him so many stripes who being an Enemy to his own Nation a perfidious seducer who having renounced all his possessions only for the sake of preaching to others shall yet not so much as receive his diet and cloathing from them Nay who after this usage still preaching on will not so much as exempt himself from any labour however vile and contemptible for a livelyhood as St. Paul declared he would not in his Epistles to those people who would undoubtedly have refused him nothing who in fine after all this shall still refuse and without affectation reject the glory which his preaching and self denial seem to merit and who to shew the reasonableness of his refusal shall teach us to ascribe all honour and glory to God as the first great Author of our Being and principal end of all our Actions 1 Cor 9. 14 15 16 17 18. Even so saith he has the Lord ordained that they which preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel But I have used none of these things that it should be so done unto me For tho' I preach the Gospel I have nothing to glory of for necessity is laid upon me Yea wo is unto me if I preach not the Gospel For if I do this thing willingly I have a reward but if against my will a dispensation of the Gospel is committed unto me What is my reward then Verily that when I preach the Gospel I may make the Gospel of Christ without charge that I abuse not my power in the Gospel And in another place Phil. 3. 8. Yea doubtless and I count all things but loss for the Excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ. Thus St. Paul rooted up all Vanity out of his heart He was not carried away with vain shews of glittering Vertue and Merit But sought only the remission of his sins All his strength was in Christ He affirmed that God had sent his Son into the World to save sinners of whom he was chief He confessed that he had blasphemed that holy name by which we must be saved that he had persecuted Jesus Christ in his members He imputed his Conversion to Grace and spoke of nothing but of Grace Now what could so much humble the heart of man as the consideration of the Immense greatness of God the wretched misery of mankind their desperate corruption and the infinite Mercy of God manifested to them in the sending his Son all which took up the Discourses Epistles and Mind of St. Paul who including all his designs in one proposed nothing else to himself but the knowledge of Jesus Christ and him crucified But some perhaps will object is it not true that St. Paul in acting as he did got himself immortal honour This the Event has sufficiently shewed and therefore why should we not believe that St. Paul acted by a principle of vain glory having foreseen what would certainly happen Certainly it would be a very pretty conceit to imagin that Saul who was prejudiced against the Christians and a proud Pharisee designing to immortalise his name should affirm an imposture that as much shocks our Reason as that of the Disciples if we may believe what the Incredulous say that he should have imagined he could deceive both present and future ages by such gross fictions that he could have drawn Strength Courage Constancy Charity Piety from such a chimerical project and perfidious design that he should have fought with beasts at Ephesus out of the hopes of an imaginary immortality which one day would not flatter his ashes in the Grave that he should retain so much Pride in the midst of Shame and Torments and that a vain notion which is the usual effect of Idleness Luxury and Prosperity should immediately triumph over the most real and most lively Sentiments of Nature But what of all this St. Paul was perhaps a Politician a man that understood the World who had some secret self interest in all his designs and practices But is it possible that his Character would never have been known Would he not have contradicted and so betrayed himself Was there no way of discovering his Ambition when the people taking him for Mercury would have sacrificed to him in Lycaonia And if we would reflect upon his Epistles might we not find marks of that prodigious Vanity which made him act thus Let the Incredulous conâ—ult themselves thereupon and judg what they would have done on the like occasion Perhaps they could find in their hearts to turn â—mpostors but never to suffer for their imposture â—r if they were disposed to suffer for an imposture t must be one that would in the end certainly proâ—ure them great Riches not one that would oblige hem to renounce every thing to suffer and crown heir sufferings with Martyrdom 'T is true a man â—ay be disposed to renounce every thing and suffer â—eath it self for the good of his Country the preervation of his honour or some other seeming â—wful Reason but never in defence of what he â—nows to be a fiction The thought of being reâ—embred by Posterity might flatter his Pride but ot so far as to oblige him to make this present life â—retched and dreadful and to sacrifice to that â—ought all his real temporary advantages He â—ight find himself inclinable to deceive other men â—d to accuse his Nation of an imaginary crime â—t not when he testifies an extraordinary kindness â—r it and does his utmost endeavours to sanctifie it He might entertain the thoughts of seducing other men but not at the same time discover a wonderful Resolution in his Words and a thousand vertues in his Actions Search as long as you please the hearts of men you will never find all these qualities united therein As we cannot give an Example of it in the life and actions of any man so perhaps the Idea of it never enter'd into any mans mind What folly is it then to imagin that all these things were really to be met with in the Person of St. Paul and of some other Fishermen How can a man ground such an imagination unless upon a mind desperately resolved to deceive it self But lest we should be thought without any ground to advance any thing concerning the Courage of that Apostle let us hear him speak himself 2 Cor. 4. 