others will make us desire their Honour as well as our own And where we love all and have an Affection for the Publick we shall desire no more than we deserve we shall be unwilling that other Men should be so far imposed on as to think us better than indeed we are We cannot be so unjust as to expect Reward without Merit and Praise where it is not due Charity is not puffed up 1 Cor. 13. 4. and therefore frees a Man's Mind from all the Tortures that ambitious Spirits lie under This makes a Man not displeas'd that other Men are prais'd and himself not nay tho they have more and he less than deserved yet he is very well satisfied because his own and the Approbation of a few competent Judges is sufficient to support him whereas Men of less Worth have need of greater Applause to bear up their Minds and to bring them into Request and enable them to do Good And how perfectly doth this Principle subdue and regulate all the Appetites of corporeal Pleasure He that is acted by universal Love cannot go to a forbidden Bed for he will not draw one whom he loves into Sin he will not deprive them of the lasting Pleasures of Innocence and Chastity He will not violate the Orders of all the Civilized World which have been from the beginning of Time which for the sake of the Publick for Posterity as well as the present Generation ought to be inviolably observed He will not eat nor drink more than is good for him as for other Reasons so lest others should want that which is good for them Again This universal Love by engaging us to do all the Good we can takes away all inordinate Love of Money We shall not now desire more than we can and will use for the advantage of others as well as our selves And when it is thus with us we shall not grasp at all we could get and we shall use what we do get And where we are thus minded we have freed our selves from that infinite Carking and Anxiety which an inordinate Desire of Riches causes Lastly This will in many cases prevent the bitterest Remorse for Sins by preventing the Sins themselves as I have shewed For the good Man will not be unjust or unfaithful he cannot oppress or cozen falsly or needlessly accuse will not violate the Chastity prejudice the Health much less take away the Life of any and thus secures himself from those Terrors of Conscience which follow such Wickednesses And where we are surprized and do unwillingly mis-behave our selves towards God if we be indeed charitable and loving towards Men we can then pray that God would and hope that he will forgive us as we do them Thus I have shewn how this universal Beneficence frees us from Trouble and Unquietness And now I will briefly shew how it brings us Pleasure as well as Quiet By Pleasure I here understand that Joy which is caus'd in the Soul by an Apprehension or Sense of Good Now where this Principle is become natural to us and we act from it and according to it it must necessarily be a Spring of Delight to us How pleasant and joyful must the Mind of that Man be which is govern'd by an universal Love As much Good as there is in the World so much cause of Pleasure is there to them For 1. He is set at Liberty from contracted Selfishness every Man is now to him as he is to himself and other Mens Concerns are as his own so that he now rejoyces in their Welfare and is heartily glad at the Good which befals them So much is his Joy greater now than it was when he liv'd to himself for then he was pleas'd with his own private Advantages but perhaps repin'd or at least was unconcern'd at other Mens whereas now he is delighted to see it go well with any Man in the World Thus he honestly and innocently enjoys the Good of others without depriving them of any gathers of the Honey-dew without robbing the Flower of its own Sweetness As much Good then as there is and as he can see in the World and there is very much for the Mercy of God is over all his Works and he that will consider things may discover it so much cause of Gladness hath this good Man And then 2. The infinite Love and Goodness of God is an inexhaustible Fountain of Joy to the good Man For tho he sees many things much amiss and a great deal of Evil in the World tho he sees poor Man at a great distance from his Happiness and the whole World lying in Wickedness yet he also sees infinite Goodness at work and that it has done very much in order to Man's Happiness and doubts not but in some ways which he is ignorant of all the ends of Divine Goodness will be accomplish'd at last I have shewed before that this Goodness of Temper helps us to an assured Knowledg of the Goodness of God We may also refer the two fore-going Particulars to the Object of Benevolence If there be so great Pleasure in loving one or two or a few how great is that which arises from an universal Good-will a Love to all Men Thirdly The good Man hath Pleasure as concerning himself from his Beneficence to others and it is such a Pleasure as hath many Advantages above most others For 1. As to its degree it is both intense and exquisite 2. As to its kinds it is both of Memory Sense and Hope as it refers to Good past present and to come 3. It s Original is from Man himself in concurrence with God and Nature and therefore it is both certain and near 4. As to its Duration it is both continued and lasting 5. As to its Quality and Effects it is absolutely Good 6. In respect of its Objects it is largely extended and manifold 1. The Pleasure that arises from a Sense of our Beneficence is without any allay or mixture of Pain and that which is so is pure and in the highest degree This cannot be said of most other Pleasures the Price of them is much abated by the Pains that accompany them The more corporeal and gross they are the more they have of this Dress This is a Commendation that almost only belongs to the Pleasure that arises from vertuous Practices and yet not any not all of the other Vertues can afford so great a Delight as this which is both a Complex of most of them and the End and Consummation of all The rest are but mediate and subordinate Vertues this is ultimate and final When a Man is in the exercise of universal Love of Charity and Good-will he is as good and as great and happy as he can be then is all finished The greatest Pleasure is in Love Now when Love is universal and in exercise Pleasure keeps proportion with it and is as great as it can be for it is as large as its Object and therefore
Statute-Book 'T is both the Common and Civil and Canon-Law whereby God governs his Subjects If any should imagine that because a great part of or all the Bible was directed to particular Persons of such Times and Places that therefore they were intended for no more Or because they were writ in an exotick and strange Tongue with which most of the World are unacquainted therefore they must not be looked on as a Revelation of the Divine Will to all Men I would desire such to consider 1. That in whatever Language they were writ the same Objection would lie against them 2. Here is work for Industry and that which may engage Men in Study and encourage Learning and may occasion Men of one Nation 's acquainting themselves with others and with the Wisdom and Customs of all Places and Times 3. That what is contained in our Bible was directed to some particular Persons this was no more than was fit to procure its Entertainment amongst them If it had been spoke to all perhaps none might have minded it at least not so much as they probably would to whom it was particularly addressed 4. That however some few might be immediately concerned in it and it might have especial respect to the Men of one Age and Place yet this hinders not but that it might have a farther reference to all that were them or should be afterwards in all Nations to whom it should come And tho there might be and were some of the Laws founded on particular Reasons which afterwards might cease yet this takes not off the Obligations of those Laws which are founded on universal and immutable Reasons such as belong to all Mankind in all Ages Where the very same reason does not continue yet there is often a Parity which is sufficient to lay an Obligation on us Exempli Gratiâ Tho we may not look on our selves as obliged to offer Sacrifices on an Altar to God by the Hands of a Priest yet we may and should offer up to God of our Substance by the Hands of the Poor And so the Law of Sacrifices may still direct and in some sort bind us And thus we may make use of the abrogated Laws which were temporary to direct our selves in the Knowledg of what the Will of God is to us by considering Parity of Reason which is the way we take in all Humane Laws This Exception being thus removed we need not question but the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament contain a Revelation of God's Will to us and all Men. V. God teaches Men what his Will is by secret Suggestions of his Spirit 'T is this which often shews us the way in which we should go which directs us saying This is the way walk in it I believe there is no Man but one time or other feels himself most powerfully instigated