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A52426
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Practical discourses upon several divine subjects written by John Norris.
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Norris, John, 1657-1711.
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1691
(1691)
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Wing N1257; ESTC R26881
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131,759
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372
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born away before us We have indeed in our Eye a much Nobler Mark but we want a Steddy Hand Our End is better than theirs but our Management is not so good And what a shame is it for us that have proposed a Greater and a Better End and are also more Instructed in the Choice of Means which are pointed out and described to us by God himself to be yet so far out-witted by those of Lower Aims and who are fain to Study and Contrive their own Means and whose Wisdom after all is Foolishness with God! And yet thus it is the Devil's Scholars are better Proficients than Christ's Disciples the Ark falls before Dagon and Light is outshone by Darkness What therefore remains but that since we will not Learn in Christ's we should be sent to the Devil's School and imitate the Politicks of the Dark Kingdom and of the Children of this World Imitate them I say not in the Choice of the End which indeed is very Poor and Low but in that Wisdom Diligence and Care wherewith they prosecute it and be as Wise at least unto Salvation as they are to Destruction Go to the Aunt thou Sluggard says Solomon consider her Ways and be Wise. And may I not in like manner bespeak the greatest part even of Piously disposed Christians Go to the Men of the World and learn Wisdom Let us then be as Wise as these Serpents and since we have Chosen the Better Part and are so nigh to the Kingdom of God let us not for the want of One thing miss of being compleatly Wise and Happy But as we have made a good Choice let us prosecute it with equal Prudence So will our Wisdom be Whole and Intire Uniform and Consistent Blameless and Irreprehensible in a Word that Wisdom which shall be Justified of all her Children A DISCOURSE CONCERNING Righteous and Vnrighteous Judgment John 7. 24. Judge not according to the Appearance but judge Righteous Judgment THAT which the great Descartes makes necessary to a Philosopher is indeed no less so to a Christian to strip and devest himself of all Prejudices and Partialities to unravel all his former Sentiments to unthink all his Pre-conceived Opinions and so reduce his Soul to the natural Simplicity of a Blank Table and to the Indifferency of an even and well-poised Ballance For as it matters much in reference to our Actions what our Sentiments and Judgments of things are because we always act as at that present instant we think so does it to the Regularity and Uprightness of our Judgments what the Temper and Disposition of our Mind is The Wise Ben-Sirach has long since observed that Wisdom will not enter into a Polluted Spirit and St. Paul that the Animal Man perceives not the things of God There are it seems some Moral as well as Natural Dispositions of the Man that make the Soul unfit for Knowledge and till these Scales fall off from her Eyes she cannot see But the Pythagoreans went higher and taught their Disciples 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they must separate and unwind themselves even from their very Bodies if they would be good Philosophers This in a Qualified and Corrected Sense is true for the Body is the great Impediment and Disadvantage of the Soul and therefore all Bodily Passions and Inclinations as well as Intellectual Habits and Appetites must be put to Silence in the still and Attentive Search and Inquiry after Truth But to the present purpose it will be enough to remark that Prejudices and Prepossessions as well as vitious Habits a cross Constitution and a gross Texture of Blood and Spirits do Cloud and Pervert the Understanding and take away the Key of Knowledge This is that Veil which as the Apostle complains remain'd untaken away upon the Jews in the Reading of the Old Testament and which hindered them from understanding it and made them stand out in defiance against all the Divine Precepts and Convincing Works of the Son of God whose Divinity through this Veil of Prejudice they could not discern It was a greater hindrance to them in distinguishing the Character of his Person than the Veil of his own Flesh was or the Mystery of the Incarnation This therefore must be removed by the Christian as well as by the Philosopher and the Soul must be Purged before it can be Enlightened Freed from Prejudices and false Appearances before it can be from Errors and Misapprehensions Without this Purity of Heart there will be so little Clearness of Head that let our Parts stand upon never so great Advantages either of Art or of Nature we shall neither be right in our Determinations of things nor just in our Censure of Persons neither Wise in our Discourses nor Righteous in our Sentences we shall neither maintain Truth nor Charity All which is briefly Intimated and summarily Contained in this Admonition of our Saviour to the prejudiced and partially affected Jews Judge not according to the Appearance but judge Righteous Judgment In Discoursing upon which Words I shall First of all Inquire what it is in general to judge according to Appearance Secondly Whether all judging according to Appearance be opposed to judging Righteous Judgment and consequently here forbidden Thirdly If all be not which it is that is so Lastly I shall shew the great Reasonableness and Necessity of the Precept and Conclude I begin with the first Inquiry what it is in general to Judge according to Appearance Now this will be best known by Considering the import of the Terms severally By Judging therefore is properly understood that action of the Mind which either joins the Attribute with the Subject or separates it from it Or to speak less Artificially and more to Common Apprehension which either Affirms or Denies one thing of another By Appearance I understand the Representation of the Object to the Mind with its Motives and Arguments true or false in order either to Assent or Dissent So that to Judge according to Appearance is in other Words to Affirm or Deny one thing of another upon the representation of certain Arguments or Motives to Believe Think or to be Assured that a thing is so or so uppon such and such Grounds and so it takes in the Three-fold kind of Assent and that in all the variety of Degree Faith Opinion and Science with this only difference between them that whereas Faith and Opinion do not necessarily suppose a Firm Foundation but are indifferent to due and undue Appearances for a Man may believe and think upon false as well as upon good Grounds Science does always suppose a due and regular Appearance of the Object and cannot proceed but upon sufficient Grounds And this I think sufficient in Answer to the First Question I proceed therefore to inquire Secondly whether all Judging according to Appearance be opposed to judging Righteous Judgment and consequently here forbidden But we need not inquire long about it for 't is most certain
