the Body which may indifferently be applied to Vertues and Vices alike be busied and exercised in either AS the Members are capable of Various Motions either comely or Deformed and are one thing when they are
kinds of love Of the Power Inclination and act of Love Its extent and capacity BECAUSE Love is the most Desirable Employment of the Soul the Power of Loving is to be accounted the most High and Noble of the Faculties It is not seated by it self in the mind but attended with a mighty Proneness and Inclination THERE is no Creature so unsociable and furious but it is capable of loving something or other Wolves and Tygres live at peace among themselves Lions have an Inclination to their Grim Mistresses and Deformed Bears a natural Affection to their Whelps expressed in their Rage when they are bereaved of them Things must either be absolutely Dead or live in misery that are void of love Whatsoever is endued with Life and sence delights in easie and grateful Operations Love is a necessary Affection of their Souls because it is impossible to apprehend any thing Delightful but it must be pleasing and what is Pleasing must be Lovely For to be Pleased and to love are the same thing If there be any difference the pleasure we take in any Object is the root of that Desire which we call Love and the affection whereby we pursue the pleasure that is apprehended in it is part of the Love that we bear unto it the end of which is the Completion of that pleasure which it first perceives All is Love variously modified according to the Circumstances wherein the Object is represented AS Love is the only Easie and Delightful Operation so is Hatred of all other the most troublesom and tormenting Displeasure and Enmity are the Ingredients of its nature and the fruits of it allyed to their Root as Bitter as Gall and Wormwood Murder and Vexation and Grief are the off-spring of the one with Separation Contention and Horror Peace and Embraces are the Fruit of the other with Praises and Complacencies Honors Services Benefits and Pleasures These are the little Cupids that flie about this coelestial Venus when it is what it ought to be the Mother of Felicity and the Daughter of GOD. ALL Creatures that are sensible of Pain or pleasure must of necessity be addicted to Love and Hatred to the Love of what is pleasing to the Hatred of what is Painful And if any Question be made which of these Twins is the First born the answer is that they may seem Twins in respect of Time but in nature Love is the first born and the Mother of Hatred For where nothing to be hated does at all appear pleasant Things are Beloved for their own sake whereas if there were no pleasant thing to be beloved nothing could be hated because nothing could be Hurtful which appeareth by this because where there is no Love there is no Interest and where there is no concernment there can be no Affection no Fear or Hope or Joy or sorrow AS Fire begets Water by melting Ice so does Love beget contrary passions in the soul of a living creature Anger Malice Envy Grief and Jealousie not by its own nature but by the accidental Interposure of some Obstacle that hinders or endangers the fruition of its Object Were there no Love of Ease and Pleasure there could be no Anger or Quarrel between Competitors no Emulation or Desire no Aversion or Endeavour All Enmity and Hostility Springs from a Contention who shall enjoy what is Desirable or from some other Principle of Envy or Revenge in relation to what is Good as is Obvious to Daily Experience LIFE and Love are so individualy united that to live without Loving something is impossible Even in Hell where their whole Life seemeth to be spent in Detestation and Hatred and actual Love is like fire under those Embers covered and continued Could they put off self Love all Love of Felicity and Interest their Torments would be gone Punishments and Rewards are things impossible where there is not selfLove For without Love to something Pains and Joys are equally Grateful AS Love is the Root of Endeavor so is it the Spring of all the Passions They all depend upon Love alone We are Angry at that which stands in our Way between our Love and its object We Desire an absent Good because we Love it We Hope for it when we conceive its Attainment feasible We rejoyce in it when we have it We fear to lose it we grieve when it is gone we despair if we cannot get or recover it We hate all that is opposite to it And for this Cause is our Love when well regulated the greatest Vertue because upon the right Choise of its Object and true Goverment of it self all the Powers and Affections of the Soul are well employed and when we Love all that we ought as we ought to do we fulfil all Laws Hope and Fear and Hate and Grieve and Desire and Rejoyce and do every thing in a regular Manner THERE is a Sensual and Brutish Love there is a Humane and Divine Brutish Love is of two sorts the one Springs from a Harmony of Complexions and a Sympathy of Bodies the other from the Consideration of Pleasure