fresh Gale blows we neglect not to sail with it that we dexterously strike in with Opportunity when it invites And not only so but that we use our best skill to procure one to make things serve our honest purpose because if we do not thus we shall be able to do very little good in our Lives since we are like to meet with so many Difficulties and Hindrances in it Having thus argued in General for our Redeeming the Time I shall now consider those three Particulars distinctly in which I summ'd up the meaning of that Phrase And shall give Reasons for every of them severally 1. Reasons why we should take every Opportunity that offers it self and be careful wisely to employ it neglecting none 1. If we do not thus we do not comply with the Divine Providence we do not suit our selves to things nor are uniform with the World God offers me help and I refuse it He works before and would work with me when he gives an Opportunity but I regard not the Works of the Lord I reject his assistance And what a thing is this to be said by God to Man I would have helped thee and thou wouldst not be helped I would have reliev'd thee but thou regardedst not the Succours which I sent And yet thus it may be truly said to every one that neglects Opportunity And as there is a prophane neglect of God's providential Dispensations in letting Seasons of Actions slip by so there is an unnatural jarring with things about us a difformity and discord with the World For they invite us to Action but we will not act they have prepared our way but we will not walk All things else are in a readiness to assist us in some good enterprize only we our selves are backward What a thing is this that the World the things about us should be more forward than Man to bring forth a good Work that things below us should so readily give their attendance offer their Service and invite us to it while we the best of God's Creation here shall be behind-hand When they meet together and as it were cry out to us Lend us your hand do you our Master join with us and this Good or that great Work will be done What strange perverseness is it in us to refuse When things say Come let us go to the House of God or to the House of the Poor or to visit the Sick or our Friends or to our Closet Study or Shop and yet we will not go what a schismatical contumacious Humour is this when we thus divide and cut our selves off from the World as every one does that neglects those Opportunities which things conspire to make him That 's the First 2. The using of Opportunities proceeds from a good Principle the losing them from an ill one and this argues the one to be good the other bad For such as the Causes are the Effects will be the sweet and the bitter Fountains will send forth Streams of the same Nature with their Sources Now if we trace them upto their Springs we shall discover that all non-use of good Occasions arises from such Causes as these Either Men are ignorant what makes a fit Season or inobservant or careless whether they do well or not or slothful that tho they be jogg'd will not waken or over intent and busy on other Matters As Martha was Luke 10. 42. when our Saviour told her she was troubled and careful about many things which took her off from the Opportunity she then had of hearing his Doctrine which her Sister gave heed to Or they are froward and will not comply when things invite and call them On the other Hand he that makes use of the Seasons that are offered him must needs be a prudent and careful Observer of things without him diligent and intent upon doing good sensible of his own insufficiency and of the need he has of help from abroad He must be a Man of great Vertue and good Government of himself a Man of an excellent Spirit whose Heart is alway thus fixed so as to give no stop no check to things but suffers them to have their free Course stays not behind but follows them to all that Good to which they lead him 3. Consider the Effects which are or may be consequent on our using or not using the Seasons that are before us Great Good comes of the one and as great Evils of the other Indeed no Man knows how great either may be Exempli Gratiâ The Bells call thee to Church and no more necessary business keeps thee from it thou goest whither not only the Thing it self but the Season invites thou joinest with the Congregation in Prayer how knowest thou but God is prevailed with by the hearty Prayers with which thou art joined and will bestow upon thee the greatest of Blessings the pardon of thy Sin the healing thy Distempers or may supply thee in what thou wantest at present Nay and these Prayers shall be a stock laid up for thee in Heaven and be remembred a great while hence and on this score thou shalt find opportune help in the day of trouble Again thou hearest the good Word of God read or explained and thou attendest to it and art enlightned in some Truth that will direct thee in thy way to Heaven Thou