in the Communication than we did in the Reception This is the foundation of real Gratitude and the bottom of all that Goodness which is seated in the bent and inclination of Nature It is a Principle so strong that Fire does not burn with more certain violence than Nature study to use all when it hath gotten it and to improve its Treasures to the acquisition of its Glory THE Holiness of all the work consists in the Fervour wherewith it is done and if our Love shall in Heaven answer all its Causes it will be equal to all its Obligations and Rewards and as infinite in a manner as the excellencies of its objects the very love of GOD towards all things will be in it our Love shall be in all his and his in ours And if we love GOD Angels and Men all Vertue Grace and Felicity as they deserve we shall so delight in excellent actions and in appearing amiable and glorious before them that we would not for all Worlds miscarry in a tittle And therefore every defect even after pardon will be an infinite disaster as well as blemish This is one effect of Gratitude in Nature And if it were not for the Satisfaction of Jesus Christ and the efficacy of Faith and Repentance in his Blood the least Sinner in all Nature would be eternally miserable notwithstanding the advantages of Christs blood It is the desire of the Soul to be spotless in it self And if it be so prophane as to build upon these advantages without taking care to be as excellent as it is able it is the most ungrateful Creature in the World and is too base and dirty to appear in Glory TO talk of overflowing in the disbursments and effusions of Love and Goodness till our emptiness and capacity be full within is as impertinent and unseasonable as to advise a Beggar to give away a Kingdom or a dead man to breath or one that is starving to give Wine and Banquets to the Poor and Needy But when a man is full of blessedness and glory nothing is so easie as to overflow unto others to forbid or hinder him is to stifle and destroy him Breath with the same necessity must be let out as it is taken in A man dies as certainly by the confinement as the want of it To shut it up and deny it are in effect the same When a man hath the glory of all Worlds he is willing to impart the delights wherewith he is surrounded to give away himself to some amiable Object to beautifie his Life and dedicate it to the use and enjoyment of Spectators and to put life into all his Treasures by their Communication To love and admire and adore and praise in such a case are not only pleasant but natural and free and inevitable operations It is then his supream and only joy to be amiable and delightful For the actions of Love and Honour belong in a peculiar manner to a plentiful estate Wants and Necessities when they pinch and grind us in a low condition disturb all those easie and delicate Resentments which find their element in the midst of Pleasures and Superfluities Hence it is that high-born Souls in Courts and Palaces are addicted more to sweet and honourable excesses than Clowns and Peasants The one spend their life in Toil and Labour the other in Caresses and soft Embraces Amities and Bounties Obligations and Respects Complements and Visits are the life of Nobles Industry and Care is that of the meaner People Honours and Adorations are fit for the Temple not for the Market Soft and tender Affections are more in the Court than in the Shop or Barn There is some difference in this respect even between the City and Country But Heaven is the Metropolis of all Perfection GOD is a mighty King and all his Subjects are his Peers and Nobles Their life is more sublime and pleasant and free because more blessed and glorious Their very Palaces and Treasures are infinite Incentives to the works of honour and delight and they cannot rest either day or night but continually cry Holy Holy Holy Lord GOD of Hosts Heaven and Earth are full of the Majesty of thy Glory Their Beauties and Perfections enflame one another Their very Joyes inspire them with eternal Love and as all Care and Labour are removed so are all delights and extasies established Ravishments and Caresses Adorations and Complacencies all the force and violence of Love Charms Allurements high Satisfactions all the delicacies and riches of sweet Affection Honours and Beauties are their Conversation Towards GOD towards themselves towards each other they are all Harmony and Joy and Peace and Love they flie upon Angels wings and trample upon Spices Aromatick Odeurs and Flowers are under feet the very ground upon which they stand is beset with Jewels Such you know were the foundations of the Walls of the New Jerusalem and the pavement of the Street was beaten Gold GOD and the Lamb were the Light and the Temple of it THAT we are to Enjoy all Angels and Men by communicating our selves unto them is a little mysterious but may more easily be understood than a thing so obscure as The Enjoyment of GOD by way of Gratitude That we are to love GOD more than our selves is apparently sure at least we ought to do it but whether it be possible is a question of importance That we gain infinitely by his Love is certain but that we gain more by our own is prodigiouslâ— It is our duty to love him more than our selves but whether it be our Nature or no is