which is taken in the communication of our Bounties And in this there is founded a certain sympathy of Delight which carries us to feel and be affected with anothers Joy and makes it an Object and a Caufe of ours nay almost the very Form aud Essence of ours when we are the Authors of it A Grateful Soul holds Intelligence with GOD as it receives his Bounties it delights in his Complacencies THE great effect of Obligation and Gratitude is Amity and Communion A Grateful Soul is deeply concerned in the Honour of his Benefactor in his Benefactors Pleasure Life and Safety in all his Successes Prosperities Advancements in all his Felicity and Glory He is afflicted in all his Afflictions he is delighted in all his Enjoyments he is crowned in all his Promotions he is wronged and injured in all his Affronts he is touched with the least Displeasure that can befal him Nay he is more tender of his Benefactors Repose than his own The apple of his Eye is the tenderest part in himself yet he had rather have it touched than the Person of his Benefactor No wounds can wound him more than those which his Benefactor receiveth and he in him His own wounds may kill his Body but these destroy his Contentment A thousand Injuries and Calumnics against himself he can forgive and is never provoked but when his Friend is offended He slights himself and prefers his Benefactor He would make his Face a Stepping stone to his Benefactors Glory He exposes his body to Swords and Spears and Arrows for his Benefactors safety He would rather be torn to pieces and suffer a thousand Deaths than permit his Benefactor to be slain or dishonoured Now all this in time of Trial and distress would seem disadvantagious But besides the Obligation there is Sence of Honour that compâ—â—â— a man thereunto and a certain beauty in the act of Gratitude distinct from the goodness of the Benefit that is so naturally sweet to the goodness of the Soul that it is better to die than renounce it And a certain Baseness on the other side an odiousoess in Ingratitude in the very act so abominable that it blasts any Safety and Repose that can be gotten by it WHERE the Benefits are small the Vertue of Gratitude is less powerful and perfect for its strength depends upon its food and nourishment A thin and spare diet is not very healthful for it Though all the benefits that are done upon the Earth by Men to Men are infinitely mean if compared to those which the Godhead does to the least of his Creatures yet the World is full of the praise of this Vertue and an Ingrateful man is the most hateful Object living Former Ages afford us many rare and glorious Examples of the power of Gratitude and its sacred Zeal for and tenderness of its Object The union between the Body and the Soul is nothing comparable to the union of Love and its Beloved though the Causes are but slight upon which it is founded The Soul will often forsake its mansion to dwell with its beloved It esteems all its beauties and Members only for its Beloloveds sake Yet Colours and Features a little red and white a sparkling Eye a brisk Conversation and a delectable Humor are all that breed it all that produce this mighty effect this prodigy of Nature There is something more where the Life and Honour of a man has been saved by the kindness of a Benefactor especially if he be rich and amiable that has delivered us If he be great and honourable that was the Author of the benefit the obligation is the greater For the Worth of the Person enters into the nature of the act and enhances its value Yet all this put together is exceeded by the Gratitude of a worthy Soul because his own Worth inclines him to be more Generous than the Cause requires and to magnifie the benefit by the mighty addition of his own goodness It is the natural property of Goodness to communicate it self any occasion of doing it is instead of a Cause But when there is a Cause it is like a spark to Powder it enkindles a flame in his Inclination All acts of Gratitude have a great deal of sweetness in their own nature and for the sake of that beauty which is seated in themselves will not be rigorous and exact in their proportions since it is a beautiful thing to exceed in Goodness It s own disposition prompts it to do more than is deserved by the Kindness it receives and if not to conceive it self more obliged than it is yet to be more honourable in its Returns than the meer goodness of its Benefactor can exact because it conceives it self by its own Vertue obliged to be Noble and Munificent in all its acknowledgments BUT however slow Gratitude may be in the Returns which it maketh for smaller benefits it is infinitely prone to exceed all measure when it is infinitely obliged Praises are not fed by mean Contentments but by sublime ones The acknowledgment is cool where the benefits are small and the Contentments imperfect where they are limited and restrained Full Satisfaction hath another kind of influence on the Soul of Man than single Kindnesses or some few particular Supplies An infinite Bliss produces more vigorous and joyful efforts than bare Acknowledgments Here upon Earth there are disquiets and destres and expectations and Complaints and defects and imperfections fears and interests to be still secured that lame and darken our Contentment and Gratitude But in Heaven all these admixtures of alloy are remov'd The glory of the light in which our Gratitude appeareth adds lustre and beauty to the increase of its Perfection In the utmost height of our Satisfaction there is such an infinite and eternal force that our Gratitude breaks out in exulting and triumphing Effusions all our Capacities Inclinations and Desires being fully satisfied we have nothing else to do but to Love and be Grateful An infinite and eternal Kingdom given to him that was taken out of Nothing by a King that is infinite in greatness and beauty all his Joyes and all his Treasures it makes the Soul a fountain of Delights whole nature is to receive no more but overflow for ever When the Soul cometh once to love GOD so infinitely above it self as the cause requireth its only delight is to magnifie him and to see him blessed The beauty and sweetness of its own Gratitude is as rich and divine as all his Gifts It is tempted here infinitely more to exceed its Causes than ever before Amazements Admirations Affections Praises Hallelujahs Raptures Extasies and Blessings are all its delights The pleasure of Loving is its only business it is turned all into flame and brightness and transportation and excess It infinitely passes Light and Fire in quickness and motion all Impediments are devoured and GOD alone is its Life and Glory The more Great the more high the more excellent he is the more
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
Love is made compleat and Perfect it will be like his and the Benefit of it will be Eternal BEFORE we can fully discern the Benefit of Love or see the Glory of it in all its high and admirable Effects we must consider what Love is and doth in GOD. For as we have said The Life of GOD is Love nay the Apostle saith GOD is Love By Loving he begot his Love And if his Love be his Godhead his Essence is an infinite and Eternal Act of Love by extending which through all infinity and by Loving Eternally he begot his infinite and Eternal Essence which is the Love that filleth all Worlds with Beauty and Glory When you consider it well An Act of Love is begotten by Loving And if his Wisdome and Goodness and Blessedness and Glory be seated in Love his Love is his Wisdome which is the Son of GOD and his Goodness and his Glory and his Blessedness For all these tho we conceive them diversly are the same Thing and of the Son of GOD it is said that he is the Wisdom of the Father and the Brightness of his Fathers Glory He is the Life of the Father by whom also he made the Worlds and the Love of the Father for whom all Things were created that are in Heaven and that are in Earth visible and invisible whether they be Thrones or Dominions or Principalities or Powers all Things were created by him and for him For GOD enjoyeth all Things by his Love which is his Eternal Son and made them as perfect and delightful as it was possible for things created to be that he might take Pleasure in them As he himself is made Glorious and Delightful in the Eyes of all Angels and Men by Love so doth his whole Kingdom arise and Spring from Love the Beauty and felicity of all his Creatures their Joys and Praises their Uses and Perfections are founded in his Love ' by his Love he begetteth all his pleasures in himself by his Love he made his Treasures infinite and by that alone doth he take infinite Pleasure and Delight in himself and his Kingdome Thus useful is the Love of GOD. Had not GOD from all Eternity Loved had he never desired nor delighted in any thing he had never exerted his Almighty Power never communicated his Goodness or begot his Wisdom never enjoyed Himself never applyed himself to the Production of his Works never appeared in his Glory to any eie whatsoever Removing his Love we remove all the Properties and Effects of his Essence and are utterly unable to conceive any Idea of his Godhead For his Power tho it be Almighty yet if it be Dead and idle is fruitless and Deformed Idle Power is not the Essence of the Deity but a meer Privation and Vacuity or at least a positive Being as ignoble as it is unactive The Reason of his Works is founded in Love so are all the Obligations that are laid upon his Creatures to adore him All their Rewards are founded in Love and by Love prepared All his Laws are the Laws of Love all his Attributes and Counsels are Love in several formes acting upon several occasions When his Love communicates it self in Joys to innocent Creatures it is Goodness when it attains the most perfect End by the most perfect means it is Wisdome when it rescues guilty Creatures from Hell it is Mercy when it punishes the Rebellious it is Justice when it inspires Obedience into any obstinate Person it is Grace when it delights in the Beauty of all its Works it is Blessedness when it appears in the perfection of its works it is glory For Glory is the perfection of Beauty that ariseth from and is seated in the lustre of excellent Actions discovering the internal Properties of an excellent Agent which is by those his Properties and Actions made Delightful to all Judicious Spectators NOR is it onely in GOD but in us also that the fruits and Benefits of Love are ineffable For by loving as it ought to do the Soul acquires its own Perfection and is united to all its Objects By loving as it ought to do it is made Holy and Wise and Good and Amiable Onely by Loving does it embraces the Delights of which it is capable Love is the root and Soul of those Actions for which a Creature is desired and praised by others IT is an infinite Advantage that we are able to live in GODS Image if we please For if GOD alone be infinitely Glorious and Blessed there is no way for us to become Glorious and Blessed but by being made either by our selves or some other like unto him BY nature he hath implanted the Similitude of his power which we are to improve by Grace turning it into Act after his Similitude To be able to Love is neither Grace nor vertue but a meer Gift of GOD a natural Endowment which may be Blasted or compleated Actually to love is the Work of vertue for by that Act we enjoy our Felicity HAD GOD limited and confined our understanding our power of Loving had been shut up in Bounds Had he made it infinite but not prepared objects for the same our Love had been deluded and had lost its force Had he made some Objects but not so many as it was capable of Loving it had been Superfluous and dissatisfied Had he prepared Objects innumerable and Endless but made them evil our Love had been irrational had he commanded us to Love them Had he made more Objects then we were able to love we had been discontented But having made all Objects infinitely Amiable and Glorious and filled his Immensity and Eternity with himselfe and with the Lustre of his Actions Love is an infinite Vertue because nothing is wanting but an Act of Love to enjoy them IF they are all Amiable in all Respects they are all according to our Hearts desire in their Natures Places Durations Ends Occasions Causes Uses Service Relations Properties Operations c. All things as they immediatly proceed from him are in all respects most perfectly pleasing And if we have an Eye to see and discern this and a Soul able to resent the Benefit if our nature be so vast and perfect as to see and take pleasure in all their Circumstances it is the most unreasonable and bruitish thing in the world to withdraw our Affection from them nay it is worse then Diabolical For we Kill our selves we blast our Felicity we offend GOD we slight the Beauty of all his Creatures we break his Laws we act against nature we darken the Light and Splendor of our Souls we deface his Image we grieve his Love we do the most vicious and abominable thing that is imaginable But if we excite and a waken our Power we take in the Glory of all objects we live unto them we are sensible of them we delight in them we transform our souls into Acts of Love and Knowledge we proceed out of our selves into all Immensities
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
