of another mind Temperance tends to our Happiness in this that it tends to our Health without which all the Enjoyments of this Life are but little worth on the other side the intemperate Man is an Enemy to himself continually making Assaults upon his own Life the Apostle adviseth that we should abstain from fleshly Lusts that war against the Soul and it ought to be no small Argument to us that they war against the Body also so for Kindness and Love besides that they are good to others they are of much use and benefit to our selves for there is unspeakable pleasure in Love a great deal of ease in a charitable Temper on the contrary how fretting and vexatious to the Mind of Man are Malice Envy and Hatred they do not only raise Enemies abroad but they set a Man against himself and deprive him of the Peace of his own Mind Compassion and Mercy is profitable to others and delightful to our selves so Compassion and Mercy are not more profitable unto other Men than they are delightful to our own Souls and we do not only gratifie our selves by doing Services to others but we thereby provoke Mankind by our Example to the like Kindnesses and so turn the pity of others to our selves when it shall come to be our turn to stand in need of their help In like manner our Reason directs us to the practice of Truth Fidelity and Justice as the surest Arts of thriving in this World these beget Confidence and give Men a Reputation in their Neighbourhood and these Vertues our Reason tells us have the force of a Law and there needs nothing to give the force of a Law to any matter but the stamp of divine Authority upon it Now God that made us and all other Creatures and by virtue of his Authority over us hath imprinted on our Natures the Principles of Good and Evil and hath so wrought 'em into the frame of our Souls by which as by a natural instinct Men are carried to approve what is good and disapprove what is evil and supposing that our natural Reasons do tell us that it is for our Interest to live in the practice of what we call Vertue and to dislike and avoid what we call Vice this is a sufficient declaration that we should do the one and avoid the other and if we live contrary to this we violate the Law of him that made us for there needs nothing to make a thing become a Law to us but that it is the Will of our Sovereign who hath Right to require it of us And this God hath declared to Mankind by the frame of their Natures and by those principal Faculties he hath endued us withal for no Man can imagine but that we should follow the Instruction of our Nature and be governed by the natural Notions of our own Minds And those natural Passions of Hope and Fear Hope and Fear are two very strong Passions that are so rooted in our Souls we cannot without great force to our selves act contrary to them And this is all the Law that great part of Mankind comes under and which is no other than that which the Apostle calls the Work of the Law written upon their Hearts and they having no other Revelation made to them shall be judged by it and those that offend against this Law shall be found guilty before God as well as those that have sinned against an express Revelation which is a plain Evidence that these natural Dictates have the force of a Law otherwise Men would not be guilty of any Crime by acting against them for it is a Rule universally true that where there is no Law there is no Transgression and this I take to be the meaning of that obscure Passage of the Apostle Rom. v. 13. for until the Law Sin was in the World that is before the Law was given unto Moses Men were capable of Sinning and therefore there was another Law against which they offended for Sin is not imputed where there is no Law But Death reigned from Adam to Moses even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's Transgression that is tho they did not sin against any express Law of God as Adam did Thus Reason discovers to us how that the natural Dictates of our Minds have the force of a Law HENCE we may infer that Mankind would have been under the Obligation of Religion tho God had never made any immediate Revelation of his Mind and Will unto them if this was not so the Heathen who had no supernatural Revelation from God could not have been guilty of Sin nor liable to his Judgment for if nothing were Vertue or Vice but what was either expresly commanded or forbidden by God then all Actions would have been alike to the Heathen But there are some things naturally good and some things naturally evil and Men are bound to do the one and fly the other tho God had never made any supernatural Revelation of his Will to them For if God had never forbidden Hatred and Malice with Deceit Oppression Violence and the like Passions they would have appeared evil in themselves and ought not to have been done by us because they are inconsistent with the Peace of Human Society and contrary to the Nature and Reason of Mankind so on the other hand the Vertues opposite to these as Love to God together with Truth and Justice one towards another have such Goodness in them that they are commended to the liking of Mankind without the need of any absolute Declaration to oblige Men to the practice of them If these things were not so the Tables might have been turned and all that which we now call Vertue might have been forbidden by God and things would have been every whit as well and there would have been no difference only the Names of things would have been changed The nature of Good and Evil is unalterable BUT I appeal to any ones Reason whether he can think it as vertuous an Action to hate God as to love him to contemn as to honor him and whether Malice Envy Hatred and Ingratitude would have made as much for the Peace of Mankind as the practice of Love and Goodness would have done if they would not then it is manifest that there is something in the Nature of Things that made the difference and so long as the Nature of God and Man remain what they are some Things will be in their own Natures unalterably good and some things evil which doth not depend upon any arbitrary Constitution but is founded in the Nature of the Things themselves The general consent of mankind shews what is Virtue and what is Vice Thirdly WHAT is Virtue and what is Vice is shewn to us by the general vote and consent of Mankind which we do not extend to all the instances of Virtue and Vice but only to the great and more essential parts of it