hast had some good Seed sown in thy Heart which will grow up to Eternal Life Thou hast been persuaded of some good proposition which afterward becomes a principle of Wisdom and Vertue and is indeed the Foundation of thy Happiness On the other hand Thou regardest not the Summons to Church but either sleepest or drinkest or talkest on or followest thy Game or that which thou callest thy Business as if thou hadst no other and thereby not only neglectest to honour God in the Assembly but deprivest thy self of the great thou knowest not how great Good thou mightest have received Besides who can tell how many Temptations and Snares and Mischiefs he has brought himself into by refusing to comply with so fair an Offer Thou wouldst not worship God in Publick and it may be thou art serving the Devil in Private Thou wouldst not associate with them that call upon God and perhaps in the mean time thou art got into a rout of prophane debauch'd Revellers and art fallen into Temptations from which thou canst never get free but wilt grow worse and worse till thou beest irrecoverably bad Thus the loss of one Season may be the loss of Happiness and thy ruine for ever Take another Instance Thou hast a sit Season of Reproof administred to thee i. e. Thou by thy Office or by the Rank in which thou art the Authority thou hast over or the Interest thou hast in some Man art fit to advise rebuke exhort him and at this time thou art fit to speak and he to hear All things conspire to make thy Reproof acceptable and to give probability of Success at least
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
as they account unnatural Precept of our Saviour to disparage his whole Gospel I hope my Discourse has shewn both how reasonable and how natural it is and that it has taken away all the Pretences which weak and inconsiderate or ill-natured Men have for their neglect of it So that I have prevented my self of what I propounded to do next viz. III. To shew the Falseness of those Objections which are offered against it The most considerable I think are these Object 1. It is unnatural to love one that does and intends us Mischief Object 2. It is necessary to hate for our own Defence and Preservation Object 3. Example doth encline us to it Object 4. If we hate our Enemies they will expect and be afraid of this and so will be deterred from being our Enemies In Answer to the First Objection 1. I have shewn in my Explication that we are not required to love any thing that is in it self evil 2. I have in my following Discourse shown that this Evil may be a Cause of much Good unto us here but especially hereafter Or if of no Good to us yet there is so much Good to others as may make our Love prevail above Hatred For the 2d Objection I have made out that Hatred is not the likeliest Method to be rid of this Evil or to prevent it for the future For the 3d Objection I have shew'd that we must not follow Example to do Evil. It may become Apes and Children to be wholly determined by Example and to imitate every thing they see but it is very unworthy of them who have the use of their Reason As for the fourth Objection I answer 1. This is no Method to remove or lessen but to continue and encrease their Hatred It is commonly said Men hate what they fear These two differ very little We hate all Evil and fear that which is absent but Love on the other hand removes this Evil from the Mind and therefore 2. Tends to reform and mend the Offender himself It is a means to free him from his Malice which is not extinguished but rather inflamed by that which increaseth his Fear For notwithstanding that his Intention and Mind is as evil as before Fear not at all abating his desire of doing harm but only cutting short his Opportunity And therefore 3. It will if it increase his Hatred and lessen his Opportunity make him watch every little occasion of doing the Mischief he designs And it is hard for us to keep such a constant and strict Watch as to give no Advantage to one who seeks it If all these Reasons which I have proposed prevail not with us to put in practice this Precept of Loving our Enemies yet let the Authority of our Lord and Saviour persuade us I say unto you I who practised thus my self I whose you are who have Right to you and all Men I who know what is good for you better than you do your selves I say unto you Love your Enemies All the Inference I shall make is That then we must love those who are not our Enemies and still much more our Friends and those that love us If we must love those that intend and practise Evil against us much more those that desire and do us Good If he that loves not his Enemy be short of a Christian he who loves not his Friend is worse than an Infidel and if he be so then the Name of Christ will not save him He that is a Pagan tho he seem a Christian shall fall under the Condemnation of Unbelievers I conclude all with reminding you of my Intention in this