one the other is Dead The Works of Love are the End of all Miracles and more Blessed then they Nay Love is the End of Faith as well as it is of the Law for the Apostle saith The End of the Commandment it Charity out of a pure Heart and of a good conscience and of Faith unfeigned It is the End of the very Creation of the World of all Gods Labors and Endeavours of all his Ways in all Ages all the faculties and powers of the Soul the very End of the Redemption of Mankind the End of the Jewish Oeconomy under the Law the End of all the Dispensations of Grace and Mercy under the Gospel the End of our Saviours coming down into the World the End of all his Miracles Tears and Blood the End of the Holy Ghosts appearing upon Earth the End of all the Means of Grace and in some sort the very last End of all Rewards and Punishments whatsoever The everlasting Continuance of this Love is the End of Eternity it self in a manner and if our Love be not the End of GODS Love his is of ours And if the Truth be deeply inquired into the Intermixture is so sweet that his is the End of ours ours of his For he Loveth us with the Love of Benevolence that we may Love him and he desires to be beloved of us that he may Love us with another Kind of Love distinct from the former even that of Complacency Which Love of Complacency is the Crown of ours and so Delightful to us that it is the very End of our Desire and begetteth in us a new Love of Complacency fitly answering his unto us NOW if Love be the End of all the laws Works and Ways of GOD of all our Saviours Labours and sufferings of our souls and Bodies of the whole Creation of all the Endeavours and Desires of the Deity in all the Dispensations of his Grace and Providence there must be something in its Nature Equivalent to all these Transcendent Undertakings to justifie the Wisdom that selected Love for its Sovereign Object for it is the office of Wisdome to suit the means and their End together so that the Excellency of the one may be worthy of all the Cost and Difficulty of the other For it is a foolish thing to pursue a base and feeble End by Glorious and Wonderful Methods because its Vileness will Disgrace the Design and with it their Beauty their very Grandure will be absurd where their Issue is but contemptible The Apostle therefore telleth us that Love is the fulfilling of the Law and that it is the Bond of Perfectness And pursuing its properties a little more Ample he saith Charity suffereth long and is kind Charity envyeth not Charity Vaunteth not it self is not puffed up doth not behave it self unseemly seeketh not her own is not easily provoked thinketh no evil rejoyceth not in iniquity but rejoyceth in the Truth beareth all Things believeth all things hopeth all things endureth all things Charity never faileth c. IT is one noble Effect of Charity that it suffereth afflictions cheerfully and patiently for the sake of its Beloved Another is its Kindness to its Object its sweet and Courteous inclination to do all manner of Good Another for which it is highly valuable is that it envieth not the Felicity or Glory of its Beloved but taketh Pleasure to see it far higher and greater then its own is not apt to vaunt and brag of its Perfections but hath an humble Esteem of all its Atchievments doth not behave it self in distasteful manner but studies and designes the Honour Benefit and satisfaction of its Object But that which of all other is its greatest Perfection is that it seeketh not its own it is not Mercenary or self ended but truly Generous and Heroick in its Performances It Sacrificeth it self and all its interests to the Advantage of its Object it preferreth the person it Loveth above it self desires its Exhaltation and delights in its Glory more then its own It is not easily provoked because it puts the best sence upon all that is done by its Object Thinketh no evil is not suspicious or malevolent or censorious but frameth honourable and fair Ideas of all that is thought or done by its Beloved Hateth all Impurity that may displease its Object all black and crooked Apprehensions that may wrang and disguise it beareth all with Hope and Equanimity because it believeth its Object to be Good and Wise till it must of necessity change its Opinion and entertain a Judgement tending to its condemnation It is no longer Charity then but dislike and aversion when it ceaseth to think well of its Object for it is another Principle or distinct in Nature from Love as its Actions are from the Actions of Love the diversity of the Effects evidently proving a Difference in their Causes THE Quality by which Charity rejoyceth in the Truth is an incomparable excellence and commendation of its Nature Because the Truth is GODS infinite Goodness and Love and Providence which are exercised in preparing Delights and Treasures for his Beloved The truth is the Felicity and Glory of the Soul And if it be true that all Eternity is full of Joys and all the World enriched with Delights that a man is infinitely beloved of GOD and made in his Image on purpose that he might enjoy all the Best of all possible Treasures in his similitude he may well rejoyce in the Truth because no Truth can be greater or more delightful than that himself is exalted to the Throne of GOD and ordained to live in Communion with him BUT that Quality by which the Soul believeth and hopeth all things that concern the Honour and Fidelity of its Beloved is yet more acceptable and delightful than the former For a good opinion of the Nature and Intention of the Person with whom we are united is the Basis and Foundation of all our Respect the Cement of our Peace and the Life and Soul of all that Honour that is paid unto him The very Grace and Beauty of all our Conversation dependeth upon it and if it be true that we are more to love GOD for the intrinsick Perfections of his Essence then for all his Gifts the chief Business of our Knowledge is to Frame glorious Apprehensions of his Nature and to Believe him in all things so Kind and Wise that he is True and Faithful in all his Declarations and most fit to be Honoured in all the Dispensations of his Providence because he is ever mindful of his Protestations and Promises For then we can believe that all things shall work together for our Good can safely trust our selves and all that is ours in his hands resign our selves up to his Disposal with Joy and say Thy Will be done for it is Holy Good and acceptable Thy Will alone is of all other Wilis most Perfect and Desirable There are on Earth indeed more nice Emergencies many Obscurities and
Splendor of the whole World would vanish upon the Extinction of the Sun And one Instants Cessation from the Emission of its Beams would be its Extinction A Soul is a more Glorious Thing than the Sun The Sphear of its Activity is far Greater and its Light more Precious All the World may be filled with the splendor of its Beams Eternity it self was prepared for it Were there but one Soul to see and enjoy all the Creatures upon the suspension of its Light all the Creation would be rendred vain Light it self is but Darkness without the Understanding THE Existence of many Souls is so far from abating the value of one that it is by reason of their multitude more useful and Excellent For the value of the Objects imputes a Lustre and Higher value to the Light wherein they are enjoyed And if Souls themselves are more excellent than all other Creatures and arewith and above all other to be enjoyed that Power whereby this Soul is able to enjoy them is more to be esteemed upon the account of those Souls than for all the other Creatures which are made for the same GOD himself and his holy Angels are Objects of the Understanding Those Felicities and Glories which the Sun cannot extend to the Soul can comprehend All which since their Fruition depends upon that Act of the Understanding by which they are considered reflect a Lustre and add a value to that Knowledge by which the Soul does attain them Whereupon it follows that the infinite value of all these is seated in the intellect and as the Power so the Act of Knowledg on which their Fruition dependeth is of infinite use and Excellency As the loss is infinite when the Soul is bereaved of them so is the mage which it suffers by failing of its Light whether that Defect be voluntary or imposed by some outward Impediment AS for the Use of Knowledge it is apparent enough For the Relation between the Use and Excellency of things is so near and intimate that as nothing Useless can be at all excellent so is every Excellence in every Being founded in its usefulness The use of Souls is as great as their Excellency The use of Knowledge as endless in Variety as in Extent and Value KNOWLEDGE is that which does illuminate the Soul enkindle Love excite our Care inspire the mind with Joy inform the Will enlarge the Heart regulate the Passions unite all the Powers of the Soul to their Objects see their Beauty understand their Goodness discern our Interest in them form our Apprehensions of them consider and enjoy their Excellences All Contentments Raptures and Extafies are conceived in the Soul and begotten by Knowledge all Laws Obligations and Rewards are understood by Knowledg All Vertues and Graces of the Mind are framed by Knowledge all Advantages are by it improved all Temptations discerned all Dangers avoided all Affairs ordered all Endowments acquired all the Ornaments of Life all the Beauties of the inward Man all the Works of Piety are affected by Knowledge In the Light of knowledge all Pleasures arise and as Fruits and Flowers are begotten in the Earth by the Beams of the Sun so do all kinds of Joy spring from the Creatures and are made ours by the help of that Knowledge that shineth on them its last Off spring are Eternal Thanksgivings and Praises The Divine Image and the Perfection of Bliss are sounded in Knowledge GOD himself dwelleth in the Soul with all his Attributes and Perfections by Knowledge By it we are made Temples of the Holy Ghost and Partakers of the Divine Nature And for this cause it is that St. Paul prayeth That we might be filled with the Knowledge of his Will in all Wisedome and Spiritual Understanding that we might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing being fruitful in every Good Work and increasing in the Knowledge of GOD strengthened with all Might according to his glorious Power unto all Patience and long-suffering with Joyfulness giving Thanks to the Father who hath made us meet to be Partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light who hath delivered us from the Power of Darkness and translated us into the Kingdom of his Dear Son THE Sun is a glorious Creature and its Beams extend to the utmost Stars by shining on them it cloaths them with light and by its Rayes exciteth all their influences It enlightens the Eyes of all the Creatures It shineth on forty Kingdomes at the same time on Seas and Continents in a general manner yet so particularly regardeth all that every Mote in the Air every Grain of Dust every Sand every Spire of Grass is wholly illuminated thereby as if it did entirely shine upon that alone Nor does it onely illuminate all these Objects in an idle manner its Beams are Operative enter in sill the Pores of Things with Spirits and impregnate them with Powers cause all their Emanations Odors Vertues and Operations Springs Rivers Minerals and Vegetables are all perfected by the Sun all the Motion Life and sense of Birds Beasts and Fishes dependeth on the same Yet the Sun is but a little spark among all the Creatures that are made for the Soul the Soul being the most High and Noble of all is capable of far higher Perfections far more full of Life and Vigour in its uses The Sphere of its Activity is illimited its Energy is endless upon all its Objects It can exceed the Heavens in its Operations and run out into infinite spaces Such is the extent of Knowledge that it seemeth to be the Light of all Eternity All Objects are equally near to the splendor of its Beams As innumerable millions may be conceived in its Light with a ready capacity for millions more so can it penetrate all Abysles reach to the Centre of all Nature converse with all Beings visible and invisible Corporeal and Spiritual Temporal and Eternal Created and Increated Finite and Infinite Substantial and Accidental Actual and Possible Imaginary and Real All the Mysteries of Bliss and Misery all the Secrets of Heaven and Hell are Objects of the Souls Capacity here and shall be actually seen and known hereafter WERE Almighty Power Magnified by filling Eternity with created objects and were all the Omnipresence of God full of Joys it is able when assisted by his Divine Knowledge to look upon all and tho every one of them should have an infinite Depth within an Endless variety of Uses a Relation to all the rest of the World the Soul as if it were able to contract all its strengths from all the expansions of Eternity and space and fix them upon this Moment or on this Centre intirely beholding this alone in all its fulness can see its Original its End its Operations Effects and Properties as if it had nothing to consider but this alone in a most exquisite and perfect manner IT is not to be denied that every Being in all Worlds is an Object of the Understanding
nor can that of the Psalmist be doubted In his Presence there is fulness of Joy and at his right hand there are Pleasures for evermore that is his Omnipresence is full of Joys and his Eternity of Riches and Pleasures nor is it to be denied that the Soul is by its Creation intended for the Throne of GOD. For it is made capable of his Omnipresence and Eternity and as the Apostle speaketh may be filled with all the fulness of GOD which fulness is adequate to the Immensity of his Eternal Power of which you will see more in the Vertues of Love Wisdom Righteousness and Holiness This only is here to be noted that Nature never made any Power in vain but ever intendeth the Perfection of what it produceth and prepareth objects for the understanding the Perfection of which Power is the actual attainment of that Knowledge of which it is capable THE principal objects of our Knowledge are GOD and a Mans self The Kingdom of GOD his Laws and Works his Ways in all Ages his Counsels and his Attributes Mans Interest and Duty Transactions of the World the Thoughts and Actions of Angels and Men are considerable which tho they may be stiled less material Objects of the understanding yet in relation to GOD and a Mans felf are of great Importance GOD as he is the Life and fountain of all Felicity the End of all Perfection and the Creator of our Being Almighty in Power infinite in Wisdom and Goodness Author of the universe and Lord of all the Creatures is most fit to be Known Plato makes him the very Light of the understanding and affirms that as three Things are necessary to Vision the Eye rightly prepared the object conveniently seated and Light to convey the Idea to the Eye so there are three things required to compleat and perfect Intelligence an understanding Eye an Intelligible Object and a Light intelligible in which to conceive it Which last is GOD. Nor is the Royal Psalmist and Divine Philosopher David far from the Notion while he saith In thy Light we shall see Light For GOD is the Light of the understanding His Nature is the Light of all the Creation Therefore it is said by Christ himself that the Knowledge of GOD is Life Eternal For his Light is the Life of men and without him we can do nothing Till we Know his Nature we cannot apprehend the Excellency of his Works For all their Goodness is derived from him and ends in him His Love moved him to create the World and the principal End for which it was made is the Glory of the Creator in the Felicity of his Creatures The Glory of the Creatures is seen in his By his Wisdom and Goodness we are guided to the Hope and Investigation of their Excellence His infinite bounty made them all our Treasures that for the Perfection of their Beauty and Worth we might celebrate his Praises HE that would not be a stranger to the Universe an Alien to Felicity and a foreiner to himself must Know GOD to be an infinite Benefactor all Eternity full of Treasures the World it self the Beginning of