to do such or such an Action which at that time he clearly apprehends to be good And at other times he is as forcibly with-held from what by a clear light he sees to be evil And this he cannot reasonably impute to any other cause besides the Spirit of God He is not conscious of any Power within himself that can do thus and there is no other visible Cause of this powerful Influence So that it may well be ascribed to the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation This brings to mind some of the Divine Precepts which we had forgot or did not then think of This discovers to us in some particular Instances what God would have us do which in other ways we could not have known Now this being so distinguishable from the other ways as to the manner and yet so consistent with and agreeable to them in the matter of the Revelation we may well conclude that it 's another way in which God discovers his Will unto Mankind Thus I have briefly considered the five ways in which God makes his Will known unto us Concerning which ways I will further say 1. That there is no Law of God which is not in one or more of them publish'd unto us 2. That some of them and indeed many are in all these ways to be known by us 3. Those that are thus many ways declared are hereby signified to be of great Importance to be known and done by us Therefore was it that the Divine Providence took such care that they should not be conceal'd from us 4. Those which are notisied to us in some one way only e. g. the Scriptures are not contradictory to nor contradicted by any other that are revealed to us in the other ways There is no Repugnancy no Inconsistency betwixt them but they all exactly harmonize and agree with each other Whosoever thinks otherwise he takes that to be a Command of God which is not There may be and is something more revealed in one way than in another but there is nothing in one that is repugnant to that is inconsistent with indeed that is not agreeable to what is in another Therefore if we at any time should interpret the Scripture-Revelation in contradiction to the unquestionable Principles of the Reason and Mind of Man we misunderstand it These are both God's Revelation of his Will to us and he cannot contradict himself Whosoever will do that which is every Man 's necessary Duty and greatest Interest to do that is seek after a perfect understanding of the Will of God concerning Man he may by a diligent Exercise of himself in these ways attain unto it And whatever Pains he takes in it I can assure him he will find himself well appaid in the Effect of his Labour For that must be great Holiness of Life and abundant Satisfaction and Quiet of Mind If I were to give a Compendium of that which all these ways appears to be the Will of God and more than a Compendium I must not offer at it should be this viz. the Perfection and good State of all Men. Whosoever either considers the Goodness and Wisdom of God or the Inclinations and Faculties which he has given to all Men or the Sense of the wisest and best nay of all Men who are in a restless Pursuit of somewhat they often mistake for their Happiness or the holy Scriptures or the secret Motions of the Divine Spirit He will say that all these do centre in and aim at this And consequently shew that this is certainly the Will of God And if we be once assured in our Minds that the Goodness and Perfection or best State of Man is the Divine Will we have got a Clue that will direct us through all the Labyrinths of Particulars And if we have but once form'd true and distinct Notion of what our Perfection is we shall then see clearly what are the Particulars of which it consists what are the means that are in order to it and what are the things that oppose and hinder it And in effect we shall be directed to a right understanding of all the
Slaves of this Enemy of God and all Goodness This grand Opposer of Man's Happiness To be led Captive by him at his Will To be dragg'd at the Chariot-Wheels of this insulting Conqueror What can be worse than first to execute his malicious Will and then be punished for so doing To be most cruelly tormented for obeying those Laws of Sin and Death which he gave them And this was the State of the Pagan World they worshipp'd Devils they received Oracles from them they obey'd them they were subject to their Dominion This is also plainly attested by their own Writers And when the Scripture speaks of their Conversion to Christianity it expresseth it thus that they were turned from Darkness to Light and from the Power of Satan unto God Acts. 26. 18. I have said enough one would think to set forth the miserable State of us Gentiles before-our Conversion but yet there is one Consideration more which exceedingly aggravates their Wo and that is that they are liable to be condemned to the greater and more lasting Miseries of the future State those Torments which admit of no Ease and will have no end which they cannot escape except they be recovered out of this Snare of the Devil and become the Servants of God That is unless they cease to do evil and learn to do well which how hard it was for them to do we may conclude from the Difficulty that we who have the many greater Helps which the Gospel-Dispensation affords us find in it And besides how full of Anxiety and disquieting Thoughts must their Sin and Ignorance and their Presensions and Boadings of Evil to come of a deserved Punishment for their Faults fill them with Nay tho they should repent and amend how uncertain must they be of the Pardon and Favour of God And therefore how must they through Fear of Death be all their Life-time subject to Bondage Thus I have very curiously given an account of the first Particular viz. The Condition of the Gentiles before Christianity II. I now proceed to sew some of the Advantages which the Gentiles have by becoming Christians And this will appear both in respect of Themselves and in respect of Others First If we consider them in themselves singly their Advantage appears in this that their Minds are greatly enlightned their Hearts are throughly purified their Lives are reformed and amended 1. Their Minds are enlightned Their Knowledg is both larger and clearer and surer than it was and consequently far more efficacious and powerful They know the Nature and Condition of Man far better they are now assured of a Spiritual and Immortal Soul which inhabits this Body which is the far more excellent Part of Man They have now assurance that they and all Men shall live after Death and that they shall be for ever happy or miserable according as they have lived here If they have lived a Holy and Vertuous Life they shall be brought into a State of endless Bliss If they have done Evil if they have not done Good that they shall fall under unsufferable and perpetual Torments They now understand that the Cause of all the Miseries and Imperfections of Mankind is their Sin That all the Calamities in the World owe their Original to the Wickedness of Men. They now understand the Dangerousness of their Condition and they are fully convinced of their own Impotency and Insufficiency which Acquaintance with themselves what a Preparation it is to Vertue and Holiness we shall see presently Again They know now that God is a Spirit of an Incorporeal Nature and such as their own Souls are and that He is but one The Father the Word and the Holy Spirit being all one That it was He that made the Heavens and the Earth by the Eternal Word and that by his powerful Decree all things are continued and that his Providence doth so particularly superintend all things that not a Sparrow falls to the Ground without his Knowledg and Permission And that this God knows all things that he searches the Hearts and sees the secret Works and the inward Thoughts of all Men and that he is infinitely good and kind That he is immutably Holy and Just and Pure That he will call Men to Account for the Deeds they have done in this Body and will reward the Good with Everlasting Life and will adjudg the Wicked to Everlasting Woe They also more perfectly understand their Duty and the way of Life in which they should walk They now know that Spiritual Worship is that which God principally looks at and that this is not only to be confined to certain Times and Places and Actions but that at all Times and every where God may be worshipp'd and that in the whole Course of our Lives and in all our Actions his glorious Perfections may be and are to be acknowledged And to him is to be ascribed his Excellency above all by Loving and Fearing and Believing and Obeying Him more than all They know they ought in all their Wants to make their Supplications to God and that they should praise and be thankful to him for all the Good they receive They know also that they are to apply themselves to God by Jesus Christ that it is by and through him the Merits of his Life and Death the Prevailing of his Intercession with the Father that they are accepted They are likewise fully instructed that they are to purify themselves from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit that they are to bring into subjection the Body and to keep it under that is that all the inferior Appetites and Inclinations be kept in a due subordination to the Reason and Law of their Minds They are now told plainly That they must not only be Just and True and Honest and Fair in their Dealings with Men so as not to circumvent and cozen not to deceive and disappoint but must stand to their Word keep to their Promises make good their Contracts but that they must also be compassionate and merciful courteous and kind gentle and meek loving and good to all Men to Neighbours and Acquaintance and also to Strangers and Forreigners to Enemies as well as Friends Nor only to the Good tho to them principally but also to the Bad. Thus are they instructed in their Duty and they see not only what they are to do but why they should do it They understand clearly the goodness the fitness the beneficialness the necessity of such a Life They see how natural how reasonable it is how just it is to live thus if they respect God who requires it who made and preserves them and from whom they receive all Good who is their undoubted Lord and perfectly Wise and Good and who will be their Judg. They know their dependence on Him and therefore must conclude that they ought to be at His dispose and be directed and governed by Him They see the manifold Advantages which accrue to them as well as to others by
Counsel if it were well minded would prevent the most and greatest Troubles that we have from one another If we would keep within our own Compass move in our own Spheres reach not at things too high for us engage not to do what we cannot do not judg where we do not understand observe our Order and keep our Rank it would contribute very much both to the quiet of our own Minds and to the Peace of the World The neglect of this one thing seems to have been the great cause of all the Sin and Misery and consequently the Trouble that is in the World The proud Angels left their own Habitation their Province and this was their Fall To be short Carry about no idle Tales Do not make nor widen Differences Allow not thy self in any Angry Contention indeed never contend with others but who shall do most Good And now in a word to reflect upon what has been discoursed If Quiet be so good and desirable if we have so much reason to seek it let us take Shame to our selves that we have so much neglected that we have so much opposed so great a Good that we have been Enemies to our own and other Mens Peace I doubt we have all too much reason to tax our selves of being notoriously faulty in this Particular How little have we studied our own Quiet how have we disturbed other Mens And what a cause of Lamentation is it when we see Mankind such Troublers every Man of himself and every Man of his Brother that whereas we should be taking all good ways to please and quiet our selves and others we are running fast in the ways that lead to Sorrow but the way of Peace we will not know Let us no longer be so foolishly so unnaturally wicked as to be Troublers of our selves and others but in all wise and good ways possible let us do our utmost that both we and all other Men may be as quiet here on Earth as is compatible to this State that this may be to us the first-Fruits of that Eternal Sabbatism that perpetual Rest which remains for the Peaceable the Children and People of God OF EDUCATION PROV 22. 6. Train up a Child in the way he should go THere is a general and I doubt a very just Complaint of a most gross and almost universal Neglect in the Education of Children And indeed I fear if a Visitation were made of every Family and School in the Land few in comparison would be found who take care of or have Skill in this great Business Those who seem not to be negligent I would ask them What Time they bestow what Thoughts they lay out on their Children I would enquire after the Designs and Methods they have all the Contrivances and ways they use vvith them And I am afraid those that are thought by others and think themselves most careful would not be able upon such an Enquiry to clear themselves of great Negligence they would appear both very unskilful and very careless And yet this thing which is so little regarded and less understood is of as great Moment and Consequence as any one thing and that both on a publick and private account And among the other perhaps there is not a greater and more general Cause of all Wickedness and of the Mischiefs consequent upon it than the no or ill Education of Children We do and we have too much cause to complain of Inâ—â—delity and Atheism of the Profaneness and Debauchery of the Unsetledness the Superstition and Fanaticism the perverse Schismaticalness the dull Formality and great Corruption of the Age in which we live One main cause of which if we look back we shall find to have been the want of Care and Skill in the educating of Children I shall consider I. The Action that is here required Train II. The Object a Child III. The Specification in his Way And then I shall propound some Reasons and Arguments to perswade us to this Duty I. As to the Action Train This Word does fully express the Original which also is translated Catechise And it signifies two Things 1. Instructing or teaching which is done by Precepts and by Examples 2. Initiating inuring exercising Thus Souldiers are train'd when they are exercised in handling of their Arms in their keeping Rank and File and in the doing of those things which they must do when they come to encounter an Enemy This is that which the wise Man advises to be done by the Child let him be trained And 't is excellent Counsel much better than if he had said only instruct or teach For as the disciplin'd and exercis'd Souldier is much more dextrous at the Management of his Arms than he only who has been told what he must do but has never us'd to do it so undoubtedly he who has been initiated in his Work will be far more ready at it and more disposed to it than he who has only been directed what and perswaded why he should do it but has never begun to do it We observe a very great distance betwixt our knowing what and why we should act and our acting How frequent is it for Men very well to understand what is to be done and yet not to do it In many Cases also Actions are never understood but by acting The doing of many Works informs and incites and enables us more than any other way Nay the very Attempt and Essay at that which we cannot yet do we all know carries so much Power along with it that we are in 〈◊〉 and by frequent Trials enabled to do that well which we could not do at all when we first attempted it I have the rather taken notice of the force that is in the word train because as I have said we may in some Cases understand and not act and in some acting is the best way to understand I am sure it is always the best Method to secure and keep that Knowledg and those Inclinations which we have to such Actions In Practicals the best Knowledg and the strongest Inclinations are got by Practice Use inclines Men to repeat the same Actions And Custom has always been esteemed a second Nature II. I proceed to consider the Object who it is that is to be thus trained It is a Child i. e. Man whilst he is young and when he is first capable of this Instruction and Exercise Man is ever to be learning Cato thought himself never too old to learn And every other Man should think the same but there is very great Advantage of this being begun betimes They that make no entrance on a thing in their first Years seldom are brought to it afterwards or if they be 't is always with great Difficulty and it must be with Damage for they are hindred from making progress in some other matters more considerable whilst they are exercising â—â—â—â—selves in those which they ought to 〈◊〉 learn'd whilst they were young Beâ—â—des Men seldom bring