abstracted The First of these is occasioned by a secret and unexpressible Agreement of Tempers by which upon the presence of each other the Senses are delighted we know not why it being a mystery in nature and perhaps founded in a grateful Transpiration of Spirits from one to the other THE Consideration of Beauty seemeth peculiar to the Love of Men because no Beast is observed to make any Distinction between Lineaments and Features nor upon any account of shape and Colours to be delighted with each other Wherein Man exceeds the Capacity of Beasts in being able to note and admire the Workmanship of GOD in the decent Order of Symmetry and Proportion HUMANE Affection and Divine Love are near allyed yet of several Kinds If you take the Love of Reason in its utmost Height it is always Divine For it is comformable to the Love of GOD in its measures and Degrees in its Effects and Causes For the Love of GOD is it self the Love of perfect Reason And as the Reason of his Love is Infinite and Eternal so is its Operation But in a lower Acceptation Humane Love differs from Divine it being founded upon Temporal Causes Vivacity Wit Learning Beauty Behaviour Moral Honesty Fidelity Kindness Goodness Power Majesty Wealth Nobility Worth Vertue and the like But all these may be exalted when they are Sanctified and made Divine by the superadded concurrence of Coelestial Causes For when a Man loves another because he is made in the Image of GOD and by the Beauty of his Soul is something more than Humane this Love is made Sacred and receives a Grace from the Influences of Religion DIVINE Love strictly so called is founded on Eternal Causes agreeable to the Life of Heaven Delightful to GOD and Pleasing to the Angels IF Divine Love be taken in the highest Sense there is none but in GOD. For it is his Peculiar Prerogative
and Eternities we render all Things their Due we reap the Benefit of all we are Just and Wise and Holy we are Grateful to GOD and Amiable in being so We are not divided from but united to him in all his Appearances Thoughts Counsels Operations we adorn our souls with the Beauty of all objects whatsoever are transformed into the Image of GOD live in communion with him nay live in him and he in us are made Kings and Priests unto GOD and his sons forever There is an exact and pleasant Harmony between us and all the Creatures We are in a Divine and spiritual Manner made as it were Omnipresent with all Objects for the Soul is present only by an Act of the understanding and the Temple of all Eternity does it then becom when the Kingdom of GOD is seated within it as the world is in the Eye while it lives and feels and sees and enjoyes in every object to which it is extended it s own its objects Perfection IF by our voluntary Remisness or Mistake or Disorder we dote upon one Object or suffer some few things to engage our Souls so intirely as to forget and neglect all the rest we rob all those we desert of their due Esteem and abridge our selves of that Liberty and Extent wherein the greatness of our soul consisteth As if the Sun that is made to shine upon all the World should withdraw its Beams from the Stars and the Heavens and chuse to shine upon nothing else but a Spire of Grasse a grain of Dust or a little sand We lose innumerable Objects and confine our selves to the Love of one by sacrificing all our Affection to that become guilty of Idolatry in one respect of Atheism in another For we elevate that Creature which we love alone into the place of GOD and we rob the Creator of that supream affection which is due unto him And in so doing bereave our selves of the Sovereign Object in the fruition of which all the rest are happily enjoyed Thus when a man so Loveth his Wife or Children as to despise all mankind he forfeits his Interest in all Kingdoms and the Beauty of all Ages is taken from his Eys his Treasures are contracted and his Felicity is maimed and made Defective When a Covetous man doteth on his Bags of Gold the Ambitious on Titles of Honor the Drunkard on his Wine the Lustful Goat on his Women the foolish Hector on his Dice and Duels they banish all other Objects and live as absurdly as if a King should relinquish his Crown and confine his Thoughts and Care to a Country Mannor I will not deny but that there are many Disorders and Evils in the World many Deformities Sins and Miseries but I say two things first that in the Estate of innocency wherein all things proceeded purely from GOD there was no Sin nor sickness nor Death nor Occasion of Complaint or Calamity Secondly that all the Evils that are now in the world men brought on themselves by the Fall And there is great need of distinguishing between the works of GOD and the works of men For all that GOD did is Lovely and Divine nothing is bitter and distasteful but what we have done himself surveyed the whole Creation and pronounced concerning every Thing that it was exceeding Good So that he was in all his Works an Object of Complacency To these we add two Considerations more That of