Gifts and his own Soul the Possessor of all in Communion with the Deity That the Business of Religion is Complacency in GOD and that GOD never laid aside his Wisdom in any Operation of his Power never forgot to make the least of his Works agreeable to his Goodness Nay rather he is so perfect that his infinite Goodness Wisdom and Power are exerted wholy and wholy Conspicuous in every Operation It is the Beauty of Truth that maketh Knowledge of such infinite Value For if all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowing be ordained for a Wise and Knowing Man if all Objects in the clear Light of Heaven and Eternity be laudable and Glorious if Divine Wisdome hath so far obtained that the number and Value of GODS Gifts is accurate and exactly answerable to the nature of its causes if every Soul that will live in his Image may be the friend of GOD and acquire the Empire of the World and be Beloved of Angels and admired of Men if fruition be the End of Knowledge and all Things made that they may be enjoyed Knowledge is the only Thing that enriches the Soul and the Knowing Man is the friend of GOD. The Exercise and Pleasure of this Divine Amity is the End of the Creation and the Perfection of the Soul The Knowledge of a Mans-self is highly conducive to his Happiness not only as it gives him Power to rejoyce in his Excellencies but as it shews him his End for which he was created For by Knowing what Inclinations and Powers are in his Soul he discerns what is agreeable with and fit for his Essence what objects and what Operations are couducive to his Welfare what means he is to use for the Attainment of his End and what that is wherein his Perfection consisteth If the Powers of his Soul are illimited his Desire infinite and his Reach Eternal if he be able to see and enjoy all Worlds and all that is above all Worlds in the Image of GOD. If his Ambition carry him to be Pleasing to all Angels and Men and to be Glorious in the Eyes of all Kingdoms and Ages if his Abilities are indeficient for the fruition of all that is Excellent in eternity it self it is a token that he is ordained for GOD and the enjoyment of his Kingdom and a wicked folly to restrain himself to the miserable Contentment of a Cell or Cottage and to delight in nothing but some fragments of the Creation that in Comparison of the whole are infinitely Defective OF all other things I would have this most deeply engraven in the mind that GOD hath exceeded all Imagination in the Works of his Hands that he that overcometh shall be the Son of GOD and inherit all Things that there is an infinite end why the secrets of all hearts shall at last be revealed that in Heaven all Thoughts and Things shall be Known that the Kingdome of Heaven is so Glorious that all the blessed are Perfect Sovereigns every one the Possessor and End of it all that all Things proceeding immediately from GOD are the Best that are possible that the best and the worst things as ordered by him are perfectly amiable and subservient to Felicity that he himself alone hath a Proper Right to all that is excellent and that GOD is in every Thing to be enjoyed that he is enjoyed only when his essence and his Works satisfie the Desires of perfect reason and exceed all Wishes in filling and delighting the soul That having filled the soul with infinite Wisdome he has laid infinite Obligations upon us and set infinite Rewards before us made Laws in finitely amiable and given us Duties infinitely Desirable for which he deserves eternal Adorations and Thanksgivings CHAP. VI. Of Love and Hatred The necessity and sweetness of Love It s General use and efficacy The several
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
your Power and to neglect his Treasures but it is infinite VVisdome by the best of all possible Means to embrace and enjoy them Because an infinite End is thereby attained even GOD himself who is thereby made the portion of the Soul and its Reward forever THE best of all possible Means whereby we can acquire his Eternal Treasures is to imitate GOD in our Thoughts and Actions to exert our Powers after his Similitude and to attain his Image which is after GOD in Knowledg Righteousness and true Holiness For by Knowing all Things as GOD Knoweth them we transform our Souls into an Act of Knowledge most Bright and Glorious By Loving all Things as GOD Loveth them we transform our VVills into an Act of Love which is most Sweet and Blessed VVe enrich and Beautifie our selves with the Image of his Goodness while we communicate our Souls in our Powers to all Objects in his whole Eternity VVe magnifie our selves by magnifying Him in all his Works We do right to our selves by doing right to GOD and all other Things VVhich for as much as we must here on Earth learn by Degrees and can never perfectly accomplish the VVork till it is given us in Heaven it is VVisdome to walk in the Paths of Righteousness as far as we are able and to do those Things here tho small and defective which he will recompence with a Reward so perfect hereafter IF ever we be so happy as to come to Heaven his VVisdome shall be our VVisdom his Greatness our Greatness his Blessedness our Blessedness his Glory our Glory All his Joys and Treasures shall be ours his Life and Love ours and Himself ours for evermore HIS VVisdome is made ours because it is the Light in which we shall see Light and learn thereby to inherit all Things the Exemplar and Original of our VVisdome the Fountain and Patern of all our Joys the Author and Inventor of all our Delights the End and Sum of all our Desires the Means of all our Felicity our very Blessedness and Glory CHAP. X. Of Righteousness How Wisdome Justice and Right Reason are shut up in its Nature What GOD doth and what we acquire by the Exercise of this Vertue RIGHTEOUSNESS and VVisdome are neer allyed For to be Just towards all Objects is to render them their spiritual Due their Due Esteem It is VVisdome because thereby we attain our End and enjoy their Excellency It is Right Reason because to value all Things just as they are tendering to them neither more nor less then they deserve is to do Right to our selves and them it is a Vertue because by force thereof we attain our Happiness For the better understanding of this Vertue we must Know that there is a Righteousness of Apprehension a Rightteousness of Esteem a Righteousness of Choise and a Righteousness of Action Righteousness of Thought is that Habit by Vertue of which we think aright forming and framing within our selves aright Apprehensions of all Objects whatsoever This tho it be the First and smallest Part of Righteousness is of Great importance because no man can use that aright the Nature of which he does not apprehend He that mistakes his Hand for his Meat will rise hungry from Table He that mistakes a Fiddle for an Axe will neither cut Wood well nor make good Musick The Misapprehension of Great and Transcendent Objects whether visible or Spiritual is not perhaps so Gross but more pernicious and Destructive He that apprehends GOD to be a Tyrant can neither honour GOD nor Love him nor enjoy him He that takes Vertues to be vices and apprehends all the Actions of Religion unpleasant will loath and avoid them He that conceits Nothing in the World to be his own but his low Cottage and course diet will think it needless to praise his Maker and will deny himself to be happy in those narrow and Mean enjoyments He that thinks all the wealth is shut up in a Trunk of Gold will little regard the Magnificence of the Heavens the Light of the Sun or the Beauty of the Universe RIGHTEOUSNESS in esteem is that Habit by Vertue of which we value all things according as their Worth and Merit requires It presupposes a right Apprehension of their Goodness a clear Knowledge of all their excellencies It is a Virtue by which we give to every thing that place in our Soul which they hold in Nature It is wonderful both for its extent and Value For there is Room enough for all Objects in the esteem of the Soul and it is by esteem that they are honored perfected and enjoyed A wise man will actually Extend his Thoughts to all Objects in Heaven and Earth for fear of losing the Pleasure they afford him which must necessarily spring from his esteem of their excellency HONOUR and Esteem are neer a kin How the Creatures are honoured by esteem needeth not to be unfolded but how they are perfected by it is a little Misterious A thing is then perfected when it attains its End Now the End for which all things were made is that they may be seen and enjoyed They are seen that they may be esteemed and by an intelligent and right esteem are all enjoyed In our esteem therefore they find and attain their end and by attaining that are consequently perfected The Application of Actives to Passives is a mystery in Nature of very great and General Importance In all Pleasures Cures and Productions All satisfactions Joys and Praises are the happy off-spring of Powers and Objects well united Both the one and the other would lie void and barren if they never met together and when they meet their Union must be regular wise and holy GOD is an Object of Mans Esteem Which unless it were able to render him his Due and Quadrat with his Excellencies a man could never be Righteous towards GOD. For that Esteem is void of Righteousness that either exceeds or falles short of its Object If it becometh us to fulfil all Righteousness it becometh GOD to endue us with the Power of Esteeming all that is Good and Excellent according to the Worth and Value thereof For which cause he enables us to Esteem all that we can see in Heaven and Earth and in the Heaven of Heavens For this Esteem is the Foundation of that choise which is the Original Spring of all excellent Actions Even GOD himself meeteth his Honour in the esteem of our Souls He is injured by the Sacrilegious Impiety that robs him of his Esteem being infinitely Quick and Tender in apprehending he is more jealous of his Honour and more grieved when he loseth it then any other His Wisdom and his Love are infinitly offended when they are slighted and profaned but pleased extreamly when they are sanctified and honored and that they are by a just Esteem And for this cause he hath made us able to attend him in all his Works and in all his ways and to have Communion with him in
highly Amiable and and Delightful to be seen Not only because his soul is transformed into an Intelligible World transcendent to all that is created by the Ideas of GOD and his Works erected in the mind but his Affections are framed in a living and incomparable Order according as every Cause and Object requires There is something in the Soul of a Righteous man that fitly answers all Obligations and Rewards It is transformed into the Image of GOD in such a sort that in the Righteous Act which it becomes GOD for ever dwelleth and appeareth THE Effect of Righteousness in GOD is so Great that whereas all Impossibles are stark naught all things which it is possible for GOD to do are fair and excellent all the Best are made actual by the execution of his Righteous Decree By this the Son of GOD is in the bosom of the Father and the Spirit of GOD proceedeth throughout all Eternities to his own perfection For the Righteousness of GOD is not like the Righteousness of Men that may be permitted to sleep and intermit their Operations an Accidental Habit distinct from their Essence which may sometimes exist when it doth not work but it is Quick and Powerful and ever in action and is indeed the Act it self which is his eternal Essence and his Son begotten of it self for ever For Wisdom is more moving then any motion she passeth and goeth through all things by reason of her Pureness It is the Breath of the Power of GOD and a pure Influence flowing from the Glory of the Almighty the Brightness of the Everlasting Light the unspotted Mirror of the Power of GOD and the Image of his Goodness Being One it can do all things and remaining in it self maketh all things new and in all Ages entering into holy souls she maketh them Friends of GOD and Prophets GODS Righteousness is the end and effect of it self His Essence is an infinite and Eternal Act of Righteousness and Wisdome which filleth his Kingdom with the Majesty of its Glory and by coming into Being in a voluntary Manner giveth to all Things their Essence and Perfection Because it cometh into Being in a voluntary manner it is mysterious and incomprehensible THE Glory of this Act is derived from himself and springeth purely from the Perfection of its pleasure Of its Pleasure it is what it is and as the Son of GOD is LIGHT of LIGHT so he is Wisdome of Wisdome Righteousness of Righteousness Life of Life and Goodness of Godness For it is infinite VVisdome that found out the Perfection of this Act and Eternal Righteousness that first atcheived it The Righteousness atcheived could not spring from any but Eternal Righteousness in it self atcheiving it which is unbegotten in the Person of the Father Begotten in the Person of the Son and Proceeding in the Person of the Holy Ghost to all its Creatures and Operations in its Actions existing and abiding Perfect for ever IN GOD to Act and to Be are the same Thing Upon the suspension of his act his Essence would be gone whereas our Essence may without its Act or Operation remain And if his Act existeth by Acting his Righteousness is and existeth of it self and by it self compleateth its Essence forever It is not the Power of being Righteous but the Exertion of that Power which is the Parent of Eternal Righteousness GOD having such an infinite Delight in the Righteous Act which himself is designed to make us such Righteous Acts as himself is And when we perfectly do what we ought we shall in Operation and Extent be like unto him being perfect as our Father which is in Heaven is perfect for we shall see as we are seen and Know as we are Known In the mean time GOD hath taken care to endue us with Power to make our perticular Actions compleatly Righteous Every little Act we perform is a fruit Off-spring of the whole Creation infinite Love is delighted by it infinite Glory and Blessedness acquired A Creature of infinite Value is preserved the Crown is put upon all GODS VVorks and all the Spectators Angels and Men are Eternally pleased For being done it is admitted into Eternity and shall remain in its Place and be visible forever For the Lord will Come who both will bring to Light the hidden Things of Darkness and will make manifest the Counsels of the Hearts And then shall every man have Praise of GOD. All that was done shall be remembred forever and be praised and admired by the Holy Angels Esteemed by all Saints and Crowned with Acceptance by GOD Almighty VVhich will turn to the Joy of the Righteous because of the innate Goodness