Light not unto me but to thy greatness and goodness be the Praise and the Glory For 't is thy Word thy Eternal Word that is a Lantern unto my feet and a light unto my paths The Lord is my light and my salvation and it is he that reacheth Man Knowledge I will therefore thank the Lord for giving me warning my reins also chasten me in the night-season Lighten my Darkness thee I beseech O Father of Lights and shine upon me more and more with the Brigthness of thy glory O send out thy light and thy truth that they may lead me and bring me unto thy holy Hill and to thy dwelling Shew the light of thy countenance upon thy servant and teach me thy Statutes O let the Angel of thy Presence go always before me in this my Pilgrimage and grant that I may always attend and give heed to his Counsel and Direction that so walking in thy Light here I may for ever live and for ever rejoyce in the full and open Light of thy Countenance hereafter Amen Contemplation III. Of Man consider'd as an Amorous Creature I. TRuth and good Employ the whole capacity of Man who seems to be purely designed and made for the contemplation of the former and for the desire and fruition of the latter Having therefore consider'd Man as an Intelligent Creature or as he is a Contemplator of Truth I shall now proceed to consider him as an Amorous Creature or as he is a desirer of Good. II. The management of this subject ingages me upon the consideration of these four things First What love or desire is or wherein the general Nature of it does consist Secondly That Love or Desire is in Man or that Man is an Amorous Being Thirdly Whence Man has this Affection or what is the proper cause of it Fourthly and lastly After what manner this Affection has it self or how it stands proportion'd to that cause III. Now as to the First I say that the general nature of Love consists in a motion of the Soul towards good But this I have sufficiently explained in a distinct Treatise upon this occasion to which I shall chuse rather to refer my Reader than to trouble him or my self with needless repetitions IV. As to the Second That there is such a motion in Man I need say no more but that we are intimately conscious of it as much as we are of the motion of our Heart or Lungs or of any other Physical Impression in or about us All therefore that I shall further insist upon shall be the two last things First What is the proper cause of this motion in Man. And Secondly After what peculiar manner this motion has it self or stands proportioned to that cause To these two Enquiries I shall confine my present Contemplation V. As to the cause of this motion in Man which we call Love or Desire I consider that it must be the same that is the cause of all the Physical motion in the Universe Now Physical motion is resolv'd into a double cause an occasional cause and an efficient cause The occasional cause of Physical motion is emptiness or vacuity For in that which is absolutely full there can be no motion because of the Impenetrability of Bodies The efficient cause of Physical motion is either particular or universal The particular is the pressure or impulse of particular Bodies one against another The universal is no other than God himself who in the Creation of the World as the Cartesian Philosophy rightly supposes dispenced a certain portion of motion and rest to matter which he still preserves the same by his Almighty Power So that if one part of matter cease to be moved so much motion as was in that is transferred to another part And if the motion of one decreases or be diminished it is compensated in another And so the same measure of motion is always conserved in the Universe And unless God be supposed to be the Author of motion 't will be impossible to give any account of the Original of it For neither can Bodies move themselves nor can they be moved by one another on to Infinity We must therefore at last come to a first Mover unmoved which is God. And so Aristotle calls God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first Mover unmoved VI. And thus in the same Proposition the motion of Love is also resolvable into a double cause an occasional cause an an efficient cause The occasional cause of this motion as of the other is emptiness or vacuity For Love or Desire is founded upon Indigence and Self-insufficiency of the Soul which having not within it self enough to content it is forced to go out of it self for supplies And so Aristotle in his Ethics 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Desire is the fulfilling of Indigence And accordingly we find that the more weak and indigent any Person is still the more abounding in desire Thus Children are more profuse in their desires than Adult Persons Women than Men and the Sick more than those who are in Health This is well shadowed forth in Iotham's Parable wherein the Bramble is represented as more ambitious than either the Olive-tree Fig-tree or the Vine For he presently accepted of that Empire which they had all declined Where there is no Indigence there is no room for Desire and accordingly God who is an absolutely full Being can no more admit of desire than a place that is absolutely full can admit of motion VII As to the