ever Sin or do any thing contrary to the Divine Nature or Will For the Essence of God being supposed to be the same to them that good in general is to us the Vision of it must needs wholly ingage and constantly retain all their Powers and Faculties for we can never will any thing out of the Sphere of Good in general communicate a kind of Deiform Habit to their Natures and render them in all things exactly conformable to the Divine Will And accordingly the Apostle derives our future likeness and conformity to God from our Vision of him We shall be like him says he for we shall see him as he is This shall be our Felicity hereafter but it is the Priviledge of the Blessed Angels to enjoy it now and therefore by the strength of the same Argument it must be supposed that they are as like God as the clearest Vision of him can make them that is as like him as finite can be like infinite as a Creature can be like its Creator That they are exactly conformable to the Perfections of that Adorable Excellence which they behold that they love what he loves and hate what he hates and that in all things they perform his Will and Pleasure in a more excellent manner than such imperfect Thinkers as we are can either conceive or describe Thus in general but now for a more particular account of the excellent manner of their doing the Will of God in Heaven we are to consider First That they do it with full Readiness and Alacrity 'T is the necessary as well as unhappy Appendage of our Mortal frame even in its best condition to act with a mix'd Consent and a divided Choice Sin indeed we sometimes do with a full and thorough Consent without any renitencies to the contrary side but our resolutions to Good are mixt and imperfect for the most part we do not go so far but 't is our highest atchievement to conquer and prevail against the tendencies of the Animal part not to be without them And though after some uncertain Vibrations the Scale does at length weigh down for Duty and Obedience yet still there is some weight in the other Ballance and the Motion though Victorious yet is not intire and unresisted But now the Holy Angels being free from the impediments of a contrary Principle perform the Will of God with a full intire and perfect Consent they have no Demurs or Disputings no Reluctancies or Aversions but at the first intimation approve and execute the Will of God with all the readiness and alacrity of an intire pure and undivided Will And accordingly in the Prophet Isaiah's Vision of God in his Glory the Seraphim appeared with Six Wings With twain he covered his Face the Text says with twain he covered his Feet and with twain he did fly But to the Prophet Ezekiel the Vision was inlarged for to him the Cherubims were represented with Wings and Wheels both of them being very significant and lively Symbols of that eminent Alacrity and Agility wherewith the Holy Angels perform the Will of God The Jews indeed have a Proverb that the Angel of Justice flies but with one Wing but hereby I conceive they intend only the slowness of God in issuing out Commissions of Vengeance not that of the Angels in putting them in Execution For they see the Reason of the Command as well as the Letter of it or if not yet the clear Vision they have of the Divine Essence and Perfections will not suffer them to doubt of the Equity and Reasonableness of all his Injunctions as being well assured that nothing but what is highly Reasonable can be the result of Infinite Wisdom and Goodness So that they are as well satisfied with the Decrees of Vengeance as with the milder Emanations of his Love and perform them both with equal Chearfulness Thus we see the Angel who was Commissioned to keep laps'd Man out of Paradise with his Flaming Sword betook himself as readily to the ungrateful Office as he that was to carry the welcom Tidings of Man's Redemption to the Shepherds and to sing Glory to God on high on Earth Peace and Good Will towards Men. And I question not but that those Sons of God which shouted for joy at the laying the Foundations of this great Fabrick will hereafter upon the Signal given be full as ready to assist to its Destruction and Fiery Dissolution But we are upon the same Grounds to consider Secondly That their Obedience is Vniform and Vniversal as well as ready and Chearful and that they have an equal respect to all the Commands of God Upon the same Principle that they are Ready and Chearful they are also Uniform and Universal in their Obedience for the reason why they Obey chearfully is either because they are Convinced of the particular Equity and Reasonableness of the Law or because they are convinced of the unerring Wisdom of the Law-giver whom they know they may safely rely upon by an implicit Confidence though they should not be able to account in particular for the Reason of what he Commands And the same will be a sufficient satisfaction why they should obey him Universally since every Precept either carries its own Evidence and Reason with it or what is a good an Inducement to Obedience the undeceivable Reason of him that gives it This is the Principle of Believing all that God Reveals Mysteries as well as intelligible Articles and the same is the Principle of Obeying all that God Commands And wherever there is a clear Conviction of this there Obedience must needs be as Universal as Faith as having the same Grounds and Inducements And there being no reason to question but that there is the highest Conviction of this in the Minds of Angels we may proceed to consider Thirdly With what Constancy they perform the Divine Will They obey with Constancy not only as 't is opposed to final Cessation but as 't is opposed to the least Interruption The highest Perseverance we can pretend to in this Region of Inconstancy is not to fall off totally or finally nor are we sure of so much as that But to maintain a steddy Course of Obedience without the least interruption is beyond the measures of Flesh and Blood But now the Holy Angels are not only secure from either total or final Apostacy but even from the least abatements or interruptions of Duty for the Excellence which they Contemplate is always the same and so also is the manner of their Contemplating it They Contemplate the Face of God as the Philosopher says of the Supream Intelligences 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 always and alike and consequently cannot but love and adore him with a constant and uninterrupted Flame of Devotion the Glorious Essence of God being the same to them that the common nature of Good is to us as was observed before To which there is this further Advantage to be added that their Understandings are