probably will be no Deceit in the Weight it will not give advantage to one scale wherein his own or Friends concerns are but that wherein the Publick is will certainly out-weigh with him That Man who is bent on doing Good to the World will be Just for all Corruption of Justice is founded on preference of private Respects before the publick Good Let Men be Publick-spirited and aim at the good State of the Community and they are antidoted against Injustice Those that regard other Mens Concerns as well as their own will not advance themselves upon their Ruins nor grasp at all and leave nothing for their Neighbour but weigh his Conveniences as well as their own and they that consider the Publick and design the welfare of Mankind will not violate those Rules that are so necessary to Society and the order of the World This Man that carries Mankind in his thoughts and hath Good-will for every one cannot be unjust to any cannot defraud or circumvent or do any thing that 's mischievous to them or the Publick He is not biass'd by self-Interest nor will he heap his favours upon his Kindred whilst Men of greater Merit starve I do not say that he hath no regard for his Relations or that he is more kind to Strangers than to his Acquaintance and Friends for that is a foolish Niceness and a piece of unnatural Policy which the Man of universal Good-will cannot be obnoxious to But the best and most useful Man whether a-Kin to him or not shall be preferred by him He that can be kind to all cannot but be just to all I cannot better represent this Man than by those Motions which the late Astronomers attribute to the Earth it moves ever both about its own Axis and in the Ecliptick Circle and from hence come the vicissitudes of Day and Night Summer and Winter to the several Inhabitants thereof Thus the Good-man moves on his own Axis and yet round the Ecliptick aims at the good of the World as well as his own and he that doth so cannot be Unjust 〈◊〉 tells us that the first principle of Justice is Ne cui quis noceat nisi lacessitus injurâ—â— Not to hurt any Man except we be before provoked But a Beneficent Temper will amplify and enlarge this Rule or give us a clearer understanding of it and add That not in that caâ—e neither except that will tend to a greater Good either to him or me or the Publick And therefore Seneca saith Neino prudens punit quia peccatum est sed 〈◊〉 peccetur No prudent Man inflicts punishment because Evil is Committed but that it may not be committed for the future I understand here by Justice also that Equity which is sometimes opposed to it in common Speech but is really the same thing 3. Where this Principle is entertain'd and observed it must necessarily inspire that Man with Courage and great Valour There are two things which ordinarily make the Pusillanimous Valiant First when they are engaged in a good Cause 2dly when they are joyn'd with great Aids Both these concur here 1. This Man that is ever on design of doing Good to the Universe hath a good Cause and he knows it He is assured he is doing well and that which will justifie it self to every Impartial Considerer He himself cannot have the least scruple about what he doth nor can any other Man justly or with any colour of Reason tax him who is on such publick Service He that can say he is doing Good to the Community and that this is the business of this Life he hath prevented all Calumny and is as blamless as harmless And when he considers how clear his own Designs are how accountable his Actions this will make him encounter dangers and difficulties and assault all opposition that would hinder him from effecting what he aims at He thinks with himself that if it were his own private concerns only that ingag'd him or some particular Interest that he serv'd then others might have some Plea to oppose but when he intends the Good of Mankind and in the good Offices he doth to particular Men is swayed by a respect to the Publick he knows none can have a better a more allowable and commendable Employment Besides this 2. He hath good assurance of Assistance and he shall be enabled to overcome the opposition he meets with He hath God and all the good Beings in the World to take his Part it 's the design of infinite Goodness to do Good to Mankind it is the Employment of Blessed Angels to serve the great Interests of Man's Happiness The Blessed Jesus to whom all Power in Heaven and Earth is given was whilst he was here on Earth and is now in the State of his Exaltation carrying on the grand design of Man's Happiness Nay there is that in every Man that is not degenerated into a Devil that will take part and joyn in with him who is bent to be an universal Benefactor For who can set themselves without reluctance against him who hath none other Design but to do Good to All Nay rather how is he the Object of every Man's Care how safe is his Condition It is true there are too many in the World who are acted by a Spirit of Envy and Malice who are selfish and contracted who regard not others but themselves only But what can these do against God and Nature and all those innumerable Ministers of his that are ready to do the Pleasure of his Goodness The Man of general Good-will if his Eyes be opened must say that more are they that are with him than those that are against him Besides as I have said this Principle of universal Beneficence gives such a Greatness of Mind to him that is acted by it that he slights and scorns and makes nothing of all the little Difficulties and Dangers that he can conflict with His Soul is so taken up with the greatness of his own Design and is carried out with so much earnestness in pursuit after it that all the Things that might daunt or discourage him make no Impression of Fear on him at all 4. This Principle where it rules must certainly restrain all Intemperance For 1. It will so much employ and busy a Man that he cannot be vacant enough for those Extravagancies No Man is intemperate but he is first idle Now he that hath entertain'd so universally an active Principle as this of Good-will to All he cannot spare Hours to throw away in intemperate Practices which he sees no way conduce to his End Nay 2. He will perceive them quite opposite and contrary to his End For both Observation and Reason will tell him that whosoever indulges himself in excess of bodily Pleasures he indisposes he disables himself from doing Good He that hath gorged himself with Meat that hath inflamed his Blood with Drinking or hath wallow'd in any other bodily Pleasures how careless is he of other Mens Concerns
Good to them that do most Good he will discharge his Office well his Laws will be no tyrannical arbitrary unaccountable Impositions but a gentle and easy Yoke his Sentence will be equitable and his Execution full of Mildness and Humanity And how little cause of Quarrels and Commotions there can be in a State whose Governors are thus qualified we all see Thus is it where the Magistrates are bent on doing Good to all especially to the Best and most Vertuous 2. This Publick-spiritedness is no less necessary for Ministers to engage them to that extraordinary Diligence they must use to carry them through all the Opposition and Difficulties they shall certainly meet with in their general Converse with all sorts with Men of the meanest Capacities of lowest Rank and greatest Vices and worst Natures Nothing but this Universal Benevolence can fit them for such Converse Only he that loves all will bear with such Conversation as a Minister meets with All the Care and Pains he is at first to find out good and wholesom and fit Truths and then to deliver them intelligibly and acceptably must have their Rise from his great Good-will to Men and therefore he doth thus because he is on a design of doing Good to them Where the Minister is destitute of this good Temper he is idle and careless and his Discourses useless and insignificant because he is without Charity he is a sounding Brass and tinkling Cymbal and his Carriage foolish and hurtful The great Work of Ministers is to teach Religion so as it may be both known and done to make it easy to be understood and easy to be practised c. Thus I have endeavoured to make plain that Universal Beneficence is both available and necessary to all the valuable Interests which Man can propose to himself whether he regard the present or the future State whether he consider himself and his own particular State or the Publick whether he be in a private or a publick Capacity he must strictly observe this Rule of doing Good to All. So that if we would be either good or happy in this World or he that to come if we would serve our selves or others if we would please and honour our God and Saviour adorn our Profession if we would have Pleasure in Life and Peace in and Glory after Death if we would do all we can to make others as good as we wish they were we must herein exercise our selves to do all the Good we can to all If any are idle and would be doing nothing I do assure them they shall have more pleasure in this active Life than in Sleep and Dulness If any love themselves only and do not regard how it goes with others I do assure them that this is the best and likeliest way to serve themselves As many as are of particular Affections confined to Kindred or a Party or so let them enlarge their Love to All and they will proportionably increase their Pleasure And if any are malicious and love to do Mischief I undertake to make it appear to them that the Pleasures of Love are far greater than those of Revenge And I entreat such to leave off to lead the Life of Devils and live that of Angels If Heaven be more desirable than Hell it 's better to love than to hate Consider what has been said and God grant that we may all in good earnest set upon the Practice of that most excellent Duty to which we are exhorted And let the good Spirit of God inspire the whole World with that Goodness and Love to one another and all Men that so we may both live well here and be happy for ever hereafter for the sake of Jesus Christ Now to this Blessed Saviour who hath loved us and washed us in his own Blood together with the Father and the Holy Spirit be eternally given all Honour Praise and Glory Amen FINIS †Dr. Henry Mâ—â—â— in his Enchirid. Ethic.