Discourse which was to serve the Designs of Love by removing one of the greatest Obstacles of it out of the way Let us all therefore be persuaded to love universally to be pleased with Good where-ever we see it even in our Enemies to procure it where-ever it is wanting and there is any capacity of it Let us be so wise as to serve our selves and Religion of all the Conditions of Life which we are in by making them serviceable to Love and Good-will which assuredly is the best Life we can live that which will make us most acceptable to God most easy and delightful to our selves and most useful and pleasant to others it is the best that Earth or Heaven is capable of God of his infinite Mercy grant unto us the true Spirit of Christ that Spirit whose Fruits are Love and Joy and Peace Meekness Long-suffering Gentleness Patience Goodness Faith and Temperance that no Law may be against us that we may begin to live that Life here which we hope to live hereafter and which glorified Saints and Angels now live in the highest Heavens you the Life which God himself lives who is Love it self to whom he Honour and Glory and Praise for ever and ever Amen OF Calling no Man MASTER MATTH 23. 8 9 10. But be not ye called Rabbi for one is your Master even Christ and all ye are Brethren And call no Man your Father upon Earth for one is your Father which is in Heaven Neither be ye called Masters for one is your Master even Christ IT appears from his Discourse in this Chapter that our Blessed Saviour had conceived a great and just Indignation against the Scribes and Pharisees It was surely a great Anger that moyed the meekest Man upon Earth so freely and sharply to rebuke them The Lamb of God here became a Lion and he who was ordinarily a Man of Consolations is now turned into a Son of Thunder denouncing Woes against them which we cannot construe as the Issue of a hot and hasty Temper for our Saviour's whole Carriage both to his own Disciples who were such as would have sufficiently exercised a great Patience as well as to his deadly Enemies argues his admirable Mildness and that he it was in whom that Prophecy was fulfilled that he should not cry nor lift up nor cause his Voice to be heard in the Streets A bruised Reed he should not break c. We may therefore conclude that there must be some just and reasonable and great Cause of this great Indignation and this we find was an Accumulation of great Wickedness in these Men which received Aggravations 1. From their Pretences to greater Sanctity than others 2. From their having greater Opportunities of being better than others 3. Because they being many of them in in publick place their Practice must have a bad Influence on their Followers For they who pretend Holiness and are wicked they who are wicked tho they have great helps to be good and by being wicked cause others to be so too their Sin is exceeding sinful The Particulars for which our Saviour taxes them were principally these 1. Their great Pride They loved the uppermost Rooms at Feasts and the chief Seats in the Synagogues and Greetings in the Markets and to be called of Men Rabbi Rabbi c. And under that
Counsel if it were well minded would prevent the most and greatest Troubles that we have from one another If we would keep within our own Compass move in our own Spheres reach not at things too high for us engage not to do what we cannot do not judg where we do not understand observe our Order and keep our Rank it would contribute very much both to the quiet of our own Minds and to the Peace of the World The neglect of this one thing seems to have been the great cause of all the Sin and Misery and consequently the Trouble that is in the World The proud Angels left their own Habitation their Province and this was their Fall To be short Carry about no idle Tales Do not make nor widen Differences Allow not thy self in any Angry Contention indeed never contend with others but who shall do most Good And now in a word to reflect upon what has been discoursed If Quiet be so good and desirable if we have so much reason to seek it let us take Shame to our selves that we have so much neglected that we have so much opposed so great a Good that we have been Enemies to our own and other Mens Peace I doubt we have all too much reason to tax our selves of being notoriously faulty in this Particular How little have we studied our own Quiet how have we disturbed other Mens And what a cause of Lamentation is it when we see Mankind such Troublers every Man of himself and every Man of his Brother that whereas we should be taking all good ways to please and quiet our selves and others we are running fast in the ways that lead to Sorrow but the way of Peace we will not know Let us no longer be so foolishly so unnaturally wicked as to be Troublers of our selves and others but in all wise and good ways possible let us do our utmost that both we and all other Men may be as quiet here on Earth as is compatible to this State that this may be to us the first-Fruits of that Eternal Sabbatism that perpetual Rest which remains for the Peaceable the Children and People of God OF EDUCATION PROV 22. 