in which no Defect or Blemish can be discerned perfect in the variety and Number of its Powers in the fitness and Measure of every power in the use and value of every Endowment A perfect Soul is that whereunto nothing can be added to please our Deâ—â—re As all its Objects are perfect so 〈◊〉 it self It is able to see all that is to be seen to love all that is Lovely to hate all that is Hateful to desire all that is Desirable to honour all that is Honorable to esteem all that can be valued to delight in all that is Delightful and to enjoy all that is Good and fit to be enjoyed If its Power did fall short of any one Object or of any one Perfection in any Object or of any Degree in any Perfection it would be imperfect it would not be the Master piece of Eternal Power PERFECT life is the full exertion of perfect power It implies two things Perfection of Vigour and perfection of intelligence an activity of life reaching through all Immensity to all Objects whatsoever and a freedome from all Dulness in apprehending An exquisite Tenderness of perception in feeling the least Object and a Sphere of activity that runs parallel with the Omnipresence of the Godhead For if any Soul lives so imperfectly as to see and know but some Objects or to love them remisly and less then they deserve its Life is imperfect because either it is remisse or if never so fervent confined PERFECT Fruition as it implieâ— the Perfection of all objects more nearly imports the intrinsick Perfection oâ— it s own Operations For if its Object be never so many and perfect in themselves a Blemish lies upon the Enjoyment if it does not reach unto all their Excellence If the Enjoyment of one Object be lost or one Degree of the enjoyment abated it is imperfect PERFECT Vertue may best be understood by a consideration of its Particulars Perfect Knowledg is a thorow compleat understanding of all that may be Known Perfect Righteousness is a full and adequate Esteem of all the value that is in Things It is a Kind of Spiritual Justice whereby we do Right to our selves and to all other Beings If we render to any Object less than it deserves we are not Just thereunto Perfect Wisdome is that whereby we chuse a most perfect end actualy pursue it by most perfect Means acquire and enjoy it in most perfect manner If we pitch upon an inferiour end our Wisdom is imperfect and so it is if we pursue it by feeble and inferior Means or neglect any one of those Advantages whereby we may attain it And the same may be said of all the Vertues NOW if all Objects be infinitely Glorious and all Worlds fit to be enjoyed if GOD has filled Heaven and earth and all the Spaces above the Heavens with innumerable pleasures if his infinite Wisdome Goodness and Power be fully Glorified in every Being and the Soul be created to enjoy all these in most perfect Manner we may well conclude with the Holy Apostle that we are the children of GOD and if Children then Heirs Heirs of GOD and joynt heirs with Christ if so be that we suffer with him that we may also be glorified together That our light Affliction that is but for a Moment worketh out for us a far more exceeding and eternal Weight of Glory That beholding as in a Glass the Glory of the Lord we shall at last be transformed into the same Image from Glory to Glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. For all his Works of which the Psalmist saith They are worthy to be had in remembrance and are sought out of all them that have pleasure therein are like a Mirror wherein his Glory appeareth as the face of the Sun doth in a clear fountain We may conclude further that Vertue by force of which we attain so great a Kingdome is infinitely better then Rubies all the Things thou canst desire are not to be compared to her So that with unspeakable comfort we may take Courage to go on not only in the study but the Practice of all kind of Vertues concerning which we are to treat in the ensuing Pages For as the Apostle Peter telleth us He hath given to us all things that pertain to Life and Godliness through the Knowledge of him that hath called us to Glory and virtue whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious Promises that by these you might be Partakers of the Divine Nature having escaped the Corruption that is in the World through List. And besides this saith he giving all diligence adde to your Faith vertue and to vertue knowledge and to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness Charity For so an Entrance shall be Ministred to you abundantly into 〈◊〉 everlasting Kingdome of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Which Kingdom being so Divine and Glorious as it is we have need to bow our Knees to the GOD and father of our Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole Family in Heaven and Earth is named that he would grant us according to the Riches of his Glory to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inward Man that Christ may dwell in our Hearts by Faith that we