17. For our light affliction says he which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory And in another place 2 Cor. 7. 4 5 6. I am exceeding joyful in all our Tribulation For whâ—â— we were come into Macedonia our flesh had no rest bâ—â— we were troubled on every side without were fightingâ— within were fears Nevertheless God that comforteâ—â— those that are cast down comforted us And in the 12. Chap. of the same Epist v. 10 Therefore I take pleasure in Infirmities in Reproaches in
I have fought with Beasts at Ephesus what advantageth it me if the Dead rise not Let us eat and drink for to morrow we die Since the beginning of the World Men of wordly Minds and carnal Appetites who aim only at the good things of this Life have always argued thus and indeed they would have a great deal of reason in arguing thus and pursuing their reasons were there no Resurrection of the dead Chap. XVI 21. The Salutation of me Paul with mine own hand If any Man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha He begun still and ended with Christ which evidently shews the strong persuasion of his Mind Second Epistle to the Corinthians Chap. I. 8 9. For we would not brethren have you ignorant of our trouble c. That we should not trust in our selves but in God which raiseth the dead By these words we perceive what troubles they underwent and what hopes they had to sustain them in their Sufferings Chap. II. 14 15 16. Now thanks be unto God which always causes us to triumph in Christ and maketh manifest the savour of his Knowledge by us in every place For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ c. To the one we are the savour of Death unto Death and to the other the savour of Life unto Life and who is sufficient for these things And who is sufficient to express all the force and energy of these words unlike the false Charms of humane Eloquence yet such as are easily discerned by an Heart rightly disposed Chap. IV. 6. For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the Knowledg of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. The Eloquence of Men which is generally above the thing it represents has usually but one Idea to represent one single object But if that Idea be a complex one then it is composed of several others proportionable and agreeable to it There cant well be in this sort of Eloquence a mixture of various Ideas and different Metaphors together in one and the same Period But on the contrary the Eloquence of the Holy Ghost which is always inferiour to those Objects it lays before us makes use of several different Images and Ideas at once because a single one could not express what it endeavours to represent As for instance in these expressions The Sun of righteousness with the healing of his wings has visited us through his tender mercies as also in this place where the Apostle thought he could never say enough this is a light which shineth which shineth into the heart which giveth the light the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. For a Man to express himself thus he must really be very strongly perswaded of what he could say The Orators of this World are usually Masters of their own Thoughts but this Writer here was as it were filled and wholly taken up with the greatness of the Object he was about to represent Vers 15. For all things are for your sakes that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God Thanksgiving Gratefulness Acknowledgement Glory of God Charity Confession of their Frailties Prayer Exhortation c. are the only Subjects that all the Writings of those pretended Impostors are full of Vers 17. For our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory No Writer ever spoke with so much energy because no Writer was so strongly perswaded of the Truth of what he delivered Chap. V. 17. Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new Creature What Teachers ever required such things of their Disciples What mean these Words and this strange Exhortation Chap. VI. 1 4 5 6. We then as workers together with him beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain c. but in all things approving our selves as the ministers of God in much patience in afflictions in necessities in distresses in stripes in imprisonments in tumults in labours in watchings in fastings by pureness by knowledge by long-suffering by kindness by the Holy Ghost by love unfeigned Do such Exhortations usually come from the Men of this World or rather do they not proceed from the Holy Ghost himself Chap. VIII 18. And we have sent with him the brother whose praise is in the Gospel throughout all the Churches He speaks of St. Luke in this place and what he says of him is sufficient to make us understand that the Gospel according to St. Luke was read even in those days in all the Christian Churchès which overthrows all suspicion that that Gospel had been filled with sham Stories of certain matters of fact in a time when every body had yet fresh in their Remembrance all that came to pass in those days