6. Train up a Child in the way he should go THere is a general and I doubt a very just Complaint of a most gross and almost universal Neglect in the Education of Children And indeed I fear if a Visitation were made of every Family and School in the Land few in comparison would be found who take care of or have Skill in this great Business Those who seem not to be negligent I would ask them What Time they bestow what Thoughts they lay out on their Children I would enquire after the Designs and Methods they have all the Contrivances and ways they use vvith them And I am afraid those that are thought by others and think themselves most careful would not be able upon such an Enquiry to clear themselves of great Negligence they would appear both very unskilful and very careless And yet this thing which is so little regarded and less understood is of as great Moment and Consequence as any one thing and that both on a publick and private account And among the other perhaps there is not a greater and more general Cause of all Wickedness and of the Mischiefs consequent upon it than the no or ill Education of Children We do and we have too much cause to complain of Inâ—â—delity and Atheism of the Profaneness and Debauchery of the Unsetledness the Superstition and Fanaticism the perverse Schismaticalness the dull Formality and great Corruption of the Age in which we live One main cause of which if we look back we shall find to have been the want of Care and Skill in the educating of Children I shall consider I. The Action that is here required Train II. The Object a Child III. The Specification in his Way And then I shall propound some Reasons and Arguments to perswade us to this Duty I. As to the Action Train This Word does fully express the Original which also is translated Catechise And it signifies two Things 1. Instructing or teaching which is done by Precepts and by Examples 2. Initiating inuring exercising Thus Souldiers are train'd when they are exercised in handling of their Arms in their keeping Rank and File and in the doing of those things which they must do when they come to encounter an Enemy This is that which the wise Man advises to be done by the Child let him be trained And 't is excellent Counsel much better than if he had said only instruct or teach For as the disciplin'd and exercis'd Souldier is much more dextrous at the Management of his Arms than he only who has been told what he must do but has never us'd to do it so undoubtedly he who has been initiated in his Work will be far more ready at it and more disposed to it than he who has only been directed what and perswaded why he should do it but has never begun to do it We observe a very great distance betwixt our knowing what and why we should act and our acting How frequent is it for Men very well to understand what is to be done and yet not to do it In many Cases also Actions are never understood but by acting The doing of many Works informs and incites and enables us more than any other way Nay the very Attempt and Essay at that which we cannot yet do we all know carries so much Power along with it that we are in 〈◊〉 and by frequent Trials enabled to do that well which we could not do at all when we first attempted it I have the rather taken notice of the force that is in the word train because as I have said we may in some Cases understand and not act and in some acting is the best way to understand I am sure it is always the best Method to secure and keep that Knowledg and those Inclinations which we have to such Actions In Practicals the best Knowledg and the strongest Inclinations are got by Practice Use inclines Men to repeat the same Actions And Custom has always been esteemed a second Nature II. I proceed to consider the Object who it is that is to be thus trained It is a Child i. e. Man whilst he is young and when he is first capable of this Instruction and Exercise Man is ever to be learning Cato thought himself never too old to learn And every other Man should think the same but there is very great Advantage of this being begun betimes They that make no entrance on a thing in their first Years seldom are brought to it afterwards or if they be 't is always with great Difficulty and it must be with Damage for they are hindred from making progress in some other matters more considerable whilst they are exercising â—â—â—â—selves in those which they ought to 〈◊〉 learn'd whilst they were young Beâ—â—des Men seldom bring