efficient cause of this Moral motion it is also double as in Physical Motion It is either Particular or Universal The particular efficient cause are particular goods whether Sensual or Intellectual Which act upon the Soul and answer to the pressure or impulse of particular Bodies in Natural motion The Universal efficient cause is the Universal Good or God whom we suppose to have imprinted a certain stock of motion upon the Intellectual World as he did upon the Natural Which he also conserves and maintains by his Omnipotence as he does the other VIII For I consider that there is the same necessity of a first Mover in Moral as there is in Natural motions And upon the very same grounds But now t is impossible that there should be any other first Mover besides God. And therefore whatever intermediate causes there may be of this motion it must at last be resolved into an impression of God upon our Souls whom therefore I call the Vniversal efficient cause of Love. IX And so much for the cause of this motion in Man. I come now to consider the last Enquiry namely after what peculiar manner this motion has it self or how it stands proportioned to its cause I do not mean its occasional cause that being not so properly a cause as a condition but its efficient cause Now this being double Particular and Universal Good the question in more explicite terms will be after what
secundarily and indirectly for the sake of what it has of the Universal Then again there is Difference as to the Necessity of the Determination as well as to the Primariness of it There is indeed Necessity on both sides but not in like manner We are necessarily determin'd to Love universal good Absolutely and Thoroughly The Scale does not only weigh here but weighs down But we are not determin'd to love any Particular good Absolutely and Thoroughly but only to love it with a Natural Inclination or Velleity And to such a love of it we are as necessarily determin'd as we are to the love of universal good but the Actual Choice of it is not necessary there being no Particular good to the Absolute and Effectual love of which we are invincibly determin'd The Vse of this to Devotion THE Amorousness of Humane Nature as we have here consider'd it contains in it many and great incitements to Devotion For First since the Occasional Cause of our love is Indigence and Emptiness we have great reason to be humble and lowly in Spirit especially considering that we are continually admonish'd of this our Indigence as often as we are Conscious to our selves that we love Again since God is the Principal Efficient Cause of Love and the first mover in all Moral as well as Natural motion it is highly reasonable that he should be Principally loved by us from whom we receive our Love and that we should be mighty careful how we pervert this Divine Impression to any undue object Again since God moves us Directly and Primarily only to himself and since universal good is therefore the Primary and Direct Object of our Love hence it will follow that we ought also to make God the Primary and Direct Object of our Love and that we ought to Love nothing for it self but only in and for God. And lastly since we are necessarily determin'd to love good in general Absolutely and Effectually by such a motion as we can neither resist nor any way Command or Moderate hence it appears how highly necessary it is that we should expllicitly fix all that Love upon God as having all that good in him to which we aspire with a Blind Confuse and Indefinite though Necessary Appetite The Aspiration MY God My Love how absurd a thing is it that an Amorous Creature should be a Proud Creature My Love is occasion'd by my Indigence and I cannot Love but I am minded of that Indigence how ill then would Pride become me having so much reason to be humble and that reason so continually set before me Divine Fountain of Love 't is from thee I receive all my Love and upon whom should I place it but upon thee The fire that descends from Heaven where should it be spent but upon the Altar Thou hast a Right O my God to all my Love for I cannot love thee with any Love but what is thy own O then do thou Regulate this thy own Divine Impression and grant I may never sin against thee by the abuse of that Love which thou hast given me I thank thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth for doing so much towards the guidance and Regulation of my Love as to carry me Directly only to Universal good thereby teaching me that I ought to make thee the only Direct and Primary Object of my Love. My God I will love as thou teachest me the First and Direct Motion of Love shall be towards thee and whatever I love besides thee I will love only in and for thee I thank thee also My God for that thou hast made it so necessary for me to love universal good Thou O God art this universal good and I ought to love thee with the very same Love wherewith I love Happiness it self O that I were as necessarily inclined to love thee as I am to love Happiness I do not desire to be trusted with any Liberty in the Love of thee But this my God I cannot hope for till I shall see thee as thou art O let me therefore love thee to the utmost Capacity of a Free Creature Thou