of their Souls which moveth them to delight in nothing more then in becoming in all their Righteous Actions Objects of Complacency to GOD and his Creatures CHAP. XI Of Goodness Natural Moral and Divine its Nature described The Benefits and Works of Goodness GOODNESS is a vertue of the first Estate a Divine Perfection in GOD by which he is and enjoys his Blessedness In Men it is an Habit or an Act of the Soul by force of which they Love and delight in all that is Blessed T is that by which all Creatures Communicate themselves to others Benefit all Living Creatures affect others and delight in doing Good unto them In GOD it is that infinite and Eternal Act from which all other Goodnesses spring and on which they depend The Nature of Goodness is founded in a Convenience between that which is Good and that to which it is profitable If we consult its several Kinds there is a Natural Goodness a Moral and a Divine NATURAL Goodness is the Aptitude of Corporeal Beings to produce such profitable and healing Effects as the enjoyer desires The Nutritive Power in Aliment the Medicinal Vertue in Herbs the Pleasing Quality in Perfumes the Grateful Lustre in Precious Stones the Comfortable Heat in fire the Beautiful splendor in the Sun the Refreshing Moisture in the Sea the Reviving Nature of the Air the solid Convenience and fertility of the Ground all these are Physically Good But this is Goodness in the meanest Degree being no more then the natural fitness of Dead Agents that are made to act by a Fatal Necessity without sence or Desire tho their Action be answerable to the several Exigencies of other Creatures MORAL Goodness includeth all the Perfections of the former and something more For Life and Liberty enter its Existence and it is Wisely exercised in Love and Vertue A clear Understanding and a free will are the principles of those Actions that are Morally Good they must flow from Ingenuity and Desire tho the Person doing them be subject to anothers Empire and made to give Account of his Actions The Nature of its Excellence is very deep and retired because it consists more in the Principal and Manner of its Operation than the Thing that is Done and is measured more by the Intention then the
Riddles in the midst of all which to think so well of GOD as he deserveth is the most acceptable thing in the World for it argues a great confidence of his Worth and a Love that is founded on Substantial Causes never to be removed It feedeth the Soul with a lively hope and fair Expectation of great Things from him by which alone we do right to His GODHEAD in acknowledging the Perfection of his Love and Goodness and by which alone we are made able to adore him and to live in Union and Communion with him THERE is great Talk of Friendship it is accounted the only Pleasure in the World Its Offices are highly magnified of all Kindness of Behaviour a through and clear communication of Souls a secure Reliance upon each others Fidelity a perfect Discovery of all our Thoughts Intentions and Resentments an ardent willingness to impart Lives and Estate for the Benefit of our Friend the Reposing of all our Secrets in each others Bosomes to do all services and suffer all afflictions for each others sakes to prefer the Concerns of our Friend upon all Occasions above our own these are the Magnalia Amicitiae Arcana mutuae Benevolentiae the Great and mighty Effects for which Friendship is admired But all these without a good Opinion of our Friend are nothing worth they are but Externals of Friendship the greatest Secret in its Nature is the mutual agreement of Souls and Spirits the Delight which either taketh in the other the honour and esteem they give and receive the Approbation and Love of each others Dispositions the Sence and Admiration of each others Vertues the continual Desire of being alwayes together peculiar Extasie which the Beauty of either occasioneth in the other when of all other Treasures in the World their Persons are the greatest to one another Either is the proper Element and Refrigerium of the others Soul Their Bosomes are the mutual Receptacles and Temples of each others accomplishments whereinto they are received in all their Desert and have Justice done to every degree and Perfection in their Nature their Hearts are the Thrones where they are exalted and magnified and live at Ease are honoured and worshipped extolled and reign as absolute in each others Souls There are some slight aims and Adumbrations of this Friendship on Earth but the best and highest Degree of it here beneath is but a rude and imperfect shadow only GOD is the Sovereign friend all Adoration paid to any one beside is meer Idolatry Our Hearts can be absolutely Sacrificed to none but him because he alone is immutable in Goodness We cannot infinitely honour and delight in any but Him it is he alone that can infinitely honour and delight in us All our Lives Estates and Services are Due to him his Will alone is to be wholly ours because no other Will is infallibly Right Wise Holy but his alone THE Union of our Wills is a Perfection of Love but that at which he aimeth by all his Labours and Gifts and Benefits is our Right and Good Opinion of his Excellencies and Perfections That we should see and discern his interior Properties admire his Graces adore his Perfections adore and magnifie his Beauty and Glory this is the End for which he communicates himself in all his Works and Ways unto us it is the End of the Whole Creation and of all the Excellent Things in the universe for by this he establisheth his Empire in our souls and makes us Pleasing to himself in all our Operations And for this Cause it is that the Apostle plainly tells us that tho we give our Body to be burned and all our Goods to feed the poor without Charity it profiteth nothing To render to GOD the Honour that is due to his Name to receive and admire all his Bounties to rejoyce in all his Operations to adore him in all his Ways to take pleasure in all his Works to fill Heaven and Earth with our Joys and Praises is a Work which cannot but be agreeable by its Nature to his Eternal Essence And if this be the Work of Love it is that which is most Excellent because he is therein both pleased and enjoyed GOD and all his Creatures are united together by Love alone and in the Eternal Exercise of pure and perfect Love all Blessedness and Glory consisteth IF you require what it is to love GOD you will find it worthy of his Highest desire because thereby all our souls nay all his Creatures and his whole Kingdome are perfected for to Love GOD as we ought to do is to Honour him as our Father Benefactor Bridegroom and King to contemplate him as our Cause with Complacency and to rest in him as our End to delight in him as our Creator Preserver Lawgiver and Redeemer to dedicate our selves wholly to that Service whatever it be wherein he is chiefly pleased and delighted It is to love him in himself in all his Works in all his Ways in all his Laws in all his Attributes in all his Thoughts and Counsels in all his Perfections It implies the Knowledge of all Objects the Use of all Means the Attainment of all Ends all Wisdome and Goodness all Obedience and Gratitude all Righteousness and Holiness all Joy and Praise all Honour and Esteem all Blessedness and Glory For it is to Love him with all our Heart and with all our Soul with all our Strength and with all our Might with all our Understanding with all our Will with all our Affection with all the Powers of our soul with all our Inclinations and Faculties in all his Creatures in all his Appearances in Heaven and Earth in Angels and Men in all Kingdoms and Ages It is to see and desire to Esteem and delight in his Omnipresence and Eternity and in every Thing by which he manifesteth himself in either of these so that all Enlargement and Greatness and Light and Perfection and Beauty and Pleasure are founded in it and to Love him to Perfection implies all Learning and Attainment because we must necessarily be acquainted with all Things in all Worlds before we can thorowly and compleatly do it Which here upon Earth to do by Inclination and Endeavour to the utmost of our Power is all that is required of us And if we do it to our utmost it shall be rewarded in the Beatifick Vision with a full and Blessed Pefection with an actual Love exactly resembling his and fully answerable to it in the Highest Heavens THERE are two common Motives of Love among Men the one the Goodness and Excellency of the Person the other his particular Kindness and Love to us And both these are in the Highest Degree in GOD. He is of infinite Goodness and and Excellency in himself for there is nothing Good in the world but what hath received all its Goodness from Him His Goodness is the Ocean and all the Goodnesses of Creatures little Streams flowing from that Ocean Now you would think
him a Madman that should say the Sea were not greater then a trifling Brook and certainly it no less folly to suppose that the Goodness of GOD doth not as much nay infinitely more exceed that of all the Creatures The Sun is a lively Mirror of that Eternal Act of Love which is the Glory of his Essence but it is infinitely less prone to communicate its Beams and doth less Good to it self and infinitely less to all other Creatures It shines for their sakes nevertheless and clothes it self with Glory by the splendor of its Beams and is an Emblem of GOD who exerteth his Power with infinite Pleasure and by communicating his Essence in an infinite Manner propagates his Felicity and Glory to the utmost Height and Perfection By proceeding from himself to all Objects throughout all Worlds he begets and dwelleth in himself he inhabits Eternity in a Blessed and more vigorous Manner by establishing the Felicity of all his Creatures and become theirs infinite and Eternal Glory Wherein his particular Kindness and Love to us appeareth because he hath fitted us with Qualities and Powers adapted for so great an End and as particularly appropriated all to us as the Sun to the Eye of every Spectator For our Bodies and our Souls are made to enjoy the Benefit of all and his Desire is that we should attain the End for which we are created On his side all is prepared on ours nothing is wanting but Love to embrace and take pleasure in his Goodness which shineth in all these Things and created them on purpose that being manifested by them we might delight in it for ever HE that loveth not GOD with all his Heart liveth a Life most contrary to Nature For to Love is as natural for the Soul as to shine for the Sun and the more Lovely any thing is the more prone we are to Delight in it if any thing be infinitly Amiable weare prone to Love it in an infinite measure we prefer the Better above the worse cannot rest but in the best of all Reason is the Essence of the Soul and tends always to the utmost Perfection The more Divine and Glorious any Thing is the more high and Noble is the Love that we bear it No Beauty less then the most Perfect no Pleasure no Wisdome no Empire no Learning no Greatness Wealth or Honour less then the most sublime can be our full Satisfaction no little degree of Love nothing less then the most Supreme and violent can content us So that GOD being most truely perfect in all these is the Adequate Object of all our Desires and the only Person sit to be esteemed in an infinite manner It is as natural for Man to Love him as to desire and delight in any being which supplies the ordinary and daily necessities of his Life TO Love him as we ought implies two things that are agreable to the Nature of Love yet very rarely to be found among the Sons of Men a desire to please him and a Desire to enjoy him The Desire of Pleasing is a constant fruit and effect of Love For he that Loves is very desirous to approve himself and to do whatsoever he thinks will be grateful to his Beloved According to the Decree of Love the desire is more or less Where we Love Earnestly we are extreamly Earnest and Careful to please Where Love is remiss there is little need or Regard of any thing But infinite Love It is impossible to declare what favour and Zeal it will produce If we Love GOD we shall keep his Commandements with a Tenderness and Desire so extreme that no Joy will be so great as the Observation of his Laws It will be with us as it was with our Lord Jesus Christ it will be our Meat and Drink to do the Will of our Father which is in Heaven The measure of our Love will not infuse some slight and faint Endeavours of Pleasing but put us on the most painful and costly Duties make us willing to forsake our own Ease Goods Friends yea Life it self when we cannot keep them without offending our Creator THE desire of Enjoying is constantly seen in our Love to one another If any man hath a friend whom he intirely loveth he desires his Conversation Wishes to be always in his Company and thinketh the Time long till he and his friend be together And thus will it be in our Love to GOD if as great and Hearty as it ought to be In this Life our Enjoyment of GOD is more imperfect more compleat and perfect in the Life to come Here upon Earth we desire to converse with him in his Ordinances in Prayer Meditation hearing his Word in receiving the Sacrament which are intended all for this purpose to bring us into a neerer Intimacy and familiarity with GOD by speaking so to him hearing him speak and shew himself to us If we love him indeed we shall highly Value these Ways of Conversing with him it is all here upon Earth whereby we can enjoy him It will make us with David esteem one Day in his Courts better than a thousand We shall delight in all the Means of approaching to him as often as possible and use them diligently to the End of uniting us more and more unto him who is the Object of our Desire and the Life of our Souls And for as much as there is another Enjoyment of GOD which is more compleat and perfect we shall groan earnestly desired to be dissolved and be with Christ where we may see no more in a Glass but Face to Face and Know as we are Known For Love is strong as Death many Waters cannot quench Love neither can the floods drown it Affliction Persecution Sickness any thing that will bring us to Heaven will be acceptable and Delightful IF you would know more fully why GOD desires to be Beloved you may consider that Love is not onely the Motive and Incentive to Vertue the Cause of Obedience but the form and Essence of every Grace and the fufilling of the Law We shall chuse him for our GOD and have no other GODS but him no Delights no Sovereign Enjoyment but him alone We shall honour him with all our Souls and adore him with every Power of our Will and Understanding We shall not regard Images and shadows but worship him immediately in Spirit and in Truth We shall not take his Name in vain nor contentedly stand by when others abuse it But shall praise his Name and desire to see it glorified throughout the World For Love desires the Honour and delights in the Glory and Advancement of its Beloved We shall reverence his Sanctuary and keep his Sabbaths desiring Rest from other Avocations that we may contemplate his Glory in all his Works For his sake we shall observe the Laws of the second Table and Love our Neighbour as our self For to Love him is no Impediment but a Strong Engagement and incentive to the Love