others will make us desire their Honour as well as our own And where we love all and have an Affection for the Publick we shall desire no more than we deserve we shall be unwilling that other Men should be so far imposed on as to think us better than indeed we are We cannot be so unjust as to expect Reward without Merit and Praise where it is not due Charity is not puffed up 1 Cor. 13. 4. and therefore frees a Man's Mind from all the Tortures that ambitious Spirits lie under This makes a Man not displeas'd that other Men are prais'd and himself not nay tho they have more and he less than deserved yet he is very well satisfied because his own and the Approbation of a few competent Judges is sufficient to support him whereas Men of less Worth have need of greater Applause to bear up their Minds and to bring them into Request and enable them to do Good And how perfectly doth this Principle subdue and regulate all the Appetites of corporeal Pleasure He that is acted by universal Love cannot go to a forbidden Bed for he will not draw one whom he loves into Sin he will not deprive them of the lasting Pleasures of Innocence and Chastity He will not violate the Orders of all the Civilized World which have been from the beginning of Time which for the sake of the Publick for Posterity as well as the present Generation ought to be inviolably observed He will not eat nor drink more than is good for him as for other Reasons so lest others should want that which is good for them Again This universal Love by engaging us to do all the Good we can takes away all inordinate Love of Money We shall not now desire more than we can and will use for the advantage of others as well as our selves And when it is thus with us we shall not grasp at all we could get and we shall use what we do get And where we are thus minded we have freed our selves from that infinite Carking and Anxiety which an inordinate Desire of Riches causes Lastly This will in many cases prevent the bitterest Remorse for Sins by preventing the Sins themselves as I have shewed For the good Man will not be unjust or unfaithful he cannot oppress or cozen falsly or needlessly accuse will not violate the Chastity prejudice the Health much less take away the Life of any and thus secures himself from those Terrors of Conscience which follow such Wickednesses And where we are surprized and do unwillingly mis-behave our selves towards God if we be indeed charitable and loving towards Men we can then pray that God would and hope that he will forgive us as we do them Thus I have shewn how this universal Beneficence frees us from Trouble and Unquietness And now I will briefly shew how it brings us Pleasure as well as Quiet By Pleasure I here understand that Joy which is caus'd in the Soul by an Apprehension or Sense of Good Now where this Principle is become natural to us and we act from it and according to it it must necessarily be a Spring of Delight to us How pleasant and joyful must the Mind of that Man be which is govern'd by an universal Love As much Good as there is in the World so much cause of Pleasure is there to them For 1. He is set at Liberty from contracted Selfishness every Man is now to him as he is to himself and other Mens Concerns are as his own so that he now rejoyces in their Welfare and is heartily glad at the Good which befals them So much is his Joy greater now than it was when he liv'd to himself for then he was pleas'd with his own private Advantages but perhaps repin'd or at least was unconcern'd at other Mens whereas now he is delighted to see it go well with any Man in the World Thus he honestly and innocently enjoys the Good of others without depriving them of any gathers of the Honey-dew without robbing the Flower of its own Sweetness As much Good then as there is and as he can see in the World and there is very much for the Mercy of God is over all his Works and he that will consider things may discover it so much cause of Gladness hath this good Man And then 2. The infinite Love and Goodness of God is an inexhaustible Fountain of Joy to the good Man For tho he sees many things much amiss and a great deal of Evil in the World tho he sees poor Man at a great distance from his Happiness and the whole World lying in Wickedness yet he also sees infinite Goodness at work and that it has done very much in order to Man's Happiness and doubts not but in some ways which he is ignorant of all the ends of Divine Goodness will be accomplish'd at last I have shewed before that this Goodness of Temper helps us to an assured Knowledg of the Goodness of God We may also refer the two fore-going Particulars to the Object of Benevolence If there be so great Pleasure in loving one or two or a few how great is that which arises from an universal Good-will a Love to all Men Thirdly The good Man hath Pleasure as concerning himself from his Beneficence to others and it is such a Pleasure as hath many Advantages above most others For 1. As to its degree it is both intense and exquisite 2. As to its kinds it is both of Memory Sense and Hope as it refers to Good past present and to come 3. It s Original is from Man himself in concurrence with God and