should decline all the Inconveniences and shun the Dangers of which those Times were so full whereby they should be hindred or taken off from doing the good which they ought And that they should use all honest Care and prudent Circumspection in closing with those fit seasons they might meet with of doing that which by their Religion they were obliged unto The following Reason which the Apostle uses confirms this to be his Sense For the Days are Evil. Evil i. e. in the largest Notion of that Word as it denotes Sin as well as the Misery that is consequent upon it difficult perilous times Therefore be wise and careful to avoid the Danger to decline the Temptations to shun the Disadvantages to lay hold on the few Opportunities which such Evil Days afford To this he subjoins the last Clause which contains the Direction to and implies the necessary Cause of all that he had required before And this is propounded in form of an Exhortation 1. Negatively and Generally Be not unwise or Fools 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. More Particularly and Positively But understanding what the Will of the Lord is Understanding 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word signifies an exact Knowledg such as is got by comparing one thing with another For this Cause that ye may walk circumspectly declining the Disadvantages and escaping the unnecessary dangers of the Evil Times in which we live be not without understanding but endeavour after a very perfect Knowledg of what the Will of the Lord is Having given this account of the Words I shall offer the Sense of them in this short plain Parephrase That ye may behave your selves as becomes Children of Light and not be partakers with Insidels in the unfruitful Works of Darkness c. Be very accurate in your Lives and in all your Actions as becomes those that are endued with that divine Wisdom that certain and excellent Knowledg which with our Saviour came down from Heaven Live not like those who are uninstructed in and uâ—â—cquainted with the excellent Religion of the Blesseâ— Jesus And altho the Times in which you live be full of Evil tho you meet with Temptations to Sin and be environed with danger of Suffering tho you find many hindrances and few helps to do well yet be wise and dexterous in declining all needless fruitless Dangers escaping the Evils and closing with the Opportunities you shall have And that you may be better assisted for and in the doing all this that you may be thus exact in your selves and prudent in your Carriage in reference to the Times inform your selves fully what the Will of God is get as certain knowledg as you can of what ever God has commanded or would have you do The Words contain many Propositions But I shall only insist upon those for the matter of my Discourse which seem to be most express and to take in the main scope of the Text. I shall reduce them to these three I. All Christians ought to live exactly II. They ought to make the best of bad Times when they fall into them III. They ought to use their best endeadeavours to understand what the Will of the Lord is Of the First Proposition 〈◊〉 Christians ought to see to take good heed that they live exactly In discoursing of which I shall First Show what it is to live Exactly And Secondly What Obligations lie on Christians to live so and to take heed to it Thirdly I shall give some Directions And Lastly Make some Inferences First To walk Exactly is to use due Care and Caution Circumspection and Diligence that we live according to the best and most perfect Idea of good Life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seems to signify this It may refer to to the thing done and then it denotes the perfection of that work Or to the Doing or Doer and then it means his Care and Diligence It often bears a respect to both and signifies the care that is taken in order to the doing any thing as well as it can be done So that by this we are at once directed to the End and to the Way or Means by which it is to be attain'd The End is a perfectly good Life The Way to it is by a diligent Care Now as 't is commonly said that to live signifies more than doing some single Actionâ— so I must say that 't is more than all our Actions For as it is requisite to make the whole not only that all the parts be there but they must be united too So 't is in the matter before us To make up a good Life the Actions must not only be good singly and by themselves but in that Relation Proportion and Order which they have unto each other So that in short To walk or live exactly is to take care that the whole course of our Life be such as it cannot be better omitting nothing that is Good doing nothing that is Evil that we do thus universally at all times in all places whatever we do that respects God or our Selves or our Brethren That our Actions be in nothing deficient neither as to Matter or Manner as to the Principles the Reasons and Eâ—ds of them That in all these respects they be exactly agreeable to human Nature in general to our Condition and Circumstances in particular that is that they be as good as such Men as we are can do If any enquire yet more particularly what a perfectly good Life is I may answer that as the Apostle here supposes it so may I suppose that all Men know it All Men have an Idea of Goodness which upon several Occasions they take notice of and refer to as when they approve and commend or blame and condemn several Practices And whenever they hear such a description of good Life as they understand they give an immediate assent to it But because in too many this Idea is not so actually observed as it would be well if it were that I may raise those Thoughts and help to make them more explicit I will propound this general Dedescription of it viz. When a Man's Will and Affections and all his Actions are so guided by a true and clear and large knowledg of God and himself aâ—d the rest of the World that he loves God with all his Heart and bears good will to other Men as he does to himself that he glorifies God and promotes his own and his Brethrens best state in all he does and the most he can And does all this knowingly and intentionally or with the design of doing it This in general every one will think a good Life I must not go on to Particulars These are some of the most essential parts of that Life which the Apostle requires an exactnâ—ss in i. e. that Men should aim at the perfecâ—ion of it and in order to this that they should take great care and pains that they should mind it and give good heed unto it Secondly I proceed to
to our Enemy then consider he is a Man that is one who is liable to Error but yet capable of Information One who is subject to do Evil but yet often is changed and amends his Life One of God's Creatures and one of the most excellent of them and shall we destroy that which we could not make that which God himself made with so much Wisdom and such greatness of Power Can we have so little esteem of the Work of God Can we destroy what we do not understand Besides Man is God's Image and all the Lines can never be so much obliterated as that there should be no resemblance And if there remain any Lineaments of our Father's Face in a Picture we shall surely keep it as a sacred Relique Will not this move us Yet our own Likeness may Can we love our selves and not love our own Picture that is so very like us Or not love one that is Flesh of our Flesh and Bone of our Bone So every Man is to another Or lastly Have we any Love to our Saviour and shall not we love his Disciple Do we value our Religion and have no more regard to the Professors of it Did Christ die for him that he might live for ever and will not you suffer him to live here Briefly there is often a great deal of Good in him that is our Enemy and we must love that and him for the sake of that Good We do not well to cast away the Corn with the Chaff nor the Garment because of one Spot nor disfigure the Face because of a Mole nor pull out the other Eye because one is lost already And yet thus we do here when we hate the Man tho he be otherwise very good because he is our Enemy