Chap. XII 12. Truly the signs of an Apostle were wrought among you in all patience in signs and wonders and mighty deeds St. Paul wrote these things to several numerous Churches and to whole Societies And can we suppose he could perswade them that he wrought so many Wonders and Signs among them when he wrought none Chap. XIII 5. Examine your selves c. prove your own selves c. how that Jesus Christ is in you What mean these Expessions We are in Jesus Christ Jesus Christ is in us And whence come they Who first established such a strange Language And who did the Apostles learn this Stile from a Stile till then unknown to the World Had Men ever said before that time Cesar is in us No surely because they had never received the Spirit of Cesar But the Disciples had received the Spirit of Jesus Christ Epistle to the Galatians Chap. III. 4 5. O foolish Galatians c. Have ye suffered so many things in vain If it be yet in vain He therefore that ministreth to you the Spirit and worketh miracles among you doth he it by the works of the Law or by the hearing of faith What means this Interrogation If the Miracles and the miraculous and extraordinary Gifts of the Holy Ghost had been only meer Fictions Is it possible we should not perceive the Truth of that matter of fact by the ingenuous simplicity wherewith this Author takes it for granted when he makes it a Principle of his Arguments and takes an occasion from thence to censure the Galatians after so sharp and severe a manner Chap. VI. 12 14 15. As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh they constrain you to be Circumcised only lest they should suffer persecution for the Cross of Christ c. But God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the World is crucified unto me and I unto the World For in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor
one another and so to become Subjects of the same Heavenly King they renounced then all their differences and quarrels the dear expectation they had of their Messias stifling in their hearts all Passions and Resentments But when John the Baptist had as it were led them by the Hand to Jesus Christ himself they were strangely surprised to find in him nothing of what they expected They found in him Poverty where they thought to have found Riches Shame and Afflictions where they thought to have met nothing but great Splendor and Temporal Glory For this Reason therefore they rejected him with Horrour and Abomination all their thoughts being on a sudden changed into indignation and anger against him in whom before they had fixed all their imaginary hopes But tho' the generality of his Nation cast him off there were yet a certain number of persons who were willing to follow him and that number daily increased in proportion as Jesus Christ's sufferings and afflictions increased There were at first but twelve whom he called to his Service Then sent he seventy others abroad who were succeeded by a great may others after his Death And their number further increasing with the fury of the Sanhedrin there were at length many seen who testify'd in behalf of that crucified man But how come those Disciples to follow a Messias so contrary to their first Ideas and receiv'd opinions How is it possible they should not have been discouraged at his Cross unless Jesus Christ had promised them to do signs and wonders How could they have been with him night and day for three Years and an half without inquiring into that important matter of fact or knowing whether he were really able to do Miracles or not Or how is it possible when they found their mistake that Jesus Christ was but an ordinary sort of a man uncapable of working any signs or wonders they should not have forsaken him as a Whymsical Impostor How could their minds be so suddenly changed as to look on Humiliation and Meanness Misery and Afflictions as upon the true and real Character of the Messias they I say whose minds Education had filled only with carnal Ideas of the flourishing Kingdom of the Messias But above all how could they be present at the Crucifixion of their Master without being reduced to the last greatest Consternation and Confusion So that the second Consequence which may very well be drawn from these principles already established is that the Disciples having always imagined with their Fathers and Mothers their Brothers and Sisters their Teachers and Elders and in general with their whole Nation that their Messias should have restored the Kingdom of Israel and having understood those words in a literal sense it is impossible but that they should be extreamly offended to see him wearing a Crown of Thorns upon his Head when he was nailed on the Cross and a Reed instead of a Scepter in his Hand Nay more than this 't is morally impossible but that this object must have rooted out of their Hearts all thoughts of Pride and Ambition and all pretensions to Greatness and Temporal Prosperity which their Blindness had caused them to conceive upon this mans account unless there had happened since his Death such supernatural and extraordinary things as were able to revive in their Heart such great hopes as these Thirdly We shall conclude from the Principles we have already established that the Disciples as well as all other Jews being as it were ty'd to their Religion by what they had Seen and Heard by their Inclination and Vnderstanding by their Interest and Piety by their Customs and Education and by the Advantage wherewith they might well flatter themselves of being distinguished