all the Evils and Mischeifs which men have introduced there is not one left uncorrected in his Kingdome Secondly that GOD bringeth Order out of Confusion Light out of Darkness Good out of Evil and by a Providence irresistable and a Power infinite so limiteth and divideth all that even Evils themselves become the Matter of his Victory the Ground of his Triumph They are all improved and he makes the Greatest Evils Objects of Joy and Glory NOW if all Things before GOD are fit to be enjoyed all Good Things perfect all Evil overcome if without any Change of Place or Scituation all Things are naked and open before his Eyes and there be no Walls to exclude or Skreens to hide no Gulph to pass nor Distance to over come but all things equally neer and fair there is some Hope that the same Felicity is prepared for the soul which is made in his Image and that every thing being fit for GOD is full of infinite Depth and Beauty For which Cause St. John being in Spirit saw all the Kingdomes of the World become the Kingdomes of the Lord and of his Christ and heard every Creature which is in Heaven and on the Earth and under the Earth and such as are in the Sea and all that is in them saying Blessing and Honor and Glory and Power be unto him that Sitteth upon the Throne and to the Lamb for evermore This we are the rather induced to believe because the Faithful Servant is commaned to enter into the Joy of his Lord and our Masters Joys are the Rewards of Believers Our Savionr telleth us his Lord will make his Wise Servant Ruler over all his Goods in one-place and over all that he hath in another TO see beyond all Seas and through all interposing Skreens and Darknesses is the Gift of the Understanding and to be able to Love any Object beyond the Skies any Thing that is Good from the Centre of the Earth to the Highest Heavens is the Property of the Soul which it exerciseth here by Parts and Degrees but shall at once exert at the Day of Consummation The Infinity of the Father in the Son the Godhead of the Son in the Holy Ghost will entirely be enjoyed IT is the Glory of man that his Avarice is insatiable and his Ambition infinite that his Appetite carries him to innumerable Pleasures and that his Curiosity is so Endless that were he Monarch of the World it could not satisfie his Soul but he would be curiously inquisitive into the original and End of Things and be concerned in the Nature of those that are beyond the Heavens For having met with an infinite Benefactor he would not be sit for his Bounty could any finite Object satisfie his Desire and for this Cause is his Reason so inquisitive to see whether every thing be Delightful to his Essence which when he findeth agreable to his Wish and to exceed his Imagination it is impossible to declare how his Avarice and Ambition will both rejoyce how much his Appetite will be satisfied and his Curiosity delighted To sit in the Throne of GOD and to enjoy Communion with him in those Things which neither Eye hath seen nor Ear heard nor hath it entered into the Heart of Man to conceive is no mean thing the Advancement is infinitely Greater then we are able to understand No young man can gaze upon a Beauteous face with greater Pleasure no Epicures Sence he ravished with more Delight than that which he apprehends in so Glorious a fruition THE very sight of
abundantly more clear and apparent herein for in all those Creatures that perfect themselves by the Service which they do the Service it self is a sufficient Recompence while those upon which we feed being more Corruptible are exalted in their Beings by being turned into ours And the Trade of Bees in the Hony they make for us and the Warmth of sheep in the fleeces they bear for us the Comfort of Birds in the feathers they wear and the Nests they build for us and the pleasures of Beasts in the off-spring they beget and bring up for us these things shew that GOD is Good to all and that his mercy is over all his Works And if any perish in our Service the Bloody Characters of his Love and Goodness are the more Stupendious All Nature is sacrificed to our Welfare and all that we have By pure Nature to do till Sin marres all is to admire and enjoy that Goodness to the Delight of which we sacrifice our selves in our own Complacency And in real truth if it be a great Wonder that any Goodness should be thus infinite the Goodness of all other Things without that Goodness is a far Greater If it be Wonderful admire and adore it CHAP. XII Of Holiness Its Nature Violence and Pleasure It s Beauty consisteth in the infinite Love of Righteousness and Perfection THE infinite Love of his own Goodness is the Holiness of GOD. There are infinite Pleasures and perfections in its Nature that Merit an infinite Esteem and Desire His Goodness is all Beauty and his Holiness all Fire and flame in pursuing it His Holiness is all Beauty and his Goodness all Fire and flame to enkindle it The infinite Excess of his Eternal Goodness is its own Holiness and the Beauty of Holiness is Excess of Goodness