of the Soul and its Honour founded in the freedom of its Desire Whatsoever it does not desire and delight in tho the matter of the performance be never so excellent the Manner is spoiled and totally Blasted Now can we compel another to desire or delight in any Thing The Soul in it self hath an Inclnation to or an a version from every object The Ingennity and Worth of the Soul is expressed in the Kindness of its own Intention in the freedom of its Desire to do what is Excellent in the delight it taketh to love its Goodness is founded Now tho GOD infinitely hated Sin yet he gave us an irrevocable Power to do what we pleased and adventured the Hazzard of that which he infinitely hated that being free to do what we would we might be Honourable and delightful in doing freely and of our own Accord what is Great and Excellent For without this Liberty there can be no Love since Love is an active and free affection that must spring from the Desire and pleasure of the Soul It is the Pleasure of a Lover to promote the Felicity of his object Whatsoever Services he is compelled to do he is either meerly passive in them or Cross unto them they are all void of the Principal Grace and Beauty that should adorn them and make them pleasant and satisfactory men may be Dead and moved like stones but in such causes there is no Love neither do they act of themselves when they are over-ruled and forced by another For this cause hath it pleased God in order to our Perfection to make the most Sublime and Sovereign Creatures all Free wherein he hath expressed the greatest Love in the World As we may see by all the Displeasures and Pains it hath cost him through our Abuse of so illimited and great a perfection But where his Love is most Highly and Transcendently expressed there are we most prone to suspect it Nature is so Cross and disorderly There can be no Wisdom without a voluntary Act for in all Wisdome there is Counsel and design Where no consultation nor Election precedes the best operation in all the World is Blind and Casual Fortune and chance must have no hand in that which wisdom Effecteth no more then Force and necessity must have in that Goodness where all the kindness ought to be in the Intention of the Benefactor There is something in it which I cannot explain It is easily conceived but will never I think in Words be expressed The Will has a mighty hand in all the Divinity of perfect Goodness It is the Mind of the Doer that is the principal object of all our Desire and Expectation HAVING for these Causes made his Creatures free he has forfeited their Choise and secured their Determination as far as was possible He hath done all that can be devised to make them Love us and left nothing undone but only that which was absolutely necessary that they might Love They could not Love us if they were not left to themselves to do it freely And their Ability being provided for nay an Inclination given to make them willing he has strictly commanded enjoyned them to Love by Nature allured them ordered us so that we might be fit to be Beloved he hath made it sweet and rational to Love given them his own Example and solemnly protested that he will accept of no Love to himself but what is accompanied with Love to his friends and servants engaged them to Love or be Eternally miserable And if for all this they will not Love the fault is none of his All that he has done to let secure then Love to himself he has done to secure then Love to us and is as much or more concerned in their Love to us then in that which himself requireth and Expecteth Nay he hath made it impossible for them truly to Love themselves without doing of it And if they will neither Love GOD nor themselves we may well be despised for Company He infinitely desires their Love and would take infinite Pleasure in the Operation There is no Way to make themselves Honourable and Delightful to GOD but only by Loving us as his soul requireth And by all these Inducements and Causes are we our selves stirred up to Love freely to exert the Power of Love to others in like manner THAT which yet further commendeth this Vertue of Love unto us is that it is the only Soul of all Pleasure and Felicity in all Estates It is like the Light of the Sun in all the Kingdomes and Houses and Eyes and Ages in Heaven in Earth in the Sea in Shops and Temples in Schooles and Markets in Labours and Recreations in Theatres and Fable It is the Great Daemon of the World and the Sole Cause of all Operations It is evidently impossible for any Fancy or Play or Romance or Fable to be composed well and made Delightful without a Mixture of Love in the Composure In all Theatres and Feasts and Weddings and Triumphs and Coronations Love is the Soul and Perfection of all in all Persons in all Occupations in all Diversions in all Labours in all Vertues in all Vices in all Occasions in all Families in all Cities and Empires in all our Devotions and Religious Actions Love is all in all All the Sweetness of Society is seated in Love the Life of Musick and Dancing is Love the Happiness of Houses the Enjoyment of Friends the Amity of Relations the Providence of Kings the Allegiance of Subjects the Glory of Empires the Security Peace and Welfare of the World is seated in Love Without Love all is Discord and Confusion All Blessings come upon us by Love and by Love alone all Delights and Blessings are enjoyed All happiness is established by Love and by Love alone is all Glory attained GOD Knoweth that Love uniteth Souls maketh men of one Heart in a House filles them with Liberallity and Kindness to each other makes them Delightfull in presence faithful in Absence Tender of the Honour and Welfare of their Beloved Apt to obey ready to please Constant in Trials Patient in sufferings Couragious is Assaults Prudent in Difficulties Victorious and Triumphant All that I shall need to observe further is that it compleated the Joys of Heaven Well therefore may Wisdome desire Love well may the Goodness of GOD delight in Love It is the form and the Glory of his Eternal Kingdome And therefore it is that the Apostle saith Charity never faileth but whether there be Prophesies they shall fail whether there be Tongues They shall cease whether there be Knowledge it shall vanish away For we know in part and we Prophesie in part but when that which is perfect is come then that which is in part shall be done away For now we see through a Glass darkly but then Face to Face now I Know in part but when shall I know as also I am Known And now abideth Faith Hope and Charity these three
Vertue of a man they think seated in this They forget that Policy and Learning and Prudence and Gratitude and Fidelity and Temperance and Industry and compassion and Bounty and Affability and Courtesie and Modesty and Justice and Honesty are Vertues and that in every one of these there is something fitting a Man for the Benefit of the World Nay they have lost the Notion of Vertue and know not what it is Those things by which a man is made serviceable to himself and the World they think not to be Vertues but imagineâ— Chimeraes which they cannot see then deny they have any Existence A Man is capable of far more Glorious Qualities then one of them And his Courage it self may be raised to far higher Ends and purposes then Buffoons and Thrasonical Heroes can dream of IT is to be noted here that any one of those Things that are called Vertue being alone is not a Vertue It is so far from aiding and setting us forward in the Way to Happiness that oftentimes it proveth a Great and intollerable Mischief and is never safe but when it is corrected and guided by the rest of its Companions To stir no further then Courage alone What is Courage in a Thief or a Tyrant or a Traytor but like Zeal and Learning in a pernicious Heretick YOU may note further that Goodness is a principal Ingredient in the excellency of this Vertue tho it be distinct in its Nature from the Being of Courage A brave man will expose his Life in an Honest cause for the Benefit and preservation of others tho not for the Dammage or Destruction of any He will slight his own safety and despise his Repose to make himself a Saviour and a Benefactor A true Courage holdeth Vertuous Actions at such a Price that Death Imprisonment Famine Dishonour Poverty Shame Indignation all Allurements and Temptations are nothing compared to the Performance of Heroick Deeds He exceedeth all constraint and walketh in the Glorious Liberty of the Sons of GOD. THE last note which I shall offer to your Observation on this Occasion is this for the Illustration of the Reason and excellency of GODS Dispensations The Great End for which GOD was pleased not to seat us immediately in the Throne but to place us first in an estate of Trial was the Multiplication of our Vertues For had we been seated in the Glory of Heaven at the first there had no such Vertues as Patience and Courage and Fidelity been seen no Faith or Hope or Meekness no Temparance or Prudence or self Denial in the World Which Vertues are the very clothes and Habits of the Soul in Glory The Graces and Beauties of the Soul are founded in the exercise of them Actions pass not away but are fixed by the permanent Continuance of all Eternity and tho done never so long ago shall appear before the Eye of the Soul for ever in their places be the Glory of their Author the Lineaments and Colours of his Beauty seen by GOD and his holy Angels and Delightful to all that love and delight in worthy things Our Life upon Earth being so diversified like a Sphere of Beauty so variously adorned with all sorts of Excellent Actions shall wholly and at once be seen as an intire Object rarely and curiously wrought a Lively Mirror of the Nature of the Soul and all the Elements of which it is compounded all the Parts that conspire in its Symetry all the Qualities Operations and Perfections that contribute to its Glory shall afford wonder and pleasure to all Spectators While every Soul shall be concerned more in its Actions then in its Essence indeed its Essence how ever considerable is of little or no Value in Comparison of its Operations Every Vertue being the Natural Off-spring and production of the Soul in which its Vigor principally appeareth an effect discovering the Nature of the cause and the sole occasion of its shame or Glory For if the Essence of the Soul be all Power and its power exerted in its operation the Soul must needs enter into its Actions and consequently be affected with all that befalls its Operation All Acts are Immortal in their places being enbalmed as it were by Eternity till the Soul revive and be united to them Then shall it appear in its own Age and in eternity too in its last life enjoying the Benefit of its first And in that sence is that voice from Heaven to be understood which commanded the Divine to write Blessed are they that die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their Labours and their Works do follow them For the Glory of the place is nothing to us if we are not endued with those Glorious Habits which will make our Souls all Glorious within We must be Glorious and Illustrious our selves and appear in Actions that will Beautifie the Throne to which we are exalted THAT these Actions may be Great and Amiable manifold and Excellent is the desire of every soul the natural Wish and Expectation both of Reason it self and of self Love HOW Glorious the Counsel and Design of GOD is for the Archieving of this Great End for the making of all Vertues more compleat and Excellent and for the Heightening of their Beauty and Perfection we will exemplifie here in the Perfection of Courage For the Hieght and depth and Splendor of every Vertue is of great Concernment to the Perfection of the Soul since the Glory of its Life is seated in the Accomplishment of its essence in the Fruit it yeildeth in its Operations Take it in Verse made long ago upon this occasion For Man to Act as if his Soul did see The very Brightness of Eternity For Man to Act as if his Love did burn Above the Spheres even while its in its Urne For Man to Act even in the Wilderness As if he did those Sovereign Joys possess Which do at once confirm stir up enflame And perfect Angels having not the same It doth increase the Value of his Deeds In this a Man a Seraphim exceeds To Act on Obligations yet unknown To Act upon Rewards as yet unshewn To keep Commands whose Beauty 's yet unseen To cherish and retain a Zeal between Sleeping and Waking shews a constant care And that a deeper Love a Love so Rare That no Eye Service may with it compare The Angels who are faithful while they view His Glory know not what themselves would do Were they in our Estate A Dimmer Light Perhaps would make them erre as well as We And in the Coldness of a darker Night Forgetful and Lukewarm Themselves might be Our very Rust shall cover us with Gold Our Dust shall sprinkle while their Eyes behold The Glory Springing from a feeble State Where meer Belief doth if not conquer Fate Surmount and pass what it doth Antedate THE Beatifick Vision is so sweet and Strong a Light that it is impossible for any thing that Loves it self