from all other Nations of the World and being further as it were wedded to it by that great number of Ceremonies and Customs the Justice and Holiness of which they could no way doubt of since they had been so exactly prescribed them by the Law of God himself it cannot be supposed but that they imagined their Law to be of an eternal Duration and that being extreamly averse to every new sort of Worship which was contrary to that of Moses they could not have so suddenly altered their opinion nor could there have happened so strange a revolution in the Hearts and Minds of so many persons united and as it were link'd by so many respects to the Law of Moses that in so small a period of time the Souls of all those Jews should have been so entirely changed as that they should begin to look upon the Jewish Religion as upon a Dispensation granted with a proviso and which was to come to an end and for the future be considered only as a thing altogether useless and out of Date I confess that this principle was not first of all approved of in the World without great contest and difficulty and that there were for a while certain Judaising Christians who taught others that the Law of Moses was still in force and that it was necessary to Salvation to joyn the Doctrine of Jesus Christ with the Ceremonies of the Law But then it is well known they were only either some of Christ's Enemies who started these questions out of a particular design to make a division in the Christian Church or some Jews turned Christians as yet very weak and not fully strengthened in their belief whose scrupulous Zeal and blind Superstition caused all those Controvesies But however 't is evident that the true Disciples of Jesus Christ and especially the Apostles were not long in an errour as to this point They affirmed that men were justify'd only by the Faith of Jesus Christ without the works of the Law And 't is manifest that in the first Council held at Jerusalem the Disciples of our Lord abolished the Customs and Rites of the Ceremonial Law But at last it is of no great moment whether the Ceremonial Law or Religion of Moses was abolished ten years sooner or later Still it is certain that it was sometimes abolished or rather to speak more exactly and truly it was fulfilled by the Gospel and so the observation of it ceased Now I demand how it is possible that those men who were so devoted and bigotted to that Law who made it the object of their thoughts and most common discourse should so great a number of them and in so short a time with one common consent renounce that Law which Piety made so venerable and Honour and Interest so valuable in their Esteem Whereas so many ages elapsed before the coming of Jesus Christ into the World could not wear out of their minds that profound esteem and respect they had for that Law For tho' they had often broke it in several respects yet it may be said in their behalf they almost always look'd upon it as inviolable And can we suppose that so many ages as have passed since the Death of Jesus Christ could not remove
such a deep penetration of Mind and attempted to exalt Man above himself by infatuating him with the Conceits of his own Wisdom But God who knows best what Remedies are most proper for us has given us a Religion which satisfies the Heart without corrupting the Vnderstanding and enlarges the Vnderstanding without corrupting the Heart and that because it satisfies and yet mortifies it enlightens and yet confounds the Understanding If to the Understanding several great and sublime Truths are revealed it has not therefore any pretence to exalt it self because it knows that Knowledge to be above its Capacity and ows it only to Revelation If the Heart finds the Objects of Religion answerable to it's infinite Desires it has no reason to be puffed up by them because those Objects destroy its darling Passions and vitious Inclinations So that the only means to enlighten and at the same time humble our Understanding was to intermix some Obscurity with the Light of Revelation and the only way to satisfy the Heart and prevent its being puffed up was to qualify some sorrowful and mortifying Duties with the extraordinary Promises of the Gospel Thus the Severity of Christian Morality and the Obscurity of its Mysteries are two different means which God has made use of to enlighten the Understanding without puffing up the Heart and to satisfy the Desires of the Heart without flatering those Passions which corrupt the Understanding Which manifestly shews that the Christian Religion has not only the Divine Stamp upon it since it contains the true manner of reforming and regulating the Desires of Mans Heart but also that the Severity of the Christian Morality and the Difficulty of its Mysteries which shock the Incredulous most in the Principles of Christianity were purposely made use of by God in his eternal Wisdom as the most proper Means to sanctify Mankind which is the grand Design of the Christian Religion We have then here the Two most essential and most important parts of our Religion Its Morality and Mysteries The latter are necessary in respect of Faith and the former is the Rule of those Duties which God is pleased we shall perform as a Means to attain Everlasting Life It would be superfluous to lay down here at large what Doctrin or Precepts are contained in the Gospel because it has pleased God that we cannot pretend any Ignorance of them and besides 't is the Truth of Religion in general we are now treating of we are oblig'd to speak here only of Christian Morality and the Doctrin of Faith in general As for the Morality of Christ it has so many remarkable Characters that it is impossible to reflect upon any of them without immediatly acknowledging its Divinity For I. 