superadded to the reason of our Minds is of strength sufficient to subdue all the Temptations to evil if the Creation below us by natural instinct doth those things that are regular shall not these higher Principles do the like always preserve us from known evil and determine us to that which is morally good This is the course of things in Nature every Habit begun is greatly weakened by a forbearance of Acts for every thing must be kept up in the way it was produced a Disposition is first wrought by some Acts and if Act be not continued upon Act the Disposition will fail for things that are not brought to a State of Perfection will go back again if they be not maintained in the same way that they were produced Wherefore it will be worth the while to enquire what our most holy Religion aims at and after what manner it doth affect the Person in whom it is lodged Now Religion makes us live up to our highest Faculties and teaches us to practise such Virtues as become rational Beings who bear the Image of the Immortal God and are exalted above the Inferior Creation prompts us to scorn all Actions that are base unhansom or unworthy our State and Relation in which we stand to our Creator forbids us to do any thing that will make us like Beasts or that would sink us into a lower order by Sensuality and Carnal-mindedness or that would transform us into the likeness of Devils by Pride Presumption and Self conceit makes us God-like in Wisdom Righteousness Goodness Charity Compassion in forgiving Injuries pardoning Enemies and in doing hurt to none but good to all as we have power and opportunity advises us to follow the conduct of true and sincere Reason tames the Extravagancy of our Passions and regulates the Exorbitances of the Will permits us the pleasures of our Bodies so far as they may give no disturbance to the Mind produces a sweet and gracious Temper of Soul calm in it self and loving to Mankind begets in us freedom of Spirit and banishes groundless Fears foolish Imaginations and dastardly Thoughts teaches us to have right Conceptions of God that he doth transact all things with Mankind as a loving Father with his Children creates in us a rational Satisfaction and the joy of a good Conscience advances the Soul to its just Sovereignty over inferior Appetites which would disable it for all good and vertuous Acts and render us weak foolish and unfit for any thing that is generous or noble strengthens our Reason against the Onsets of the World Flesh and Devil which is effected chiefly by stifling all manner of Intemperance for it is this that frustrates the Work of Religion either by stupifying or imaging the Spirits or by putting them into irregular Motions 16. An Exhortation to the Practice of Religion Now therefore let us consider whether or no this Religion doth govern our Lives which we must learn not by our acquaintance with Systems and Models of Divinity but by our keeping its Commandments For unless Christ be inwardly formed in our Hearts the Notions of Religion can save us no more than Arts and Sciences whilst they lye only in Books and Papers without us can make us learned For Christ Jesus did not undergo a reproachful Life and Death merely to bring in a Notion into the World without the changing mending and reforming it so that Men might still be as wicked as they were before and as much under the Power of the Prince of Darkness Indeed Christ came to expiate and attone for our Sins but the end of this was that we might forsake all Ungodliness and worldly Lusts 'T is true there be some that dishearten us in this spiritual Warfare and bring an ill Report upon that Land which we are to conquer telling of nothing but strange Giants the Sons of Anak that we shall never be able to subdue others would suggest that it is enough for us if we be but once in a state of Grace we need not take so great pains to travel any farther or that Christ hath done all for us already without us and nothing need more to be done within us Hearken not to them I beseech you but hear what Caleb and Joshua say Let us go up at once and possess it for we are able to overcome them the hugest Armies of Lusts not by our own Strength but by the Power of the Lord of Hosts hear also the wholsom Words of S. Peter Give all diligence to add to your Faith Virtue and to Virtue Knowledg to Knowledg Temperance and to Temperance Patience to Patience Godliness and to Godliness brotherly Kindness and to brotherly Kindness Charity for if these things be in you and abound they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledg of our Lord Jesus Christ For Holiness hath something of God in it and therefore it must needs be a victorious and triumphant thing And as the Devils are always active to encourage Evil so the heavenly Host of blessed Angels are as busie in promoting that which is good for we cannot imagin but that the Kingdom of Light should be as true to its own Interest and as vigilant for the enlarging it self as the Kingdom of Darkness But then by Holiness is not meant a mere Performance of the outward Duties of Religion but an inward Soul and Principle of divine Life that enliveneth the dead Carcast of all our outward Devotions For this is the vulgar Error of Mankind they have dreadful Apprehensions of Fire and Brimstone whilst they feed in their Hearts a true and living Fire that is the Hell of Lusts which miserably scorches their Souls and they are not concerned at it they do not perceive how Hell steals upon them whilst they live here And as for Heaven they gaze abroad for it as for some great and high Preferment that must come from without and never look for the beginnings of it to arise within in their own Minds Whereas nothing without us can make us either happy or miserable nothing can either defile or hurt us but what goeth out from us I shall now shut up all with these two Considerations to persuade you farther to the Love of Virtue From the desire we all have after Truth which is not held up by wrangling Disputes and syllogistical Reasonings but by the Purity of our Hearts and Lives neither would it fail of overcoming the World did not the Sensuality of our Dispositions and the Darkness of our false Hearts stop its passage And from the Desires we have of a true Reformation which must be begun in our own Hearts and Lives for all outward Forms and Models thereof are of little worth without the inward Amendment of our own Souls For the baser Metals are not changed by their being cast into a good Mold or by being made up in an elegant Figure neither will adulterate Silver pass when the Touch-stone tryes it neither can we