doubtful It is impossible to ascend at the first step to the top of the Ladder Even Jacobs Ladder will not bring us to Heaven unless we begin at the bottom Self-love is the first round and they that remove it had as good take away all For he that has no love for himself can never be obliged He that cannot be obliged cannot delight in GOD He that cannot delight in him cannot enjoy him He that cannot enjoy him cannot love him He that cannot love him cannot take pleasure in him nor be Grateful to him Self-love is so far from being the impediment that it is the cause of our Gratitude and the only principle that gives us power to do what we ought For the more we love our selves the more we love those that are our Benefactors It is a great mistake in that arrogant Leviathan so far to imprison our love to our selves as to make it inconsistent with Charity towards others It is easie to manifest that it is impossible to love our selves without loving other things Nature is crippled or if it has her feet has her head cut off if Self-preservation be made her only concern We desire to live that we may do something else without doing which life would be a burden There are other principles of Ambition Appetite and Avarice in the Soul And there are Honours and Pleasures and Riches
to Love without Obligation or Reward to be the Sole Author of all Felicity and to over-flow with Goodness of himself freely without any Motive to prevent the Beauty and Existence of his Object and to Love from all Eternity in an immutable manner And this is the nature of Divine Love Howbeit even here are infinite Ends and Causes of his Love tho they are all in Himself For he Loves that he may Love and begets that Love which is his Essence His Love is the foundation of all his Treasures the Cause and End of the whole Creation and that alone by which he proceeds from himself to all his Creatures and by those to himself again for ever All his Kingdome and Greatness and Pleasure all his Wisdome and Goodness all his Life and Perfection is seated in Love which is his Beauty and his Holiness his Bounty and his Godhead He Loves therefore that he may be all Beauty and Goodness and Holiness and that he may enjoy himself and the Eternal Pleasure of his Essence in Glory and Blessedness for ever IT is GOD alone that Loves by his Essence Angels and Men may Love by Inclination but their Affection is Accidental to their nature begins in time may alter and cease It is subject to Chance Obligation and Reward and ought to be guided according to the Pleasure of an Higher Agent In this it differs from the Love of God but in many things there is a great Agreement and proportion between them For GOD has made the love of Angels and men so like his own by extending their Knowledge to all objects that infinite Perfections are contained in their love It is as GODLIKE as any Thing created is capable of being for Almighty Power and infinite Wisdome are employed in the production of it FOR the better understanding of this Love we will consider it in the power of Loving in the inclination to Love in its act and Perfection It may seem a surprizing verity but the Power of Loving is as necessary to Blessedness and Glory as life it selfe an inclination to love as necessary as the Power and the act of Love as necessary as the Inclination The world is useless without Life and Life without Love the Body without the Soul the Soul without the Power of Loving the Power of Loving without the Inclination the Inclination without the Act. IN the Power of Loving I shall note nothing at present but its Extent and Capacity In Beasts it is confined but in Men it is Endless As a Beast is unable to examine what spaces are above the Heavens so is it unable to extend its Affections beyond the memory of things perceived for a Beast cannot represent to it self the Idea's of its Progenitors nor see into Ages that are before its birth nor contemplate Objects that will be after it is Dead But man can see and know and love any object in any Age or Kingdom in the World He can look into any Region tho it be never so far removed and be as familiary conversant with any Person or Transaction there when represented once in a clear Light as with any Object in his own country He can look into Eden consider Adams Dust in its first Creation survey the Procedure of God in his Six Dayes Works pass out of Time into Eternity it self run up to the Original and fountain Head of all existence ponder the nature of GOD search in his Bosom for his Eternal Counsels pierce into the Centre of the Earth and survey the Circumference of all Immensity His Love can follow his Knowledg in all its flights while in spirit he can be present with all the Angels He is able to Love not only his Family and Relations but all the City and Country where he liveth all the Kingdom all the Cities and Kingdoms in the world all the Generations in all Kingdoms all the Spirits of Just men made perfect all the Cherubims and Seraphins and GOD blessed for ever This is the extent The capacity of Love is so alsufficient that his Affection is not diminished but the more he loves one the more he is able and the more inclined to love all that are united to him As in ordinary friendship the more we love the Father the more we love his Wife and all