'T is it seems a Paradox to the Senses to the Heart to the Mind and Nature of Man It was never before heard of or known that a Man must take up his Cross and think those Blessed that are poor in Spirit that mourn and are persecuted for Righteousness sake that we must love our Enemies and pray for them that shall revile and persecute us that we must not only comfort our selves in the midst of our Afflictions and Crosses but also rejoyce for being thus afflicted and esteem our Happiness and Glory the greater as our Sufferings are increased Men I say had never such Thoughts before and the Puradoxes of the Stoicks are nothing to these for here we find to our great surprize that a few poor Fishermen rustick in their Speech preach such Maxims abroad as are as far above the ordinary Capacity of the Understanding as they are contrary to the Affections and Inclinations of the Heart II. 'T is observable that Christian Morality seems to be a very sad and mortifying thing For it curbs and restrains all our Passions Self-love repines at it Voluptuousness can't endure it Pride is wholly humbled and mortified by it and those who seem to allow of it most cannot but privately hate it when ever their Hearts are engaged in any Passion It has been often observ'd that there have been Christians in all Ages who attempted to pervert the sense of it by putting such Glosses and Interpretations upon it as were more conformable to their Inclinations than to the Truth it self and by endeavouring to extirpate it at least indirectly when they durst not attempt it in a more open manner But let no man imagin that this Morality was offered to the World under any Disguise Christ who among so many other wonderful Characters of his Calling has a very remarkable one and that is never to flatter the loose Inclinations of Men plainly declares that whosoever will be thought his Disciple must pluck out his Eyes and cut off his Hands must hate himself deny himself nay even hate his own Soul c. Expressions which explain one another and certify us that the Pains and Torments the observers of his Morality must undergo are like unto those which Men endure when they cut off their Arms or pluck out their Eyes or are in a manner separated from Themselves There is nothing in all this like the cunning Address and subtle Management of Men in the World when they endeavour to establish new Doctrins and it evidently appears that Christ alone is a Teacher come from God III. The better to comprehend this it is observable that all the Principles of Christian Religion depend upon Humility as their chief Foundation For if we pretend to the qualification of Christ's Disciples we must be meek single in heart poor in Spirit weary and heavy laden little in our own Conceits Lambs little Children in Innocence and want of Malice and Servants of other Men. Christ has united two different qualities before not easily reconcilable the Humility of the Heart and the Light of the Understanding charging us to be wise as Serpents and harmless as Doves 'T is manifest this Union was necessary for the true Sanctification of Mankind a Secret indeed Men had not yet been able to find out There have been some who have forsaken their Interest and have been either burnt or had their Arms and Hands cut off who durst encounter Death it self supported by Pride and a vain hope of Glory which they prefer'd before all things But it was never known that Men had so little Self-love as to sacrifice their Lives unless at the same time they could make their Name immortal Such a Miracle is only to be produced by the Christian Morality IV. After what has been said we shall have less Reason to wonder that this Morality roots up every Vice since all Vices proceed either from Pride or Voluptuousness This Morality then which subverts the former by the severe Mortifications of Repentance and destroys the latter by the Ideas it gives us of the Greatness and Perfection of God as opposed to our Wretchedness and Misery I say this Morality contains every thing absolutely necessary to extirpate our Vices in their first Rise and
this Necessity and it is to no purpose to alledge his Meanness and Wretchedness for that Circumstance rather aggravates the Crime than excuses it it being impudent beyond all pardon for a Traytour to plead Innocence because he is a Peasant and not a Lord. It will be also in vain to lay the Fault upon the evil Temperament of Body and Mind For if either submits to those Reasons which you have for committing no indecent action before a Sovereign and if that and all its Passions are calm when you fall into any Danger or expect Sentence of Death there is the same Reason that the Presence the Will and Judgments of God should have the same effect upon it Nor will Ignorance be any Excuse It would indeed justifie you if it were not only a bare pretence as it does Brutes Children and Ideots But what Man knows not his Duty 'T is also in vain to rely on the Mercy of God for that extends not to impenitent Sinners and the Almighty saves only those that desire and endeavour to be saved Lastly 'T is meer folly to assert that eternal Punishments are disproportionable to the weakness of our Nature For is not God himself eternal whom you have offended And is not your Soul