and deviations which seem to be in them more then in other things yet certainly it cannot be denied by any wise man but that he hath over them and over all and over the least as much as over the greatest Because Providence in every Thing is so much the more perfect and more excellent by how much it further extends it self and taketh care of more Things seeing then that the Providence of God must be acknowledged the most perfect of all it must also of necessity extend it self to all Things it must leave nothing unprovided for it must overpasse nothing We observe also in all causes a naturall and vehement inclination as it were to govern and perfect their effects as for example in bruit beasts what an admirable and great care have they of their young ones Seeing therefore that whatsoever good is in the second causes they have it from the first to which they do all naturally desire so much as may be to assimilate themselves it is manifest that the first and generall cause of all things as it were a Common Parent must have a great and exact care over all particular effects seeing he is the cause of all Beside if God hath not providence over humane affairs what is the reason is it because he cannot or because he knows not how to govern them or lastly because he will not none of these can be imagined of God For shall we think of God that he cannot or knoweth not how to execute that which man both knoweth and also is able to do and if but a good man who hath ability and skill to order affairs is also ever willing of his own part to do it shall we think of God who is most able most skilfull and wise and also insinitely good that he should be lesse willing Again if God Almighty had not care of humane affairs why hath he given man such a naturall instinct and inclination to worship him God and nature we use to say do nothing in vain We conclude therefore that it is an argument onely of madnesse or a distempered mind to say There is no God or that God is but hath not providence or care over us men and that it is the part duty of a wise man not onely to know but continually to consider that there is a Governour over the world who hath the same particular providence over men that he hath over other naturall Things that is to conduct guide them all by due means unto their proper and last ends And because it is his property to dispose All Things sweetly he guideth every one of them to their ends in such manne as is most congruous and agreeable to their severall natures and man in particular Freely according to that liberty of his will which is naturall to him From whence it is also that among men some are good and some are evill The good are they whose life is agreeable to reason conforming themselves to such Illuminations and Inspirations as they have from God in all things studying and endeavouring to please him The evill are those who follow not reason nor observe any rectitude or regularity of life If therefore the Divine Majesty hath providence over humane affairs and be Just as he is he must certainly have determined with himself both to reward the good and to punish such as be evill But this we see not done at least not exactly not particularly in this life therefore we must confesse some other life to come wherein the rewards of the Just and punishments of the wicked shall be more eminently seen Which if it be so how much doth it concern us to please God by a good life And seeing as we have elswhere shewen that there can be no better life then the Christian life is it is to no purpose for us to seek any where else how to live or how to please God for a life so led cannot be without its due reward cannot be frustrated of that happinesse which is promised to it if it could there were no life sure of happinesse for the life of Christians in many respects sheweth that God hath peculiar providence over them and therfore if their faith were not true neither could their life so much be governed by it nor would God sufter them long in that errour whose Goodnesse it is to Illuminate those which are Good and right of heart and to harden and leave in blindnesse onely those which are evil If therefore These Things be so let us believe in Christ and let us live Christianly for so doing as is manifest by what hath been said we cannot perish but must be happy in this world and in the next After a man hath by this first consideration prepared himself and is resolved to do what he can to attain Christian life the second Precept to be given him is this viz. That he seriously consider what that thing is wherein Christian life doth as it were essentially consist which is the grace of God I mean that grace which as we touched before doth justifie make a man good in the sight of God For we observe some men as soon as they begin to have a desire of living Christianly they presently apply themselves to the Ceremonies of religion and performing them exteriourly they imagine all on the sudden that they are become exceeding good Christians with which vanity many deceive themselves pretending to be Christians but falsly being indeed a foolish lukewarm yet very arrogant sort of people Men indeed looking onely on the outside praise what they see but God beholds the heart and sayes to these men as our Saviour said to the Pharisees ye are they who justifie your selves before men but God knows your hearts for many times that which is of high esteem with men is abomination before God He therefore that desires indeed to live Christianly let him endeavour with the utmost of his power to obtain the grace of God not resting til by some good signs arguments he can probably persuade himself that he hath obtained it And because the Grace of God is given in and by the Holy Sacraments to all those who devoutly and worthily come unto them let him prepare himself in the second place to receive the Sacraments with the best disposition and diligence he can In particular If he be a believer but yet not Baptized let him prepare himself and come to the Sacrament of Baptisme with atrue sincere Faith and good Intention If he be already a Christian but guilty of sins let him come with true Contrition pure Confession and perfect Satissaction and submit himself to the Sacrament of Pennance and thereby also devoutly sit himself for the Sacrament of the Eucharist and in this course let him persist constantly untill by some good conjectures he find that he may have obtained the Grace of God Now the best of that sort especially for beginners seem to be these viz. if he find in himself
