impossible that he by determining their Wills should make them the Authors of Righteous Actions which of all things in the World he most desired There is as much Difference between a Willing Act of the Soul it self and an Action forced on the Will determined by another as there is between a man that is dragged to the Altar whether he will or no and the man that comes with all his Heart with musick and Dancing to offer sacrifice There is Joy and Honour and Love in the one fear and constraint and shame in the other That GOD should not be able to deserve our Love unless he himself made us to Love him by violence is the Greatest Dishonour to him in the World Nor is it any Glory or Reputation for us who are such sorry Stewards that we cannot be entrusted with a little Liberty but we must needs abuse it GOD adventured the possibility of sinning into our hands which he infinitely hated that he might have the Possibility of Righteous Actions which he infinitely Loved Being a voluntary and free Agent he did without any Constraint Love and desire all that was most high and Supreamly Excellent of all Objects that are possible to be thought on his own Essence which is a Righteous Act is the Best and the Righteous Acts of Saints and Angels are the Highest and Best next that which Creatures could perform The very utmost Excellence of the most noble Created Beings consisted in Actions of piety freely wrought which GOD so Loved that for their sake alone he made Angels and Souls and all Worlds These Righteous Actions he so Loved that for their sake he prepared infinite Rewards and Punishments All the Business of his Laws and Obligations are these Righteous Actions That we might do these in a Righteous Manner he placed us in a mean Estate of Liberty and Tryal not like that of Liberty in Heaven where the Object will determine our Wills by its Amiableness but in the Liberty of Eden where we had absolute Power to do as we pleased and might determine our Wills our selves infinitely desiring and Delighting in the Righteous use of it hating and avoiding by infinite Cautions and Provisions all the unjust Actions that could spring from it If we Love Righteous Actions as he does and are holy as he is holy in all manner of Wisdome and Righteousness then shall we delight in all Righteous Actions as he doth shall Love Vertue and Wisdome as he doth and prefer the Works of Piety and Holiness above all the Miracles Crowns and Scepters in the World every Righteous and Holy Deed will be as pleasing to us as it is to him all Angels and Men will be as so many Trees of Righteousness bearing the fruit of Good Works on which we shall feast in Communion with GOD Or if our Righteous Souls be vexed as Lots Soul in Sodom was in seeing and hearing the unlawful Deeds of the wicked they shall be recreated and revived with the sight of GODS most Righteous Judgments and with the Beauty of his holy Ways by which he rectifies the Malignity of the Wicked overcomes the evil of their Deeds and turnes all the vices of men into his own Glory and ours in the Kingdome of Heaven The Delights of Wisdome and Righteousness and Holiness are suitable to their Nature as those of Goodness are to the nature of Goodness Which no man can enjoy but he that is qualified for them by the Principles of Goodness and Holiness implanted in his Nature For as he that has no Eys wanteth all the Pleasures of sight so he that has no Knowledge wanteth all the pleasures of Knowledge he that is void of Holiness is void of the Sence which Holiness inspires and he that is without Goodness must needs be without the Pleasures of Goodness for he cannot delight in the Goodness of GOD towards other Creatures To be Good to be Holy to be Righteous is freely to delight in Excellent Actions which unless we do of our own Accord no External Power whatsoever can make us Good or Holy or Righteous because no force of External Power can make us free whatever it is that invades our Liberty destroys it GOD therefore may be infinitely Holy and infinitely desire our Righteous Actions tho he doth not intermeddle with our Liberty but leaves us to our selves having no Reserve but his Justice to punish our ofences CHAP. XIII Of Justice in General and Particulars The Great Good it doth its Empires and Kingdoms a Token of the more retired Good it doth in the Soul It s several Kinds That GODS Punitive Justice Springs from his Goodness THO following the common Course of Moralists in our Distribution of Vertues we have seated Justice among the Cardinal Moral yet upon second Thoughts we find reason to reduce it to the number of Divine Vertues because upon a more neer and particular Inspection we find it to be one of the Perfections of GOD and under that notion shall discover its Excellence far more compleatly then if we did contemplate its Nature as it is limited and bounded among the Actions of Men. THE Universal Justice of Angels and Men regards all Moral Actions and Vertues whatever It is that Vertue by which we yield Obedience to all righteous and Holy Laws upon the Account of the Obligations that lye upon us for the Publick Welfare of the whole World Because we Love to do that which is Right and desire the fruition of Eternal Rewards There is much Wisdome and Goodness as well as Courage and Prudence necessary to the Exercise of this Vertue and as