But 3. If there be very little that can be called good in him if he be an Infidel and foolish and evil if he not only be no Christian but hath also put off Humanity if worse than a Beast if almost as bad as we imagine the Devil is then the greater is his Misery and since he is capable of Recovery the more compassionable is his Case The Man is miserable and therefore to be pitied It is unnatural Cruelty it is monstrous Inhumanity to hate to prosecute one in Misery And this is the State of that Man whom I have here described nay it is in part true of every one that is my Enemy For every Man is so far from Happiness as he is from Love and Hatred is distant enough from that Besides He who continues in Spite and Malice against me is an Enemy to God and he that is so is in the unhappiest Condition imaginable Why should we add to his Misery which is already so great Thirdly Consider your selves they are your Enemies 1. It is no way proper for your selves to sentence and punish in the case because you are so apt to mistake every where and especially to be partial in your own cause We are neither wise nor just enough to be Judges in such a matter We may be so far deceived as to think them our Enemies who are not and we oftner mistake thus than we think we do In this case to hate is very evil in the opinion of all It is supposed in the Text that Men are our Enemies yet we must love them If they be not so we are worse than Heathens and if they be yet The Cause being our own we cannot be thought competent Judges for our selves against another Man We are so apt to over-value every petty Interest of our own as to think that all other Mens Concerns how great and valuable soever must give place to ours We generally only consider our own Affairs and are wholly regardless of other Mens This is one Reason why all Controversies betwixt Man and Man are referr'd in all Countries to a third Person who is more indifferent and impartial and so will probably be more wise and just than a Party would be Here also it cannot be proper for you because it belongs to God himself Vengeance is mine and I will repay it saith the Lord He only can understand the Crime so as to proportion a Punishment to it Considering how apt we are to be over-passionate in our own Concerns and to be too much exasperated where we are opposed in any little trifling Interest we should rather refer our selves to one that is perfectly wise and just than pass Sentence our selves against a Man as we do if we hate him It becomes the Modesty of one that knows himself apt to mistake to refer himself to the Judgment of another and if we will be decided by him who is most fit to determine that is by God himself then the Controversy is ended and we must not hate but love our Enemies 2. He is our Enemy but a Friend perhaps to many others as good and better than we and cannot we be satisfied with and love that which is prejudicial to our particular Interest if others receive Advantage by it If the Rain that overflows me make my Neighbour's Field fruitful I must not dislike it And if the Sun warms thousands by the Heat which scorches me or the Season by which I suffer favour many others I am not to be displeased And if he that is mine Enemy and opposes my Interest be a Friend to many I will love him in as much as I am taught to regard other Mens Interests and not only to mind mine own Things He that only considers himself and his own particular Advantage is his Center may hate every thing that opposes him in it but he that takes other Mens Concernments into his thoughts and desires their Welfare as his own as everyone doth that is true either to Christianity or Nature will not be so much disaffected to that which is against himself if it be for others but will love that which doth them good tho it prejudice himself 3dly Your Enemies Who have therefore known what it is to have Enemies and have felt the evil Effects of Hatred and Uncharitableness It is reasonable to expect that such should not do that which they know to be so great an Evil. If it be no Evil to have Enemies why do you complain And if it be why will you do thus You see the Evil of it in others why not in your selves Will you condemn that in them which you allow and practise Both Religion and Nature teach us to be affected towards other Men as we are to our selves to love our Neighbours as our selves and to do to them as we would have them do to us The Providence of God has given us such Natures and put us in such Circumstances in the World that we have the greatest Engagements laid upon us to mutual Kindness and Good-will He had made us all of one Stock we are also like one another we stand in need of each others Help and Service We make voluntary Agreements and enter into
as they account unnatural Precept of our Saviour to disparage his whole Gospel I hope my Discourse has shewn both how reasonable and how natural it is and that it has taken away all the Pretences which weak and inconsiderate or ill-natured Men have for their neglect of it So that I have prevented my self of what I propounded to do next viz. III. To shew the Falseness of those Objections which are offered against it The most considerable I think are these Object 1. It is unnatural to love one that does and intends us Mischief Object 2. It is necessary to hate for our own Defence and Preservation Object 3. Example doth encline us to it Object 4. If we hate our Enemies they will expect and be afraid of this and so will be deterred from being our Enemies In Answer to the First Objection 1. I have shewn in my Explication that we are not required to love any thing that is in it self evil 2. I have in my following Discourse shown that this Evil may be a Cause of much Good unto us here but especially hereafter Or if of no Good to us yet there is so much Good to others as may make our Love prevail above Hatred For the 2d Objection I have made out that Hatred is not the likeliest Method to be rid of this Evil or to prevent it for the future For the 3d Objection I have shew'd that we must not follow Example to do Evil. It may become Apes and Children to be wholly determined by Example and to imitate every thing they see but it is very unworthy of them who have the use of their Reason As for the fourth Objection I answer 1. This is no Method to remove or lessen but to continue and encrease their Hatred It is commonly said Men hate what they fear These two differ very little We hate all Evil and fear that which is absent but Love on the other hand removes this Evil from the Mind and therefore 2. Tends to reform and mend the Offender himself It is a means to free him from his Malice which is not extinguished but rather inflamed by that which increaseth his Fear For notwithstanding that his Intention and Mind is as evil as before Fear not at all abating his desire of doing harm but only cutting short his Opportunity And therefore 3. It will if it increase his Hatred and lessen his Opportunity make him watch every little occasion of doing the Mischief he designs And it is hard for us to keep such a constant and strict Watch as to give no Advantage to one who seeks it If all these Reasons which I have proposed prevail not with us to put in practice this Precept of Loving our Enemies yet let the Authority of our Lord and Saviour persuade us I say unto you I who practised thus my self I whose you are who have Right to you and all Men I who know what is good for you better than you do your selves I say unto you Love your Enemies All the Inference I shall make is That then we must love those who are not our Enemies and still much more our Friends and those that love us If we must love those that intend and practise Evil against us much more those that desire and do us Good If he that loves not his Enemy be short of a Christian he who loves not his Friend is worse than an Infidel and if he be so then the Name of Christ will not save him He that is a Pagan tho he seem a Christian shall fall under the Condemnation of Unbelievers I conclude all with reminding you of my Intention in this Discourse which was to serve the Designs of Love by removing one of the greatest Obstacles of it out of the way Let us all therefore be persuaded to love universally to be pleased with Good where-ever we see it even in our Enemies to procure it where-ever it is wanting and there is any capacity of it Let us be so wise as to serve our selves and Religion of all the Conditions of Life which we are in by making them serviceable to Love and Good-will which assuredly is the best Life we can live that which will make us most acceptable to God most easy and delightful to our selves and most useful and pleasant to others it is the best that Earth or Heaven is capable of God of his infinite Mercy grant unto us the true Spirit of Christ that Spirit whose Fruits are Love and Joy and Peace Meekness Long-suffering Gentleness Patience Goodness Faith and Temperance that no Law may be against us that we may begin to live that Life here which we hope to live hereafter and which glorified Saints and Angels now live in the highest Heavens you the Life which God himself lives who is Love it self to whom he Honour and Glory and Praise for ever and ever Amen OF Calling no Man MASTER MATTH 23. 