end the perfecter it growes for its end is its perfection if therefore Blessedness consisted in those sensitive delights A man should become so much the more perfect by how much he lived more sensually and gave himself up to all kind of Luxury and voluptuousness that is he should be so much the more a man by how much he lived more like a beast which is very absurd And so againe as was touched in the precedent Conclusion Beasts also would be found capable of happiness as well as men yea rather of a more perfect happiness then man for as much as they have no fear of death no apprehension of future miseries no knowledge of God no feare of Judgement no Lawes no Shame no repugnance of flesh and spirit in brief they have nothing which can either abate the sense or restraine the use of their present pleasures if therefore the Felicity of man did consist in the pleasures of sense we should all desire to be metamorphiz'd and become Beasts why because Beasts upon this supposition are more happy then men But this was confessed to be absurd before The VII Conclusion THat the happiness of man consists in such goods as pertain unto the Intellectuall or superiour part of the soule For as the body is ordained for the soule so of the soule the vegetative or lowest part is ordained for the Sensitive and the Sensitive for the Intellectuall Seeing therefore that the Intellect or Rationall part of the Soul is as it were the end of the Body and the thing whereunto both it and also the inferiour parts of the soul be subordinate and directed it is manifest that in the Act or exercise of this Intellect and in the goods that is to say in the perfections thereto properly belonging the finall happinesse of man doth consist Besides seeing that happinesse belongs onely to a perfect man and that the perfection of man as man consisteth in such goods as belong either to his understanding or will it is hence also manifest that in such manner of goods as are Intellectuall and rationall his proper happinesse consisteth The VIII Conclusion But yet this happinesse of man doth not consist in any created good although intellectuall For as we said before Blessednesse is such a perfect good as doth totally satisfie or fulfill the appetite for otherwise it could not be the ultimate or last end supposing there remained any thing else further to be desired Now the object of the will that is of the appetite of man as man is good in its latitude or the universall good For we find that as the understanding of man comprehends an infinitie of particular verities that is to say it never comprehendeth actually so many but it is still apt and capable to comprehend more successively even in infinitum so also we find that the will of man is as able to desire and effect an infinity of particular goods that is to say that it also never actually desireth so many but it is still ready to accept and embrace more whensoever offered and this successively in infinitum and that therefore it can never be fully satisfied untill it attains to some universall or infinite good which is not to be found in any created Thing for the goodnesse of every Thing created is at best but derivative particular and finite therefore in no created good can the Felicity of man consist The IX Conclusion That the happinesse of man consisteth solely in the contemplation and fruition of God We said before that the understanding of man resteth not that is is not satisfied in the knowledge of particular verities nor his will in the fruition of particular goods The last end therefore of them both must be Truth and Goodnesse universall or in its full latitude which God onely is therefore in the Contemplation and Fruition of God alone the Beatitude of man consisteth Besides man being what he is viz. a creature naturally desirous to know and that our knowledge of every particular thing seems then to be compleat when we comprehend its proper and true cause hence it follows that whensoever we observe any thing to be that is to say any effect we instantly yea naturally desire to know its cause why what or whence it is Now all things beside God appear unto us and in truth are but effects of some other cause and therefore whatsoever a man knows beside God he knows it either perfectly or imperfectly if imperfectly his desire is never satisfied untill he attains perfect knowledge thereof for that is naturall viz. for every thing that is imperfect to desire perfection and seeing that Felicity as we have said is the perfection of man and the full satisfaction of his Intellectuall appetite it is manifest that by such imperfect knowledge of any thing he cannot become happy But if he knows the thing perfectly suppose it be some one singular or many yea perhaps all particular things that be yet he cannot but apprehend them still as effects that is as depending in their very beings upon some other cause Seeing therefore as we said that man observing the effect doth naturally desire to know the cause it is manifest that this appetite of his cannot be compleatly satisfied with the knowledge even of all particular things that be but still it will be endeavouring and desiring to see also the cause of them all and that so much the more earnestly by how much it finds the effects themselves to be more excellent or that it self apprehends them more perfectly for so it is alwayes seen that every naturall motion the nearor it draws to its period or proper term the stronger and stronger it grows In the sole knowledge therefore and fruition of God who is the universall and first cause of all Things doth mans Blessednesse consist according as S. Augustine hath excellently well observed Thou hast made us O Lord saith he for thy self and our heart is restlesse and unquiet untill it findeth its repose in Thee The X. Conclusion That this Beatitude formally and as it were in actu primo consisteth in the understanding or seeing of God as he is but exercitatively operatively and as in actu secundo in the will or in that ineffable pleasure and delight which is enjoyed by the knowledge and contemplaton of him The Act of the will alwayes presupposeth the Act of the understanding because the object thereof is alwayes some known or imaginary good Seeing therefore that Beatitude formally and in its own nature is nothing else but the attaining of our last end as soon as ever a man attains that he is happy But man attaineth his last end which is God so soon as ever he sees that is perfectly knows him Therefore in the knowledge and by the knowledge of his last end man becomes essentially happy But yet because this knowledge or contemplation of the Divine Majesty is inseparably accompanied with a certain infinite and ineffable joy or pleasure conceived upon that