For if Righteousness and Holiness be well distinguished Righteousness is that Vertue by which GOD doth apprehend affect and Esteem all Excellent Things according to their value and chuse and do always the Best and most Excellent Holiness is the Love which he beareth to his own Righteousness Which being infinite makes him infinitely enflamed with the Love of the most perfect Actions and carries him with an infinite Ardor to the performance of them For tho it be a Righteous Thing to esteem the Righteousness of GOD in an infinite manner yet there is as much difference between Righteousness and the Love of Righteousness as between an Object and the Affection embracing it Tho here also the Affection the Object are the same Thing For this Holy Esteem and Love of Righteousness is Righteousness it self for it does but render Righteousness its due tho the Affection be infinite which it bears unto it HOLINESS if it be strictly defined is that Vertue in GOD by which he Loveth the most Perfect Things and infinitely delighteth in them For by Vertue of this Affection he shunneth and hateth all that is profane pursuing and delighting in all that is Holy For the Object of Holiness may be Holy as well as the Affection Whereupon it followeth that Holiness is of two kinds either the Holiness of the Affection or the Holiness of the Object They bear a Relation to each other yet are absolute Perfections in themselves For the Hatred of all Defects Imperfections Blemishes and Errors is a Glorious thing in itself yet relates to the Perfection of those Objects from which it would remove those odious Imperfections The Perfection of all Objects when they are free from all Blemishes is a Glorious Thing in it self too yet is Acceptable to that Affection that desires to see a Compleatness and Perfection in every Object And all is resolved into the same Goodness of which we have been speaking FOR infinite Goodness must needs desire with an infinite violence that all Goodness should be compleat and Perfect and that Desire which makes to the Perfection of all Goodness must infinitely avoid every slur and Miscarriage as unclean and infinitely aim at every Grace and Beauty that tends to make the Object infinitely perfect which it would enjoy It cannot desire less then infinite Perfection nor less then hate all Imperfection in an infinite Manner All Objects are made and Sanctified by the Holiness of GOD. It is the measure and strength and Perfection of Goodness THE Holiness of GOD is sometimes called in his Oracle The Beauty of Holiness As if all the Beauty of GOD were in this It extends to all Objects in Heaven and Earth from the Highest to the Lowest from the Greatest to the Meanest from the most Pure to the most profane with a Goodness and Wisdome so infinitely perfect disposing all that some way or other every Thing might answer its infinite Affection It infinitely hates all that is Bad and as infinitely desires to Correct the same The Influence of that Affection by which GOD abhorreth the least Spot in his Kingdome reaches to the Perfection of every Object and the is real proper fountain of all the Perfection of Life Glory And for this Cause in all Probability do the Angels so continually cry Holy Holy Holy Lord GOD of Hosts because the Brightness of his Infinite Glory and Perfection appeareth in his Holiness the violence of his Eternal Love and the Excess of Goodness It may be also because all the Heights of Created Perfection owe themselves to this Holiness all the Raptures and Extasies of Heaven depending on the Zeal wherewith GOD is carried to perfect Blessedness All which are occasioned by those pure and Quintessential Joys those most sublime and Perfect Beauties which they see and feel every where effected by the irresistible Strength of that Eternal Ardor SINS of Omission have an unknown Guilt and Demerit in them They unsensibly bereave us of infinite Beauty To let alone that Perfection which might have been infinite to pass by or neglect it to exert Almighty Power in a remiss and lazy manner is infinitely Base and Dishonourable and therefore unclean because so Odious and Distastful Lukewarmness is Profane as well as Malice And it hath pleased GOD to brand it with a worse and more fatal Censure No folly or iniquity can dwell with him Omission is both To be hated is to be rejected but to be beloved Lukewarmly is to be embraced with polluted and filthy Armes And for this Cause the fire of his Jealousie burns most devouringly about the Altar He will be sanctified in all them that draw nigh unto him and but to touch his Ark irregularly is to be consumed Nor is this any other then a concomitant of his Holiness and an evident Testimony of his Love to perfection For it First shews that on his own Part he maketh our Powers Perfect that we may be able to see and adore him worthily and next that he delights in no Adoration but the most Worthy It moreover shews that he infinitely delights in the Perfection of his own Actions for otherwise he would not be so severe against the