O God hast set no Bounds to my love of thee O let not me set any My God I do not I love thee with all my Heart Soul Mind and Strength Lord thou knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee Contemplation IV. Man consider'd as an Irregular Lover I. HItherto we have considered Man as God made him He was made by God a Creature an Intelligent Creature and an Amorous Creature The two first of which import the Perfection of God actually participated by him in as much as in him he not only lives moves and has his Being but in him has all his Vnderstanding also The last imports in him a tendency to the Divine Perfection which is also an actual Perfection of his own Nature and such as God also has therein implanted And thus far is Man wholely the Divine Wormanship and carries in him the Image of him that made him Let us now consider him as he has made himself and is as it were his own Creature II. Now thus to consider Man is to consider him as an Irregular Lover And to do this fully and to the purpose intended Three things will be requisite First To shew what it is to be an Irregular Lover Secondly Hw prone and apt Man is to Love Irregularly Thirdly That Man himself is the Author of this proneness of his to Irregular Love. III. In relation to the first if it be demanded What it is to be an Irregular Lover I answer in one word That 't is to be a Fool. Sin and Folly Sinner and Fool are words in Scripture of a like signification and are indifferently used one for the other And we are taught in the Schools of Morality that every Sinner is ignorant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says the Socratical Proverb Indeed Sin has its Birth in Folly and every step of its progress is Folly and its conclusion is in Folly. But this will appear more distinctly from the consideration of these two things First Of the absurdity and madness of the choice which every Irregular Lover makes And Secondly The error and mistake that must necessarily precede in his Judgment before he does or can make it IV. As for the absurdity of his choice 't is the greatest that can be imagined For what is it that he chuses 'T is to do that which he must and certainly will repent of and wish he had never done either in this World for its illness and sinfulness or in the next for its sad effects and consequences 'T is to despise the Authority Power Iustice and Goodness of God 't is to transgress his Commands which are good and equitable and in keeping of which there is present as well as future reward 'T is to act against the Frame of his Rational Nature and the Divine Law of his Mind 't is to disturb the Order and Harmony of the
and direct influence of Knowledge but comes to pass only occasionally and accidentally by reason of some other impediment suppose Pride Lust Covetousness or some such indisposition of Mind which is of more force and prevalency to lett our Devotion than Knowledge is to further it And then no wonder that the heavier Scale weighs down But still Knowledge has a natural aptness to excite Devotion and will infallibly do it if not hinder'd by some other cause So that we may take this for a never-failing Rule That all other things being equal the more knowing and considering still the more Devout And in this sense also that of the Psalmist will be verifi'd while I was musing the fire kindled The Great God so inlighten my Mind and so govern my Pen that by these my Meditations I may illustrate his ineffable Excellence and kindle holy flames of Devotion both in my Self and in my Reader To him therefore I Pray in the words of Moses I beseech thee shew me thy glory Amen Contemplation I. Of the general Idea of God. I. GOD never at any time discover'd so much of himself in so few words as when he said to Moses enquiring by what Name he should stile him to make him known to the Children of Israel Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel I AM hath sent me unto you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. not as we render it in English I am that I am but I am that am or I am he that am And so the Seventy read it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am he that is II. This is the Sacred and Incommunicable Name of the Great God that which contains in it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all the Fulness of the Godhead all the Treasures of the Divinity By this Name he is distinguish'd not only from false Gods but from all other Beings whatsoever I am he that am says God implying that he is after some very Eminent and Peculiar Manner and that nothing else besides him truly is This therefore denotes the great Eminence and Peculiarity both of the Essence and of the Existence of God. Here therefore I shall take my ground and shall hence deduce and unfold 1. The general Idea or Notion of God. 2 ly Some of those chief Excellencies and Perfections of his which may have a more strong and immediate Influence upon our Piety and Devotion III. In the present Contemplation I am concern'd for no more than only to six the general Idea or Notion of God. This is of extraordinary moment to the clearness and distinctness of our following Contemplations for unless we take the right thred at first the whole