also eternal that has Sinned against him Self-love however blinded thinks not life eternal a thing disagreeable and imagins nothing in it disproportionable to our Condition But 't is shock'd at the Thoughts of everlasting Pains and therefore willing to believe them improbable Dreams and Whimsies But why it does so is hard to be imagin'd unless we suppose its design to be at any rate to impose upon it self In the mean while since you can neither destroy the Eternity of God or the Soul which Reason it self forces you to acknowledge you must either suppose that the Soul is to dwell eternally with God or that it must be eternally banished from his Presence that is that it must live or die eternally For to live with God is to enjoy the greatest Perfection of Happiness and to be banished his Presence is certainly the greatest Misery that can be thought of As soon as we know the Existence of God that the Soul has no Parts and that 't is incapable of any Dissolution that its Nature altogether distinct from that of Matter cannot be buried under the Ruins of the Body it is then very hard for us to oppose the Doctrin which the Gospel teaches us concerning the State of the Soul after Death Nay we are so far from impugning of it that there is even a Necessity incumbent upon us readily to embrace the same For if the Souls of the Wicked together with those of the Good are equally to be banished the Presence of God then Reason Nature and all our other Knowledge impose upon us in giving us Hope of a future Reward And if the Souls both of the Wicked and the Good are to enjoy alike the Presence of Almighty God then too those very Principles delude us in making us dread his pretended Judgments and so Gods Justice and Veracity together with all our other Knowledge are at an end To avoid therefore falling into such an impious Assertion we must own that the Souls of the Good are to dwell for ever with God but that contrariwise those of the Wicked are to be banished his Presence and in owning this we affirmthe only thing in the World that is most agreeable to all our Knowledge and most visibly flows from the nature of things themselves The Blessings of God excellently answer his liberal Promises and the formidable Severity of his Punishments All the Creatures of this visible World conspire together to do us good And besides all the temporal Blessings daily conferr'd upon us besides the whole Earths being replenished with the Knowledge of the true God the Hearts of Men are sanctified their Souls comforted the Gospel preached throughout the whole World the Son of God died for our Offences and was raised for our Justification our crucified Saviour came out of the Grave to bring us Peace from God and seal the Truth of his Gospel by his frequent Apparitions after his Death there was a visible and frequent Effusion of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost upon Men a multitude of Martyrs sent from God to reclaim the World by their Examples and Conversation from Vice and Idolatrous Superstition all these things I say are such Blessings as are wonderfully suitable to the Promises and Threatnings of God and fully convince us that the Christian Morality has as many Objects to exalt and comfort Men's Souls as it has to excite and terrify their Minds to the performance of their Duty X. But to prove that this Morality is not a meer Idea of Perfection God in is Wisdom was pleased not only to have it set down in the Book of the New Testament but also to have it lively Painted first in the Life of Christ and afterwards in the daily practice of the Primitive Christians These Men are not such Teachers as might deservedly be accused of speaking well but doing ill as it was objected formerly to Seneca who composed very excellent Discourses concerning Poverty and the contempt of the Goods of Fortune when he himself was richer than the wealthiest Citizen of Rome These on the contrary confirm'd by their practice what they taught And by extirpating their evil Desires form'd such a Society as is conformable to that we have had above but a faint Prospect of when we laid down the Idea of Man's Duty They utterly renounced those Passions which put a Distinction betwixt them and other Men. They forgot their Quality and Condition the better to use one another like Brethren The same Interests were common to them all They sold their Possessions to ease the Wants and Necessities of those that suffered Adversity They rejoyced for having been thought worthy to suffer for the Name of God Every thing conduced to their Happiness even Afflictions themselves They prayed for those that despitefully us'd them and as Charity and not Selflove was the Rule of their Affections so all the Motions of their Heart tended to one as to the same Center to the Glory of God and the good of their Neighbours which gave the Scripture occasion to say that they were but one Heart and one Soul I confess that State could not always continue in the Church but the Wisdom of God permitted it should last for some time to give us a lively Image and Idea of Heaven here on Earth and so to confirm by the excellence of such an Example a Morality already supported by so many great and powerful Motives VIII Portraiture of the Christian Religion as it is consider'd in its Mysteries THe Mysteries God has revealed unto us in his Word are like the cloudy Pillar which led the Children of Israel through the Wilderness For like that they are clear on one side but dark and obscure on the other If we contemplate