and Displeasure Because he is infinitely Offended and displeased at Evil Deeds he guards and fortifies his Law deterres men from displeasing him by the fear of infinite Punishments Encourages men to please him by proposing infinite Rewards and the Truth is the infinite Approbation and Esteem which he hath for Wise and Holy Deeds produceth a Delight and Complacency in them which is the principal Part of the Reward Nothing is more honourable then to be Praised and honoured by the King of Kings The infinite Hatred of Evil Deeds is the very Torment it self that afflicts the Wicked T is but to see how much we are hated of GOD and how base the Action is no other fire is needful to Hell The Devils chiefest Hell is in the Conscience They are obdurate and feared that cannot discern and feel The Wound which they inflict on themselves who grieve and offend their Creator It is easie to see the Necessity of that Justice which springs from Holiness and that GOD could not be infinitely Holy were he not infinitely Just in like manner THAT his Punitive Justice springs from his Goodness is next to be observed He punishes them that are hurtfull to others He is most severe in pleading the Cause of the Fatherless and the Widow Himself is persecuted when his Saints are molested and he faults for which the untoward servant was punished are particularly those of beating his fellow Seruants A good man by how much the more tender and compassionate he is by so much the more is he provoked at any gross Affront or abuse of the Innocent Every soul is the Bride of GOD and his own infinite Goodness which deserves infinite Love is infinitely Beloved by him He infinitely tenders it and avoids its least Displeasure but its Displeasure is infinite at every Sin and consequently his Anger when such a Sovereign Beauty as his infinite Goodness is offended by it THE foundation of his Righteous Kingdome and of the Room prepared for his Eternal Justice to act in is infinitely deeper and must in other Discourses more full and copious on that Theme be shewn And to those we refer you All we shall observe here is that this Punitive Justice being GODS infinite Zeal whereby he vindicates his abused Goodness His Goodness must of necessity proceed it and be abused before he can be Angry and before his Anger can be accounted Justice His Dominion is infinite but cannot be Arbitrary in a loose Construction because it is infinitely Divine and Glorious CHAP. XIV Of Mercy The indelible Stain and Guilt of Sin Of the Kingdom which GOD recovered by Mercy The transcendent Nature of that Duty with its Effects and Benefits SUCH is the infinite Justice of God and the Severity of his Displeasure at Sin his Holiness so Pure and his Nature so irreconcilable his Hatred so real and infinite against it that when a Sin is committed his Soul is alienated from the Author of the Crime and his infinite Displeasure will ever see the Obliquity and ever loath the Deformity therein THE Person of a man is concerned in and always represented in the Glass of his Action Union between him and his Deeds is Marvellous T is so close that his Soul it self is hated or Beloved in his Actions As long as it appeareth in that deed which is Odious and Deformed he can never be Beloved HOW slight soever our Thoughts of Sin are the least Sin is of infinite Demerit because it breaketh the Union between God and the Soul bereaveth him of his Desire blasteth his Image corrupteth the Nature of the Soul is committed against infinite Goodness and Majesty being as the Scripture speaketh Exceeding sinful because it is committed against infinite Obligations and Rewards displeasing to all the Glorious Angels abominable to all the Wise and Holy utterly against all the Rules of Reason and infinitely Opposite to the Holiness God who is of purer Eys then to behold the least Iniquity So that unless there be some way found out to deliver the Soul from the Guilt of Sin to blot out the Act and to purifie it from the Stain there can be no Reconciliation between GOD and a Sinner That an offence so infinite should be Eternally punished is the most reasonable thing in the World NOTHING but infinite power and Wisdome is able to wash away Leprosie of guilt and to restore the Soul to its former Beauty and Perfection Without which all Pardon is vain and the Soul dishonourable and sick unto Death as long as the shame and Confusion of its Guilt does lie upon it Which cannot be removed by feeble Tears nor by Acts of Indignation against our selves nor by any Penitence or Sorrow of ours For if these could prevail the Divels might repent and be cleared of their Trespasses long agoe THAT no Law of Works can justifie Sinners is evident enough from that of the Apostle For if there had been a Law given which could have given Life verily Righteousness should have been by the Law GOD was not so prodigal as without an infinite Cause to expend the Blood of his Son And the principal Cause for which he came was that he might be made a Curse and Sin for us that