Communion with him can be its satisfaction The Terrours Allurements and Censures of men are the dust of its feet their Avarice and Ambition are but feebleness before it Their Riches and Contentions and Interests and Honours but insignificant and empty trifles All the World is but a little Bubble Infinity and Eternity the only great and soveraign things wherewith it converseth A Magnanimous Soul is alwaies awake The whole globe of the Earth is but a Nutshell in comparison of its enjoyments The Sun is its Lamp the Sea its Fishpond the Stars its Jewels Men Angels its Attendance and GOD alone its soveraign Delight and supream Complacency The Earth is its Garden all Palaces its Summer houses Cities are its Cottages Empires its more spacious Conrts all Ages and Kingdoms its Demeans Monarchs its Ministers and publick Agents the whole Catholick Church its Family the eternal Son of GOD its Pattern and Example Nothing is great if compared to a Magnanimous Soul but the Soveraign Lord of all Worlds Mistake not these things for arbitrary flourishes of Luxuriant fancy I speak as I am inspired by Felicity GOD is the Cause but the knowledge of a Mans self the Foundation of Magnanimity Trismegistus counteth thus First GOD secondly the World thirdly Man the World for Man and Man for GOD. Of the Soul that which is sensible is Mortal but that which is reasonable Immortal The Father of all things being full of Light and Life brought forth Man like unto himself whom he loved as his proper Off-spring for he was all Beauteous having the Image of his Father This in his Poemander Again he saith Man is a divine and living thing not to be compared to any Beast that lives upon the Earth but to them that are above in the highest Heavens that are called Gods Nay rather if we shall be bold to speak the truth he that is a MAN INDEED is above them He is infinitely greater than the gods of the Heathen And a God like unto himself as the Wise Man observes he cannot make At least saith Trismegistus they are equal in Power For none of the things in Heaven will come down upon Earth and leave the limits of Heaven bur a Man ascends up into Heaven and measures it He knoweth what things are on high and what below And that which is the greatest of all he leaveth not the Earth and yet is above so mighty and vast is the greatness of his Nature Wherefore we must be bold to say that an Earthly Man is a Mortal God and the Heavenly GOD is an Immortal MAN THIS is the Philosophy of the ancient Heathen wherein though there be some Errors yet was he guided to it by a mighty sence of the interiour Excellency of the Soul of Man and the boldness he assumes is not so profane but that it is countenanced here and there in the Holy Scripture GOD himself said unto Moses Lo I have made thee a God to Pharoah Again he telleth him concerning Aaron He shall be to thee instead of a Mouth and thou shalt be to him instead of God And again concerning all the Great men of the World in general I have said ye are Gods but ye shall die like Men. But let us see the Reason of the Heathen a little on which he foundeth his great Opinions In one place he maketh his Son Tatius to say I conceive and understand not by the sight of mine Eyes but by the intellectual Operation c. I am in Heaven in the Earth in the Water in the Air I am in the living Creatures in Plants in the Womb every where Whereupon he asketh him Dost thou not know O my Son that thou art born a God and the Son of The One as I am And the ground of this Question he unfoldeth in another place thus Consider him that contains all things and understand that nothing is more Capacious than that which is Incorporeal nothing more swift nothing more powerful but of all other things it is most Capacious most swift and most strong And judge of this by thy self Command thy Soul to go into India and sooner than thou canst bid it it will be there Bid it pass over the Ocean and suddenly it will be there not as passing from place to place but suddenly it will be there Command it to flie into Heaven and it will need no wings neither shall any thing hinder it not the fire of the Sun nor the AEther nor the turning of the Sphears nor the bodies of any of the Stars but cutting through all it will flie up to the last and furthest Body And if thou wilt even break through the Whole and see those things that are without the World if there be any thing without i.e. if the World be confined thou maist Behold how great Power how great swiftness thou hast Canst thou do all these things and cannot GOD After this manner therefore contemplate GOD to have all the whole World in himself as it were all Thoughts or Intellections If therefore thou wilt not equal thy self to GOD thou canst not understand GOD. For the like is intelligible by the like Increase thy self to an immeasurable Greatness leaping beyond every Body and transcending all Time become ETERNITY And thou shalt understand GOD. If thou belive in thy self that nothing is impossible but accountest thy self Immortal and that thou canst understand all things every Art every Science and the manner and custom of every living thing become higher than all Height and lower than all Depth comprehend in thy self the qualities of all the Creatures of the Fire the Water the Dry and the Moist and conceive likewise that thou canst at once be every where in the sea in the Earth at once understand thy self not yet begotten in the Womb Young Old Dead the things after Death and all these together as also all Times Places Deeds Qualities Quantities thou maist or else thou canst not yet understand GOD. But if thou shut up thy Soul in thy Body and abuse it and say I understand nothing I am afraid of the Sea I cannot climb up into Heaven I know not who I am I cannot what I shall be what hast thou to do with GOD For thou canst understand none of those fair and good things but must be a lover of the Body and Evil. For it is the greatest evil not to know GOD. But to be able to Know and to Will and to Hope is the strait Way and the divine Way proper to the Good It will every where meet thee and every where be seen of thee plain and easie when thou dost expect or look for it It will meet thee Waking Sleeping Sailing Travelling by Night by Day when thou speakest and when thou keepest silence For it is nothing which is not the Image of GOD. His Close is most divine And yet thou sayest GOD is Invisible but be advised for who is more manifest than he For therefore he made all things that thou by
all things mightst see him This is the Good of GOD his Vertue is this to appear and be seen in all Things This is the bottom of all other Greatnesses whatsoever GOD is infinitely communicative infinitely prone to reveal himself infinitely Wise and able to do it He hath made the Soul on purpose that it might see him And if the Eye that was made for the World being so little a ball of Earth and Water can take in all and see all that is visible if the sight of the Eye be present with all it beholdeth much more is the Soul both able to see and to be present with all that is Divine and Eternal I know very well that a Man divided from GOD is a weak inconsiderable Creature as the Eye is if divided from the Body and without the Soul but united to GOD a Man is a transcendent and Celestial thing GOD is his Life his Greatness his Power his Blessedness and Perfection And as the Apostle saith He that is joyned to the Lord is one SPIRIT His Omnipresence and Eternity fill the Soul and make it able to contain all Heights and Depths and Lengths and Breadths whatsoever And it is the desire of the Soul to be filled with all the fulness of GOD. Magnanimous desires are the natural results of a Magnanimous Capacity The desire of being like Gods knowing Good and Evil was the destruction of the World Not as if it were unlawful to desire to be Like GOD but to aspire to the Perfection in a forbidden way was unlawful By Disobedience and by following our own Inventions by seeking to the Creature to the stock of a Tree to make us Like GOD that is erroneous and poor and despicable but to know our selves and in the strait and divine Way to come immediately to GOD to contemplate him in his Eternity and Glory is a right and safe Way for the Soul will by that means be the Sphere of is Omnipresence and the Temple of the God-head It will become ETERNITY as Trismegistus speaketh or ONE SPIRIT with God as the Apostle And then it must needs be present with all things in Heaven and in the Earth and in the Sea as GOD is for all things will be in it as it were by Thoughts and Intellections A Magnanimous Soul then if we respect its Capacity is an immovable sphere of Power and Knowledge far greater than all Worlds by its Vertue and Power passing through all things through the Centre of the Earth and through all Existencies And shall such a Creature as this be contented with Vanities and Trlfles Straws and Feathers painted Butterflies Hobby-horses and Rattles These are the Treasures of little Children but you will say a Man delighteth in Purses of Gold and Cabinets of Jewels in Houses and Palaces in Crowns and Scepters Add Kingly Delights and say he delighteth in Armies and Victories and Triumphs and Coronations These are great in respect of Play-things But all these are feeble and pusillanimous to a great Soul As Scipio was going up to Heaven the Earth it self seemed but a Nutshel and he was ashamed of all his Victories and Triumhs amazed at his madness in Quarrelling and fighting about Territories and Kingdoms contracted to a Star and lost into nothing the whole Earth is but one invisible Point when a man foareth to the height of Immensity and beholdeth and compasseth its everlasting Circumference which is infinite every way beyond the Heavens It is the true and proper Immensity of the Soul Which can no more be contented with the narrow confinement of this World no more rest in the Childishness of all the noise of the Interests of Men be no more satisfied with its Earthly Glories than the SUN can be shut up in a Dark-Lanthorn It is true indeed it would desire to see as the Angels do the least and lowest of all the Creatures full of the Glory and Blessedness of GOD all Wisdom and Goodness in every thing and is apt to complain for want of some eternal and Celestial Light wherein to behold them but if all the expansions of Time and Eternity should be void and all the extents and out-goings of Infinity empty round about them though things upon Earth nay and things in the Heavens should be never so Rich and divine and beautiful yet such is the Magnanimity of a Great Soul that it would hugely be displeased its loss and its distaste would be alike Infinite Infinite Honours infinite Treasures infinite Enjoyments things endless in number value and excellency are the Objects of its Care and Desire the greatness of its Spirit leads it to consider and enquire whether all the spaces above the Heavens and all the parts of GOD's everlasting Kingdom be full of Joyes whether there be any end or bound of his Kingdom whether ther there be any defect or miscarriage any blemish or disorder in it any vile and common thing any remissness or neglect any cause of complaint or deformity As also whether all the Ages of the World are Divine and Sacred whether after they are gone they abide in their places whether there be anything in them to entertain the Powers of the Soul with delight and feed them with satisfaction What end what use what excellency there is in Men Whether all the waies of GOD are full of beauty and perfection all Wisdom Justice Holiness Goodness Love and Power What Regions eternal Blessedness is seated in What Glory what Reason what Agreeableness and Harmony is in all his Counsels Whether those durations of Eternity before the World is made are full or empty full of bright and amiable Objects or dark and obscure Whether the government of the World be perfect whether the Soul be Divine in it self whether it be conducive to its own felicity or to the happiness of all those in whom it is concerned Whether the World shall end If it shall after what manner whether by Design or Accident Whether All Ages and Nations shall rise from the Dead Whether there shall be a general Doom or a day of Judgment Whether I am concerned in all the transactions and passages at that day Whether all Mankind shall be united into one to make up one compleat and perfect Body whereof they all are the fellow-Members What shall be after the End of the VVorld Whether we shall live for ever Whether we shall see GOD and know one another Whether we shall reign in eternal Glory Whether in the Confusions of Hell there be any Beauty and whether in the Torments of the damned we shall find any joy or satisfaction Whether all the Riches Customs and Pleasures of this World shall be seen Whether in the World to come any fruit shall appear and arise from them for which they shall be esteemed to have been not in vain but profitable in relation to all Eternity What kind of Life we shall lead and what kind of Communion and fellowship Angels and Men shall have with each other
done were he in our places He cannot be the Soul of any of his Creatures but would be the Soul of that Soul the joy and delight of that Soul the life and glory of that Soul and that he cannot be unless that Soul will delight in him and love and honour him It is not he must honour himself but that Soul His desire is that that Soul would freely turn and delight in him freely of its own accord would incline it self to consider his Excellencies and dedicate it self to love and honour him This is one way for the Soul to be Magnificent towards Men too who by Nature delight to see GOD beloved and satisfied in a point of such infinite importance IT is true indeed that GOD can be full of Indignation and punish but for love to turn into anger is no compensation for the pleasure it lost by our miscarriage and to punish is a strange and troublesome work in which Love is extinguished or else afflicted Infinite Love puts an infinite value on the Gift And I think it is Magnificence to give a Gift of infinite value OUR Magnificence towards Men must be laid on a deep and eternal foundation We must be willing to give our selves to their comfort and satisfaction And that we cannot do but by imitating GOD in all his Goodness studying their felicity and desiring their love with the same earnestness to the utmost of our power doing in all places in all things in all Worlds the things they desire supposing them to be what they ought to be like Gods themselves THE best Principle whereby a man can stear his course in this World is that which being well prosecuted will make his Life at once honourable and happy Which is to love every man in the whole World as GOD doth For this will make a man the Image of GOD and fill him with the mind and spirit of Christ it will make every man that is the Representative of GOD and of all the World unto him It will make a man to reverence GOD in all Mankind and lift him up above all Temptations Discouragements and Fears It will make him to meet the love of GOD Angels and Men in every Person It will make a man truly glorious by making him pleasing to GOD and universally good to every one diffusive like the Sun to give himself to all and wise to enjoy their compleat Felicity If there were but one the Case is evident supposing more than one his duty is to love every one the more for all their sakes For since he must love all and they are all to love one and every one he must please them all by gratifying their love to one and by doing so to every one they are all concerned in the welfare of one and pleased in the love that is born to every one This in the state of Glory will be clear where every one like the Sun shall be clearly seen extending his love to all though here upon Earth where our estate is imperfect by reason of the imperfection of our Knowledge it doth not appear Our actions