being rooted and grounded in Love may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the Breadth and Length and Depth and Height and to know the love of Christ which passeth Knowledg that we may be filled with all the fulness of GOD. TO be Partaker of the Divine nature to be filled with all the Fulness of GOD to enter into his Kingdom and Glory to be transformed into his Image and made an Heir of GOD and a joynt Heir with Christ to live in Union and Communion with GOD and to be made a Temple of the Holy Ghost these are Divine and transcendent things that accompany our Souls in the Perfection of their Bliss and Happiness the Hope and Belief of all which is justified and made apparent by the explanation of the very nature of the Soul its Inclinations and Capacities the reality and greatness of those Vertues of which we are capable and all those objects which the Univers affordeth to our Contemplation CHAP. III. Of Vertue in General The Distribution of it into its several Kinds its Definition BEfore we come to treat of particular Vertues it is very fit that we speak something of VERTUE in General VERTUE is a comprehensive Word by explaining which we shall make the way more easy to the right Understanding of all those particular Vertues into which it is divided Forasmuch as the Nature of Vertue enters into knowledge Faith Hope Charity Prudence Courage Meekness Humility Temperance Justice Liberality c. Every one of these hath its essence opened in part by the explication of that which entreth its Nature which is VERTUE in General THE Predicament of
Christian ETHICKS OR Divine MORALITY Opening the WAY to BLESSEDNESS By the RULES of VERTUE AND REASON By THO. TRAHERNE B. D. Author of the Roman Forgeries LONDON Printed for Jonathan Edwin at the Three Roses in Ludgate-street 1675. TO THE READER THE design of this Treatise is not to stroak and tickle the Fancy but to elevate the Soul and refine its Apprehensions to inform the Judgment and polish it for Conversation to purifie and enflame the Heart to enrich the Mind and guide Men that stand in need of help in the way of Vertue to excite their Desire to encourage them to Travel to comfort them in the Journey and so at last to lead them to true Felicity both here and hereafter I need not treat of Vertues in the ordinary way as they are Duties enjoyned by the Law of GOD that the Author of The whole Duty of Man hath excellently done nor as they are Prudential Expedients and Means for a mans Peace and Honour on Earth that is in some measure done by the French Charron of Wisdom My purpose is to satisfie the Curious and Unbelieving Soul concerning the reality force and efficacy of Vertue and having some advantages from the knowledge I gained in the nature of Felicity by many years earnest and diligent study my business is to make as visible as it is possible for me the lustre of its Beauty Dignity and Glory By shewing what a necessary Means Vertue is how sweet how full of Reason how desirable in it self how just and amiable how delightful and how powerfully conducive also to Glory how naturally Vertue carries us to the Temple of Bliss and how immeasurably transcendent it is in all kinds of Excellency And if I may speak freely my Office is to carry and enhance Vertue to its utmost height to open the Beauty of all the Prospect and to make the Glory of GOD appear in the Blessedness of Man by setting forth its infinite Excellency Taking out of the Treasuries of Humanity those Arguments that will discover the great perfection of the End of Man which he may atchieve by the capacity of his Nature As also by opening the Nature of Vertue it self thereby to display the marvellous Beauty of Religion and light the Soul to the sight of its Perfection I do not speak much of Vice which is far the more easie Theme because I am intirely taken up with the abundance of Worth and Beauty in Vertue and have so much to say of the positive and intrinsick Goodness of its Nature But besides since a strait Line is the measure both of it self and of a crooked one I conclude That the very Glory of Vertue well understood will make all Vice appear like dirt before Jewel when they are compared together Nay Vice as soon as it is named in the presence of these Vertues will look like Poyson and a Contagion or if you will as black as Malice and Ingratitude so that there will need no other Exposition of its Nature to dehort Men from the love of it than the Illustration of its Contrary Vertues are listed in the rank of Invisible things of which kind some are so blind as to deny there are any existent in Nature But yet it may and will be made easily apparent that all the Peace and Beauty in the World proceedeth from them all Honour and Security is founded in them all Glory and Esteem is acquired by them For the Prosperity of all Kingdoms is laid in the Goodness of GOD and of Men. Were there nothing in the World but the Works of Amity which proceed from the highest Vertue they alone would testifie of its