are naturally full of Hope or Fear according as they follow or go against these Principles who is so confident and bold as he who hath behaved himself well and virtuously who is so strong and well armed against the force of the Powers of Darkness against the apprehensions of a dreadful Judgment these things are so terrible that they must needs raise our fears but the honest Man who is not conscious to himself of any guilt is secure in his own Mind from any harm or prejudice from the Divine Justice either here or hereafter whereas guiltiness creates fears of danger without any other reason for it and so the Scripture informeth us that the wicked flyeth when no Man pursueth him nay when a Man hath done a secret fault which no Eye is privy to nor no human Law can punish yet even then he is constantly under the torment of his own thoughts and hath a natural dread of a superiour Being to whom the most hidden Actions of Men are known and whose Justice will not spare to punish FOR Men have naturally the Notions of good and evil within them which in the plain cases of Right and Wrong will tell them what they ought to do and what they ought to avoid so that in acting well they will be justified and acquitted in their own Minds but in doing the contrary they will be condemned BUT yet there is a considerable difficulty in this matter because the Opinions of Men have been much divided about Virtue and Vice the different Laws and Customs of several Nations seem to argue that they are not so well agreed about these things consequently the difference between Good and Evil is not so well known more than this there is in Mankind a propension to evil and Men are generally vicious which seems to contradict that natural Instinct which shews us as we say what is Virtue and what is Vice To this Objection we answer that all Mankind are agreed that those Moral Virtues before mentioned ought to be practised and that the contraries to them are Vices and ought to be rejected if any one particular person happen to be of another mind he is as rarely to be met with as Monsters and no more to be drawn into an Argument against the truth of this Assertion than a Man being born with three Legs can be an Argument that Men naturally have not two All Men have agreed that God is to be worshiped though they differ much about the particular circumstances of his Worship keeping of Faith all Men have held to be a Duty though some say Faith is not to be kept with Hereticks but this is no prejudice to the Truth it must be granted that there is not the like evidence in all things that there is in some and many things are not so clear but that partial and inconsiderate Men may have wrong conceptions about them but these may be remedied if Men will be wise and consider things as they should do if they will lay aside violent prejudices and self-Interest for if they will govern themselves like Men and not be hurried away with Passion It is one thing to know what Virtue is and another to live according to that knowledg they may come to understand what is good and what is evil it must be confessed there is a great corruption in human Nature and we must consider that it is one thing to own the difference between Virtue and Vice another thing to live and act according to this judgment Although Men have the Notions of Good and Evil yet after all they may choose the Evil and refuse the Good and this the Apostle speaks of in Rom. vii 27. I delight in the Law of God in the inward Man that is my mind consents to it as Holy Just and Good but here he tells us he felt another Law in his Members warring against the Law of his Mind and bringing him into Captivity to the Law of Sin and Death according to that of the Poet Video meliora proboque Deteriora sequor For a Man may be convinced of his Duty but not act accordingly FOR by natural Instinct we know what we ought to do antecedent to all Reason and Discourse Secondly Natural Reason tells us what is our Duty OUR Duty is also discovered to us by natural Reason for the force of moral Actions are planted in Mens Minds and woven into the frame of their Natures but to make our Duty more plain God by the light of Reason hath shewed us what is good and what is evil and not only so but he stamps upon them the Authority of Laws for these two are very different to apprehend a thing good for us to do and to be under the Obligation of a Law to do it for to this it is necessary we should apprehend it to be the Will of our Superior that we should perform it NOW our Reason doth discover to us what is Virtue and that the Lord our God doth require our Obedience to it First BY shewing us how convenient and agreeable it is to our Natures Secondly BY the tendency of it to make us happy and to free us from Evil and Misery NOTHING is more suitable to our Natures than to have an esteem of what is great and excellent and Mankind being taught that all Perfection is in God we must adore him for that which is good doth naturally beget Love and Reverence so it is agreeable to our Natures to honor our Parents to be grateful for Benefits received to be just and righteous to be charitable compassionate and temperate to be meek humble and prudent Those that act contrary to these Duties offer an Affront to their own Natures and feel a pain in themselves however they may carry it to others BESIDES these things tend to make us happy and to free us from Misery for Reason considers the consequences of things and we call that Virtue or Good which will bring some benefit to us and that Evil or Vice which is like to bring upon us some Inconvenience upon this account Reason doth shew us what is good and what is evil to begin with Piety towards God nothing is more reasonable than to make him our Friend who is able to make us happy or miserable and the way to make him our Friend is to observe all the Vertues of a good life on the contrary Impiety or a neglect of Vertue is plainly against our Interest for this is to disoblige him who is more able to make us miserable than all the World besides and without whose Favour nothing can make us happy so that our Reason will require us to live vertuously as for instance If Nature did not teach us Gratitude Discretion would it being the only way to obtain a second Favour to be thankful for the first Humility may seem to be a thing of no great Advantage but he that shall consider what contempt Pride exposeth a Man unto will be