are limited for being finite in our outward demeanour they must needs be regulated by Justice and Wisdom But two things come in here to the assistance of Magnificence whereof the first is the inferiour perfection of our Love to all the second is the universal Satisfaction which the beauty of our outward life will afford at last Concerning the last two things are fit to be considered First that as GOD has communicated the Sun by making it visible to all and there is not a Star but is seen by all Nations and Kingdoms so has he communicated the Soul by making it visible to all and there is not a Thought that shall remain uncovered nor an action but it shall be seen by all for ever Secondly that as GOD himself is admired for his Inward Love so is he for the operations of his Outward Life I mean for his Works and Judgments When they saw his Works finished The Morning Stars sang together and all the Sons of GOD shouted for joy The Elders are represented before his Throne casting down their Crowns and saying Thou art worthy O Lord to receive Glory and Honour and Power for thou hast created all these things and for thy pleasure they are and were created Where the perfection of GODS Pleasure in the GLORY of the Creation is evidently discovered to be one of the Joyes of Heaven a great matter of their Contemplation an eternal cause of their Praises His infinite and eternal Love is that by which he is All Glorious within all the sweetness of his Essence and all the perfection of the Soul is there but yet his Saints in the Church Triumphant sing the Song of Moses and the Song of the Lamb saying Great and Marvellous are thy WORKS Lord GOD Almighty Just and True are thy WAYES thou King of Saints His Works are the substantial Creatures in Heaven and in Earth his Waies are his proceedings and dispensations among them in all ages For all shall appear together for ever the one being Great and Marvellous the other beautified with Truth and Justice So that neither of these doth swallow up the other but both are distinct and perfect Our Love may be infinite on the Inside and yet our Life be diversified with many limited and particular actions Now if our Life be like GODS eternally to be seen and our Actions in passing pass not away but in the sphere of our life abide for ever our Life all at once is a mysterious Object interwoven with many Thoughts Occurrences and Transactions and if it be to be presented to GOD like a Ring or a Garland we had need to be very choice in the mixture of our Flowers and very curious in the Enammel of so rare a Token Perhaps it is his Crown nay our own His and our Royal Diadem It shall shine like a glory about our Souls for ever That there should be any dirt or blemish in it is inconsistent with our Felicity but it is a Magnificent Present if it be enchased with Jewels well chosen and curiously set I mean with the most pure and fit elections the most Wise and Just and excellent Actions the most bright and clear Apprehensions the most divine and ardent Affections The last are like Gold the ground work of the Crown but the work it self is a mixture of elaborate Distinctions that sparkle in their lustre like Gems of several cuts and colours An imperial Crown is a Magnificent Present from a King to a King But a Life like GODS in a sphere for which Time was lent that it might be well wrought and presented before him when made perfect as far surpasseth the most glorious Crown that did ever sit upon Monarchs brows as that can be supposed to excel a dull Clod of Earth or a piece of Rusty Iron There all Obligations and Laws and Duties and Occasions are
him might have bin it must be just such a Power as this is and act just in such a manner as this hath done or it would be displeasing This hath done all that we can desire all that all Powers infinite and eternal can do well and therefore all possible Powers are conceived in him He is the full and adaequate object of all Desire because the Fountain of all the most Glorious things and the sole perfect cause of all Enjoyment whatsoever CHAP. XXXIII The Beauty of Gratitude It s principal Canses Amity and Communion are the great effect of its Nature The true Character of a Grateful Person GOD'S Incommunicable Attributes enjoyed by Gratitude All Angels and Men are a Grateful Person 's 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 GOD having prepared the way to Gratitude by infusing generous and noble Principles into the Soul beautified the Exercise of it by divers other provisions that conspire to make it amiable and delightful By the one he made it Possible by the other desirable ONE of the greatest ornaments of this Vertue is the Grateful Sence of Benefits received For in it the Felicity of the Receiver consisteth on it his Grateful behaviour dependeth by it he is made Grateful or Acceptable and it is one of the great Ends intended in the Gift bestowed by the Donor whose Satisfaction ought to be regarded highly by every honest and worthy Receiver That Grateful Sence is the crown of the Gift the Light wherein its Beauty appears the Temple of its Honour as it were the Womb wherein it is conceived and findeth its life and value perfected SHOULD we stand upon the Explication of these we should have little room for the Fruits and Effects of Gratitude which are the principal things intended in this Chapter But in short you may take this account The greatest Benefits we can receive are but Abortive or rather turned into Curses without a Grateful acknowledgment of them All Gifts are but Carkasses devoid of Life unless inspired with that Sence which maketh them Delightful For as Causes without Effects are not Causes of Blessings if they Bless not are falsely reputed Blessings No Benefits can be Blessings unless they are crowned with our Complacency They must be conceived in the Mind before they can be transformed into Joy and be transformed into Joyes before they can produce those Praises which are the musick of the Benefactors Soul as well as of the Receivers They are not conceived unless they are quickened with the Life of the Receiver nor are they reputed Blessings till they are had in Reputation An interior Sence is the Life and Soul of every Blessing without which a whole World of Delights would be but a Chaos the very Kingdom of Heaven but a Confusion to him for whom it is prepared and a Soul among the Angels but a Fool in Paradice An Ungrateful Person bereaves himself of the Pleasure that should spring from his Enjoyment for the stifles the enjoyment of the Gift he receiveth He Eclipses and extinguishes his own blessedness by the dulness of his Soul and the perversness of his Behaviour He may be surrounded with Causes of Delight but is not blessed that is not full of the Joyes wherewith he is surrounded When he is full of Joyes he must needs overflow with Complacencies which are the very element of Thanksgiving the matter and fuel as well as the Soul of Praises Were there nothing in a Grateful Sence but this Gratitude were an incomparable Vertue because all the effects of infinite and eternal Bounty are by vertue of that Grace applyed to the Soul and enjoyed thereby but are lost without it That certainly must be a great Vertue by force of which we inherit all things AS for the Beauty of the Receiver it is evident that a dull and heavy Complexion is the disgrace of his Nature His Stupidity makes him a worthless piece of Clay that cannot be improved to any advantage A carelessness and contempt of Benefits springeth from his Sottishness which maketh him Ingrateful that is Odious because he cannot be won by Kindness nor wrought upon by Gifts But he is more deformed because he acts in a bruitish manner against Reason while he faileth to do what is fit and proper on such occasions It is a base and dirty Temper that cannot be enflamed with the Love of a Benefactor It is incapable of high and generous Sentiments is dull and dry insipid and untractable as dead as a Log of Wood a crabbed and knotty piece of matter that cannot be wrought and only fit for the fire But a quick and lively Perceiver a tender Sence and sprightly Intelligence is all honour and delight upon the Reception all activity life and vigour Angelical in his nature sweet and heavenly apt to come up to the Benefactor and answer his desires He is rich and abundant in amiable Resentments and prone to make Returns suitable to the Kindness wherewith he is affected He has a strange kind of Beauty lodged in his Soul there is a sweet Correspondence and a delicate Convenience between his Nature and his Benefactors All his Inclinations are Purity and Praise he is a great encouragement to the Love of his Benefactor an ornament to his Person an admirer of his Worth an appendix of his Honour and a pleasure to his Disposition all Life and Goodness He is capable of Amity in the heights of its exercise A wise and worthy Benefactor designs the felicity and contentment of the Person to whom he imparteth his Bounties and if he were able would do that for him which above all other things is most to be desired not compel him to be Grateful whether he would or no for that would but spoil the beauty of his Return but make him capable of the best and highest Resentments that he might have the Joy of seeing his Benefits work kindly All which are lost and thrown away upon an ungrateful Person This GOD hath done He has put brave Principles and Inclinations into the Soul of Man and left him freely to exert them with infinite desire to see him act freely but generously and nobly For by this means only is he made capable of Honour and the essence of Gratitude consists in the freedom of its operation Having so made him and desiring nothing more than a lovely Behaviour his Joy is as great as his Goodness can inspire when he sees that sweetness which attends the Operation and the work of Reason in a Grateful Person and the Joy which he occasions is his own Joy in the Soul of his Creature Of which to rob GOD is a kind of Spiritual Sacriledge and a cruel Murther committed on our selves For we have an inclination to delight in the Joyes of which we are the Authors and by a kind of Eccho or reflection find the Pleasure doubled which we take and
blessed is it self the more joyful and the more contented It s Nature is to shine and burn and admire to offer and to sacrifice up it self to its Joyes And GOD is its soveraign Joy its perfect happiness To suspend its beams were to act against Nature All overtures of Pleasure Beauty Glory Power Exaltation and Honour it would have added to its happiness The more Great the more Good the Wiser GOD is the greater is its Happiness The more he is admired and praised the greater is its Happiness The more he is magnified and pleased the greater is its Happiness All the Excellencies and Perfections in its Objective bliss though they are not locally removed are removed into the Soul of him that enjoyes it and there express themselves far more powerfully and effectually than if they were there alone No joy can be like that of seeing its Creatour adored no Service like that of magnifying its Beloved no pleasure like that of delighting its Beloved no melody like that of praising its Benefactor no honour like that of obeying its Preserver All Worlds are its Treasures because they manifest his Power and Glory all Angels and Men its Delights because they see and acknowledge the beauty of its Soveraign and eternal Perfection all Creatures the Instruments of its Joy that celebrate his Praises In him it enjoyes the glory of all Eternity the infinite beauty of all Immensity the innumerable riches of all Worlds the pleasures and adorations of all the Angels the state and magnificence of all Empires the splendour and perfection of all Ages all which it has in it self by his infinite Bounty as its own immediate and proper Possessions but far more divinely and sweetly enjoyes them by vertue of its Gratitude and Love to him whose they originally are and from whom they proceeded For the very true reason why it enjoyes it self and all its own Treasures is because it loves it self And the more it loves him the more it will be delighted with his fruitions It is more concerned it feels more it sees more it tastes more it possesses more it rejoyces more in its Object than it self The imagination and fancy that is in Love frames all the thoughts of its Beloved in it self it has an exquisite and tender sence of every change and motion in the mind of its Beloved Stir not up nor awake my Love till he please is the song of a feeling and affectionate Soul Every prick with a Needles point in its Object is a stab with a Dagger to it self It s heart bleeds in every drop of its Objects finger It loves his Beloved ten thousand times more than it self and is infinitely more pleased with its exaltation than its own The happiness of its Object is most its own True Gratitude is crowned in its Benefactor enthroned in its benefactor admired in its benefactor adored in its benefactor Nothing in all the World is so easily ravished as Love nothing is so lively as Love nothing so lovely Nothing so violent in its grief or joy nothing so capable of pain or pleasure All the Victories and Triumphs of its Saviour are its own My Joy my Life my Crown my Glory my exceeding great Reward my Love my Soul my Idol nay the GOD of my Soul my All in all This is the language of Love in its Rapture Seraphick Love It is Altar Heart and Sacrifice Angelical Love It is Priest and Temple All Service Freedom Duty Reward Desire Enjoyment Honour Praise Adoration Thanksgiving Extasie Pleasure Bliss and Happiness It is all Goodness and Beauty Paradice Heaven the life and Soul of Heaven All that is incommunicable in GOD Eternity almighty Power supream Dominion independent Majesty infinite Immensity with all the adorations and praises of all the Creatures are by such a Love and Gratitude enjoyed Loving GOD more than it self it is more happy in GOD than if it were a GOD. Could Is Deity be taken away and seated in it self the Soul of a Grateful Creature would be grieved at the exchange Even GOD in his place is perfectly enjoyed All Envy is by perfect Gratitude removed All Discontentment at any thing in its Object especially at its Objects Blessedness is abolished It is carried above all Thrones Dominions and Powers and still ascends eternally higher the higher its Object is exalted Could it be miserable in it self it would be happy in its Object but the higher it is exalted the more is its Creatour delighted If the resentment be wholly Spiritual the Soul perhaps may be transformed to Gratitude as Gratitude is to Contentment and Praise and Thanksgiving But it will have no Body no frail and corruptible Flesh no bones or members to look after All its operations are of one kind all its works and concernments are the same It has no Fear or Care to divert it no impediment or danger or distraction Pure Gratitude is so divine a thing that the Soul may safely wish to be turned all into Gratitude It s Employment and Nature are all one acknowledgment and benevolence united together It sacrifices all Worlds to the Deity and with infinite delight desires to offer all Honour and Glory to him It is very sensible that it can never pay so much Honour to GOD as is his due unless it be assisted with all the Tongues of Men and Angels It goes along with their Joyes and consents to their Praises In them it adores and by them it admires with them it conspires and takes in all their powers and divine affections It fees with all their Eyes hears with all their Ears speaks with all their Mouths and useth all their Hearts in loving and adoring All the tendencies and operations of Universal Nature are subservient to its desires It surmounts the Songs of David and yet we know how earnestly he exhorted all Creatures to praise him Praise ye the Lord Praise him in the Sanctuary Praise him in the Firmament of his Power Praise him in his mighty Acts Praise him according to his excellent Greatness Praise him in the Heights Praise him all ye Angels Praise him all his Hosts Praise him Sun and Moon Praise him all ye Stars of light Praise him ye Heaven of Heavens And when all is done it still confesseth that his Name is exalted far above all Blessing and Praise HE that praiseth GOD only for his Health and Food and Rayment and for his blessing on his Calling as too many only do either is very ignorant or upon a strict scrutiny will be detected for upbraiding GOD for the meanest of his bounty For his Love must infinitely be defective that is able to bestow Gifts infinitely more yet giveth us none but these He that sees not more Causes of Joy than these is blind and cannot see afar off The very truth or Religion is obscure to him and the cause of Adoration unknown He wanteth ten thousand demonstrations of the Love of GOD and as many Incentives to coflame his Soul in the Return