Excellency For there can be no Safety where there is any Treachery But were all Truth and Courtesie exercis'd with Fidelity and Love there could be no Injustice or Complaint in the World no Strife nor Violence but all Bounty Joy and Complacency Were there no Blindness every Soul would be full of Light and the face of Felicity be seen and the Earth be turned into Heaven The things we treat of are great and mighty they touch the Essence of every Soul and are of infinite Concernment because the Felicity is eternal that is acquired by them I do not mean Immortal only but worthy to be Eternal and it is impossible to be happy without them We treat of Mans great and soveraign End of the Nature of Blessedness of the Means to attain it Of Knowledge and Love of Wisdom and Goodness of Righteousness and Holiness of Justice and Mercy of Prudence and Courage of Temperance and Patience of Meekness and Humility of Contentment of Magnanimity and Modesty of Liberality and Magnificence of the waies by which Love is begotten in the Soul of Gratitude of Faith Hope and Charity of Repentance Devotion Fidelity and Godliness In all which we shew what sublime and mysterious Creatures they are which depend upon the Operations of Mans Soul their great extent their use and value their Original and their End their Objects and their Times What Vertues belong to the Estate of Innocency what to the Estate of Misery and Grace and what to the Estate of Glory Which are the food of the Soul and the works of Nature which were occasioned by Sin as Medicines and Expedients only which are Essential to Felicity and which Accidental which Temporal and which Eternal with the true Reason of their Imposition why they all are commanded and how wise and gracious GOD is in enjoyning them By which means all Atheism is put to flight and all Infidelity The Soul is reconciled to the Lawgiver of the World and taught to delight in his Commandements All Enmity and Discontentment must vanish as Clouds and Darkness before the Sun when the Beauty of Vertue appeareth in its brightness and glory It is impossible that the splendour of its Nature should be seen but all Religion and Felicity will be manifest Perhaps you will meet some New Notions but yet when they are examined he hopes it will appear to the Reader that it was the actual knowledge of true Felicity that taught him to speak of Vertue and moreover that there is not the least tittle pertaining to the Catholick Faith contradicted or altered in his Papers For he firmly retains all that was established in the Ancient Councels nay and sees Cause to do so even in the highest and most transcendent Mysteries only he enriches all by farther opening the grandeur and glory of Religion with the interiour depths and Beauties of Faith Yet indeed it is not he but GOD that hath enriched the Nature of it he only brings the Wealth of Vertue to light which the infinite Wisdom and Goodness and Power of GOD have seated there Which though Learned Men know perhaps far better than he yet he humbly craves pardon for casting in his Mite to the vulgar Exchequer He hath nothing more to say but that the Glory of GOD and the sublime Perfection of Humane Nature are united in
with Preparatory Washings Humiliations Fashions Attirs Watchings Retirements Shavings Sprinklings Anoyntings Consecrations Sacrifices or some other Disciplines like unto these to be endured and past thorow before their Votaries could be admitted to their mysteries All which Rites as they made a great shew because they were sensible so were they apt to put a magnificent face on their Religion to dispose the Persons exercised by them to a more complying Obedience and to beget a Reverence mixt with Awful Admiration in their ignorant Spectators All which nevertheless were but Emblematical Ordinances signifying something invisible that was necessary to be done of which the Priests themselves knew not the meaning They had the name of Paenitentia in their Common Conversation but applied it to profane and Trivial occasions But Repentance in Religion which is the Soul and substance of those mystical Observations a broken and Contrite Heart an internal Sorrow for their sin was a thing unknown so that all their Appearances how magnificent soever were but Empty shells REPENTANCE alone though never so simple and short in its name being of such value that GOD accepts one contrite Groan above all the Ceremonies even of his own Law And therefore he saith Thou desirest not sacrifice else would I give it thou delightest not in Burnt offering The Sacrifices of GOD are a Broken Spirit A broken and a contrite Heart O God thou wilt not despise FOR tho Repentance be not in it selfe a desirable Vertue nor so much as a Vertue till there be a sphere and Occasion for it wherein to be exercised tho Repentance in it selfe be far worse then obedience yet upon the Account of our Saviours Merits and GODS Love to Sinners it is preferred above the Greatest Innocency and Purity whatsoever For there is more