progress will be nothing else but error and confusion IV. Now as to the general Idea or first Conception of God this has been Universally understood to be that he is a Being absolutely Perfect This I say has been made the general Notion of God in all the Metaphysics and Divinity that I have yet seen And particularly it has been imbraced by two Authors of extraordinary Speculation Cartesius and Dr. More whose Authority in this matter claims a peculiar deference because they are Men that Philosophize with a free and unaddicted genius and write not as they read but as they think V. This Opinion because embraced by many and some of them great Patrons I once took for a Theorem of unquestionable Truth But upon a more narrow inspection I find it necessary to dissent from it tho' it be call'd singularity to do so For however plausible it may at first view appear I think there is no less an Objection than plain Demonstration against it Which I make out upon these grounds VI. First I consider that the Idea of a thing is that formal conception or inward word of the Mind which expresses or represents the Essence or Nature of a thing Then again by the Essence of a thing is meant that which ought to be first conceiv'd in a thing and to which all other things are understood as superadded I say which ought to be first conceiv'd because in fixing the Essence of a thing not the arbitrary or accidental but the natural order of Conception is to be attended to Whence it follows that the Idea of a thing is that which expresses that which is first of a thing in order of conception VII This being granted it does hence evidently follow That that which is not first to be conceiv'd in the nature of a thing but supposes somewhat there before it in order of conception cannot be the Idea of that thing tho' it be never so necessarily and inseparably joyn'd with it For if it were then something would be the Idea of a thing which is not first in order of conception which is against the definition of such an Idea VIII For to illustrate this by an example Who will say that the Idea of a Triangle consists in this that any two of its sides taken together are greater than the third remaining This is indeed a necessary affection of a Triangle but it must by no means be allow'd to be its Idea because 't is not what we first conceive in it that being this viz. that which is comprehended by three right Lines Which being the first thing conceiv'd is therefore the true Idea of a Triangle IX Now that to be a Being absolutely perfect is not the first conceivable in God but supposes something before it in the Divine Nature is plain from hence because it may be proved a priori or by way of a causal dependence from something in the same Divine Nature That it may be thus proved I shall make appear in my second Contemplation where I shall make it my profest business actually to prove it At present I suppose it and upon that supposition do I think rightly conclude that to be a Being absolutely perfect cannot be properly the Idea of God. For the Consequence of my Argument will I suppose be acknowledg'd by all the only difficulty is concerning the Proposition it self but the Proof of this I reserve to the next Contemplation X. If it be in the mean time objected That to be a Being Absolutely Perfect is involv'd in the Notion of God and that 't is an Idea that can belong to no other Being and that therefore it must be the Idea of God. To this I answer 1. That a thing may be involv'd in the Notion of a thing either Formally and Explicitly or else Vertually and Implicitly Whatever is involv'd Formally and Explicitly in any Idea is Essential to that Idea But not what is involv'd only vertually and implicitly Thus 't is vertually and implicitly involv'd in the Idea of a Triangle that it has three Angles equal to two Right ones and yet we don 't therefore make this the Idea of a Triangle because 't is not there Formally and Explicitly but only Vertually and Potentially But now to be a Being Absolutely perfect is not involv'd in the Notion of
could he subject him to it without sin For if he could subject him to it without sin then he might as well have made him so at first but 't is supposed that he could not make him so at first and therefore neither could he subject him to this condition without sin And if not without sin then not without sin really and truly committed by him For to subject him to this condition for the sake of sin arbitrarily imputed only is the same as to do it without any sin at all 'T is necessary therefore to pre-suppose some real sin or other in Man as the cause of this his depravation and great proneness to Irregular Love. XIV But now whether every Man sinned in his own Person for himself and so was his own Adam according to the Hypothesis of the Pre-existentiaries or whether one common Person sinned for all the rest as 't is more vulgarly held I shall not here take upon me to determine 'T is sufficient to say in general that 't is necessary to presuppose some Sin or other in man truly and properly Speaking as the Cause of this his Depraved and Miserable Condition And they that can Intelligibly make out Original Sin as 't is usually term'd to be such may make use of