his children For the more we love any Person the more we love all that love him or are beloved by him As the reasons of our Love increase so may our Love it selfe the capacity of Love being so indeficient that it never can be exceeded or surmounted by its Object THE Capacity of Love being so exceeding vast multiplies and heightens in the Soul of man that is apt to overflow of its own Accord For nothing is so prone to communicate it self as that Active Principle of Love that Soul which is Generous and Divine being disposed to the exercise of Love because therein it findeth its Proper Element The very Sun is not more inclined to communicate its Beams then the Soul to love For the Soul being made in the Image of GOD who is Love by his Essence must needs be like him in Power and Inclination and is made for nothing else but the Attainment of its perfection so that it can never rest till it actually love after his similitude Some Operation it must of Necessity have For as all Life so all pleasure is founded in Action IF Love in its Perfection be considered all that is lovely is Beloved by the soul all the Capacity of Love is filled with its objects and all the Goodness of the Creator and his Creatures at once enjoyed It is the Life and pleasure and enlargment of the Soul it is the Wisdom and Goodness and Glory of the Soul I confess there be many Errors and Diseases in Love and that Love is alwayes miserable in its Effects that is vicious yet it so bewitches the Sences that the Soul being captivated by the Force of present Delight is violently carried in an irresistible appetite to those Things which Reason condemnes and advises to shun as Evil. Medea's faction most prevails in the World Video meliora proboque Deteriora Sequor LOVE is then a vice when it is irrational and illegal rebellious and Sensual Blind Defective Unjust Absurd When Evil things are beloved when Good things are preferred above the Better and the Best neglected VERTUOUS Love is that which proceedeth from a well governed understanding and is seated in a Will that is guided by Reason It renders to all things their just Due and is the Powerful Parent of all Kind of Vertues This Love may be considered either in its Properties or Effects the last of which relate to the Soul it self to the Conversation of the whole man to all its Objects when it is well understood it will be found the proper and immediate Means by which we attain our Perfection and Felicity CHAP. VII What Benefit GOD himself does receive by his Eternal Love That when our
from all Eternity that there should be Millions of Blessed Persons to whom we may communicate our selves concerns our Glory as it doth also that that they should be Great and Perfect that are made to Admire and Delight in us If we enter Into his Eternal Glory as the Scripture saith and our Bliss be individually one with his or so perfectly like his as is promised it is no fault to desire Glory for it is Goodness it self that desires Glory and Esteemeth all those its Best and Sovereign Treasures that are capable of Loving and Delighting in it THERE is in the Goodness of GOD and Men and Angels a Living Power that is exquisitely tender in Sence and and feeling which as it feels and apprehends it self doth also feel its Object and apprehend both its own and its Objects Excellences By Vertue of which Living Power it is able to delight in its own Goodness and its Objects Glory The Apple of its Eye is not more tenderly regarded than the Person which it Loveth It is afflicted in all our Afflictions and crowned and delighted in all our Prosperities It tendeth by its nature to the Benefit of others and cannot endure the least Damage or Detriment to any It infinitely hates the least Defect in it self or in its Creatures Nothing can be Evil to it but what is Evil to another Its Interests and its Objects are so united that it intirely lives and sees and feels and enjoys in others All its inclination is to be doing Good and it has no other Element than the Felicity of its Creatures In friendship it appeareth and from Love it proceedeth it endeth in felicity It hath many Great and Glorious Designes all contending with each other for Supremacy It cloths it self with Glory and adornes its Essence with all Kind of Beauties It endures all Afflictions and Hazzards It undertakes all Labors It builds a Palace and provides a Kingdome for its Beloved And yet when all is done nothing can exceed the Delight which it taketh in the Person of its Beloved All the Honour and Esteem and Glory it desires it findeth there the Use and Value of all its Treasures consists in the Benefit they do to its Beloved Infinite Goodness can be seated no where but in Love alone for that onely is capable of infinite Benevolence and Complacency THE Liberal Soul deviseth Liberal Things and by Liberal Things shall he stand The more Good it doth the more Good it is and the more Good the more Great and Honourable the more perfect and Happy There can be no Excess in Goodness because the more Delightful it is to its Object and the more Divine and Glorious its Object is the more abundant Pleasure it taketh in communicating all Felicities to its Object the more Great and manifold its Treasures are the more Sweet and Precious the Things are which it giveth away