Nature and therefore it is both certain and near 4. As to its Duration it is both continued and lasting 5. As to its Quality and Effects it is absolutely Good 6. In respect of its Objects it is largely extended and manifold 1. The Pleasure that arises from a Sense of our Beneficence is without any allay or mixture of Pain and that which is so is pure and in the highest degree This cannot be said of most other Pleasures the Price of them is much abated by the Pains that accompany them The more corporeal and gross they are the more they have of this Dress This is a Commendation that almost only belongs to the Pleasure that arises from vertuous Practices and yet not any not all of the other Vertues can afford so great a Delight as this which is both a Complex of most of them and the End and Consummation of all The rest are but mediate and subordinate Vertues this is ultimate and final When a Man is in the exercise of universal Love of Charity and Good-will he is as good and as great and happy as he can be then is all finished The greatest Pleasure is in Love Now when Love is universal and in exercise Pleasure keeps proportion with it and is as great as it can be for it is as large as its Object and therefore
Good to them that do most Good he will discharge his Office well his Laws will be no tyrannical arbitrary unaccountable Impositions but a gentle and easy Yoke his Sentence will be equitable and his Execution full of Mildness and Humanity And how little cause of Quarrels and Commotions there can be in a State whose Governors are thus qualified we all see Thus is it where the Magistrates are bent on doing Good to all especially to the Best and most Vertuous 2. This Publick-spiritedness is no less necessary for Ministers to engage them to that extraordinary Diligence they must use to carry them through all the Opposition and Difficulties they shall certainly meet with in their general Converse with all sorts with Men of the meanest Capacities of lowest Rank and greatest Vices and worst Natures Nothing but this Universal Benevolence can fit them for such Converse Only he that loves all will bear with such Conversation as a Minister meets with All the Care and Pains he is at first to find out good and wholesom and fit Truths and then to deliver them intelligibly and acceptably must have their Rise from his great Good-will to Men and therefore he doth thus because he is on a design of doing Good to them Where the Minister is destitute of this good Temper he is idle and careless and his Discourses useless and insignificant because he is without Charity he is a sounding Brass and tinkling Cymbal and his Carriage foolish and hurtful The great Work of Ministers is to teach Religion so as it may be both known and done to make it easy to be understood and easy to be practised c. Thus I have endeavoured to make plain that Universal Beneficence is both available and necessary to all the valuable Interests which Man can propose to himself whether he regard the present or the future State whether he consider himself and his own particular State or the Publick whether he be in a private or a publick Capacity he must strictly observe this Rule of doing Good to All. So that if we would be either good or happy in this World or he that to come if we would serve our selves or others if we would please and honour our God and Saviour adorn our Profession if we would have Pleasure in Life and Peace in and Glory after Death if we would do all we can to make others as good as we wish they were we must herein exercise our selves to do all the Good we can to all If any are idle and would be doing nothing I do assure them they shall have more pleasure in this active Life than in Sleep and Dulness If any love themselves only and do not regard how it goes with others I do assure them that this is the best and likeliest way to serve themselves As many as are of particular Affections confined to Kindred or a Party or so let them enlarge their Love to All and they will proportionably increase their Pleasure And if any are malicious and love to do Mischief I undertake to make it appear to them that the Pleasures of Love are far greater than those of Revenge And I entreat such to leave off to lead the Life of Devils and live that of Angels If Heaven be more desirable than Hell it 's better to love than to hate Consider what has been said and God grant that we may all in good earnest set upon the Practice of that most excellent Duty to which we are exhorted And let the good Spirit of God inspire the whole World with that Goodness and Love to one another and all Men that so we may both live well here and be happy for ever hereafter for the sake of Jesus Christ Now to this Blessed Saviour who hath loved us and washed us in his own Blood together with the Father and the Holy Spirit be eternally given all Honour Praise and Glory Amen FINIS †Dr. Henry Mâ—â—â— in his Enchirid. Ethic.