we might be delivered from the Curse of the Law and be made the Righteousness of GOD in him THE reason why the Devils cannot he saved is because the Son of GOD took not upon him the Nature of Angels but the seed of Abraham And there is no other name given under Heaven among men whereby we may be saved but only the name of Jesus who offered up himself a sacrifice for us that he might purifie to himself a peculiar people Zealous of Good Work He pacified the Wrath of God by his Death and satisfied his Justice in our nature and washed us in his Blood and made us Kings and Priests unto GOD. To him be Glory and Dominion forever Amen IT was the Design of Christ and it became the Mercy of GOD in our redemption to take away all the filth and Deformity of Guilt in which the Perfection of his Love and Power appeareth Even as Christ also Loved his Church and gave himself for it that he might Sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of Water by the Word That he might present it to himself a Glorious Church not having Spot or Wrinkle or any such thing but that it might be holy and without Blemish For the Church of GOD being his Bride and we Members of his Body and of his Flesh and of his Bones it was meet that we should be restored to the Perfection of Beauty and if not recover the same enjoy a Better Righteousness than we had before THE Light of Nature could discover nothing of all this and therefore it was taught by Revelations and Miracles and Oracles from Heaven AS all things before his fall were subservient to mans Glory and blessedness so all things after his fall became opposite to him
the Outward Court they enjoyed the society of the visible Church the sight of the Bloody Altar which answers out Saviors Cross erected in the World and the Benefit of their Outward Profession which consisted in their Admission to the Visible Ordinances and exterior Rites of Religion But that Court was open over head obnoxions to showers in Token that a bare Profession is not Enough to shelter us from the Dangers and Incommodities that may be rained down in Judgments upon us from the wrath of GOD whence the face of Heaven is overcast with Clouds and Covered with black and Heavy Displeasure till we wash and be clean and enter by penitence into the Invisible Church of which the Second Court is a Figure wherein we are illuminated by the Holy Ghost and offer up the sweet Perfumes of our Thanksgivings and Praises being admitted to feed upon the Heavenly Feast represented by the Shew-bread Table we are never received into the Society of the Saints and Angels bainted out in the Cheruhims and Palm Trees round about on the inside of its Walls nor Covered over head with a vail to protect us A vail of Blew to represent the inferior Heaven wherein Cherubims were interwoven to represent the Angels looking down upon us a vail of Goats-hair concealed and unseen above that of Blew to signifie the fruits of our Saviour Life and another of Rams-skins died Red to signifie the Blood of Christ by which we are secured from all the Displeasure which otherwise for Sin was due to us The Goats hair fitly resembles the Active Obedience or the Righteousness of Christ for as much as Hair may be clipped off and a Covering made of it while the Beast is alive For so might Christ have been perfectly Righteous tho his Life had never been Taken away But red is the Color of blood the Skin importeth Death for as much as it cannot be fleyed off without the destruction of the Creature These vails therefore as they were above the other were of higher and more mysterious importance And spread over the inclosed and invisible Court into which none but Priests and Levites entered that washed at the Laver to intimate the security only of those that are washed in the Laver of Regeneration and make Kings and Priests unto God being purged from their old sins and sanctified and illuminated in a secret Spiritual manner For as they only that tarried in their Houses were under the protection of the Paschal Lamb whose Blood was sprinkled on the Lintils of their Gates and Doors when the destroying Angel past through the Land of Egypt to kill the First-born of Man and Beast So onely they that keep within the Pale of the Invisible Church are under the Shaddow of the Almighty because they only dwell in the secret place of the most High and they alone are under the Coverture of that Powerful Blood which speaketh better things than the Blood of Abel but pleads for the preservation of them onely that repent and believe and is therefore effectually spread over the Invisible Church alone Which in another Type is exhibited by the mixture of the Blood and Oyl which was sprinkled upon the Priests and Lepers that were cleansed Sanctification and Justification moving alwayes together hand in hand the Unction of the Holy One or the Oyl of Love and Gladness annointing all those that are washed and only those are washed in clean and pure water they alone being effectually sprinkled with the Blood of Christ who of GOD