the Ice for all their Followers For their business was extraordinary to change the state and condition of Kingdoms to alter the publick Rites of Religion both among Jews and Gentiles and therein to shake and dissetile the Secular Interests of Millions as well as to touch and offend the Conscience in defaming that for which so many Ages had so great a Veneration This created all the difficulty in their Lives But where the publick Rites of Religion are approved and a Man is born in peaceable and quiet Times I do not see but the most Vertuous Men inherit all the Honour and Esteem of the People and whatever estate and degree they are of reign in the fullest and freest Prosperity Nor has the Death of Christ of little prevailed upon Earth but that all the World does now take notice of the Glory of his Doctrine and far better understand the excellency of Vertue than they did before They feel and admire its influences Insomuch that as fome Vertuous Men grow contemptible by their Vices so do the most debanched and vicious Men find a Necessity of appearing Vertuous if they mean to be Honourable for as all Errours receive their strengths from some Truths professed by Hereticks so do all Vices and vicious Persons owe their supports to the powerful strengths of those Vertues on which they lean and which they use though in a wicked manner for their own security For they cannot rise and thrive in the World without some Vertue or shew of Vertue at least to cover and help out their Vices Three things I desire you to note seriously when you have first observed that it is a very hard matter to hate an Excellent Man or contemn him when he is known The one is that Enmities and Disgraces are like the pangs and throws of the New-Birth they fall like Storms and Showers upon budding Vertues in their spring and greeness When a Man first begins to be Vertuous he is despised suspected unknown it may be censured and hated But when he has made himself eminent and conspicuous is a man of tried and approved Vertue well known for a Person of Honour and Worth the first Envies and Censures abate and if he constantly exercise all Honesty and Goodness with great activity courage and prudence he shall conquer all his Enemies and inherit the benefit of his own Vertues in the peace and tranquility of his happy Condition Note also that it is not so much the Malignity of the World as some Vice of the Proficient or some occasion that Religious men give the World to blaspheme Religion by some Infirmity or other that makes them to be hated And this I note because I would have you not cry out of other Mens Corruptions so much as of your own There is a little Pride or Covetousness or Laziness or Scorn or Anger or Revenge some one Deformity or other that gives Men advantage against us when they deride at our Profession but under the Name and Notion of Vertue no Man was ever yet upbraided As a Fool perhaps and a Coward but not as a Wise and gallant Man he may be scorned Thirdly Some Secular Interest may put People together by the Ears but no Man is hated for being perfectly Vertuous Misapprehensions Slanders Injuries Quarrels about Estates and Possessessions may arise but where the Land is at peace and the True Religion established no Man is hated for being Wise and Good and Holy and Chaste and Just and Liberal and Honest and Merciful and Meek and Couragious but the more admired for being Holy and Blessed when he joyns all GODS Vertues together A man may be perverse and turbulent a Schismatick and a Heretick and by a rash and erroneous Zeal bring many Enemies and Penalties on himself while he rails against the Magistrates and reviles the Bishops and Pastours of the Church breaks the Laws and disturbs the Kingdom prophanes and blasphemes GODS publick Worship and endeavours to overthrow the established Religion and Discipline among us But all the Troubles which a man brings on himself by any such means as these are not to be fathered on Vertue but rightly to be ascribed to their proper Causes Had he that suffered them been more Vertuous he had been less miserable And truly this I may say for the glory of Christianity Where it is freely and purely Professed in any Nation or Kingdom as at present in Ours a Man may be as divine and heavenly as an Angel And if he be Liberal and Kind and Humble and Cheerful especially if withal he be Undaunted and Couragious most exceedingly Honest and Faithful in his dealings the more Holy and Divine he is the more he is commended and valued in the Land but if he have any flaw the greater stir he makes in Religion the more he is hated He loses his Credit and undergoes the Censure of a supercilious Hypocrite AS for all the Enemies which Strife and Contention about Worldly Goods occasion to a Vertuous Man he is no more liable to them than other persons And yet when he meets them he has far more advantages over his Enemies than other Men. For being full of Courage he dares do any thing that is fit against them and that sparkle of the Lion makes them to dread him whereas a Coward is baffled and run over in a moment Being full of Temper and Humility he is not apt to exasperate them and make them mad as hot and angry Spirits are apt to do By Kindness he obliges and wins and softens them By Prudence he knows how to manage them and all his other Vertues come in as so many strengths against them Being Just he never quarrels but in a Good Cause being Good and Merciful he is not apt to make an Enemy Being Wise and Holy his Soul is in another World and it is no trivial Injury that can make him contend Being Liberal and Magnanimous he is prone to do Heroical things and to make himself Venerable to his very Adversary And above all to tender and to love his Soul and to steer all the Contention to both their benefit We rail on the World when the fault is in our selves The most of Men professing Vertue are but Children in Worth very weak and very defective And too timorous too GOD knows They neither trust GOD enough nor carry Vertue to the height Vertue is base and not Vertue while it is remiss It never shineth gloriously and irresistibly till it be acted almost in a desperate manner He only is the Great Man that contemns Danger Life and Death and all the World that he may be supreamly and compleatly Vertuous ENEMIES may sometimes spring from Envy And indeed there alone lies the Core of the Matter when some Men imperfectly Vertuous abhor others for being more Excellent than themselves at least for being more Honoured and more Prosperous Here again Temporal Interest is the ground of the Enmity For thus our Saviour was hated by the
Grace infused by vertue of which we keep all those Promises which we made to GOD in our holy Meditations and all those holy Resolves which in our best Retirements we put upon our selves to do his Will even in the midst of all Assaults and Temptations It is a Vertue by which we remain Constant in all Persecutions and Allurements not warping or moving aside on any Consideration neither melting with Pleasures nor flinching at Distresses but continuing faithful to the death that we may obtain the Crown of Life He certainly that sees himself a King of all Worlds and Brother to our Lord JESUS CHRIST who hath said He that doth the will of my Father is my Mother Sister and Brother will not be wrought on to forsake or hazard so great a Bliss His knowledge of its Perfection will animate his Soul with all Fidelity IT will draw him from the World too and make him desire to be much alone that he may be much with GOD. A Covetous man will be telling his Monies an Ambitious man aspires to be alwaies near the Kings Person an Epicure is for his Wine or Women or Feasts continually A Vertuous man is more Covetous more Ambitious more prone to Celestial Epicurisme if I may so speak than all the World besides And so art thou if thou art really engaged in the study of Felicity A Pious man has greater Treasures higher Honours more pure Pleasures sincerer and truer Delights a more glorious Friend than all the Earth beside Why should we not enjoy him why should we not retire to adore him why not delight in Devotion and Communion with him There a Man is to feed by sweet Contemplation on all his Felicities He is there to pray for open Eyes and a pure Heart that he may see GOD. There thou art to exercise thy strengths and acquaint thy self with him to look into all Ages and Kingdoms to consider and know thy self to expâ—ciate in the Eternity and Immensity of GOD and to gain that GODLINESS which with real Contentment is Great Gain There thou art to stir up thy self by way of pure Remembrance to recollect thy scattered and broken Thoughts and to cloath thy self with all thy necessary Perfections FOR Godliness is a kind of GOD-LIKENESS a divine habit or frame of Soul that may fitly be accounted The fulness of the stature of the Inward Man In its least degree it is an Inclination to he Like GOD to Please him and to Enjoy him He is GOD-LIKE that is high and serious in all his Thoughts humble and condescending in all his Actions full of love and good-will to all the Creatures and bright in the knowledge of all their Natures He delights in all the Works of GOD and walks in all the Wayes of GOD and meditates on all the Commandements of GOD and covets all the Treasures of GOD and breaths after all his Joyes He that hates all that GOD hates and desires all that GOD desires and loves all that GOD loves and delights in all his delights is GODLY He that aspires to the same End by the same Means and forms himself willingly to the same Nature Every Like in Nature draweth to its Like the Beautiful and the Wise and the Good and the Aged but especially the GOD-Like There is more reason why they should delight in each other They have more Attractives and Incentives GODLINESS or GOD-LIKENESS is the cement of Amity between GOD and MAN Eternity and Immensity are the sphere of his Activity and are often frequented and filled with his Thoughts Nothing less than the Wisdom of GOD will please the GOD-LIKE Man Nothing less content him than the Blessedness and Glory of his Great Creatour He must enjoy GOD or he cannot enjoy himself That is he must rest satisfied in him as the Creatour the Law-giver the Lord and Governour of the World and for that end must be compleatly satisfied with the Glory and Perfection of all his Works and Laws and Wayes He must delight in all his Counsels that he may enjoy him as the Great Counsellour of all Nature and see the Beauty of his Mind that he may take pleasure in him as the Blessedness of the Angels the Redeemer of Men the Sanctifier of his Elect People and the Soveraign End of all things He must enjoy him as his own supream and eternal Object his King his Father Bridegroom Friend Benefactour All in all Which he can never do till he sees GOD to be the best Father the best King the best Benefactour Bridegroom and Friend in all the World Nor that till he sees the Beauty of the whole Creation the great and wonderful things of his Law the marvellous glory of his All-wise dispensations the Sacred perfection of his Decrees and the nature of his Essence And all these must be as sweet and satisfactory to himself as they are to the Deity To be GOD-Like is a very sublime and most glorious Perfection which no man can attain that is not either curiously satisfied in all these things or humbly confident of their Beauty and Perfection And for Cause have we thus written upon all the Vertues that all that need it and read the Book may be elevated a little higher than the ordinary Rate have something more erect and Angelical in their Souls be brought to the Gates at least of GODS Kingdom and be endued with GODLINESS a little more compleatly by their Care than hitherto they have been because they know both that GOD is and is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek him FINIS Minners in Latine are called Mores whence the English word Moral is derived Cardo is a â—â—ing Col. 1 9 10 11 12. Col. 116. Joh. 3. 35. Joh. 5. 20. Joh. 15. 15. Wis. 7. 1 Cor. 4. 5. Note All this is spoken for Encouragement and Imitation Gal. 3. 21 2 Cor. 5. 21. Eph. 5. 25 26 27. Eph. 5. 30. Psal. 5. 4 5 6. 1 Pet. â—15 Heb. 11. Rom. 15. 4 Psal. 51. 16. 17. Luke 15. 1 Cor. 13 1. Mark 12. 30 31. 1 Cor. 13. 4 5 c. y s 1 Pet. 3. 10. Prov. 17. 8. Rev. 14. 15. Prov. 3. 19 20. Job 7. 17 18. Psal. 11. 4 5. Dan. 11. 35. Zech. 13. 9. 1 Pet. 1. 6 7. 1 Pet. 4. 12 13 14. 1 Pet. 4. 1 2 3 4. Dr. Hammond Psal. 21. Tully in Somn. Scipion 2 Cor. 9. 6 1 Joh. 4. 20. Rom. 11. 12. Roâ—â—â—â—â— 1 C Isai. 55. Isai. 54. 3 4 5. Isai. 62. 3. 4 5. * Rom. 4. 13. †Ro. 8. 17. * Rev. 21. 7. Job Rev. 4. 11. Rev. 15. 3 4 5. Psal. 40. 5. Psal. 183. 17 18. Of Hereticks and Schismaticks 1 Cor 4. â—