and excellent things which are contained in these words and to which they lead us naturally and easily in this plain method First We will consider what Time Season or Opportunity is in general and what in particular was that Season which St. Paul here means And also what is the import of Redeeming the Season Secondly I will offer some Reasons why we should redeem the Season and particularly consider that which is here expressed the Days are Evil. Thirdly I will mention some of those things which rob us of our Time and deprive us of the Season which St. Paul here exhorts us to make our own Fourthly I will exhibit some of those Advices and Directions whereby we may be assisted in Redeeming this Time or or Season Of the First Season or Opportunity which is the English of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies Time of Action i. e. such a concurrence of all the Causes as makes the doing of any Work easy and gives hope of Success When there is such a confluence of Causes without that if we will do what is in us and cooperate with them we shall probably not fail to bring what we design to effect Thus a good Vessel and Pilot Wind and Tide make an Opportunity for us to be conveyed to such a place And if we be but willing to use them to this purpose they are likely to bring us thither Whereas if we would go when we are not favoured and help'd by such Causes we shall either not at all or very hardly and with much more pains and difficulty come to our Journeys end To this it will not be amiss to add that Opportunity does not only signify the presence of those things without us which contribute towards the producing an Effect but also the disposition and fitness of our own Faculties to cooperate with them For if they be in an incapacity all External Causes will not make an Opportunity As if a Man be sick that he cannot safely go by Water all the Tide and Wind c. do not make it a Season for him to go And if we take in all this into our Notion of Opportunity in common Speech we do not say that a Man has an opportunity of doing an ill thing Tho 't is true that external Things may so far concur with an ill Mind that they may make it easy to perper 〈◊〉 some bad Work as we say Occasion makes a Thief That if we understand as generally we do by Opportunity a concurrence of the Causes without us with our own Faculties ther we never say that a Man has opportunity of doing that which is Evil. It either is or is thought good either by us or by him that does it Which shews that even the Community of Men who make words signify as they please do suppose that our Faculties were not design'd or framed to do evil Things nor are ever properly and truly fit to do any thing but good and therefore we can do nothing which we do not think so This Observation I think to be true If any be of another mind and that Opportunity or Season is applicable indifferently to good or bad Purposes and Practices yet I suppose it will be granted that the Apostle in this place intends the Time or Season of doing good Actions such as are fit and becoming profitable and beneficial such as will be honourable to God and give a reputation to Christian Religion helping forward our own and others Happiness So that St. Paul exhorts us here to redeem the Time of doing all that good which the Gospel requires of living that excellent Life and practising all those Vertues which are agreeable to the Dispensation of Christianity of doing all those good Works here on Earth which by our perfect Institution we 〈◊〉 assisted and obliged to do And if this be the Action that St. Paul means it will not be 〈…〉 ouâ— the 〈◊〉 which when they 〈◊〉 make it a good Season for doing thus when ii will be more easy to live well and we may probâ—bly be more successfully good and attain all the Ends of our Excellent 〈◊〉 Now a constant firm Health a competent provision of the Necessaries and Conveniences of Life freedom from Slavery and long Restraints for the most part to live in Society a state of Peace and Quiet of good Will and Amity with Men and an abode here on Earth till Age has made us useless these are the things which we commonly and truly think do all conduce to this purpose But yet I dare not say that such a Condition would be best for all Men. Experience proves to us undeniably that a mixture of Good and Evil is best for the generality of Men in this State to have a dash of Adversity nay to be in a more depressed Condition may I believe be generally better for us Some Men are good in Sickness or in Want who if they enjoy'd their Health or lived in Abundance would not be so Nay I doubt not but this is true of the Community of Mankind And that the wise and good Providence that rules all things has so ordered it that the far greatest part are poor or sick or under restraint or have Enemies or do not live long because he sees it necessary to keep them under this sharp Discipline and for this Reason that hereby they may be trained up to be and to do Good and kept out of those Temptations which would be irresistible to them and so preserved from doing those Wickednesses which would make them liable to the unalterable Justice and beget such a disposition in them as might endanger their being irrecoverably bad and miserable I cannot but think that these Evils are Medicinal and good Antidotes which the wise and good Physician makes use of for curing the worst of Diseases in some and preventing them in others Nay that even very good Men have found it good for them to be thus afflicted so David tells us So Job and other the best of Men in former Ages Yea the Son of God himself and his first and best Followers were persecuted by Men and afflicted by God in the worst of these Instances By all this I am convinced That even Poverty and Disgrace and such other Calamities do not only contribute to bad Mens becoming good but to good Mens being better by giving them an opportunity for the exercise of some Vertues which would have had no place in a prosperous State and are necessary to our Perfection But tho I grant all this yet considering the imperfection of the best of Men and the necessity of Health and Liberty and Plenty and Peace to enable them for those Works which are proper and useful in this State and to compleat their Vertue which can never be unless they pass through varieties of Conditions I can't but look on these things as conducing to the good Life of Christians However these things may not facilitate the practice of Vertue to all Men yet
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