is made unto us Wisdome and Righteousness and Sanctification and Redemption FOR if God should take Pleasure in us before we were pure his Complacency would be false and his Delight unrighteous Till we are Delightful to him we can never be Honorable nor Glorious before him Nor ever be pleasing to that Goodness which is indelible tho latent in our own Souls till we feel our selves clean and Beautiful IF any thing in the World can commend the value of Repentance or discover the infinite use and necessity of it this will certainly be a consideration Effectual That tho GOD love us with an infinite and eternal Love tho he magnifies his Mercy infinitely over all our Deservings tho Jesus Christ loved us so as to sacrifice himself in our places tho he made infinite satisfaction to the Justice of God for our Sins tho the Holy Ghost came down from Heaven for our sakes may tho we ourselves were taken up into Heaven all this would he of little avail and we should quickly be tumbled down again if only Sin were Delightful to us and our Wills so obstinate that there was no place for Repentance in our Hearts no sorrow nor Contrition for the Offences we had committed It is not the Love of GOD to us so much as our love to him that maketh Heaven It may surprize you perhaps but shall certainly instruct you for the Love of GOD may be infinite yet if it be unseen breed no delight in the Soul if it be sleighted and despised it shall increase our Cuilt Shame and Deformity and make us the more Odious which it must needs do when we are impenitent For so long it is manifest that we are neither Sensible of his Love nor Just unto it The taste of its sweetness and the Pleasure we take in his infinite Love is the Life of Blessedness and the Soul of Heaven It is the Concurrence of our Love and His when they meet together that maketh Heaven HERE upon Earth we ought actually to grieve and repent for our Sins But should GOD require a measure in our Grief answerable to its Causes our Repentance it self would be an Hell unto us For the Grief would be Endless and insupportable Right Reason requires that we should be infinitely afflicted for the infinite folly and madness of Sin But the Mercy of GOD dispenseth with our Grief so far that it takes off the Pain which its infinitâ— Measure would inflict upon our sense and accepts of an Acknowledgement made by our Reason that it ought to be infinite if strict Justice were exacted at our Hands Our intention is in the Course of Reason to be infinitely and Eternally grieved for the Baseness of the Act and the Vileness we have contracted and so we should be dâ—d its Effects continue and abide forever for then we should be hated of GOD and become his Enemies World without End But the Removal of that Hatred and the infinite Mercy whereby we are forgiven hath a kindly Operation on the Soul of every Penitent and the Joy it infuseth restrains and limits the Excess of our Sorrow it leaves the Intension of Grief and its inclination in the Mind yet stops the persecution and relieves our Reason by diverting the stream of its Operations and Exercises it engageth its actual Resentments upon other Objects which turn it all into Love and Adoration Praise and Thanksgiving Joy and Complacency For the Love of God continued after our fall and
and to be really laden with all the bunches of Grapes that beautifie it The Excellency of its Nature is vain if its Fruit be never brought to perfection There is a Glory in the Work which the silent Habit is uncapable of It is the Life and Vigour of the Exercise in which all the brightness consisteth Even Diamonds in the Quarry are dull and dim they receive not their full lustre and Price till they are cut and polished GOD hath placed our Trial in sharp and bitter Atchievments because the Love that is exprest in Agonies and Conflicts acquires other kind of Beauties that produce more violent and strong Effects in the Mind of the Spectator and touch the Soul of the Beloved with more quick and feeling Compassions than any Love expressed in Ease and Pleasure can pretend to And since all our Felicity consists in the violence of Gods Love his great and perfect Sence of our Beauty and Honour his full and compleat delight and Complacency all that which affecteth his Soul with more feeling and tender Resentment must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and precious to us because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 us more dear and precious to him We live in him more effectually and feel our selves rooted in his Love and crowned with his Comâ—lacency more abundantly by how much the more his Affection bleedeth and his Pity which enbalms Love is stirred up to receive us And therefore it is that St. Peter saith We are in Heaviness for a season through manifold Temptations that the Trial of our Faith being much more precious than of Gold that perisheth though it be tried with Fire might be found unto Praise and Honour and Glory at the Appearing of Jesus Christ. For as we have before observed