Joy in Heaven over one sinner that repenteth then over Ninety and nine Just persons that need no Repentance If the Soul be of greater value than the whole World if the loss of any Thing we esteem increaseth the sence of its excellency if our Saviour justly and rationally compareth himself to a Shepheard that leaveth Ninety and nine sheep in the wilderness to seek one that is gone astray if he rejoyceth when he hath found it more for that one that was lost then for the ninety and nine which he had in safety if his Delight in the success of his Labours be answerable to their Greatness if the frustration of all his Desires and painful endeavours in seeking it be infinitely Grievious and the Vertues more Amiable and Wonderful which sinners exercise after their Redemption if their Love and their joy and their praise be increased by the extreamity of their Distress and the multitude of the sins that are forgiven them if their Communion with GOD be more sweet and their Happiness more exalted and the Kingdom of GOD it selfe made more sublime and Glorious thereby Repentance hath something more in it then Perfection had before the fall and as sinners have made themselves more infinitly Indebted so are they infinitly more subject to the Arbitrary Disposal of Almighty Power infinitly more Capable of Obligations and Rewards infinitely more Obliged for Pardon and deliverance as well as infinitly more Obnoxious to Divine Justice their Fear and Danger is infinitly Greater they stand in need of infinite Grace and Mercy which when they receive and enjoy their Love and Gratitude are proportionably greater their Delights are more quick and vigorous and full and so are their praises BUT before a sinner can atchieve all this or GOD enjoy the fruit of his Salvation he must needs repent for Repentance is the true and substantial Preparation of the Soul the only Purgative Vertue by which it is fitted for these Divine Attainments It is we confess in outward Appearance a slight invisible Act but as Great within as Wide and Comprehensive as the Heavens It receiveth the Vertue of the Divine Essence of the whole Creation of infinite Mercy of the Blood of Christ of his Humiliation Merit Exaltation Intercession and glory of all the Work of Redemption into it self and having fed it self digested them it receiveth strength by the Influence of these to dispence all their Vertue again in the Production of those Fruits for the sake of which GOD hath filled all the World with miracles the Verdure and Maturity and Perfection of which shall with their beauty and sweetness continue in life and Florish for ever IF we respect Man alone and the things that are done in himself by Repentance it seemeth a Vertue of infinite value It divests him of all his Rebellion Pride and vain Glory strips him of all his Lust and Impiety purges him of all his corruption Anger and Malice pares off all his Superfluities and excesses cleanseth his Soul of all its filthiness and pollution removeth all that is so infinitly Odious to GOD and makes him amiable and Beautiful to the holy Angels It sits and prepares him for all the exercises of Grace and Piety introduces Humility and Obedience into his Soul makes him capable of a Divine Knowledge and makes way for the Beauty of his Love and Gratitude inspires Fortitude and Prudence and Temperance and Justice into his soul renues his Nature and makes â—im a meek and patient Person restores him to that Wisdom and Goodness he had lost cloaths him with rightteousness and true Holiness and seats him again in the Favour of GOD. By Repentance he recovers the Divine Image and by Consequence it extends to all that Blessedness and Glory which is for ever to be enjoyed REPENTANCE is the Beginning of that Life wherein all the sweat Labour of the Martyrs all the Persecutions and Endeavours of the Apostles all the Revelations of the Prophets all the examples of the Patriarchs all the Miracles of old Time all the Mysteries of the Law all the Means of Grace all the Verities of the Gospel begin to take full force and Effect in obtaining that for which they were intended Which sufficiently intimates the value of the Grace and how highly well pleasing it must be to GOD It is the Conception of Felicity and the New Birth of the Inward Man the Dereliction of the Old and the Assumption of a New and more coelestial Nature It is the Gate of the Heavenly Kingdome which they that refuse to enter at can never enjoy It is one of the Keys of Death and Hell by which the Gate of the Prison is unlockt nay the very knocking off the Chains and Manacles of Satan the very Act wherein we regain our Liberty and become the Sons of GOD and Citizens of Heaven It was fitly Typisied in the old Law by the Laver that was set at the Door of the Tabernacle for the Priests to wash in before they entred into the Sanctuary to walk in the Light of the Golden Candlesticks to offer their Devotions at the the Incense Altar and to partake of the shew bread on the Golden Table In