that is in a due and congruous subordination of them unto superiour goods For the Christian life being as it is a life of wisdome a life of most perfect prudence and discretion when we see that the things which the world so much admireth riches honours pleasures c. are by them viz. good Christians in a manner neglected we cannot but conclude that they find themselves satisfied otherwise that is possessed of riches honours pleasures c. of a more noble and more excellent nature then those be which they seem to despise For having the grace of God and our Saviour Christ himself dwelling in them by Faith they conceive themselves thereby in possession of so great a good that in comparison thereof there is little else worthy of their desires They have also hereby an assured hope to recover in the Resurrection whatsoever Beauty or other ornaments of the body here they might seem to want yea in that degree of excellency and glory which the heart of man cannot now conceive and to injoy with Christ for ever that life and endlesse felicity of which the Apostle speaketh Eye hath not scen nor the ear heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive what Things God hath prepared for them that love him And hence we observe that good Christians be generally of a chearfull and pleasing Conversation not seeming either to desire or to fear any thing overmuch in this world and to be as it were out of the Gun-shot of inordinate sorrow according as it is written Nothing shall grieve the Just man of whatsoever happeneth unto him and as it was said of the Apostles of our Saviour They went from the Councell rejoycing that they were held worthy to suffer reproch for the name of Christ The XIX Conclusion THat it is no hard matter to attain Christian life and therein by Gods help to persevere unto the end The principall thing required thereto is the grace of God that grace I mean which is not onely a meer gift of God or freely given but that which maketh a man formally gracious with God or just This indeed is onely to be had from God but he through his Infinite and Immense Goodnesse being so ready and inclined to give it unto them that ask in that respect there is no difficulty to attain Christian life For if he spared not his own sonne as the Apostle argueth but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him give us and that easily all Things There is also required some disposition on our part to receive the grace of God which yet renders not the attaining of Christian life nor perseverance therein through Grace difficult or hard For can it be hard for a man to do that which is in his own power Can it be hard for a man to do that which naturall reason tells him is best is for his own good and in his own election Let a man therefore but obserue three precepts and he shall find the attaining and perseverance in Christian life by Gods grace easie The first is That he have continuall Thoughts and reflexions upon the miseries of Humane life and especially upon the hour and issues of his death For seeing that man dyeth as all other creatures do he ought often thus to think and reason with himself To what purpose do I thus labour What good do all these Riches and Honours do me I am sure to dye and leave them all I am sure to dye yet the hour and time of my death is most uncertain What if I dye to day as 't is possible enough what good would it then do me to have had the whole world at command Or thus If the condition of man and beast be alike as in death we seem truly we men are a great deal more unhappy then they for unto bruit beasts Nature it self provideth a convenient food convenient cloathing houses and other necessaries for their life which we men have not but with a great deal of labour and pains Beasts are satisfied with that onely which is present never taking care for the future as man doth who is never contented with what he hath but still desiring insatiably more and vexed with a Million of cares for that which is to come Beasts are not subject to half those infirmities of body which man is sicknesse weaknesse wearinesse c. and for those of the mind tribulations anxieties distresses which we suffer in infinite variety every day they know them not Beasts are content with a little their desire is presently satisfied with but a small provision but the desires of man are without end his heart is restlesse inscrutably perverse and miserable with all Lastly beasts have no Thoughts of any future life nor of the Immortality of Soul about which men are extreamly perplexed almost in continuall dread and apprehensions of going after all the troubles and toylings of this life unto pains eternall If therefore our soul be not indeed Immortall there is no creature so miserable as man But if it be Immortall then certainly our finall rest is not here but must be sought in some other life And seeing that it were an absurd thing to imagine that man whom both God and nature have made the most noble and most excellent of all other Creatures should yet be found to be of them all the most miserable we must confesse some other happiness reserved for him or else deny the providence of God over his works For seeing that in the world many Things daily appear new which were not before and that nothing can possibly make it self or give Being to it self it cannot be doubted but that every Thing in the world is made to be by something else which was before it unlesse we will be such fools as to say All things come to passe by chance that is by nothing for chance is nothing but our ignorance or non-praevision of the true cause a paradox sufficiently confuted by the very order of the universe and that wonderfull regularity which is observed yea sensible in all the proceedings of nature And seeing again that in causes subordinate we may not run from one to an other in infinitum we must pitch at last upon some one which shall be the first and generall cause of all and This is confessed to be God whence also we see that without any discourse of Argument but by meer instinct of nature men generally acknowledge God and also worship him in some way or other nor was there ever man found that could settle in the opinion that There was no God And that God hath providence over the world the course of nature as we said even now sufficiently sheweth and the Philosophers themselves confesse saying that the work of nature is the work of an Intellect which erreth not And although it hath come in dispute among them whither God hath providence over humane affairs perhaps in regard of the great irregularities