much need of Temperance in it as any For he that will be thus just must of necessity be Heroical in despising all Pleasure and Allurements that may soften his Spirit all fears and dangers that may discourage and divert him all inferior Obligations and Concernes that may intangle and ensnare him he must trample under foot all his Relations and friends and particular Affections so far as they incline him to partiality and sloth he must be endued with Great Wisdome to discern his End great Constancy to pursue it great Prudence to see into Temptations and Impediments and to lay hold on all Advantages and Means that may be improved he must have a Great Activity and Vigor in using them a Lively sence of his Obligations a transcendent Love to GOD and felicity a mighty Patience and Long-suffering because his Enemies are many his Condition low his Mark afar off his Business manifold his Life tho short in it self yet long to him his undertaking Weighty and his nature corrupted THEY otherwise define Justice to be that Vertue by which we render unto all their Due Which is of large Extent if the Apostles Commentary comes in for Explication For this Cause pay you Tribute also for they are GODS Ministers attending continually on this very thing Render therefore to all their Dues Tribute to whom Tribute is Due Custom to whom Custom Fear to
your Power and to neglect his Treasures but it is infinite VVisdome by the best of all possible Means to embrace and enjoy them Because an infinite End is thereby attained even GOD himself who is thereby made the portion of the Soul and its Reward forever THE best of all possible Means whereby we can acquire his Eternal Treasures is to imitate GOD in our Thoughts and Actions to exert our Powers after his Similitude and to attain his Image which is after GOD in Knowledg Righteousness and true Holiness For by Knowing all Things as GOD Knoweth them we transform our Souls into an Act of Knowledge most Bright and Glorious By Loving all Things as GOD Loveth them we transform our VVills into an Act of Love which is most Sweet and Blessed VVe enrich and Beautifie our selves with the Image of his Goodness while we communicate our Souls in our Powers to all Objects in his whole Eternity VVe magnifie our selves by magnifying Him in all his Works We do right to our selves by doing right to GOD and all other Things VVhich for as much as we must here on Earth learn by Degrees and can never perfectly accomplish the VVork till it is given us in Heaven it is VVisdome to walk in the Paths of Righteousness as far as we are able and to do those Things here tho small and defective which he will recompence with a Reward so perfect hereafter IF ever we be so happy as to come to Heaven his VVisdome shall be our VVisdom his Greatness our Greatness his Blessedness our Blessedness his Glory our Glory All his Joys and Treasures shall be ours his Life and Love ours and Himself ours for evermore HIS VVisdome is made ours because it is the Light in which we shall see Light and learn thereby to inherit all Things the Exemplar and Original of our VVisdome the Fountain and Patern of all our Joys the Author and Inventor of all our Delights the End and Sum of all our Desires the Means of all our Felicity our very Blessedness and Glory CHAP. X. Of Righteousness How Wisdome Justice and Right Reason are shut up in its Nature What GOD doth and what we acquire by the Exercise of this Vertue RIGHTEOUSNESS and VVisdome are neer allyed For to be Just towards all Objects is to render them their spiritual Due their Due Esteem It is VVisdome because thereby we attain our End and enjoy their Excellency It is Right Reason because to value all Things just as they are tendering to them neither more nor less then they deserve is to do Right to our selves and them it is a Vertue because by force thereof we attain our Happiness For the better understanding of this Vertue we must Know that there is a Righteousness of Apprehension a Rightteousness of Esteem a Righteousness of Choise and a Righteousness of Action Righteousness of Thought is that Habit by Vertue of which we think aright forming and framing within our selves aright Apprehensions of all Objects whatsoever This tho it be the First and smallest Part of Righteousness is of Great importance because no man can use that aright the Nature of which he does not apprehend He that mistakes his Hand for his Meat will rise hungry from Table He that mistakes a Fiddle for an Axe will neither cut Wood well nor make good Musick The Misapprehension of Great and Transcendent Objects whether visible or Spiritual is not perhaps so Gross but more pernicious and Destructive He that apprehends GOD to be a Tyrant can neither honour GOD nor Love him nor enjoy him He that takes Vertues to be vices and apprehends all the Actions of Religion unpleasant will loath and avoid them He that conceits Nothing in the World to be his own but his low Cottage and course diet will think it needless to praise his Maker and will deny himself to be happy in those narrow and Mean enjoyments He that thinks all the wealth is shut up in a Trunk of Gold will little regard the Magnificence of the Heavens the Light of the Sun or the Beauty of the Universe RIGHTEOUSNESS in esteem is that Habit by Vertue of which we value all things according as their Worth and