Love is more effeminate in a condition of Repose where all is sweet and easie to our selves there can be no Fidelity no Patience no Fortitude no actual Sacrificing of all our Contentments and Joyes to our Beloved no Victory over Death and Hell and the Grave no Self denial no Endearments springing from the same no Prelation of our Object above our selves no loss of Honours Riches Liberties and Lives for our Objects sake and the more of this is Actually done the more of Necessity must be the following Joy of Glory And for this Cause doth St. Peter further exhort us Beloved think it not strange concerning the fiery Trial which is to try you as though some strange thing happened unto you But rejoyce in as much as ye are Partakers of Christs Sufferings that when his Glory is revealed you may be glad also with exceeding Joy If ye be reproached for the Name of Christ happy are ye for the Spirit of Glory and of God resteth upon you on their part he is evil spoken of but on your part he is glorisied THIS he speaketh I confess of the Persecutions Imprisonments and Flames of the Martyrs that were Gods Friends and the Champions of his Truth in the World that in vindication of his Glory endured the Brunt and received all the Arrows of his Enemies in their Bosom but no Man has cause to be discouraged For where the greatness of the Cause is wanting and the apparent glory of the Consequence unseen as for the most part it is in all our common and ordinary Afflictions there to submit to the Will of GOD where there is so much Baseness as in Poverty in Sickness where there is so much Unprofitableness in private Losses and Calamities where there is so much Obscurity meerly because it is GODS pleasure and because in other things he hath infinitely obliged us and prepared infinite and eternal Joyes this hath a peculiar Grace in its nature that in ordinary occurrences makes our Patience more rare and extraordinary THERE are a thousand things that may be said on this Theme which for brevity I must pass All I shall observe further is this that as the Scriptures open the design of Patience and unvail the face of its mysterious Nature so doth Reason shew its invincible height and magnanimity Patience is a Vertue whose element is in Miseries it owes its being to Pains and Calamities were there no Miseries there could be no Patience Evils are its Play-sellows it feeds upon Sorrows thrives by Disadvantages grows rich by Poverties it must needs surmount all Opposition for the more it endures the greater it is It is impossible for Calamity to hurt Patience it is made perfect by Sufferings The more Patient a man is his Patience is the greater and the greater his Patience is the more strong and mighty his Soul is Nothing can quell him or discourage or overcome him that is compleat in Patience He dareth all things because he can endure them All his Martial and Heroical Vertues are knit together in Patience Fortitude it self cannot win the field without it The most valiant Souldier is but useless if he cannot endure Hunger and Cold and Heat and Rain the Incommodities of a March and lying on the Ground VVhile he that endures all things marches on and gets into the Field where Fidelity Love and Loyalty are tried and cannot be hindered from the full and perfect exercise of all these because he can bear any thing that is Evil he can do any thing that is Good He will fight the good fight with alacrity and at last most certainly attain the Crown of Righteousness and the Kings favour CHAP. XXV The Cause of Meekness is Love It respects the future beauty and perfection of its object It is the most supernatural of all the Vertues The Reasons and Grounds of this Vertue in the estate of Grace and Misery It s manifold Effects and Excellencies Of the Meekness of Moses and Joseph MEEKNESS is a Vertue of the Third estate as well as Patience Patience regards Calamities Meekness VVrongs The Injuries that we receive from others are its proper Objects It springs from Love and tends to its Continuance and Preservation It hath something peculiar in its nature because it gives Immutability to Goodness and makes our VVorth not to depend on other Mens Deservings but our own Resolutions It is fed by Charity and like a grateful Off spring of a Parent so amiable helps in its greatest extremity to preserve it from its extinction For all Love by Nature dies into Distaste when its Object hath offended because Approbation which is the first step to Esteem and Esteem it self which is a degree to Love have no other Object but something that is Amiable and sit to be beloved And again every thing that is divested of all its excellence is common if not odious and lost to our Affection till Meekness comes in to rescue and save both our Love and it from its dismal Period It s End is the Recovery of what has offended Hope and Possibility are the foundation of its exercise Prudence is the Guide by which it is conducted to the satisfaction of our desire in the restitution of Amity between us and our Adversary