8 9 10. But be not ye called Rabbi for one is your Master even Christ and all ye are Brethren And call no Man your Father upon Earth for one is your Father which is in Heaven Neither be ye called Masters for one is your Master even Christ IT appears from his Discourse in this Chapter that our Blessed Saviour had conceived a great and just Indignation against the Scribes and Pharisees It was surely a great Anger that moyed the meekest Man upon Earth so freely and sharply to rebuke them The Lamb of God here became a Lion and he who was ordinarily a Man of Consolations is now turned into a Son of Thunder denouncing Woes against them which we cannot construe as the Issue of a hot and hasty Temper for our Saviour's whole Carriage both to his own Disciples who were such as would have sufficiently exercised a great Patience as well as to his deadly Enemies argues his admirable Mildness and that he it was in whom that Prophecy was fulfilled that he should not cry nor lift up nor cause his Voice to be heard in the Streets A bruised Reed he should not break c. We may therefore conclude that there must be some just and reasonable and great Cause of this great Indignation and this we find was an Accumulation of great Wickedness in these Men which received Aggravations 1. From their Pretences to greater Sanctity than others 2. From their having greater Opportunities of being better than others 3. Because they being many of them in in publick place their Practice must have a bad Influence on their Followers For they who pretend Holiness and are wicked they who are wicked tho they have great helps to be good and by being wicked cause others to be so too their Sin is exceeding sinful The Particulars for which our Saviour taxes them were principally these 1. Their great Pride They loved the uppermost Rooms at Feasts and the chief Seats in the Synagogues and Greetings in the Markets and to be called of Men Rabbi Rabbi c. And under that
the Doctrine of Indulgences for Sins to come of Masses for the Dead and the like which whosoever considers in their tendencies I doubt not but they 'll be satisfied it 's the Interest of Money not of Goodness that is carried on by the Asserters of those Opinions that they serve Mammon and their Religion is Covetousness This Inordinacy of Desire turns Apostles into Judas's Pastors into Robbers the House of Prayer into a Den of Thieves and it doth as easily transform the Flocks of Sheep into Herds of Wolves For notwithstanding the Sheep's Coat and Shape if there be a ravening Appetite an unsatisfied Desire 't is a Wolf tho it seem a Sheep a Wolf in Sheeps cloathing Nor can it be expected it should be otherwise but if the Sea hath overflown its high Banks the lower Marshes must needs be drowned and if the Physician be seized with this Disease the unskilful Patient must be so much more If the Spiritual Men whose Converse is in Heaven yet be so much within the Influences of this Earth the Laity they whose Employment is in it must be more under the power of them If the Light of the Heavenly Bodies be obscured by terrestrial Vapors then the Candle which is in the Earth must be put out by its Damps And if the Disciples of Jesus be under the Power of Desire it 's not to be imagin'd that Moses's Scholars or the Followers of Mahomes or the Worshippers of many Gods should be free from its Dominion We 'll therefore take it for granted that if Christendom be not exempt from this Tyranny of Desire the rest of the World is not If the Gospel hath not rectified Mens Affections neither the Pentateuch nor the Alcoran nor the Traditions of the Gentiles have or can do it Thus we see that Desire hath an Empire further extended than ever they had who would be call'd Lords of the World We 'll next consider how this Catholick King this universal Bishop this proud Sultan this great Cham manages his Affairs And we may observe that this Vsurper who hath dethroned Reason the lawful Sovereign of the World and hath assumed his Scepter does use the same evil Arts which all others do Where he hopes to gain the Affections of his Subjects he practises Flattery gratifies them tho to then Ruine and pleases tho in that he undoes them Where they will not love they shall fear and if he cannot court them by Flatteries he will rule them as a Tyrant and in both ways his Government is arbitrary and irregular Either Laws are never made or never kept in his Dominions That which is commanded is for the most part evil or impossible no Reason to be given of it besides Will And tho it were not yet sooner might the free Air be hedged in or the Winds chained up than the Subjects of this Prince who are Sons of Appetite be restrained Nor can they be turned from their Purpose unless by a Passion accompanied with more Power than they have As the Stream of a great River cannot be turned from its Course except it be met by the fiercer Tide The calm and quiet Decisions of Controversies that used to be in Courts of Judicature where Reason ruled are either wholly laid aside or strangely degenerate and so either to bad purpose or to none at all Here the Clients do not consider Justice but Interest neither do they regard Right or Title if they can make the least Pretence and therefore will desire in their Advocates not Law but Oratory and Sophistry They will also suborn Witnesses that shall swear for Hire not for Truth and will corrupt their Judges to pervert the Sense of the Law and under colour of Justice to be unjust In these Courts the richest Client hath most Right and the best Purse carries the Cause Or if this will not do they try another If they either want Craft or Money they will fly to Power if they cannot out-wit their Neighbours they will try to out-master them if the Court and the Law will not give it for them they 'll see what the Camp and Army will And now the Armour is put on the Sword girded on the Thigh and the Trumpet sounds to Battel the Guns begin to thunder and lighten thousands are murdered Cities burnt whole Countries laid waste Or if this fail too and be found insufficient to execute the Commands of inordinate Desire the Souldier then will turn a Religionist and he that wore a Vizard of Justice will put on a Form of Godliness will persuade People to gaze into Heaven whilst he picks their Pockets and will tell them they cannot make sure of an Inheritance there unless they part with their Possessions here falsifying the Gospel now as he did the Law before and wresting our Saviour's plain Words to the enriching himself and impoverishing his Brother Thus I have given a brief Representation of the State where Desire rules by which Fiction we may a little guess at the Truth of Things and how they are and have been and are likely to be in the World because of Covetousness Assuredly this was it that made the Grecian and Romans in former days and the Turks in these later to make so great a part of Mankind their Tributaries This hath made Men seek after new Worlds as if the old were too little to