that Hypothesis But if that be not intelligible then we must of necessity come to Pre-existence However it be this only I contend for at present that some sin or other must be supposed in Man antecedent to this his condition and that t is through his own fault that he is so prone to Irregular Love. The Vse of this to Devotion THIS whole Contemplation serves very much to the greatest Humiliation and Mortification of Man both before God and all his Fellow-Creatures For if Irregular Love be so monstrous a deformity and so great a folly and if Man be so very prone to Irregular Love and is also himself the Author of that proneness what stronger Combination of Argument can there be imagined for Humility and Lowliness of Spirit For this is the worst that can be said of any thing and is the Sum and Abstract of all that 's base and vile It may also Secondly be argued from the great evil of Irregular Love and from our great proneness to be guilty of it that it highly concerns us to have constant recourse to God in Prayer for his Divine aid and assistance against falling into that which is so great a Folly and so great a Mischief and which by an Infirmity of our own contracting we are so very apt to fall into The Aspiration TO thee O my God belongs Praise and Adoration for endowing me with those excellent Powers of Vnderstanding and Love but to me Shame and Confusion of face for misapplying the one and not attending to the Dictates of the other I blush O my God and am ashamed to think that my nature should stand so much inclined to irregular Love a thing so full of Mischief and Folly but much more that I my self should bring my self into such a state of impotence and depravation My heart sheweth me the great Foulness and Abominableness of Sin and yet I find my self over prone to commit it So Foolish am I and Ignorant and even as a Beast before thee But I desire O my God to be yet more vile I am not vile enough in my own eyes though too much so in thine Nor can I ever be vile enough in my Opinion for being so vile in my Nature Strike me then I beseech thee with a deep and with a lively sense of my own Wretchedness and make me as Humble as I am Wicked And since through the Infirmity of my flesh I am so apt to err in the conduct and application of my Love O hold thou up my goings in thy Paths that my Footsteps slip not Make me always to attend to that Divine Light of thine within my Breast and let the victorious sweetness of thy Grace out-charm all the relishes of sensible good But above all Keep thy Servant from Presumptuous sins lest they get the Dominion over me And let all these words of my mouth and this whole meditation of my heart be always acceptable in thy sight O Lord my strength and my redeemer Amen FINIS Books Printed for and sold by Samuel Manship Bookseller at the Bull in Cornhil London ODes Satyrs and Epistles of Horace done into English the 2d Edition in Octavo price 4 s. The Injur'd Lovers or the Ambitious Father a Tragedy Acted by their Majesties Servants at the Theatre Royal by W. Meuntfort A Cap of Gray-hairs for a Green Head or the Fathers Counsel to his Son an Apprentice in London containing wholsome Instructions for the management of a mans whole life 4th edition a 3d part enlarged by C. Trenchfield Gent. in Twelves price 1 s. The Gallant Hermophrodite an Amorous Novel translated from the French of the Sienr de Chauigny in Octavo price 1 s. A Treatise enumerating the Most Illustrious Families of England who have been raised to Honour and Wealth by the Profession of the Law together with the Names of all the Lord Chief Justices of each Court and Barons of the Exchequer from their first Institution in Octavo price 2. s. 6 d. The Lives of the most famous English Poets or the Honour of Parnassus in a brief Essay of the Works and Writings of above two hundred of them from the time of K. William the Conquerour to the Reign of His present Majesty King Iames the Second in Octavo price 2 s. 6 d. Collection of Miscellanies consisting of Poems Essays Discourses and Letters occasionally written by I. Norris M. A. Fellow of All-Souls Colledge in Oxford in Octavo price â— s. Tim. 6.16 John 1.5 Tim. 6.16 Act. 17.27 22 dae Q. 82. A. 1. Psal. 39. Psal. 147. * Vid. Collection of Miscellan Metap Essay Psal. 63. Serm. 149. De Nat. Deorum Lib. 2. Lib. 3. Con. Gent. cap. 19. Gen 1. Isai. 40.18 Lib. 11. Confes. cap. 4 Joh. 2.15 Psal. 45. Psal. 45. Cant. 6. 1 Cor. 2. 1. Tim. c. 3. Prim. Part. Q. 15. Ar. Prim. Tom. 1. pag. 18. cap. 13. Tom. 4. p. 548. Q. 46. Heb. 1. Heb. 3.12 Psal. 145. Gen. 17. Psal. 16. Epist. 11. Psal. 114. Disp. 30. Sect. 17. Luke 12.5 Psal. 23.4 Luke 1.37 Cant. 6.5 Rom. 11.35 Isa. 42.8 Dan. 7.10 Pet. 2.4 Heb. 2.16 Psal. 8. 2 King. 6.17 Dan. 10. Psal. 34. Princip Phil. p. 50. Psal. 147. Psal. 105. Pro. 30. Psal. 21. Ex. 33 Matt. 10. De Nat. Hom. p. 22. 1 Cor. 6. Psal. 145. Medit. De Prima Philosop Medit. 3. Job 6. Heb. 1. Contemp. 5. De inquirend verit lib. 1. cap. 2. Pe inquirend verit l. 3. part 2. c. 1. 2 Cor. 3.5 Rom. 1.19 James 1.17 Joh. 1.9 Act. 17.28 Part. 1. Q. 84. Ar. 5. Psal. 36. Ver. 14. 1 Cor. 30. Psal. 119. Psal. 27. Psal. 16. Heb. 1. Psal. 43. Psal. 119. Vid. Theory and Regulation of Love. Judg. 9.15 Psal. 19.