Merit requires It presupposes a right Apprehension of their Goodness a clear Knowledge of all their excellencies It is a Virtue by which we give to every thing that place in our Soul which they hold in Nature It is wonderful both for its extent and Value For there is Room enough for all Objects in the esteem of the Soul and it is by esteem that they are honored perfected and enjoyed A wise man will actually Extend his Thoughts to all Objects in Heaven and Earth for fear of losing the Pleasure they afford him which must necessarily spring from his esteem of their excellency HONOUR and Esteem are neer a kin How the Creatures are honoured by esteem needeth not to be unfolded but how they are perfected by it is a little Misterious A thing is then perfected when it attains its End Now the End for which all things were made is that they may be seen and enjoyed They are seen that they may be esteemed and by an intelligent and right esteem are all enjoyed In our esteem therefore they find and attain their end and by attaining that are consequently perfected The Application of Actives to Passives is a mystery in Nature of very great and General Importance In all Pleasures Cures and Productions All satisfactions Joys and Praises are the happy off-spring of Powers and Objects well united Both the one and the other would lie void and barren if they never met together and when they meet their Union must be regular wise and holy GOD is an Object of Mans Esteem Which unless it were able to render him his Due and Quadrat with his Excellencies a man could never be Righteous towards GOD. For that Esteem is void of Righteousness that either exceeds or falles short of its Object If it becometh us to fulfil all Righteousness it becometh GOD to endue us with the Power of Esteeming all that is Good and Excellent according to the Worth and Value thereof For which cause he enables us to Esteem all that we can see in Heaven and Earth and in the Heaven of Heavens For this Esteem is the Foundation of that choise which is the Original Spring of all excellent Actions Even GOD himself meeteth his Honour in the esteem of our Souls He is injured by the Sacrilegious Impiety that robs him of his Esteem being infinitely Quick and Tender in apprehending he is more jealous of his Honour and more grieved when he loseth it then any other His Wisdom and his Love are infinitly offended when they are slighted and profaned but pleased extreamly when they are sanctified and honored and that they are by a just Esteem And for this cause he hath made us able to attend him in all his Works and in all his ways and to have Communion with him in
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
and sees the Face of GOD to turn away to any vanity from so Divine and Strong a Blessedness To Love GOD in the clear and perfect Light is a cheap and Easie Thing The Love that is shewed in a more weak Estate to an absent Object is more remiss perhaps and Black in appearance but far Deeper if in the Lovers Weakness and its Objects absence it be Faithful to the Death constantly Solicitous and Careful to please Laborious and Industrious Wakeful and Circumspect even and immutable and freely springing from its own Desire not out of bare pleasure but humble Obedience to the Laws of its Benefactor All the Courage which it shews in such Occasions is more full of Mystery and Divinity then is imaginable far more Moving and full of Vertue while it struggles with Impediment Disadvantages and Difficulties then if without any such Occasion of shewing its Vertue it did smoothly and Peaceably proceed in the Highest Rapture Add to that the mysteriousness of its Beauty in all the varieties of its Operation and the Different Sweetnesses that still appear in all its several Effects upon new occasions The very Representation of Love upon the stage in its Conflicts and Agonies produces another kind of sence in the Spectator then that of Embraces It is more Tender and endearing touches the Soul of its Beloved especially in a more Vigorous and lively manner it makes all fruitions afterward more precious by Fidelity Courage and Immoveable Perfection it maketh the Lover more Honourable and Effects far more Serious Alterations in the Soul solid Joys and tender Compassions moving and Bleeding Resentments all which End in satisfactions heightened with more Perfect Complacencies THUS you see Courage in the Root made more Glorious by a Persons Exposure and Abasement In the fruit and Exercise it is otherwise to be considered Where there is no Evil to be endured or no Strength to be resisted there can be no Courage or Vertue at all Where the conflict is more sharp the Victory is more pleasant and the success of the fight is far more Honourable Where a Giant is to fight with a Gnat or a Dwarf the Disproportion of his Strength takes away the Pleasure of its Trial and a Glory of the Combate There is no Room or occasion for its Exercise And tho it might without any Trial be known by him that sees all things in their hidden Essences yet without its Exercise it remaineth unexcrted is wholly vain especially when there is no occasion for it in Nature The Pleasure of the Spectacle springeth from its Operation TO see a Seraphim surmount one of our Difficulties in the midst of all his Strengths and Advantages is no more then to see a Giant