and the more it s Beloved delighteth in them by so much the more Admirable and Divine it is its Goodness and its Blessedness are both the Greater There is no Inconvenience which it can possibly meet but a stop or Impediment It cannot be hurt by it self because its Essence is always overflowing and the only Evil it can fear from others is the unkindness of its Object or the Wrong that it may receive from free Agents For Angels and Men being made free that they may Love and Honour and Praise in a voluntary manner and be and become Good of their own Accord because they cannot be made Morally or Divinely Good without the Liberty of their Concurrence and their own Consent there is some fear that they may abuse their Power because for the more Illustrious use of it they are left in the Hand of their own Counsel Howbeit he has endeavoured as much as as is possible without prejudicing their Excellence to secure their Duty he hath infused into them the greatest Inclinations to goodness imaginable and the Greatest principles of Honour he hath shewn them the Glory and felicity of Goodness by his one Example he hath commanded them by the Severest Laws that are possible to be Good he hath founded their Peace and Pleasure in Goodness he hath made the suspension of Goodness uncouth and unnatural all evil Actions Dark and disagreeable he has laid infinite Obligations upon them to exercise Goodness and set Eternal Rewards before them He hath made the Object unto which they must shew it extremly amiable he hath given them all Advantages Helps and Assistances He hath prepared the Severest Penalties and Torments to punish the Omission of it And for a Complement of all will extremely be grieved if they fail to shew it This in the Estate of Innocency Since the fall indeed we must be kind and Good to injurious Persons but this is founded in his own Goodness toward us Sinners and tho it be a difficult Work in the first Appearance Carries us to higher and more Perfect Glory THAT such a Goodness as this should be cannot be incredible to them that are acquainted with the Nature of the Universe tho it seemeth hard at least if not impossible to them that converse with peevish men Being corrupt in their Understandings they are narrow and base and servile in their Affections They start at a shadow and boggle at a feather Sin hath transformed them into slaves and Cowards They misapprehend the Nature of their Duty like Fools that were made to be great and Mighty as Kings They think they shall be undone if they become too Great and Good they fear they shall grow weak and Contemptible by Goodness whereas nothing makes them so Amiable and Glorious as Excess of Goodness TO shew that there is such a Goodness as that which infinitely delights in powring out its Glory upon all Creatures the Sun was made Which continues Night and Day powring out its Streams of Light and Heat upon all Ages yet is as Glorious this day as it was the first Moment of its Creation To shew this the Stars were made that shine in their Watches and Glitter in their Motions only to serve us The Moon was made to shew this Goodness which runs her race for ever to serve us The Earth was made to support us Springs and Rivers expend their Streams to revive us Fruits and Flowers and Herbs and Trees delight us All corruptible Things wast and consume away that they may sacrifice their Essence to our Benefit For if they were made Stiffe and unalterable they could not feed us nor communicate their Essence and Perfection to us The Emanations and Effusions of Minerals are unknown but that of Spicies and Odours is well understood And if these by Disbursing their proper sweetness become more sweet and enlarge themselves if they are made Bright and fair for our sake if they enjoy any Light and Pleasure in their Service as the Sun and Stars do as Herbs and Flowers do as Beasts and Birds and Fishes do the Goodness of the Creator is
putteth us in mind of Guilt and Innocency at the same time and by confession of the one adds lustre to the other By making way for the acceptance of a mans Person it giveth more esteem success and efficacy to his other Vertues And by this means it hath much of excellency in a little HE that hath it not must needs acquire something like it and if he be elaborate in expressing it must hide his Art under the vail of Nature Though it be remote from the highest End it may be guided to it and when so directed is alwaies innocent It is very just for while other Vertues make it a Vertue it is a Grace unto them all You may look upon it as a tangible flame and see it in others but must feel it in your self before you can understand it It is old in Children young in middle Aged men at last an Infant It is greatest in the beginning of our life it decayeth in Youth in Old Age it vanisheth at least changeth its dwelling for it ceaseth to be in the Body of an Aged man and turneth into Courtesie or Civility in the Conversation When it dieth it is buried in Humility and liveth in its Tomb being empaled in as it were with Meekness and waiting daily for its Resurrection Much cannot be said of it precisely but it is best commended when left to your Practice It is the only tender Infant of all the Vertues like Cupid among the gods it appeareth frequently and is much