bound their Desires This took away the Land and Liberties and Lives too of many thousand Americans This made the Goths and Vandals invade Italy the Moors Spain and the Danes and Saxons to mention no other England But need we go to Histories and past Times for proof of the evil Effects of Desire No surely our own Observation and the Days we live in will give us too many Nor will I rake into the Ashes where lie hid the Sparks of Contention that kindled our late Wars no let them lie buried in eternal Oblivion Nor do I care to uncover the Graves of the Dead let their Dust rest in Peace for me Nor will I discourse of the Actions of our Governors where we are for the most part unable to understand and therefore incompetent to judg whether they proceed from Desire or Understanding for so I should speak rashly and perhaps falsely too of my Rulers Let us therefore consider the Mischief Desire doth amongst our selves and so we shall keep within the compass of our Knowledg What Havock doth it make whilst the poor envy their rich Neighbours and they again grind the Faces of the Poor Whilst they that have much grasp at all and would leave their Brethren Possessors of nothing and in this Sence seem to construe our Saviour's Words To him that hath shall be given and from him that hath 〈◊〉 that hath little that makes no Increase shall be taken what he hath But I need not insist on the Oppression Force Extortion Over-reaching that is amongst us which is the Issue of unlawful Desire They whose Employment lies in Courts of Judicature have
indeed of his own of any thing They drink Wine in Bowls and forget the Afflictions of Joseph And how impotent and unable is he to do the good Offices which he may have some desire to do He hath not the use of either Mind or Body they are both disabled from discharging their Functions Nor indeed is it possible he should for by Luxury and Softness and Excesses of corporeal Gratifications the Soul is made careless and inconsiderate inordinate in its Desires and impatient of the least Difficulty and Opposition and the Body is rendred weak and feeble through want of Exercise and Diseases Thus I have shewn concerning the four commonly called Cardinal Virtues how they are befriended by this great Principle of doing Good to all And every one will understand that Dependance which most of the other Virtues have on it and how much it contributes to their Being and Growth This Man of universal Good will how full of Humanity and Courtesy is he even to Strangers and those he knows not What hearty Civility and real Kindness doth he express to those that oppose his Interests nay that intend him Mischief How gladly doth he pardon Injuries and receive a repenting Enemy into his Bosom How willing nay forward is he to lend to the Borrower to give to the Indigent And what he gives is from a liberal Hand and a bountiful Mind no grudging no sparing appears in his Communications He is as willing to take care of the Conveniences as to relieve the Necessities of others hath not only so much Charity as to keep them just from starving but so much as will engage him to endeavour to make them happy And then for the lesser Offices that are the Graces of Conversation and make it pleasant they derive from the same Original For he and he alone that is set on doing Good to All will be affable and of easy Address by all He will not fail in giving all Expressions of Civility that are proper and natural for the artificial and excessive the Effects of Vanity and Hypocrisy he uses them not He hath the Civility of a Courtier and the Heartiness of a Friend In short his Countenance and Behavior and Words to all are such as you may read in them real Good-will I add only two more This Man is humble and meek The true Cause as well as the Effect and Consequence of most Mens Pride is that they consider few or none besides themselves The proud Man therefore loves himself too much because he loves not other Men at all Whereas the Man who lives under the Power of this Principle he values other Mens Merits as well as his own and desires they may have the Praise due to them and doth not think himself disparaged when another is commended or if by Accident that come to pass he is not concern'd because it 's for the Good of the Man that is worthy and of Mankind and he can be content to sacrifice his own Credit to the Welfare of other Men and the Publick In short where a Man loves others he desires that for them which he doth for himself and consequently that they may have the Honour done them which they deserve as he would not be debarr'd of the Praise he merits And for Meekness This Love covers a Multitude of Faults and so maketh those not to be which are so far is it from multiplying and magnifying them from increasing their Numbers and Aggravations It doth not make Faults where they are not or where they are doth not make them worse doth not call a little Wart a Wen but rather where they can be extenuated lessens them and considers which are the Miscarriages of surprized Infirmity and unwilling Mistake and distinguishes between them and others Nor is he forward to take Vengeance or eager to punish but is a Man of Long-suffering and Forbearance and will never punish but when it is the likeliest and almost only way to Amendment I have shewn how much the Principle of universal Beneficence conduces to Knowledg Religion and Vertue I now proceed to shew how very available it is to our acquiring and keeping the rest of those good Things that make up the Happiness of Man And none that considers how essential doing Good is to the Religion of Christ and how necessary to the Happiness of Man will wonder that I Inâ—ist so long on this Argument for tho I had the Tongue of Men and Angels I could not sufficiently declare the Excellencies of this Divine Temper Fourthly The next of those good Things I mention'd which are in the Soul are Quiet and Tranquillity Joy and Pleasure which I therefore join together in my Discourse because they are not often parted in Nature and their Opposits go under the same Name of Trouble and because where they are as they should be they qualify one another For that is a good and desirable Quiet which is in order â—o and attended with Joy and that is an allowable Joy which doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Soâ—l and 〈◊〉 the Mind of Peaâ—e Whereas iâ— thâ—se 〈◊〉 destroy each other they are not as they should be nay if they do not serve and befriend each other they are blaâ—â—ablâ— For the Soul may be too much becalm'd that it cannot move its 〈◊〉 may be frâ—zen up by a Stoical Apathy which will not only rid it of the evil and painful but deâ—rive it also of the good and pleasant Passionâ— that which doth 〈◊〉 is very opposite to its Welfare Again The Mind of Man may be transported with Joy beyond the Bounds which Nature and Convenience have set and so as to indispose it for doing that Good to it self or others it might do But when those two concur and consist together that is an excellent State indeed 〈◊〉 then a gentle Wind fills the Sails and doth not raise the Waves the Soul is then active and moderate And this State of Joy and Peace is the best State of which Souls are capable 't is the Crown of all our Works the natural Reward of our Labours and if our Actions be vertuous 't is a sure Reward It is the End and Consummation of all it is the Fruit and Flower that grows on them all And now I shall endeavour to shew how much the Principle of universal Goodness where it 's practis'd and become a Temper contributes to the Quiet and Pleasure of Souls Some of the greatest Causes of our Disquiet are Maâ—â—ce and Envy bitter Anger and boundless Desires and Conscience of Evil. The malicâ—ous spiteful Man is upon the Wrack as often as he cannot bring about his mischievous Designs He gâ—ashes his Teeth when he sees God and Nature so to shelter and secure the Man against whom he hath set himself that no Storms he can raise shall light on him The Envious is himself in torment if other Men be not As often as the Candle of God the Suâ— shines on enlightens and warms his Neighbour it parches and burns