destroy a Gnat or subdue a Grass hopper But in Man there is a certain Degree of strength that makes him a fit Match for the appointed Encounter In the Estate of Innocency indeed his Enemies and Difficulties were very few just as many as were needful for the trial of his Obedience Gratitude Fidelity All the Hardship he was to undergo was to cross his Appetite in an Apple and and tho he did not as yet see which way it was reserved for him to be so Couragious as to hope well so Grateful to GOD as to dare to confide in him rather let go the Knowledge he might gain by eating it than break his Commandement All other Duties were his Pleasure and Felicity here lay his Trial and his Obedience should have been crowned with infinite Reward All which would in some Measure have risen out of the Duty discharged by him For by this Resignation and Self-Denial he had manifested his Obedience and acquitted himself and shewed his Love and his Prelation of his Makers Pleasure above all other Concernes wherein he had been approved and Wise and Holy and well pleasing to GOD he would have put the Crown upon all Gods Works in accomplishing the End for which he was made and been very Delightful to all the Angels He had been crowned with Glory and Honour in all their Complacency If that were too little because he had then no enemy but his Appetite the Dimness of his Sight maketh up the Mystery If his Clarity was too Great and there was no Proportion between his Strength and the Temptation that proceeded of the Tenderness of GODS Love which feared to adventure him too far and had rather something of Honour should be endangered then his Soul lost or thrust upon the Hazzard of too great a Temptation When the Angels fell the Devil was let loose upon man for the increase of his Honour and Dominion Yet like a Dog in his Chain so far and no further He had but one Way and that was to perswade our first Parents to do what was forbidden Perswade he might and try his Skill to deceive but could not compell nor otherwise afflict or hurt him in the least He had not Power so much as to diminish the least Hair of his Head yet so Gracious was Almighty GOD that upon this Trial of his Prudence and Courage the Exercise of these Vertues had been infinitely pleasing to his Eternal Love because he infinitely delighted in the Welfare and Preservation of what was so precious to himself as a Soul is that is infinitely Beloved In that Complacency Adam had found little less then infinite Glory It did not become the tenderness of GODS Love to expose him to any Severer Trial. For there are certain Periods and fit Bounds Which he that passeth all his Work confouds But when Adam fell and brought more Hazzards and Difficulties on himself GOD might justly leave him to them for his greater Trial and more perfect Glory Now we are more blind and Weak by Nature yet infinitely Beloved and more Precious For the price of the Blood of the Eternal Son of GOD is laid upon the Soul as an Addition to its interior Value We are even in our corruption to Grapple with Sin and Hell and Death and Sickness and Poverty and Fear and all the Devils and Afflictions in the World nay which is worse then all with our own Errors Lusts and Passions more neer and Bitter Enemies A poor Clod of Earth is to overcome all the World to fight as the Apostle speaks with Principallities and Powers with the Rulers of the Darkness in this World with spiritnal Wickednesses in high places And to return laden with Victories and Trophies into the Kingdome of Heaven Nor is the Combat so unequal but that there is a mighty Hope and Assurance of triumphing tho Lucifer and all his Angels are to be trampled under fect For under the Disguise of this apparent Clod there lies concealed a mighty Great and Coelestial Personage a Divine and Glorious Creature Miraculous and Mâ—sterious even the Image of the Deity that can derive Strengths and Succours from all eternity and being aided by the Conduct of so great a Captain as our Lord Jesus Christ who has taught us by his
whom Fear Honour to whom Honour One no man any thing but to Love one another for the he that Loveth another hath fulfilled Law Kings and Magistrates and Ministers and Parents and Children must have all their Due and so must GOD Blessed for ever Adoration to whom Adoration is due and Obedience to whom Obedience In strict Justice we must render Hatred to whom Hatred is Due and Love to whom Love Hope is due to certain Grounds of Encouragemeut and Sorrow to certain sorrowful Objects But all our Passions must still be guided by the Rule of the Law and all our Actions as Honour and Equity require PARTICULAR Justice is conversant in the Distribution of Rewards and Punishments or else it observes the Rules of Equity and Reason in Buying and Selling. It is called particular because the Excercise of it is not allotted to all the Power of rendring Rewards and Punishments being committed to a few namely to the Magistrates and among Private persons many not at all accustomed to Buying and Selling. This Vertue being to be exercised by some particular men is particular Justice However it has occasioned a Distinction in the Thing whereby Justice is divided into Distributive and Commutative the one being used in Courts of Judicature the other in the Market IT was a notable Observation of Plato that by