exercised in the School of Venus but is capable of more high and more noble uses MODESTY in Apparel is commended in the Scriptures It implies Moderation and Chastity together It is sometimes opposed to Lasciviousness sometimes to Excess sometimes to Impudence And is a great Vertue if for nothing else but the exclusion of these abominable Vices THE other Vertues seem to be the Members and substantial parts of the Body of worth Modesty like the Air and Meen of them all It is the guard of the Soul against Loosness and Pride a Vertue repressing the sumes of self-conceit and a kind of silent restraint of all that Arrogance that delights in pomps and superfluities THOUGH it be a little Vertue its Reality is apparent for unless it be made up with some other supplies the want of Modesty is pernicious and destructive IT is exercised in small things but is of long extent in the vertue of its influence and because of the multiplicity of its uses and occasions amounts to a considerable degree of Goodness It hath something like Love in its nature for it preferreth another above it self and in that its magnetical and obliging quality much consisteth In honour preferring one another It fulfils that Law wherein our most near and tender Interest is concerned In preferring one another there is a lovely 〈◊〉 more sweet and happy than the best Agreement It is of all other the most 〈◊〉 strife and 〈◊〉 Contâ—â—â—â—â—â— CHAP. XXX The excellent Nature of Liberality Rules to be observed in the practice of it Regard to our Servants Relations friends and Neighbours must be had in our Liberality as well as to the Poor and Needy How our external acts of Charity ought to be improved for the benefit of mens Souls Liberality maketh Religion real and substantial LIBERALITY in the common use and acceptation of the Word differs from Magnificence as Modesty from Magnanimity There is much of liberty and freedom in its Nature For Avarice is a strict and sour Vice and they that are guilty of it are called Misers but a Bountiful man hath a good eye and is as free from Anxiety as he is free in disbursing His Communicative humor is much his enlargement he knows little of Confinement Care or Bondage THERE are two Vertues that endanger a Mans welfare in this World and they have all the Temporal Promises Meekness seems to encourage our Enemies to trample us under feet because it promiseth Impunity And it is directly said The Meek shall inherit the Earth may he so far from having Enemies that the Meek shall inherit the abundance of Peace And concerning Liberality which makes a man a Beggar at least threatens to make him so by wasting his Estate the Scripture saith The Liberal Soul shall be made fat The Liberal Heart deviseth liberal things and by liberal things shall be stand MEN are almost in all things contrary in GOD. For since they tumbled out of Eden they have lost their wits and their heads are downwards They think it wisdom to keep their Mony against a rainy day and to lay it up for fear of Poverty But Solomon adviseth them to the direct contrary and maketh it an Argument why they should be Liberal Becaus they know not what evil may come upon the Earth We cannot put our Treasures into safer hands than into GOD Almighty's Nor can we make any use of Gold and Silver comparable to that of Charitable uses By this it is that we lay up a good foundation against the time to come and oblige others to receive us into Mansions here into everlasting habitations hereafter MY Lord Bridgeman late Lord Keeper confessed himself in his Will to be but a Steward of his Estate and prayed GOD to forgive him all his offences in Getting Mispending or not Spending it as he ought to do And that after many Charitable and Pious works perhaps surmounting his Estate though concealed from the notice and knowledge of the World I have heard of a smart obliging Calumny fastned on a Great Man of France by one that had largely tasted of his Bounty for having been in his House honourably entertained for some space of time and observing how much the Palace was frequented by all kind of Learned Men and how Liberal the Master of it was especially to men of Worth and Vertue he charges the Man with the greatest Covetousnes in the World because he turned all his Riches into Obligations As if he had put all his Estate and Monies to Use But to covet affections and be rich in hearts is no deformity THE truth is when the waies whereby Love is begotten in the Soul are well examined and the happiness of being truly beloved and delighted in is known no man is so wise as the Liberal man He is his own end while he thinks not of it For nothing is more conducive to his 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 than the bounty of Munificence which enriches his Soul There are three things which beget Love Beauty Benefits and Praises They are all three shut up in Goodness which is the fountain of Liberality The beauty of the face is a silent Oratory a high stile of Commendation without an Epistle yet by doing Benefits it prevaileth more than by any of its Charms and maketh it self great by enriching others Love inspires it with an amiable Soul and if others are delighted with their own Praises he that is liberal in the acknowledgment of mâ—ns Vertues and giveth Honour to the Worthy