reason of our Dim Eyes we are not able to see immediately what Vertue does in Secret in the Soul And therefore he sayes that as an Old man that is blear-ey'd if he hath something given him to read in little Characters finds it necessary first to see the same in Capital Letters so to observe first what Vertue doth in a Commonwealth is expedient to him that would understand what it doth in his own Soul The Throne is upholden by Justice the Majesty of Kings and the Glory of Kingdomes is preserved by Justice When Vertue is rewarded and Vice supprest the City flourisheth as the Laws are the Rampart of Mens Estates Justice is the Rampart of the Law the Guardian Angels of every family State and Kingdome Kings and Counsellors and Priests and Soldiers and Tradesmen have all their several Office and proper Duty in a Kingdome and that Nation is blessed with order and Beauty where every one contains himself in his proper Duty But where Tradesmen invade the Priests office and defile the Altar the Soldiers turn Counsellors and every Consellor deposes the King nothing but Confusion can follow in such a State The Senses and Members of the Body are like Tradesmen they traffick with sensible Objects the Irascible passions of the Soul are Soldiers and very apt to rebel and Mutiny the Conscience is the Priest in the Temple of the Mind Right Reason is the King and the Concupiscible Affections or smoother Passions especially Avarice and Ambition may pass for Counsellors They may do well to put a man in mind of his Interest but when they depose Right Reason and usurp the Throne Ruine must follow in the Soul the Passions will turn Consellors the Trades-men invade the Temple and all Rights Sacred and Profane be blended together To sell offices of Trust and Places of Judicature is for a King to do that himself which Rebels attempt in violence to put unworthy men in places of Trust promiscuously that will sell Justice by Retail as they bought it by Whole Sale Justice is a a Severe Vertue and will keep up all the Faculties of the Soul upon hard Duty For otherwise it would not pay to Felicity its Due But where its Care is remiss in taking an Account and solid Goods are barterd away to counterfeit false Commodities the Soul will grow loose and poor in a moment All its Powers subordinate and Superior will forget their Duty and the Healthy Estate of the Mind fall into Anarchy and Confusion All its Hopes and Felicities will be lost for want of that Justice which Distributes to every Power its proper office THERE are two passages that I mightily desire to be imprinted in the Memory of all the World and they are both of our Saviour The one is He that is faithful in a little shall be Ruler over much The other is this Who then is that faithful and Wise Servant whom his Lord hath made Ruler over his Houshold to give them meat in due season Blessed is that Servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing He that is faithful in a little is faithful also in much To be Just in a little Silver and Gold and accurate in deciding Causes between a Man and his Neighbour are Actions that in their own Nature seem to have little tendency to Bliss and Glory But when we consider that we are Servants for a time entrusted by a Lord that will come and examine what we have done we are not to measure our Hopes by those little Acts as they determine in a Moment but in relation to the Recompences which our Lord will give when he cometh For our Saviour hath added Blessed is that Servant c. Verily I say unto you that he shall make him Ruler over all his Goods But and if that evil Servant shall say in his Heart my Lord delayeth his Coming and shall begin to smite his fellow Servants and to eat and drink with the Drunken the Lord of that Servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him and in an hour that he is not ware of and shall cut him asunder and appoint him his portion with Hypocrites there shall be Weeping and gnashing of Teeth IF GOD should be loose and careless in his Kingdome as it is infinitely Greater then all other Dominions so would it quickly be more full of confusions Especially Since the King would then himself be so loose and Careless For Licence and profaness are of a spreading Nature and such as the King is such is the people The vices of Kings do always punish themselves in the Imitation of their subjects especially where the Distinction between Profane and Holy is lost and there is no Hope and Fear of Punishments or Rewards If GOD should declare it by any Act of his to be a Thing indifferent whether men did well or ill it would mightily abate the Rectitude of his nature and Eclipse his Majesty His Sovereignty would be slighted and his Will despised which ought infinitely to be dreaded While Justice is infinite and there is an infinite difference put between Good and Evil his Creatures we see are apt to abuse their Liberty and Rebel and become Apostates tho they have an infinite pleasure to aspire after and an infinite destruction or Wrath to fear What would they do if the Divine Will were feeble and remiss and exacted no reverence to its Law and Pleasure It is the Height and Glory of GOD that he sets an infinite Rate upon Excellent Deeds and infinitely detests and abhors the Wicked Their last ends are not more distant then their first Beginnings in his Esteem